We write in everyday language

We write our books the way people speak in the real world. We use the ordinary vocabulary of a reasonably educated North American adult. We are not trying to teach our readers new words or show them how clever we are. The purpose of the language is to be as invisible as possible so that the reader can slip into the world of the story without being distracted by it.

Every sentence is there for a reason

A good scene does not need a lot of sentences. What it does require is that only the sentences that make sense to be there are included. If every sentence is there for a purpose, then the prose will flow and the reader will enjoy reading it. They will become lost in your story and characters and will not become bored.

Every sentence reads clearly

It sounds simple, but if you write a sentence, it should be clear, concise, and easy to understand. Concise here does not mean necessarily short, but it means it is no longer than it needs to be.

Current methodology

We begin writing in earnest when we take the bullet points of a scene and turn them into prose. This is when the words we choose begin to really matter. While a bullet point is written in the present tense and is purely functional, the prose version of the scene is written in the third-person past-tense, and should fit the tone of the story. The prose version should be crafted with an eye to the reader's experience and the pleasure they will feel when they get through clearly written, concise sentences that bring the story forward without distracting or confusing them.