WRITING TIP #1: USE STRONG VERBS.

If you are a writer, the single best thing you can do to make your writing better is to use strong verbs. 

Now, this has a lot to do with appropriate Diction: the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing. 

I'm sure most of you have read something in which a lot "big" words are used that don't necessarily make sense in context. That is probably because the author is not using those words in a meaningful way. This comes from the fact that a lot of words in the English language have different meanings, and/or many, many synonyms (hence, my last post about my fascination with the many meanings of SWAG). But, synonyms are not exactly words with the same meaning. In my opinion, it's quite the opposite. 

Take the word  Stare: to look with a fixed or vacant expression.

This word gets used a lot in dramatic fiction, but the word itself is a blank canvas. Consider this phrase:

She stared at him.

This sentence tells you nothing besides that there is a female looking at a male. This could appear in any scene of any story of any genre. One might argue that we don't get any extended meaning from this sentence because it is not in context. But that's precisely my point: when I say use a "stronger verb," I mean use a verb that doesn't have to rely on its immediate context to convey meaning. 

For example, one of Stare's synonyms, Gaze, is an established part of romance novel vocabulary because it connotes something more than just a blank expression: to look steadily and intently, esp. in admiration, surprise, or thought.

Now consider:

She gazed at him.

This sentence implies that the female, whoever she is, is looking at the male in a more specific way than a blank stare. In the case of a romance novel, you can take a pretty good guess that this sentence is from a quiet, tender scene, not an action-packed chase.

But if you use another of Stare's synonyms, Glare, you completely change the mood of the entire scene from tender admiration to fierce, intent anger.

This is not to say Stare is not a perfectly useful word. Rather, if you intentionally want a character to look at another character or thing with a blank expression, perhaps because the character doesn't understand something, or is too emotionally drained to muster any emotion, wonderful. The point of this distinction, the point of Diction, is making intentional and meaningful word choices to help your writing say exactly what you want it to say. There are so many words out there, why wouldn't you want to find just the right one?

This can be applied to all parts of speech, or course, but verbs, the so-called "action words" of language, do the most work, and are, in my opinion, the most important part of any piece of writing.