Death to Your Manuscript - the "Passive Voice". 
Ruben D. Gonzales

Some editor said the passive voice is death to your writing, like -“It was a dark and stormy night”. I’ve seen an editor’s query instructions state, “Don’t open your story with a weather report.” I think the two warnings are different, but both probably wise. A long time ago an editor critiqued a piece I wrote and sent it back with the words written in red – “Take out was.”

Have you ever used the “find” function on your word program to scan through text to locate the scoundrel passive “was”? Or equally lame adjectives scattered about your prose? My early manuscript drafts are all on paper, typed with an old portable Remington typewriter. I carried that typewriter all over four continents and after five years brought it home with me, unfortunately the passive voice came along with the typewriter. Thank goodness for editing software. So much easier to edit with a “find” function in a word program. Just enter “was” into the search box and hit the find button. When I see how many times I’ve used the word it is still a surprised to me.

I write in bursts and fits, sometimes working on several different projects per day. I tend to wait until the first draft of a book is completed before I go back and edit out the passive and other weaknesses of my writing. I claim that stopping to fix grammar and tense slows my creative drive. I know others edit as they go, completing massive amounts of text, perfectly written, ready for the press. I’m not like that. It may be a little because of the language differences, English is not my first language. Some say I pronounce words unusually; like the first sound in Chicago – pronounce like Chicano – not like – “she-cago”.

A friend of mine is with our local chapter of Sisters in Crime and her career as an editor is 50 years long. She wrote a book on editing that won an Agatha Award, and it’s a wonderful and instructive book. She offers many “tips” for editing out things that can “kill” a manuscript. After reviewing one of my manuscripts she returned it to me with kind words, but with a note suggesting I read page 185 in her book. That section of her book deals with dialogue and the importance of pacing. It was great advice, or should I say, “Her advice makes me a better writer.” I’ve got a copy of her book on my desk which I diligently use during the course of the editing process. Blast that lady, how did she know I needed so much help!

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"Murder on Black Mountain"
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