Fixing ‘Wasy’ Wording

Challenge yourself to create more vivid writing.

I appreciate the advice from children’s writer Christian Harder Tangvald: “Circle every is and was on your manuscript; you don’t want writing that’s “isy” and “wasy.”

So I checked each use of was while I edited the 60,000-word YA novel. It started with 942. I cut that to 786.

The word isn’t evil; but it’s often slothful. These before-and-after examples … Continue reading