Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Don't be scared....

Continuing in our series of common mistakes I see when critiquing, here's one I see a lot.  Writers get told not to use passive voice, and for many, that means avoiding the words 'was' or 'had'.  But sometimes, the sentence or phrase just doesn't work unless you use that form.

For example:  He probably forgot all about her by now. 

Doesn't sound right, does it? 

No.  It should be: He'd probably forgotten all about her by now. 

Don't be afraid to use 'was' or 'had' when it's needed.  It doesn't always signify passive voice, and even when it does, a little passive voice here and there isn't going to make your story unpublishable.  Writing weird sounding sentences to avoid using 'was' will.

Oh, and just because you write present tense, it doesn't mean you can't still fall into the passive voice trap.

Eg: He's standing there, staring at me with eyes that feel like razors scraping across my skin.

To get rid of the passive voice, change it to: He stands there, staring at me with eyes that feel like razors scraping across my skin.

Does this make sense?

3 comments:

  1. Sometimes you have to break the rules.

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  2. Yes, it makes total sense and is an excellent point.
    Some Dark Romantic

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  3. Amen! The biggest mistake "medium" writers (in between novice and advanced) make is adhering too stringently to the "rules." Once you learn them, you have to know when to throw them out. :-)

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