Pro writing tip: Proper descriptive text

As a “writer”, I always want to improve my craft. Something that I’ve known for a long time but still struggle to apply is the use of variety and descriptors. Now, I tend to think that I have a decent vocabulary. I know what a multitude of words mean and how to use them. However, I am, at heart, a simple country bumpkin. This means that I tend to speak using more basic, down home language and I tend to write like a talk. 

While I don’t always agree with trying to cram every sentence full of fancy words that the general public will have difficulty even pronouncing much less comprehending, writing at a third grade level isn’t necessarily the best writing quality. That is unless you’re writing for third graders, which I don’t. This means that I should do my best to elevate my writing to a more mature and adult vocabulary.

So is my tip simply to not write at a third grade level? Well, technically, in a way, yes.

What it really boils down to is the use of the word “very” and how often it appears in your writing. While “very” is a common word that almost any reader will understand, it should appear in your writing as little as possible. The truth about the word “very” when it comes to writing is that its use is considered by some in the industry as lazy writing. 

Lazy writing? How can a single word make writing lazy?

Well, let’s explore some examples of writing that might better illustrate the point.

First, we’ll start with the basic sentence of “the boy ran fast.” The sentence’s structure is simple and basic. But while the simplistic nature of the sentence makes it easily read by almost every reader from the third grade and up, it isn’t the most exciting sentence. Sure, it has all the basic makings of a sentence with a noun, verb, and adjective, it doesn’t really paint a compelling picture for the reader.

Now, let’s add “very” to our example.

The boy ran very fast.

What does the inclusion of the word “very” really add to that statement? Nothing really. The sentence doesn’t gain much from this word. The reader still knows nothing more about the boy, why he’s running, where he’s running to, what he’s running from, or anything else. Adding the word very only implies that the boy was running perhaps faster than average.

But it really boils down to the fact that you can demonstrate that same effect with better words. Let’s take a look at some examples.

Instead of “ran very fast” use “quickly sprinted.” Instead of “very fast” try the alternatives “swiftly” or “rapidly.” Just compare the two sentences and ask yourself which reads better, more professionally written.

The boy ran fast.

vs

The boy ran swiftly.

Both sentences conjure similar images for a reader but “very fast” is less eloquent and lower quality. Readers, and reviewers too, tend to prefer books with more sophisticated writing. I guess it makes them think the story is of better content or higher quality if the writing seems “fancy” compared to the basic, every day language that so many of us have come to accept as the status quo.

In the past with my original books, I used a service called authors.ai that evaluates a document and sends you a detailed report about the quality of your writing. And if you get the paid report, it will include counts of how many times certain words appear in your writing to suggest which words or phrases might be overused. Words like “very” that show up in that report with high usage counts can be swapped out with words that provide better value to your writing’s quality and thus elevate the entirety of your manuscript. 

And nowadays, thanks to Google, you can easily look up things like “very fast synonym” to find suggestions to replace those pesky “very” phrases. And soon, as AI becomes more integrated with applications and devices, AI services will be extraordinarily handy in helping writers evaluate and improve their work with less and less effort.