*Tips:
1. Be simple
2. Be yourself (ie, natural and sincere)
3. Be precise (avoid trite, vague and meaningless words)
4. Be concise
*Show, don't tell
Get readers involved in your story, make them feel
with and
for your characters. One way of doing this is to show characters' feelings and personalities
through action and dialogue (which is much better than just telling: Mrs Cratchit felt indignant when Bob proposed a toast to Scrooge. She wanted to give Mr Scrooge a piece of her mind...)
I. Active verbs
1. Verbs energize.An action verb generates more drama and emotion. Compare:
The children wept when their dog died. (Strong verbs: wept, died)
The children shed tears over the death of their dog. (Nouns: tears, death)
The children were sad when their dog was dead. (Weak verb to be + adjectives: sad, dead)
Use vivid verbs, powerful verbs, to fizz up the action, paint word-pictures, and evoke feelings in your readers.
2. use more evocative words
walk -- saunter, stride, strut, swagger
water can -- gush, gurgle, spurt or squirt out
villains may -- scoff, sneer, jeer or taunt
As for the loot, let it -- gleam, glitter, sparkle or dazzle
student, apprentice, disciple, junior, learner, novice, scholar, undergraduate
skinny, bony, angular, emaciated, gaunt, malnourished, scrawny, slender, thin, anorexic
run, amble, bound, dart, dash, gallop, lope, scamper, sprint
vacation, break, fiesta, furlough, holiday, intermission, layoff, recess, respite, sabbatical
busy, active, diligent, employed, occupied, perservering, unavailable, employed
fear, dread, apprehension, anxiety, panic, terror
fat, obese, chubby, stout, plump, stocky
friend, companion, buddy, acquaintance, colleague, playmate
3. Strong verbs also evoke the music of words. When choosing verbs, discern with your inner ear.
A. with Onomatopoeia
murmur, babble, clang, mumble, moan, drone, buzz, hiss, sigh, ooze, churn, crack, quiver, rustle, shiver, sizzle, flicker, whirl, twirl, tumble, swoon.
I chatter over stony ways,
In little sharps and trebles,
I bubble into eddying bays,
I babble on the pebbles...
I murmur under moon and stars
In brambly wildernesses;
I linger by my shingly bars;
I loiter round my cresses.
(From The Brook by Alfred Lord Tennyson)
B. with Alliteration
C. with Vowel Sounds
D. with Assonance
for a touch of warm humor, as in how now, brown cow?; for a lighthearted, hopeful tone, as in star light, star bright, first star I see tonight; or to evoke a sense of awe, as in O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds...
the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain
E. with Resonance
The moan of doves in immemorial elms,
And murmur of innumerable bees.
(the resonance of the m, n and ng sounds)
F.with Repetition
II. "Connotation Denotation" Synergy
A.Denotation may delight readers:
Choose words that precisely fit your meaning. Words do not work in isolation; they complement one another. When all the words fit and flow together in a harmonious whole, the result is a delightful experience for the reader. eg:
In all England, I do not believe that I could have fixed on a situation so completely removed from the stir of society. A perfect misanthropist's heaven: and Mr. Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between us. A capital fellow! He little imagined how my heart warmed towards him when I beheld his black eyes withdraw so suspiciously under their brows, as I rode up, and when his fingers sheltered themselves, with a jealous resolution, still further in his waistcoat, as I announced my name.
(From Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte)
B. Connotations may enrich one another
Sentences are especially potent when constructed with emotionally-charged words because of the rich interactions among their connotations; each word enriches the others. eg:
The kettle, growing mellow and musical, began to have irrepressible gurglings in its throat, and to indulge in short vocal snorts, which it checked in the bud, as if it hadn't quite made up its mind yet, to be good company. Now it was, that after two or three such vain attempts to stifle its convivial sentiments, it threw off all moroseness, all reserve, and burst into a stream of song so cosy and hilarious... With its warm breath gushing forth in a light cloud which merrily and gracefully ascended a few feet, then hung about the chimney-corner as its own domestic Heaven, it trolled its song with that strong energy of cheerfulness, that its iron body hummed and stirred upon the fire.
(From The Cricket on the Hearth, by Charles Dickens)
III. Abstract vs Concrete
eg. Concrete --> Abstract: Labrador puppy -- puppy -- pet (Ladder of abstraction)
1. Good writers move up and down the ladder of abstraction, using abstract words for a broad-brush approach and filling in the details with concrete words.
2. Connect abstract words with concrete imagery
One way of these is by using simile and metaphor. eg.
Cold (abstract word) as the spray of the rock-beating surf (concrete words and image).
(From The Destruction of Sennacherib by Lord Byron)
Secret, and self-contained, and solitary (abstract words) as an oyster (concrete word and image).
(From A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens)
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow (concrete words and image) of death (abstract word)...
(From The Bible, Psalm 23: 4a)
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength (abstract word); they shall soar on wings as eagles (concrete words and image).
(From The Bible, Isaiah 40:31)
“常识”这两个字，在当下的中国语境里，包含着不那么常识的含义。到了这样的时刻，我们每个人都应该审视一下，我们内心深信的观念到底有哪些，而我们这个社会还幸保的常识有哪些。
常识的价值。在某些语境中，常识的对立面是被扭曲的认知、被灌输的想法，例如黑五类的子女都是敌人和反革命；在某些语境中，常识的对立面是一些虚假宣传，例如水稻亩产13万斤；在另一些语境中，常识的对立面是貌似高深实则骗人的伪知识，例如变水为油的高科技；有些时候，强调常识只是因为人们在做一些明显违背常识的事情，例如在食物中添加有害物质……正是因为常识的这些对立面始终很强大，所以媒体经常反复申说常识，呼吁民众要相信常识、回到常识、坚守常识。
媒体在肯定常识的时候，实际上是在试图唤醒个人的觉醒与自信，期待每一个人能够依靠对常识的信仰而摆脱被灌输和被催眠的命运，期待每一个人能在常识的基础上独立思考，作出自己的判断。或者说，常识是启蒙者心中的信念，正因为每个人心中都埋有常识的种子，所以每个人都有可能成长为具有独立思考、理性判断能力，且有美好道德行为的公民。
媒体总是在具体语境中使用常识这个概念，却几乎从来没有自我拷问过，常识的定义到底是什么，常识的范围到底在哪里？以及，人们是如何获得常识的？常识是与生俱来的还是社会赋予的？中国的启蒙话语最初找到常识这个概念的时候，互联网才刚刚出现，作为强大话语主体的网民还不存在。现在，网络是中国最活跃也最具影响力的话语阵地，网民的话语几乎是原生态地呈现出来。在这些声音里，我们看得到理性和道德，宽容和节制；也看得到盲目和愚昧，还有假借道德的暴力。比单一的反复宣传好一万倍，这几乎是一个开放的、自由的话语世界。在这个众生喧哗的场域再谈常识，就显得概念模糊定义不清。
常识的标准解释是普通的知识，至少有两种含义：其一是不言自明、不需论证的知识；其二是社会普遍认可的共识。不言自明的常识，多半是事实性的，例如太阳东升西落；社会普遍认可的常识，则多半包含了价值判断，例如腐败是坏的，清廉是好的；杀害无辜是有罪的，沉冤昭雪是正义的。启蒙者过去强调相信常识，其实就是相信，有一些价值不需要社会塑造也不会被社会侵蚀，有一些信念不言自明：例如诚实是好的，欺骗是坏的；人的生命是最宝贵的；损人利己是应该被惩罚的。可是仔细想一想，我们确实很难说这些价值是人性的天然，那么它来自何处呢？如果不是来自当下社会的激励，那么只能是来自过往世代的记忆。但是人凭借什么来抵抗经验的教育、现实的规则？就连电视剧都不假思索地让官员家庭阔气豪华，你凭什么认为，腐败不是这个社会的常识？至少是在这个社会生存下去所必须了解的知识。一个腐败的社会经济高速发展，于是甚至有人说腐败是发展阶段的必需，这个时候，“腐败是坏的”这一常识在哪里、怎么办？在一个从一开始就没有以常识来奠基的社会形态里，即使是人心最深处的常识，都会受到挑战。当历史被书写为明君贤臣的光荣荆棘路，常识就很容易表现为，美好世界需要的是一个或一群道德完人和智力超人，而不是一个公正有效的制度。在一个从一开始就试图塑造人心的社会里，常识不可能是一个安稳的领域，它一定是被书写的，它一定是被争夺的。
一个民众踊跃发言的网络世界已经打开了，中国民众的社会常识、基本价值到底怎样，在这里可以仔细观察；中国人的几乎是下意识的信念如何被社会规则潜移默化地塑造，在这里可以找到线索。因此，常识在当下，也是一个需要讨论的问题。开放平台自由发言的下一步就是辩论，常识再也不能继续充当一个不必讨论无可争议的武器，它本身正是一个最值得讨论的话题。