We\u2019re going to deal with the second of the things that an agent (or their assistant) has uppermost in their mind when they consider your submission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quite simply, they\u2019re thinking:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can this person write?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Agents see hundreds of manuscripts and you\u2019ll need yours to say, from that very first page and paragraph, \u201cYes, this is good prose. You are in the hands of a confident, capable writer. You will not be wasting your time with what follows.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n What are you aiming for? You are aiming for prose that is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you can check those three boxes, you\u2019re doing fine. John Grisham isn\u2019t some kind of prose writing superstar. Nor is Suzanne Collins. Nor is Stephen King. Their genius all lies elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\r\n Send us your first 500 words and be in with a chance to win incredible prizes and take part in our live final. <\/p>\n Entry is \u00a310 or free for our Premium Members.<\/p>\n<\/div> If you can write clear, economical and precise prose<\/a> \u2013 and it isn\u2019t hard to do \u2013 you\u2019re basically forcing the agent to read on. To judge your novel on its merits. To give your story a chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s what you need to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not sure what prose writing is<\/strong>? It\u2019s basically the opposite of poetry. Any novel is written in prose. So is the text in any newspaper. So is the letter you write to your bank or your doctor or your secret lover. When novelists talk about prose style, they really just mean the way you write. Does your writing sound good or bad? Does it do the job you want it to do? Or does the way you express things always let you down? Wikipedia has more on what prose is<\/a>, if you want to know that.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Clich\u00e9 is the enemy of every author. And you recognise it when you see it, right? We\u2019re talking about things like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s like watching a movie we\u2019ve all seen before. It\u2019s language that\u2019s stale, old, past its sell-by date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But cliche creeps in all over the place. The flame-haired passionate redhead? She\u2019s an old, overused stereotype.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The midnight hostage exchange in a deserted warehouse? Seen it, read it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The rose-covered cottage with a smiling old lady and lots of home-made cakes. Yep, nothing new there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The simple fact is that wherever you grab for pre-made stereotypes \u2013 scenes, people and settings that we\u2019ve seen a million times before \u2013 you bore your reader that tiny bit. You distance<\/em> them from the text, when what you want is to hug them close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, look for cliches everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then kill them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Need more help?<\/strong> We have a brilliant video tutorial on Cliches \u2013 it\u2019s part of our How To Write course and is available free to members of Jericho Writers. If you\u2019re serious about writing, you probably want to consider joining us. You get tons of free learning materials, live online classes, an active and supportive community, and so much more besides. Learn more<\/a> or join us<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s start with an example. Consider this sentence:<\/p>\n\n\n\n She lay in the early morning light listening to the roar of traffic softly rising like mist in the streets.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n What do you think of that? Good? Bad? Half and half?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I hope you said that it\u2019s an awful sentence, because it is. If I were an agent and I encountered this sentence on page 1 of a submission, I would read no further. Why? Because the writer isn\u2019t in control of their language and that proves to me that they aren\u2019t yet ready to go pro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So let\u2019s see what\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe lay in the early morning light<\/em>\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s fine. Nothing wrong with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201clistening to the roar of traffic<\/em>\u201d \u2013 yep, OK. (Although why is there a roar of traffic in the early morning? Unless there\u2019s a very specific setting which answers that question, I worry that we\u2019re not really dealing with early<\/em> morning here, in which case why say so?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201csoftly rising like mist in the streets<\/em>\u201d \u2013 OK, that\u2019s where this sentence collapses completely. If traffic roars, it can\u2019t softly rise. You could have a murmur of traffic doing something softly. Or a roar of traffic doing something loudly or violently. But roar + soft<\/em> just doesn\u2019t work. The two ideas are fighting each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that\u2019s not all of it. Mist doesn\u2019t rise, it just hangs. It\u2019s a stationary image, not a moving one. So that\u2019s another fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And why say \u2018In the streets<\/em>\u2018? Obviously cars are in streets (so why bother to remind us?) And if you want to talk about a slow-rising mist, then isn\u2019t that more naturally a rural metaphor? In which case the word streets<\/em> again introduces an awkwardness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In short, the writer of that sentence failed the Accuracy test, because they weren\u2019t sure enough what they wanted to say and ended up just serving up a mess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, and if you think I\u2019m being picky here, then I admit it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n YES! I\u2019m picky.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n So should you be. Prose<\/a> style matters \u2013 <\/em>and it\u2019s good that it matters!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Books are made out of sentences and sentences are made out of words. If you’re not very picky indeed about your word choices and sentence constructions, you will never be (or deserve to be) a real professional author. So be picky. It\u2019s the first ingredient of success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you write, treat your manuscript as though you had to pay 10p a word for the privilege of writing. Look at this paragraph, for example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n He walked slowly away, trying not to make any kind of sound. His feelings were in a turmoil, roiling and boiling, a tumult of emotion. He couldn\u2019t help reiterating to himself again and again that he had done the right thing; that he had done everything he could. He insisted to himself that she, too, would surely see this one day.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Ugh. Let\u2019s try that again. Here\u2019s the same example, tightened up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He crept away, his feelings in turmoil. He had done the right thing, he told himself. One day, she would see this, too.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Almost a third of the length. And everything about it is better. It doesn\u2019t just say it faster, it says it better. In the first version, all that verbiage just got in the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And again: you just can\u2019t be too picky here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s say you had a sentence in your book that was 12 words long, when it could say the same thing in just 9-10 words. Would you make the change? Or would you just think, nah, who cares?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I certainly hope that you said you\u2019d make the change, because look at it like this. What if you write a 120,000 word book that could be reduced to 90 or 100,000 words without losing any material content<\/em>? That book would be 20-30,000 words overweight . . . and would be way too baggy for any top-end literary agent to get involved with. But you will only cut that 20-30,000 word surplus by finding the 2-3 unnecessary words in that 12 word sentence and cutting them out. That\u2019s what that part of the editing process is all about. There are no shortcuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In short: good writers work at their writing. Getting your prose style right is all about acute attention to detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If a bad sentence bothers you, you just need to keep going until you get it right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You have to care about your sentences \u2013<\/em><\/strong> If you\u2019re not open to cutting your work<\/a> in service of your novel, making it the best you can, we\u2019re in trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Another amateurish trait is that of not trusting the reader. We get many clients who write something rather like the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n He rolled in agony. Fire shot through every limb. He felt like screaming out in pain. His entire face was distorted with the grotesque effort of not shouting out.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n That uses many very forceful words (agony, fire, screaming, distorted, grotesque). You don\u2019t need that many words to do the job. It\u2019s as though the writer of this snippet doesn\u2019t trust the reader to get the point, so he\/she keeps making the same point again and again like some classic pub bore. Readers will \u2018get it\u2019, as long as you write in clear, forceful, non-repetitive language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s another example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What do you think of the following little dialogue \/ micro-scene?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes?\u201d I nudged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, only . . .\u201d she hesitated, then stopped completely. Waved her hands at me to signal she was done, or that I should look away. Some gesture like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo, yes, we should invite him?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOf course. Fine. Whatever you want. It\u2019s not like I care.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n We don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on here of course \u2013 presumably, if we read this in a book, we\u2019d have more background to make sense of it all. But it\u2019s pretty clear, isn\u2019t it, that the woman here has some set of quite strong, deep emotions about the guy they might or might not invite to something \u2013 and she\u2019s not that keen to talk about what she feels.#<\/p>\n\n\n\n And you got all that, without the writer having to spell anything out at all. The writer just dropped stuff on the page and let you figure it out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So now take a look at this way of doing things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes?\u201d I nudged her, anxious to know what she would think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYes, only . . .\u201d she hesitated, then stopped completely. She waved her hands at me to signal something. I guess she was quite conflicted about me inviting him. Maybe she was a little bit angry, plus a little embarrassed. Her body language was more than consistent with these two emotions, so I decided that I should try to clarify the situation in order to identify her opinions more precisely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo, yes, we should invite him?\u201d I said, hoping that this time I would get a more detailed answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOf course. Fine. Whatever you want. It\u2019s not like I care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But although she said she didn\u2019t care, it was evident to me that she did. As a matter of fact, when she spoke the words \u201cwhatever you want\u201d, it struck me that maybe she was being passive-aggressive, that although she said<\/em> \u201cwhatever you want\u201d, maybe what she actually means was, \u201cNo, I\u2019d prefer not to see him.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s terrible, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it\u2019s terrible, partly, because this version of the dialogue massively breaks the \u201ckeep it tight\u201d rule. But it\u2019s also terrible because it just lectures the reader in this horrible heavy-handed way on stuff that the reader can perfectly well figure out for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s even worse than that, actually, because in the first example, all the nuances of the situation were left open to the reader to figure out. In the second example, all that clunky explanation just crushes the nuances underfoot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The moral of this story?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trust your reader<\/strong>. They\u2019re smart like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (And get more dialogue help<\/a>, if you want it.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n To stick with this theme, and especially when it comes to descriptive writing, double adjectives<\/a> are almost always a no-no. The second adjective almost always weakens the first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You want an example? OK, so take a look at this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n He leaned over the black iron railings, the coarse grey cloth of his sleeve catching on the sharp, treacherous spike.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Deleting any superfluous adjective improves this description straightaway:<\/p>\n\n\n\n He leaned over the iron railings, the coarse cloth of his sleeve catching on the sharp spike.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s better, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n But I hope you notice that we can go one step better again. Every sentence needs nouns and verbs, while adjectives are definitely optional. And in many cases, a sentence just doesn\u2019t need any adjectives at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So in fact, the best way to write that sentence would be simply:<\/p>\n\n\n\n As he leaned over the railings, his sleeve caught on the spike.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Good writers use adjectives sparingly. And if you’re in doubt, write the sentence without the adjectives and see if it works better. If it\u2019s actually missing something then reinsert the adjective. Your prose will instantly tighten and feel more alive, more taut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Want more help on descriptive writing? Then get it here<\/a> and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Short sentences are strong. So use them. But too many? All short sentences? They\u2019ll irritate the reader. You\u2019ll annoy them. A lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aren\u2019t you annoyed already? I bet you are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Equally, if you work with only longer sentences, you risk losing the reader, who\u2019ll miss that bit of grit, of sharpness, that shorter sentences bring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same thing applies across the board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The secret, always, is variety \u2013 and flexing your language according to the mood and moment of your story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So if your hero gets brutally dumped by his long time partner? Then look in detail at his emotions!<\/p>\n\n\n\n But if you\u2019re in the middle of a tense action scene? Now\u2019s probably not the time for all that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, it sounds obvious if you put it like that, but it\u2019s not always so obvious as you write your text. One great trick, used by plenty of pro authors,is to read your work aloud. If it starts to grate with you, or if the rhythms seem awkward to say, then stop and rewrite!<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019ll be worth your time, guaranteed!<\/p>\n\n\n Make the hardest part of writing easier with our free plotting worksheets.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n
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\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n The First 500 Novel Competition is back for 2025!<\/h2>
9 Ways To Perfect Your Prose Style:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Kill Clich\u00e9s<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Be Accurate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Keep It Short<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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because your entire novel is made of them!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nTrust Your Reader<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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![\"Prose-style-writing-tips-make-your-writing-shine\"](\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/optional-header-176-prose-style.jpg\" "\\"prose")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nCull Those Adjectives<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Mix Your Rhythms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Free Plotting Worksheets<\/h3>\n\t\t\t