Kill Those Darlin--er, I Mean Pronouns

Pronouns are a tricky thing we don't realize we overuse. Sometimes to the detriment of our readers. 

Editing this, I realize the two pronouns "we" could have been destroyed. 

New:

Tricky pronouns creep up to the detriment of our readers. 

Of course that sentence can be changed a few ways, each way taken a bit differently. But I hope you get the point.  

Pronouns pop up all over and is a really lazy way of writing. For example: 

Samantha picked up her fork and dug into her spaghetti before she brought it to her mouth. 

Four pronouns. C'mon. 

Another thing I find when looking for these little freeloaders is they force me--at times--to write in a more active way. 

Not all pronouns need to be removed, but a lot of the repetitive ones. Like: 

She put her shoes on her feet before opening her door. 

Can be: 

Shoes on, she opened the door. 

It's faster and killed three pronouns. Pretty concise.

Recently, I was shown by a fellow writer in my group that pronouns are actually used a lot among newer/indie writers (and I've even seen it in published writers stories, as well.)  Now is it correct? Perhaps not, but the fans reading don't seem to mind. And that's fine. 

It can, however, make writers and readers lazy with their own writing. 

That's not so fine.

In the end it's somewhat of a preference. But still one of those things you're better off looking into and doing the right way. 

Some people prefer to slouch. It gets you through the day, but how are you perceived by others? How do you feel at the end of the day? Think about that. 

Another thing is you may get your story accepted faster because editors have limited amounts of money, and when a writer pads their story with unnecessary words, it just makes the editors all that more quick to reject. They have to pay more for junk words and it shows you don't know what you're doing--or at least shows that you're a lazy writer. 

Artistically you still need pronouns, but just don't overdo it. You'll know when you read your work out loud, it just doesn't sound right. 

Do research, kill those darli--er, I mean pronouns, and... 

Keep writing. 

WCM

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Brightest Flame

Dying Light -- Will's Nintendo Switch Review

The Local Spirit Halloween Store Popped Up Again