Writing 101: The Truth About Prepositions

There are certain grammar myths out there that can make even the best writers go bad. English teachers have learned how to strike fear into the hearts of their students, but there's no reason you should be afraid of prepositions. It's time to find out the truth about the proper way to use prepositions in your writing.

Prepositions

Remember the rule? A preposition is anywhere a mouse can go. This includes words like from, under, to, above, as, into, out, through and on -- to name just a few. Prepositions are one of the most-used elements of the English language...and they're used to invoke terror in the minds of writers everywhere.

 It's a commonly-accepted rule of English, and writing in general, that it's simply not okay to end a sentence with a preposition. This rule renders such common expressions as "what's going on?" and "what's up?" inherently flawed, not to mention renders oft-heard phrases like "what is that from?" and "what's that for?" all but useless.

If I was going to make the above proper, according to the preposition rule, those phrases would read read more like "from what is that?" and "for what is that?" And doesn't that sound absolutely outlandish? Who speaks like that, except for people in old Shakespearean plays? Throw around enough "that which" and "where from" into your book, and it's going to sound like you were born back in the 18th century.

 This is my long way of saying the rule is bunk. In common English today, pretty much everyone ends their sentences with prepositions every single day. If you want to be Polly Perfect and make your grammar spot-on throughout your prose, you don't have to end your sentences with prepositions if you don't want to -- up to a point. But when you're writing dialogue, none of those stuffy old rules apply. The only rule that really matters in dialogue-writing is this: write it the way people talk. I've never heard anyone ask me "for whom is that gift?" and I sure as heck don't expect to read it in a contemporary book, unless the character in question is some sort of rigid English professor.

Prepositions aren't scary...only grammar rules that aren't really rules, and don't really make any sense. So the next time you're getting ready to work a sentence around to shove a to in the front instead of the back, stop and ask yourself if it's really an improvement. If it sounds right and flows naturally, stick your prepositions wherever you like.

My Writing Secrets

I visited the Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile blog recently, and shared some of my secrets in a new guest post. 

Go read my Confessions to find out how, and where, I hide many little clues in my books that just might help you solve some of the mysteries. There are tons of clues in my upcoming book, Death (Deck of Lies, #3).

Writing 101: What Makes Writing Bad?

Bad writing. Everyone's afraid of it, and everyone's seen it at one time or another. It's always a threat you're going to have to face if you want to write books, and it's always out there lurking inside sentences and paragraphs. But if you want to avoid it, you've got to know exactly how to spot it. In order to keep your work free of bad writing, you need to understand it.

What Makes Writing Bad?

Saying that a piece of writing is "bad" is really ambiguous, and not at all helpful. Learn how to spot specific elements that make for bad writing, and you'll know exactly how to fix them.

• Telling a scene. One of the first rules of writing is show, don't tell. I covered this at length in a previous post. Basically, the trick to good writing is to be descriptive. Don't tell me that Sarah walked down the sidewalk, feeling angry. Show me Sarah, angrily kicking rocks out of her path and glaring at the trees as she walks past them. What do the trees look like? How hard is she kicking the rocks -- where are they going? Add detail and description to every line.
• But don't over-do it. I don't want to read too much description; I mean, I pretty much know what tree bark looks like. So remember to paint the scene, but give me plenty of action, too. If you go too many paragraphs without adding a verb, I might just fall asleep. Remember that in books, things need to happen, so keep pushing the action along.
• Do the research. Have some idea of what you're writing about, and do the research. Readers are going to know if you're just making it up as you go along. The beauty of the Internet is that you can ask it any question, so if you want to know exactly how long it takes for a girl to paint her nails or how many hours a flight to Cairo lasts, you can find out. 
• Be consistent. Maintain the same tense throughout the book, and don't randomly change your point of view unless it's central to the plot. Always be consistent with your writing; otherwise, it'll just be all over the place.
• Edit. Always read and thoroughly edit your book, more than once, to check the way the words flow and the mechanics of each sentence. Bad grammar and poor editing always make for bad writing.

Sometimes, the best possible thing you can do for your work is to separate yourself from it. When you're writing and editing and thinking about plots all day every day, it's easy to become so wrapped up in a story that you forget how to be objective. Take a break from your own work, read a book you didn't write or just forget about reading for a few days, and come back with fresh eyes. The more you re-read your writing, and work at perfecting it, the better it's going to get. Even the best writers are capable of bad writing, but through re-writing you can make your work great.

Jade's Best Reads

If you're a regular visitor to the blog, you may notice that my Amazon widget keeps changing (it's on the right side, under my list of followers). The widget shows a smattering of the books I've reviewed here on the blog, but Amazon limits the number of books I'm allowed to include. Because I can't possibly put them all on the list, I've come up with my own system of choosing which books are featured, and for how long.

When I add a new review to the blog, unless I don't want to recommend the book it'll be put on the widget right away. But I will start taking books away from the list as I add more to it. Which books will be removed? It's not necessarily based on time. Books I really like will stay on the list, so the longer a book stays on the widget the more I like it! I don't do a rating system on this blog, but if you keep an eye on my widget you'll know which indie books are my favorite and which...aren't so much my favorites.