blandness (also flatness) is a problem created by not enough attention to detail. The writer relies on dull adjectives, overused adverbs, and simplistic actions to convey emotions and description. The effect on the reader, after several pages, is boring and numbing because the writing doesn’t tell us much, and further, lacks the precision of music that comes from having an ear for the English language. Revise by adding succinctness and more voice.
NO: He ate his sandwich with one hand and drove with the other. The light turned green and he accelerated through the intersection. He listened while she spoke, and made a left at the next light.
YES: He navigated the streets, driving, eating, stopping, and going when the lights prompted him to go. He paid fastidious attention to everything but his wife’s voice.
***Until April 12, the official release date of “The Editor’s Lexicon: Essential Writing Terms for Novelists,” I will be posting one definition a day here. Check back often! Read more about the book here.
Tags: editor's lexicon
You are so spot on with your comments on bland.
As an editor and story analyst who works with many first-time writers, and writers for whom English is their second or third language, I frequently deal with just this kind of problem in their prose. Sometimes I refer them to other writers as part of their education, but now I also have your book to refer them to! Thanks.