100 ways to improve your writing - Gary Provost 2019

Be specific
Twelve ways to give your words power

A specific word or phrase is usually better than a general one. The specific word etches a sharper picture and helps your reader to see what you are describing.

Picture a box.

Now picture a black box.

Now picture a black box with shiny silver hinges.

You can see the box more clearly as it becomes more specific.

Of course, there must be a limit to this. I could tell you about a small black box with shiny silver hinges on one end and an inlaid marble top which has a crimson heart painted on it with the most darling cupids dancing around the heart, and so forth. You would see the box, but you would be bored by it and by me.

Try to be specific without being wordy. Don’t make a sentence specific by hooking up a freight train of details to it. Make it specific by whittling all the possible word combinations down to those few that say what you want them to say.