I was taught early on to vary how I start out my sentences. This is a lot more difficult for me than I know it is for other people. The trick is to notice how many times you use the same word to start a sentences. Some of the most common repetitive words are pronouns. This is especially true when you have one character by themselves. What I was taught was when you have one character instead of always focusing on the character, focus on other objects.
Tyson walked into the cafe. He examined the empty room for a moment before moving up to the counter. He rang the bell with a sharp tap to to the top. He leaned against the counter tapping his fingers on the top. He smiled when the waitress came out of what he assumed to be the kitchen.
Make the objects the subject of the sentence.
Tyson walked into the cafe. The room was empty and he only spent a moment examining it before moving up to the counter. The bell rang clear when he tapped the top of it. His fingers rapped against the counter as he leaned against it. A waitress bustled out of what looked to be the kitchen.
Try reading the paragraphs out loud and you will more likely catch all of the repetitive words, whether they start the sentence or not.
That is something I struggle a lot with. THanks for the idea of how to work on it!
ReplyDeleteI am glad that I was helpful. I catch a lot of stuff like this in my editing process. I don't normally muck about with it in the first draft.
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