I’ve been a little busy the last few months and have revisited some of my favorite posts. I hope you enjoy this one. Most of the concepts I write about are simple. I just never really gave them a lot of thought before I started writing my novel.

When writing, remember less is more. Stay away from qualifiers. They weaken your prose, and the result is the exact opposite of what your were trying to achieve. I know why you use them. I’m hooked on ‘very’. Other people are hooked on the word ‘too’. If you are resorting to qualifiers for emphasis, odds are, you are using the wrong word in the first place.

These qualifiers are the words your English teacher dreaded seeing, such as very, too, really, and sort of. When you overuse these words, your writing will seem lazy, as if you haven’t taken the time to look for the right word.

Since ‘very’ is my nemesis, I thought I would provide a list of more powerful words to use to replace ‘very’ ___________.

• very fast                    quick
• very dry                    parched
• very dirty                  squalid
• very afraid               terrified
• very angry                furious
• very hot                    scolding
• very hungry             ravenous
• very large                 colossal
• very clean                spotless
• very clever              brilliant
• very beautiful        exquisite
• very ugly                 hideous
• very pretty             beautiful
• very thin                 gaunt
• very tired               exhausted

I think you get the picture. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope this got you thinking.

-Jan R