Category: zombie words

Categories
Creative writing The Good Reader zombie words

Do or do not. There is no try. More Zombie Words

A picture of a zombie with the text "Do. Do Not. There is no try. Destroy your zombie words. #writingroom101"

I’ll try and begin to…ah, see how easy it is? This week’s zombies, neatly corralled in five words. The “tried to”/“began to” habit is another instance of distance words that push readers away from your story. If you’re looking for an inspirational truism in the vein of “just write something, it doesn’t matter how good […]

Categories
Creative writing The Good Reader zombie words

Could? Do better. Destroy the king of the Zombie Words

Could is a zombie word that will eat your reader's brains.
Photo by Yohann LIBOT on Unsplash

What words would you put in your writers’ Room 101? Are you an exponent of the “said is dead” campaign? Would you ban all adverbs, ruthlessly? My leading candidate for the dictionary naughty corner is “could”. It seems harmless. I even put it in the title of this post, but as a former print editor, […]