Okay, here's the deal. When did people become "that" instead of "who?" I hear this on the radio on the TV ( and shouldn't news reporters know better )? and unless my memory is wrong, have even read it in places. Why? How hard is it to remember that people require a "who"? And here's another--myself instead of me. My boss did this all this time and it drove me crazy. Are we so afraid to be in the spotlight that we have to say, "So-and-so and myself did such-and-so?"
Over the next four months, I'm going to write about Showing, Not Telling a story. I've been reading a lot lately, and wow, I'm amazed at how many writers tell a story, rather than show it. A recent series I've read, the author actually told step by step how he made dinner. Seriously. Something like this: and then he turned on the stove. Then he put the broth in a bowl. Then he added flour. Then he mixed it. Then he added it to the pan to make a gravy. I'm not kidding. It went on and on. He even told how he set the table from taking the dishes out of the cupboard and silverware out of the drawer. Now don't get me wrong, the dish es he made sounded delicious, but there's a way to give a recipe without step by step. Besides, he never said how much of anything he added. So today, I'm starting with Avoiding Adverbs. Session 1- Avoiding Adverbs –. Writing without adverbs??? Then how do we describe people, tone of voice? Some writers think adverbs are the onl...
