Wrandom Writing Tip #2: Never Use 'Was'

Tip #2

Something I've learned over much toil and pain:

NEVER USE 'WAS.'

It's a painful thing to learn, really. Honestly! You think it would be easy to cut out 'was,' but it isn't. It is very, very hard to break writing habits.

So, if you're new to writing, STOP USING 'WAS' NOW. It will save you a world of pain.

You see, 'to-be' verbs (such as was, is, had, been, be, being, are, etc.) are called 'passive voice verbs.' They relate action in the passive-voice, which basically means it's a boring way to write action and there is a much, much better way.

Compare two examples:

"I was going to the store."
"I went to the store."

While neither of these are stellar sentences, they are good examples of deleting passive-voice verbs. Do you see how one relays action as if someone was telling you what happened, while the other describes the action as if it was happening right then?

Cutting out to-be verbs and inserting more precise, descriptive verbs are a good way to start editing a manuscript (once you get the storyline nailed down, that is).

Here is a list of to-be verbs to use as reference:

be
am
is
are
was
were
been
has
have
had
do
did
does
can
could
shall
should
will
would
may
might
must

And any combination of the above (i.e. has been).

Sometimes you may find that you have to use them, and that's okay. But I've found usually when a 'was' is paired with a '-ing' word (was standing) it can be replaced easily by the past tense of the verb (was standing—stood). Get what I'm saying?

By the way, don't you dare go through and try to catch all my to-be verbs. That would be very unkind. ;)

Good luck!

~Anastasia