Common Language

 All good authors have a wide variation of sentence structure referred to as syntax.  Increased sentence fluency helps writers write more efficiently.  Good syntax makes writing more interesting.  The writer’s sentence is the golfer’s swing.  A well practiced sentence structure helps provide the writer with a receptacle for their thinking.

Sentence Variation

Key: X= a word in a sentence, each line is a sentence. Good Paragraph: Bad Paragraph: XXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX XXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX

Two keys to good writing

1. Nurture your Nouns: Use adjectives to add color and flavor to your nouns. The swarthy, sunburned, ravenous pirates were in need of a mother’s love. The creaky, molded, water soaked, barnacle laden ship was a home away from home. 2. Vitalize your Verbs: Use Adverbs to provide more detail to your verbs. Captain Rogers quietly, but forcefully told the crew to hold steady. The first mate glared venomously at his fallen foe.

Great Lead Techniques

 Sailing through the sea mist, pillaging the coastline, reeking havoc in all direction, it’s a pirate’s life for me.  Gasping for breath, churning feet through the water, inhaling the cool ocean, the pirate returned to Davey Jones’ Locker.  Swishing, ripping, tearing through the air, the pirate’s sword looked menacing.

 With waves crashing over the bow, with the wind screaming through the sails, with creeks and cracks bellowing from the mast, the pirate ship ebbed toward destruction.  With an arrow in his back, with a sword puncture in his spleen, with a blackened eye, Captain Rogers drew his last breath.  With screams from innocent villagers, with the musty smell of the ocean bog, with a blood stained deck, a smile lit across the pirate’s face.

 To fight a pirate is inviting disaster.  To defeat a small band of pirates is no small task.  To sail with the wind is a pirate’s destiny.

 By keeping a dagger under his pillow, Captain Rogers quieted the mutinous whispers in the night.  By eating a lime a day, the pirates staved off scurvy.  By stealing the captain’s parrot, the town’s people uncovered the location of the buried treasure.

 Instead of making him walk the plank, Captain Rogers used his hook creatively.  Rather than drinking fresh water, the insane pirate preferred the salty stuff.  Instead of buying a parrot, Captain Ferris perched a My Little Pony on his shoulder.

 What the pirates needed was a few good days of rest in the sun.  When Captain Rogers was on dry land, his spirit grew malcontent.  Why the crew fancied themselves honorable, no one will ever know.

 Like the hellish brute of a father before him, Captain Rogers knew no compassion.  Unlike the pirates of children’s stories, these morbid monsters spoke with the slashing of swords.

Other Techniques

 The pirate rubbed his aching leg, yet it was made of wood.  The parrot spoke pleasantly, but the crew knew he was a biter.  Captain Rogers’ eye patch had a mystical quality, for he could see through the thickest of fog.

 The shipwrecked pirates kissed the sandy beach, hugged the palm trees, and embraced the island like a long lost love.  Captain Rogers hurtled the deck rail, bolted into the boat, and plunged his strength into the oars.  The rabid swashbucklers swooshed their blades, sliced their steel, and stabbed their points violently into the sails of the vessel.

 The pirate was dealt a glancing blow, a blow that rendered him unconscious.  The ship sailed into evil waters, evil waters that echoed with the voices of lost sailors.  The parrot was aware of more than they knew, more than any of them wanted to believe.

 The crew, a motley band of scurvy ridden vermin, set out on an epic journey.  The ship, a barely afloat bucket of rust, rested in the marina like a wounded seal.  Captain Rogers’ teeth, a collection of rotting brown maggot holes, smiled at the enemy with contempt.

 Captain Rogers was the meanest man alive, and yet he’d found true love.  The Pirate ship was held together with twine, moss, and sap, and yet it was the most seaworthy vessel in the fleet.  He never learned to swim, and yet he lived his whole life traversing the ocean blue.

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 aboard  about  above  across  after  against  along  among  around  at  before  behind  below  beneath  beside  besides  between  beyond  but  by  Etc.