I often give my student writers the assignment to write a passage using no modifiers. Why? It forces them to focus their theme tightly, and encourages precision writing. While most have heard the advice to use specific action verbs when possible, how do we maintain precision in describing our characters and their surroundings?
Writing Tip for Today:
Precision Writing isn’t limited to strong verbs or a lack of modifiers. Here are three types of descriptors to avoid:
Diminishers take away from precision by meaning different things to different people.
EX: little, tiny, rather, sort of, slightly, somewhat.
Intensifiers are similarly vague.
EX: Much, really, a lot, totally, absolutely, very. Note that most are “ly” words–adverbs are rarely necessary.
Vaguest of the Vague are words such as thing, problem, phase, aspect, situation, predicament.
These three areas share the same pitfall: general words that don’t give the reader much information. Instead of writing a vague, “The crab was tiny,” or worse, being too specific as in “The crab was 1.5 inches across,” use the known to compare the unknown (The crab was the size of a thumbnail). Where possible, use words that are specific, sensory and emotional.