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Writing style

What is diction? How to write vivid voices

What is diction in writing? It is the effect that writing creates due to word choice and other elements of style such as register (formal vs casual) and connotation. It’s the choices that make a ‘posh’ voice read posh, for example. Here are simple ways to use it to create personality in your stories and vivid voice, with examples of diction from fiction:

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Writing style

Clarity in writing: 7 musts for lucid prose

Clarity in writing means the ease with which a reader can understand you. It means avoiding unintended ambiguity or confusing sentence structure. Read 7 tips for keeping writing clear and engaging:

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Editing Writing style

How to fix passive voice (and other common issues)

Knowing how to fix passive voice and other common grammar and style issues ensures a cleaner, more impactful draft. Read 7 tips for improving weak writing style:

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Writing craft Writing style

Tone in writing: How do you build a novel’s tone?

Tone in writing refers to a complex mix of attributes. The mood, register, attitudes and other values conveyed through details such as word choice, sentence structure and the speaker or narrator’s attitude to their subject. Read examples of tone in writing that show what creates tone in a novel or story:

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Writing style

Lyrical writing: 5 tips for crafting richer prose

Lyrical writing is writing that is song-like, poetic, or deeply evocative. Here are 5 simple tips to write in a more lyrical style:

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Writing style

Fix weak style in writing: 9 tasks

Weak style in writing has the power to make a new reader close your book and pick up another instead. Improve style in your fiction with these 9 tasks:

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Writing style

Writing prose: 5 steps to better style

Writing prose, like writing poetry, involves specific challenges. Although prose is closer to ‘ordinary’, ‘everyday’ speech than poetry, it is easy to write purple prose and make other small mistakes. Here are 5 steps to refine your prose writing style:

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Writing style

Descriptive verb list: 30 words to replace dull actions

Sayings such as ‘the road to hell is paved with adverbs’ scare many aspiring authors off using adverbs to describe characters’ actions. Yet writers say this because there are often more descriptive, common verbs you could use instead of a duller verb-plus-adverb. Use this list of descriptive strong verbs to create stronger mood, atmosphere, and characterization.

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Writing style

Writing techniques to polish your prose

Writing techniques make individual authors’ styles distinctive. From poetic devices (such as metaphor and simile) to narrative strategies, writers use various literary techniques and in doing so create their (often unmistakable) personal styles. Here are writing techniques you can use to elevate your own writing:

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