Angela Scott
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"Was" is a Dirty Four-Letter Word

4/27/2011

16 Comments

 
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I know “was” is technically only three letters, but I still hate that stupid word. It sneaks its way into my first drafts, littering my sentences with its presence, and overall fills my life with utter and complete misery. It forces me to reevaluate my very existence as a writer--I suck. I really, really suck—and taunts me, daring me to replace it with something better.

Okay, so I’m being overdramatic, but I still hate that word. I do. Most of the time I don’t even see it there, my eyes gloss over it. It isn’t until I submit my work to my critique members for review that the “was’s” become noticeable—they kindly highlight them in bright yellow for me (sweet, huh?).

And I swear, honest I do, those “was’s” magically appeared in my manuscript, scrambling my sentences and popping up like weeds. Because I know I couldn’t possibly have written that many. No way. Not me. I know to use them sparingly. I know I should write with more description, more pomp and zeal.

But guess what? I did.

I wrote them. Every one of them.

I am . . . *gasp* . . . a “was” whore.

Yep, I said it. I hang my head in shame and humiliation. I use the word “was” far more than I should. A bad habit in need of breaking. But how? How does someone like me fix it? How do I write with stronger and more engaging verbs?

Then, as if in answer to lift me from my self-loathing, I received an email: 6 Things You Should Know about “Was,” by the Grammar Divas . Now, most often times (I’m being honest here) these are the kind of emails or blog posts I delete because in my mind, grammar equals boring. Bluck. Phooey. I don’t need no stinkin’ grammar.

But if this truly was an answer (there I go using “was” again), then I needed to heed it as a sign, and read it. So I did.

And my eyes widened with pure understanding—just because I used the word “was” didn’t mean I sucked a lot, only a little, and somehow knowing that made me feel better.

The Grammar Divas said that “was” is okay to use in a rough draft. It’s the “go-to verb.”  When trying to get all your ideas down on paper, sometimes it’s enough to know the hero was sad. Instead of wasting valuable time searching for the perfect verb, just throw it down, move on, and plan to fix it later in the editing stages. (Yeah, yeah. That was my plan all along).

They also said that using the word “was” doesn’t necessarily make the sentence passive, just boring.

These are only two of the six areas they discussed about the word “was.” To read the others, check out their site. But, these two resonated with me the most. First, because it’s okay to use the word “was” in the first draft. I’m not a horrible writer, just boring. And boring I can fix.

There are several things I can do to eliminate “was” and other to-be verbs from my manuscript. For instance, I can start with substituting words. Instead of saying, He was going to the saloon (I’m writing a western) I can write, He meandered his way to the saloon. See? Less boring. Not perfect, but better. Another thing I can try is rearranging the sentence. Sometimes just flip-flopping the order around can erase out those nasty to-be verbs. The man was standing at the bottom of the stairs. I could say, At the bottom of the stairs, the man stood watching. (Okay, I probably wouldn’t write that sentence, but you get the idea).  Another way to remove to-be verbs is to try to change another word in the sentence into a verb. Instead of saying, He was watching her from the bottom of the stairs. I could simply say, He watched her from the bottom of the stairs. Anytime you have a to-be verb placed in front of an “ing” word, just change the “ing” word to “ed” and WAH-LA—the to-be verb is eliminated. Simple.

I understand the need to kill all to-be verbs. I get it. I mean, to-be verbs show no action. They're just there. And yes, they are boring. Can I get rid of all of them? Probably not, but when I go back through my manuscript during the editing stages, I find it’s not all that hard to give my sentences more punch, more action, by removing the to-be verb and inserting something far more exciting. It’s impossible to write without to-be verbs, so don’t chuck them all, but try to use them sparingly. That’s what I’ve learned. I can do that.

I don’t suck. I’m just boring and boring I can fix.


16 Comments
EJ Wesley link
4/27/2011 06:37:51 am

Ha ha ha ... loved this! So true, but I'm not so sure that I don't suck. Down with 'was'! :-)

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Jason McKinney link
4/27/2011 06:39:26 am

Boring is a disease we seem to share. My wife chides me about "that word" all the time. I'm getting better though. When she chides me on the use of "that word", I don't know why but I always feel like the old guy in Monty Python's The Holy Grail waiting to be pawned off to the dead collector. My response to her admonitioning is always the same, "I'm getting better."
Of course she always replies that I'll be stone dead in a moment.

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Diana link
4/27/2011 07:47:08 am

I love how you add that we highlight it in yellow cuz I know how much you no likey that one because it reminds you of pee. lol.

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jeanne kraus link
4/27/2011 08:03:05 am

Loved this blog on "was." Great information and food for thought. I find myself trying to eliminate them also but no need to do that till after the first draft. At least you get your ideas down. THanks.

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Nancy Lauzon link
4/27/2011 09:45:25 am

Ha ha, so true. I think it was Annie Lamott who gave all writers permission to write a shitty first draft, in her book about writing - Bird by Bird. Writing a shitty first draft gives us more creative freedom. So turn off that internal critic during the first draft, and turn it back on during the final draft.

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Juliana Brandt link
4/27/2011 01:14:07 pm

Oh geeze, this cracked me up, "I'm not a horrible writer, just boring. And boring I can fix." haha!

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Carla link
4/28/2011 02:00:46 am

lol...now I have to go "find" all the wases in all my manuscripts...love Word's seek function!

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Brianna Renshaw link
4/28/2011 03:14:18 am

Thanks so much for these tips and the link. I'm just noticing how often I use 'was' and I need to nip this habit in the bud!

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Karina Lawrence-Davies link
4/28/2011 06:28:56 am

awww poor was! I'm now starting to wonder how often I use this word... I hope sparingly, but I'm also on my first draft, so I'll say it's intentional and that a second draft will sweep them away, good luck with yours! xoxo Karina

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Juliana link
4/28/2011 08:01:19 am

GAH! I just had word change all 'was' into 'WAS' so it'd be easy for me to notice and correct...

192!! Geeze...I guess we know what I'll be spending my night doing. haha

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Joy link
4/29/2011 11:01:27 pm

I'm gonna go visit the link you provided. One thing I've discovered in discussion with other writers is that 'was' is not such a bad thing all the time. I got to the point where I was trying to avoid the word so much that some of my sentences started to to sound stilted. Everything in moderation is my rule of thumb.

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J. Whitworth Hazzard link
8/29/2011 02:53:39 am

"Use sparingly" is great advice. I love the trick mentioned of using Word to find and replace all "was" with WAS. I'm stealing that idea and adding big red font to the mix.

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Marc Mattaliano link
9/9/2011 03:09:27 am

Great post, Angela. I first heard about this from reading it on RAHM, but I've been eliminating it as much as possible from my newest WIP, and editing it out of the piece I submitted to RAHM, so I do feel better.

However, what is your opinion on "to-be" verbs in dialogue? When I'm writing narrations for my WIP, I'm keeping them out, but when I write up dialogue, if to-be verbs show up, honestly, I let them be.

I mean, I understand wanting to be a narrator with super-duper-mega-awesome literary skills. I'm putting my name on a piece of writing and want my readers to feel something strong when they read my work. Given. But even if my characters fly off the page due to my sparkling ability to pull their strings like a true puppetmaster, to expect them to break vernacular and eliminate common speech devices and expressions seems a little unfair.

Honestly, when I talk, I likely have crummy grammar. When I reply to blogs and Tweet, it's probably bad, too. When I write narration, I make it as perfect as possible, but when my characters speak, whatever comes to mind comes to mind, and I try not to change what they say too heavily, unless it's needed to tweak the story ever so slightly. Real people use to-be verbs, real people speak with adverbs, speaking is different, right?

What do you think? :-)

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Kimberly Kinrade link
9/9/2011 12:02:12 pm

We should start a club. I too am a WAS whore. Just ask my editor! lol I loved this post. Thank you :)

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Lane Diamond link
9/9/2011 12:03:10 pm

I want to start a movement. Let's call them SOB verbs! As in "State-Of-Being." Then we can all say, "I hate those SOB verbs."

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K. L. Kerr link
9/13/2011 03:16:18 am

Great post, and I too am a sucker for the "was"!

Another annoying habit of mine is having people constantly "turning and looking" at one another in early drafts. I swear, you'd think the floor was on a constant spin cycle.

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