17 Important Things I've Learned About Writing and Publishing

[Brown Rat]

Excellent, excellent advice, Teresa--lucid, entertaining, honest, and wise. Reading the list reminded me of why I value your critiques so highly.

[Wiglaf]

I love the passive voice. In fact, I seem to use it almost exclusively when writing essays and term papers. I know this because MS Word tells me. So, if you have the same problem, having Word check for you might give you an edge on catching and correcting its over use.

[Teresa Edgerton]

Actually, for some types of writing -- scientific papers, for instance -- the passive voice is preferred, because of its neutral, impersonal quality. Schoolteachers are often in love with it, too. Depending on the type of essays and term papers being assigned, large doses of the passive voice may work very well for you.

Just not, as you obviously already know, in fiction.

[Wiglaf]

Which is why spelling and grammer check is so useful.