One Small Tip

If you’d like to make one small change to strengthen your writing, become aware of how often you begin a sentence with “There is…” or “There are…” Almost always, you can revise the sentence to eliminate that opener, and by being more concise, convey information more efficiently. It makes for smoother, brighter reading.

Example #1: There are too many bugs in this pie.

More direct: Too many bugs swim in this pie.

Example #2: There is a small, ugly boy living on my block.

More direct: A small, ugly boy lives down the block.

The one clear exception that I know of occurs in dialogue, because people often naturally start sentences this way in real life. (“There’s no way I’m going with you.”)

Bonus: you’ll create a subtle difference between the spoken voices in your novel and the interior ones or direct descriptions.

Happy writing!