How to instantly improve your story

Published on by Jean M. Cogdell

By putting a little zing in your writing with power words.

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Now I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but I’m not promising to instantly make you a NY Times bestseller. No, that’s gonna take a whole lot more information than I possess. However, should I ever be so fortunate as to ascend to such lofty heights, I’ll be in a better position to share the climb.

But back to improving. That’s where I’m at now. Tweaking and changing and learning how to better grab my readers. To that end, I’ve found a couple of terrific posts.

Use Power Words to Spice Up Every Page of Your Book or Website  by Judy Cullins

317 Power Words That’ll Instantly Make You a Better Writer  by Jon Morrow

In these articles, they write about using powerful, thought-provoking words that will not only grab but also hold the attention of a reader. Both Ms. Cullins and Mr. Morrow also provide an extensive list of “power words” that help us get started.

Words Have Power - Jean's Writing
Use the right one!

What did I glean from their posts?

  • Words have power but use the right ones.
  • Smart speakers, as well as writers, sprinkle power words without drawing attention to them.
  • Power words invoke emotion.
  • A story will be bland and dull without a few power words.
  • Not all power words are the same. Some invoke passion, others greed, fear, joy, or create comfort and curiosity.

Here is today’s challenge.

Check one of your favorite books, are power words used in the first paragraph?

Look at your current WIP, do you have power words to grab a reader?

Will adding a power word or two make the paragraph better?

What do you think?

Talk to me – I love reading your comments.

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Images courtesy of Pixabay

22 thoughts on “How to instantly improve your story”

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