hey, friendly editor-writer gremlin stopping by to remind you all that in creative writing, every aspect of language is a tool. You canāt throw things out of the toolbox, because you never know what youāll need for a specific situation or task!
Some tools are general purpose, like grammar, punctuation and sentence structure ā you use them all the time, except in very rare circumstances where building a passage without those tools would make a statement, or convey meaning in a certain way. Some, like passive voice or adverbs, only come out every now and again.Ā The trick is knowing how and when to use which tools. (Which is why I vastly prefer to think of various writing techniques and language components as tools instead of rules).
Lots of advice tells you to dispense with words like āwonderedā, āthoughtā, āfeltā because they are passive ā they put a barrier between the reader and the narration. But! What about when you want to create a barrier? i.e.,
How was that fair, he wondered. \ he wondered how that could be fair.
This feels distant, contemplative. Perhaps a character is pondering the fairness of something, but theyāre not quite emotionally invested (yet). Perhaps they donāt want to think too deeply or look too hard at an issue, and so theyāre keeping a degree of emotional distance.Ā
A direct question ā the character is asking themself and the reader to consider the implications of something.Ā
A statement. This is what the character feels; this is, for better or worse, their opinion of the matter at that moment in time.Ā
Another common example is adverbs:Ā ādonāt use adverbs! use a stronger verb! say āwhisperedā instead of āsaid quietyā!ā etc etc. But whether you use aĀ āstrongerā verb, or add on an adverb, is (again) a matter of picking the correct tool for the job. Sometimes you need to use a mallet instead of a hammer, even though both seem functionally similar; and sometimes either tool will suffice.Ā
āHey,ā she whispered.
The wordĀ āwhisperā in itself doesnāt have a lot of emotion attached to it. Itās just a thing you do if you need to be quiet for whatever reason.Ā
āHey,ā she said softly.
āsoftlyā, however, does have emotional connotations. Thereās tenderness here, or at least gentleness. Using an adverb adds a whole other layer of meaning, which is great when youāre crafting emotionally heavy scenes.Ā
āHey,ā she whispered softly
which is a tautology. Whispering is soft (usually).Ā You only need to describe how someone whispers if they break convention, and in that case you could also pick a different verb ā thatās very much a stylistic choice on your part, as the writer, and depends on what sort of atmosphere or meaning you want to convey. Like this:
āHey,ā she hissed \Ā āHey,ā she whispered sharplyĀ
In this case,Ā āhissedā andĀ āwhispered sharplyā could be used interchangeably, but they could also be used separately, depending on the writerās requirements for that scene. Both convey urgency, but there are subtle differences in what sort of urgency it is.Ā āsharplyā has connotations of severity, chiding, or a short temper;Ā āhissedā feels slightly more desperate, although it could also be read as angry, based on what else happens in the passage.Ā
I could go on, but Iām low on spoons and still need to hit my word count for today. Basically, the tools you use are very important and you shouldnāt take any of them for granted or dismiss them out of hand, and if someone tells you that you should, donāt let them get to you.Ā
