Thirteen Steps Toward Sharpening the Language of Your Story

A revision exercise

Photo by Manki Kim on Unsplash

“Art, whatever form it takes, requires hard work, craftsmanship and creativity. As a writer, I know my grammar, cadence, the music of prose, and the art of the narrative.” ~F. Sionil Jose

“Respect the language in which you write. Be kind, develop good vocabulary, and be creative in writing beautiful sentences. Your prose should be your poetry when you write.” ~Ruskin Bond

Hi friends, and Happy Memorial Day to those of us in the U.S.,

Today, I want to look specifically on sharpening the language of your stories. Find a story you’ve been working on for this, one that has gone through at least one revision pass already. Maybe you have a story or two from our February Flash Immersion Extravaganza you’re keen to revise.

“Always be a poet, even in prose.” ~Charles Baudelaire

Now I’ve spoken before about the second draft revision of enriching the language, finding the story’s unique vocabulary, creating a better diction, etc. There, you were finding the best words for your story. A language that serves its emotional core and enlivens the work in general. You can discover this by tapping into your subconscious via mind mapping and free association. That may be topic of a future newsletter.

But! All is easily spoiled if your sentences contain a lot of excess fat. I’ve said before that a lot of a story’s “problems” in the early stages are fixable by getting the language right. It’s not something we see in our first drafts. But now I want you to take a very close and critical look at your sentences and paragraphs in this revision pass. Today, let’s hone and sharpen!