In the last part of this series, we are looking at ways to replace interpretive adjectives.

One way is to use descriptive adjectives that you chose with care. If you really need to use an adjective, choose one that accurately describes the noun it is modifying and that adds value and meaning to the scene and to the story.

For example, if you are writing a dark psychological thriller, writing “a midnight blue sky” or “a steely sky” fits, whereas writing “a baby blue sky” or “a powdery blue sky” wouldn’t sound right.

Rather than “sandy beach”, try using other words like, “sugary”, “powdery”, “pebbly”, “gritty”, or “wet”. Your readers will already know that most beaches are sandy and by using a decent descriptive adjective you add a bit more to your scene.

Taking that further, is a romantic encounter likely to happen on a gravelly or gritty beach? Not really although that will depend entirely on the situation and the genre. It could be a point of interest though. But if you are writing a YA romance, it's probably better to use a sugary or powdery beach for a first encounter; that said, if it fits, a rocky beach could do just as well!

Use Strong Nouns Instead

In many situations, a decent noun is better than any adjective. If your book is set on a Hawaiian island then using the word “beach” might work just fine if you already described the beach earlier. Unless, of course, you have your characters go to a volcanic beach with black sand for the first time.

Specific nouns are nearly always a better bet and please don’t hesitate to have a thesaurus to hand. Most writers use them all the time and there are plenty of online ones you can use to.

Have a look at a few examples of how to replace weak noun and adjective pairs with one strong noun:

A difficult problem – could be replaced with a complication, a quandary, a predicament, or a dilemma

A beach – could be replaced with the coast, the lakefront, the waterfront, the seaside, a shoal, and so on

A habitual liar – could be replaced with a fabricator, a deceiver, a prevaricator, a trickster

You get the idea. If you must use common adjectives, use the interpretive ones as little as possible. Choose descriptive adjectives or, if you can, ditch them altogether and use strong nouns.

A Bit of Practice

Pick a rough draft or another book you completed and choose a couple of pages. This works for non-fiction too. Save those pages as a separate document and then go through it. Kill off the adjectives and see what’s left. Is your meaning still there? If not, replace the nouns with stronger ones. You may need a couple of descriptive adjectives but the fewer you use, the better and stronger your writing will be.

Take it a step further; find a book written by an author you admire and do the same thing. You should see a marked difference in the number of adjectives you can remove or replace and that will give you a great idea of how your writing should look.