E-Prime
Taken from the Wikipedia entry (because it can define this better than I can): E-Prime is a modified English syntax and vocabulary lacking all forms of the verb to be: be, is, am, are, was, were, been and being, as well as their contractions, such as it's and I'm. Sentences composed in E-Prime therefore cannot contain the passive voice.
I tried rewriting the beginning of my novel in E-prime, though I suppose purists will think this a cheat: I have only done this to the prose, not the dialog, so the speech still sounds natural.
What a difference it makes! Everything suddenly feels more vivid, more active, more intense. It forces me to find interesting descriptions and everything sounds far more accurate! Guys (Zof especially, you'll probably have the most interest in something like this) try describing something or writing a scene in E-prime. You'll likely find it very difficult (a few pages took me all night) but the results really surprised me.
I tried rewriting the beginning of my novel in E-prime, though I suppose purists will think this a cheat: I have only done this to the prose, not the dialog, so the speech still sounds natural.
What a difference it makes! Everything suddenly feels more vivid, more active, more intense. It forces me to find interesting descriptions and everything sounds far more accurate! Guys (Zof especially, you'll probably have the most interest in something like this) try describing something or writing a scene in E-prime. You'll likely find it very difficult (a few pages took me all night) but the results really surprised me.