Fiction Writing

Prompts for Revising at the Level of Language

The concept of “Throwing Language At It” (Shaccochis)

Getting the lard out (Williams)

Emphasizing nouns and verbs and cutting back all but the essential adjectives. Practically eliminating adverbs.

Sentence rhythm/paragraph rhythm

Punctuation as rhetorical device

Dialogue rhythm and beats

Word choice

Each character’s voice, syntax, word choice

The narrator’s voice, syntax, word choice

The overall tone of the piece

What the piece sounds like when read out loud