Tags
Overused Words, Overusing the Word Went, Strong Verbs, Strong vs Weak Words, Strong Words, Weak Verbs, Weak Words, Went, writers, writing, Writing Advice
Stop the presses folks.
I discovered another innocuous verb lying flat on the pages of my manuscript.
“Went”
The word “went” is mild-mannered, but it serves to dam the flow of the story, cause the reader yawn, and make an “action-scene” read as exciting as the phone book.
Like other sneaky little weak words such as “got” and “that,” when edited out, the sentences belt out a song rather than hum off-key. Here are a couple examples of the passive-aggressive “went” torn from the pages of my book.
I went home and cried.
Oh yeah? Big deal. So I changed it to:
Dejected, I crawled home and cried.
~~~~~~~~
Angry, I went into my boss’s office.
Boy, you really showed her! The re-written sentence became:
Angry, I slammed open the door to my boss’s office.
I challenge you to search for the weak word “went” in your writing and see if you can change it to a strong verb with pizazz. Let me know what you find.
Robin Coyle 