By: Darcy
Pattison
Reader confusion is a common problem with first drafts. Prose
is ambiguous, and scene details leave conflicting ideas of the time line or the
physical location of the characters.
Reader Confusion: Clarify Your Prose
The problem of ambiguous prose lies in the writing itself.
Let’s look at some common problems and how to solve them.
Fuzzy thinking. OK, you were knocking off a draft of a chapter at
midnight and, well, you got fuzzy in your thinking. It happens. But you can’t
leave prose that is garbled. As you read through your draft, mark places where
your sentence structure got complex in an effort to explain something. To
revise, first get the thought straight in your own head. Then, write it in
simple sentences because it will force you to clarify your thoughts. Then, if
appropriate for your audience, combine those sentences into a prose that flows
better.
Technical explanations. When I have technical explanations — in my WIP, I have
to explain a complicated process to defeat a black hole — I often find a new or
naive reader. I want to know where they got confused or what they still had
questions about. Then I’ll rewrite and repeat until the naive reader
understands. Try to make even technical explanations simple enough for a child
to understand.
Pronoun Antecedent. A good command of language means that sometimes you use
pronouns to avoid repeating a noun over and over. But too often, it’s not clear
who/what the pronoun is referring to. The rule is that a pronoun refers back to
the noun closest to it.
When Jack and Bob decided to eat out, he decided they should
go to a Mexican restaurant.
Who decided? Jack or Bob? The noun immediately before “he” is
Bob. When there are multiple people involved, it’s usually best to repeat the
person’s name.
When Jack and Bob decided to eat out, Bob decided they should
go to a Mexican restaurant.
This one is a pet peeve of mine, and I’m always aggravated
when the pronoun’s antecedent is confusing. If repeated often, it can make me
close the book and move on to something else.
Word Choices. . .
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