How to Write a Novel Quickly 12-12

Hey, learn to write a novel quickly by watching this video series. Also, I use Master Edit to quickly edit my novels. Click here to check it out.

How to Write a Novel Quickly 11-12

Hey, learn to write a novel quickly by watching this video series. Also, I use Master Edit to quickly edit my novels. Click here to check it out.

How to Write a Novel Quickly 10-12

Hey, learn to write a novel quickly by watching this video series. Also, I use Master Edit to quickly edit my novels. Click here to check it out.

How to Write a Novel Quickly 9-12

Hey, learn to write a novel quickly by watching this video series. Also, I use Master Edit to quickly edit my novels. Click here to check it out.

How to Write a Novel Quickly 8-12

Hey, learn to write a novel quickly by watching this video series. Also, I use Master Edit to quickly edit my novels. Click here to check it out.

How to Write a Novel Quickly 7-12

Hey, learn to write a novel quickly by watching this video series. Also, I use Master Edit to quickly edit my novels. Click here to check it out.

Stop abusing "and."

Hey, do you want to make your sentences sing with clarity? Then we should stop overusing “and” like student Mary. Mary tends to overuse “and” rather than using other co-ordinations, such as also, then, besides, likewise--or contrasting co-ordination, such as but, yet, still, however, and nevertheless.

Often times, Mary will even misuse co-ordinations. She needs to learn to co-ordinate her ideas better. This article will help.

She might write, Brad took a vacation, and his health did not improve. What she means to do is contrast two ideas, brad taking a vacation, and how the vacation didn’t improve his health. To do this, she could write, Brad took a vacation, but his health didn’t improve.

There are other ways we can contrast these ideas to avoid overusing “and” or misusing it.

Brad took a vacation, a rest that didn’t improve his health.

Although brad took a long vacation, it didn’t improve his health.

We want to be sure to write in a logical order, so we probably shouldn’t write that his health didn’t improve before writing that he took a long vacation. Here is an example of what I mean.

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Brad’s health didn’t improve, even though he took a long vacation.

In this example, it doesn’t seem so obvious why it can be confusing, but look at the next example.

The bullet shattered the window, after Mary fired the gun.

It’s not like the sentence confuses us, but such sentences can confuse readers. It reads better if you put the actions in order. The gun has to be fired first before the bullet shatters the window.

After Mary fired the gun, the bullet shattered the window.

Of course, Mary could write a much better sentence.

Let’s look at more sentences that abuse “and” and fix them.

A trout will study the bait, and he eats it.

Right now the idea is not clear, even if we write it as one clause,

A trout will study the bait and eat it.

Mary could write this sentence so it is clear what she means.

A trout will study the bait before he eats it.

Also, Mary sometimes falls into the error mentioned before and writes ideas out of order.

A trout eats the bait, but not before carefully studying it.

It is a different type of problem than overusing “and” but is an error Mary makes when she tries to avoid using “and” too often.

Here is another example.

The class bell rang, and nobody left their desks.

This is supposed to be a contrast, so we need to use, but, yet, still, etc.

The class bell rang, but nobody left their desks.

Now the idea is clear.

If Mary wishes to not overuse and, a good rule of thumb is to only use it to connect dependent clauses or phrases, such as …

I could tell by her eyes that she was nervous and wanted to smooth things over.

“Wanted to smooth things over,” is not a sentence.

So Mary should use and to connect ideas of equal importance. Here is another example.

She is an artist, and she is a writer.

However, that could be written better as …

She is an artist and a writer.

John played running back and fullback.

It is very rare that if you are connecting two sentences that “and” will be the best way to co-ordinate ideas. Mary should then look for places in her sentences where she used “and” then see if there is another way to write them.

Instead of using “then” in the above sentence, I could have used “and.”

Easy sentences Mary can fix are like the following.

I wrote to him, and I wrote to her.

I shot the pistol, and I shot the shotgun.

Mary can search for sentences where a complete sentence follows “and” then check if the second sentence could be reduced.

I wrote to him and to her.

I shot the pistol and shotgun.

Mary can look for sentences with and in them, and see if she is trying to contrast ideas. If so, replace and with an appropriate contrasting word. She could correct the following sentence.

Sam hadn’t studied for his math test, and he failed it.

Instead, Mary should write.

Sam hadn’t studied for his math test, consequently he failed it.

She could use “hence,” or even “so,” instead of “consequently.”

Sam hadn’t studied for his math test, so he failed it.

Mary could even write,

Because Sam hadn’t studied for his math test, he failed it.

Of course, there are many other ways to contrast these ideas. Also, even with contrasting ideas, we can often remove the pronoun and comma.

John spent three years in the navy, but he never went aboard a ship.

Rewrite.

John spent three years in the navy but never went aboard a ship.

So, Mary basically needs to avoid sentences like,

Mary was grateful for the school’s financial assistance, and it enabled her to go to college.

Because “and” is incorrect here, she can write,

Mary was grateful for the school’s financial assistance, which enabled her to go to college

Or

Mary was grateful for the school’s financial assistance because it enabled her to go to college.

See if you can fix the following sentence.

She needed to deliver the books by six o’clock, and he will charge her a late fee.

If you can’t figure it out, write a comment, and I will give you the answer.