Sunday, February 7, 2010

Advice that is Very uh damn uh, Good.

Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very"; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. - Mark Twain

Very damn good advice. I'm tempted to take that advice. It is easier when editing and redrafting to delete expletives and obscenities than it is to remove extraneous adjectives,

Sometimes, if I stop and read certain passages aloud, I can hear by the cadence of the words where the flow slows.

It's a ponderous procedure, and I think using damn and its literary ken would make my rewrites go very uh damn much easier.

Perle Champion

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