Notice in the following paragraph how tricky it is when a writer shifts tenses:

Maggie sits in her room, flicking through the paper. She’s turning the page when she saw Emily’s photo. What was Emily doing in the paper? Maggie jumped up and runs to the kitchen. “Mom,” she shouts. “Mom, where are you? Emily’s dead.” Maggie feels the tears running down her face. She couldn’t stop crying.

It may seem like a minor grammatical thing, but keeping your writing in the same tense all the way through gives your reader a much easier reading experience.

Look at the same paragraph written entirely in the past tense:

Maggie sat in her room, flicking through the paper. She turned the page and saw Emily’s photo. What was Emily doing in the paper? Maggie jumped up and ran to the kitchen. “Mom,” she shouted. “Mom, where are you? Emily’s dead.” Maggie felt the tears running down her face. She couldn’t stop crying.

The past tense creates a little distance, but has a great storytelling feel. Flashbacks and memories can be hard to incorporate in past tense, however. The only way to master this is to practice, practice, practice.

Here’s the same paragraph, including a flashback, written in the present tense with the flashback in the past tense.

Maggie sits in her room, flicking through the paper. She turns the page and sees Emily’s photo. Emily who she met the first day of school. Her best friend. She remembers the argument they had yesterday. The terrible things she said.

Maggie jumps up and runs to the kitchen. “Mom,” she shouts. “Mom, where are you? Emily’s dead.” Maggie feels the tears running down her face. She can’t stop crying.

The present tense gives an immediacy and an easy way to use flashback and memory (by shifting to the past tense). But it can feel a little breathy and rushed. You make the choice as to which you prefer in your own writing.

Now the tenses are working in this short piece, it’s easy for me to spot that the verbs are weak, the writing is clichéd and the sentences are all the same length. These are things I can edit now I’ve got my tenses under control.

This week’s writing prompt:

We’re practicing tenses this workshop. Write a single paragraph that includes these three words:

CRACK

LOST

CALL

Write it first of all ENTIRELY in the present tense. Rewrite the same paragraph ENTIRELY in the past tense. Use those three words each time.

This workshop’s fix for our fiction is all about clichés. Most writers know to avoid clichés like the plague. But sometimes clichés aren’t quite as obvious as they first appear. Sometimes, we think we’re not using a cliché when in fact, we are.

Last week, for Workshop eighteen, the text I wrote was this:

Maggie sits in her room, flicking through the paper. She turns the page and sees Emily’s photo. Emily who she met the first day of school. Her best friend. She remembers the argument they had yesterday. The terrible things she said.

            Maggie jumps up and runs to the kitchen. “Mom,” she shouts. “Mom, where are you? Emily’s dead.” Maggie feels the tears running down her face. She can’t stop crying.

At the end, I mentioned that it was full of clichés. Now, the clichés aren’t as obvious as cool as a cucumber, or hot as the sun, but there are at least four clichés if we look carefully.

Maggie sits in her room, flicking through the paper. She turns the page and sees Emily’s photo. Emily who she met the first day of school. Her best friend. She remembers the argument they had yesterday. The terrible things she said.

            Maggie jumped up and ran to the kitchen. “Mom,” she shouts. “Mom, where are you? Emily’s dead.” Maggie feels the tears running down her face. She can’t stop crying.

I’ve highlighted in bold moments in the text which seem like sentences I’ve read before, sentences which could appear in many books, sentences which are unoriginal and uninspiring. How many times have you read of tears running down someone’s cheeks? How many times have you seen the word grouping the terrible things she said? How about flicking through the paper?

Instead of making imaginative leaps in my language, I’m making assumptions and guesses about how my character would behave based on writing I’ve read by other writers. I’m not pushing myself to really think about the scene with Maggie as she sees the photograph of her dead best friend.

I need to imagine the world through Maggie’s eyes. I need to take on her character and find her voice.

The way I deal with paragraphs riddled with clichés is to re-read everything, making note of overused phrases. I look for clichés and then I take the time to rewrite them. Finding something original to say takes more than one draft.

This week’s writing prompt:

Write 500 words using this sentence as the first line:

The news was bad.

Try to use your own original words and thoughts, even if it means hunting for the second or third sentence that comes to mind rather than the first.

One mistake many writers make is that they don’t spend enough time re-reading their own work, looking for ways to make it better.

It’s tempting when you’ve written a first draft to send it straight to a publisher or editor, believing perhaps that they’ll do all the editorial work. Posting your first draft on Wattpad is one way to get feedback, but it isn’t the way for you to get the best feedback from your readers. Your first reader should be you. Later on, invite other readers to give you new ideas, but first read your work over at least THREE TIMES yourself.

Reading with an editorial eye is fun and rewarding. And it will make you a better writer. Honest.

There are two main stages to editing. The macro stage and the micro.

The macro stage is when you think about the big picture. You need to read the entire piece asking yourself WHAT IS THIS STORY ABOUT and then ruthlessly cutting anything that doesn’t help you answer that question. This is when you remove characters who don’t work, when you add entire scenes because you realize you need them, and when you make sure the tense and the voice is consistent and working for your book.

I have rewritten many of my own manuscripts entirely from scratch after a macro read. It’s hard to accept you need to begin again, but sometimes when you take a good hard look at your book you realize a complete rewrite is needed. Turns out that once you’ve decided to actually do it, the rewrite can be much easier and more fun than you could ever imagine.

The micro stage of editing involves thinking about the little details, every paragraph, line, word and punctuation moment in the text. Spelling, grammar, smooth dialogue, consistency of character, good scene transitions… there are so many micro edits that a writer can do, it would take pages to list them all. During this workshop we’ve looked at a couple of key micro edits. Last week we looked at avoiding clichés and in this final week on ‘Fixes For Your Fiction’ we’re going to think about one very easy fiction fix. Improving our verbs.

Here’s a short example written with weak verbs: I went to the shop. I got a chocolate bar. I was hungry.

Here’s a rewrite with stronger verbs. I staggered to the shop and begged for a chocolate bar.

This one sentence conveys so much more about character and emotion when I use stronger verbs. Think of the verbs as the muscles that keep your writing powerful. It’s one more of the many, many ways you can hone and improve your writing by editing. Don’t be put off by the hard work of rewriting – I’ve actually learned to find it fun and an essential part of writing the stories I want to tell.

This week’s writing prompt:

I wish I could remember where I got this prompt, but the author escapes my mind. Regardless, it’s a great way for you to discover stronger verbs, which will help you write strong, muscular fiction.

Write a list of all the verbs you can think of connected with cooking. Using as many of these verbs as possible, write a scene of up to 400 words set in a kitchen. Notice how the strong verbs really enliven your writing.