The Passive Language

This blog blurb is about the use of passive voice in writing. What is passive voice? Is it really bad? Below are examples of its usage.

The pen is being held by me. - This is in the passive voice.

I am holding a pen. - This is the active voice.

Use of the passive voice is not a grammatical error. It's a stylistic issue that is related to clarity. There are times when using the passive voice can prevent a reader from understanding what you mean.

Now when I considered the above when editing the first draft of my first novel, I felt it important that my readers to understand what I was saying in the active voice where possible. Actually, I wanted my readers to understand the meaning and clarity of what I was writing for them to enjoy the story. As I continue to read the passive and active voice, I began to see the subtle differences in the voice. The next part of this discussion is something I found I was over using.

The use of to be is considered passive voice that you can’t always avoid. What I discovered in my writing, to my amazement, is that I used to be more than I had realized. With that in mind, when I wrote something and fell into only using to be, I would stop, look at what I was saying, and change it, when possible, to active voice.

I think I understand the basic concepts of the passive vs active voice and I continue to read about it. I know I still need work, because I’m not ready to teach it. I talked about it here in this blog in order to bring attention, more to myself, and to those grasping with this structure.

I would appreciate comments from anyone on this subject and how they dealt with it.

Keep smiling.

The Daily Word Count

What is the daily word count dilemma? What is the motivation? I have read a fair amount on this topic and I get a mixture of insights. Therefore, let me clarify my interpretation on this subject. I get the idea, that as a writer, you need to discipline yourself to write on a regular basis. Now that might sound like a no-brainer, to write, you actually need to write. I suspect the writers that are already making a sufficient income from their works, have discovered how to discipline themselves enough in order to get projects done. What about the rest of us? I know that after working all day long, or whatever shift you’re on, that when you get home, you might not feel like writing. That of course can be a challenge getting your writing undertaking completed. Now the count range I have read has been from 200 to 1000 words per day. When I first began writing, it took a little while to reach the 500 words per day. To go beyond that, it took discipline to keep writing. Let me pause here. At this point in my writing career, I didn’t know if I could be successful at writing, and more importantly, whether I would like it as a vocation. My bucket list goal was to complete one novel and to get it done as soon as I possibly could. I set my novel length at between 80,000 to 100,000 words. With that, I had a formula to calculate the time it would take. I looked at 250 words per day, which roughly worked out to between 45 and 60 weeks. If I upped it to 500 words, then I was looking at 23 to 29 weeks. Okay, the next level for me, a thousand words, 11 to 14 weeks. That timing for me at that point was not bad. But 2000 words per day and 5 to 8 weeks sounded even better. My personal time limit was two months for first draft. I had the numbers it would take to accomplish my goal. Now all I had to do is do the work. Now getting up to 2000 words a day was challenging. Some days fell short and other days went over the 2000 word tally, after a time. During the word count pursuit, I found that I could break the 5000 word per day count. It was during one of those writing days that words flowed like a river. I would like to say that everyday was like that. No, it was not. What I did discover is the previously thought barriers were removed. I have once thus far broken the 10,000 words per day barrier. For the two-part Zytainium second book in the story, I average between 2000 to 6000 words per day, with time off to catch up on other parts of life. For you writers that have the extra time to complete your masterpiece, choose a word count rhythm that works for you. Just don’t be afraid to occasionally break a word count barrier that you haven’t done before.

Dedication and Appreciation for the Help

As a writer, I discuss in my blog, some of my thoughts I have as a writer. I touch upon the thoughts behind the ideas that inspired my novels. One of the things that I have overlooked is the help and assistance that my spouse has given me. She has read and edited the novels and one short story that I have written. I tend to drop words and still miss them when I re-read my works. She catches those errors and other grammatical errors that I make. She will point out a section and ask, ‘what are trying to say here.’ I look at the section and think to myself, what was I thinking. In the novel, Alice, she was a huge help at making sure the voice was the correct gender all the time. Even the cover of Alice, was her design which after a few trials, she captured on film.

Thank you Bren for all that you do.

Ideas Behind Alice

When I wrote my novel Alice, I wanted to do something different, at least for me. First, I wanted to write a paranormal fantasy. Secondly, the main character was female and the story prospective was from Alice. Now I know there are a lot of novels called Alice or have the name in it. I contemplated changing the name to another, but Alice just seemed to fit. It was the right name for me for my character. I thought writing a fantasy in current times would be easier than science fiction. With science fiction, I had to account for names and concepts that I really had to think about in order to describe it properly to the reader. Other simple things like the use of time, i.e., seconds, minutes, hours, days, etc, would necessarily be the same as earth. I didn’t want to describe the orbital rotation period of a planet because it added nothing to the story. So, with a fantasy based on earth in today’s time, those challenges went away. As I developed the story, it became apparent that describing things in a paranormal environment had challenges in itself. The use of powers not normally seen and keeping them consistent was something that I had to keep in mind. I found while writing the novel, which I had to go back and change concepts that were not working for where the story was going. The other challenge was telling the story from a female, which worked well in the story I was relating, although I had to stop and ensure that I did not change the gender voice. Now I did enjoy, taking myself outside of the box, to write this story. Attempting to write from a female prospective is a challenge onto itself. It forces me to consider points of view that I normally don’t do. I have in mind, how the story will continue, and look forward to reviving those characters again to see where there lives go.

Keep going.

Zytainium - Next

In the science fiction series, Zytainium, I started with an idea of others making it seem that controlling a system of planets energy producing mineral was the way to dominate the galaxy. And it is. The first book went through that struggle to fend off those who would take by force what was not theirs. In the second book of the series, I expanded the idea that it was not the energy itself that was the source of trouble, but what that energies true potential was. With that came the suggestion of a even more advanced civilization that did not want any new members to the advanced species club. My stories main character Tarin, realized that if his people didn’t begin to understand their destiny, that they were doomed. When I began writing the second book of the series, I realized that there was much to be told for it to make sense. So much that I really couldn’t break up the story. The second book would be the length of two novels. I consider a good read in the 100,000 words category. I have decided that the second book will have two parts. I’m currently two-thirds of the way through the second part of the second book and the story can still go in many different directions. I will keep writing and see where the story logically takes me.

Stay tuned.

New Version of On (my) Writing

As a new writer, I read blogs, news articles, and commentaries from other writers. I read tip and techniques compiled, from sources whenever I come across them. I knew I'm still learning and have a long way to go. Thus far, I have written over 300,000 words. I figure after 500,000 words, a half million, a milestone for me, that I should have learned something. And I have, even up to this point, learned something I mean. That something is recognizing weaknesses or nuances in writing. For example, I suspected and it was confirmed in my first novel that I overused the word, "but." I somehow would set up my sentence structure that to complete it, required the use of "but". I overused it to join two thoughts together. I had to rethink how I was going to write down those thoughts and how to better write them without overusing a word. As I continued to write, I noticed that I would overuse other words, such as, "to be," which is considered passive voice. I researched the passive voice and continue to study it with the goal in mind of improving my writing. Writing in a particular fashion, at least for me, is not an easy thing to change. The changing of my writing structure is not a simple thing. It felt uncomfortable. Despite that, I experimented with how to record a thought that would make sense to the reader. I heard a saying, 'when the student is ready, the teacher will appear'. To me, with writing in mind, I have found that if I overuse a word, and I realize it, I search for examples of that, to find what others have done, or examples of how to overcome the situation. At that point, I felt I was ready to change it up. I do admit, I have a stubborn streak that takes awhile before I'm willing to do something about it. In my next blog, I will talk about my dilemma of dividing a story into two parts because of its length.

Keep smiling.