The Guide to Wattpad (& Creat...

By _Sophie_Isobel

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Since 2013, this Wattpad Guide has offered writers, just like you, helpful writing tips & techniques, across... More

Welcome to the Community!
Reads: How to get more
Follower Counts Don't Matter: Here's why
Profile: How to format a good one (profile pic, cover photo & bio)
Front Cover
Votes
Writers Block: Tips on Getting Inspired Again
Title
Story Description
Comments
Wattpad's Reading Algorithm
Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar
Naming Characters
Starting a Story
Reads to Votes Ratio
Story Structure
Reading Requests + Promoting Work
Plot Twists
Describing Action Scenes
Hooks
Character Deaths
Rankings and Tags
Rule of Three + Alliteration
Endings
Deleting a Story
Character Interactions
Describing Surroundings
Homonyms (E.g. 'there', 'their' and 'they're'- what's the difference?)
Planning
Developing Relatable Characters
Word Count Goals
Descriptive Writing
Character Design
Pacing
Speech
Filler Chapters (the Con's)
Humour
Upload Schedules
Genre
Author's Notes
Over/Under Describing
1st, 2nd, 3rd Person; Limited + Omniscient
Top 3 Most Important Writing Tips
Finding Individual Voice
Can you get Paid by Wattpad?
Editing + Re-editing
Word Class
Switching Perspectives
Wattpad Writing Competitions
Character Consistency + Distinctive Traits
Consistency is Key
Synonyms + Antonyms
Consistent Story Voice + Theme/s
Sentence Types
Similes + Metaphors
Protagonist v Antagonist
Sentence Structures
Any Suggestions?

Passive and Active Voice

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By _Sophie_Isobel

Active voice directly attaches a subject to an action, whereas passive voice makes this connection somewhat partial.


In the passive voice, the subject isn't at the start of a sentence. For example, 'The Guide to Wattpad was written by Sophie'. The object being 'The Guide to Wattpad', the verb or action being 'written' and the subject being 'Sophie'. Instead of this object-verb-subject sentence structure, which is longer and less clear for a reader, a subject-verb-object sentence structure is seen as more desirable. So: 'Sophie has written The Guide to Wattpad'.


Or 'The hole was dug by the dog' with the object ('hole')-verb ('dug')-subject ('dog') sentence. Improved in active voice as 'The dog dug the hole'.


For a reader, placing who's doing the action first is important to avoid 'roundabout sentence's' and maintain straightforward narrative that's easy to follow. For example, passive voice would be particularly confusing if you're writing about more than one character. Saying this, passive voice could be desirable if you want to put more emphasis on the verb or object than the subject experiencing them. However, the majority of your sentences should ideally be in active voice.


So, how do you definitively tell if a sentence of passive or active voice?

Obviously it depends somewhat on the structure of the sentence in question, but try to identify the subject. Once you've done this, you should be able to move it to the front of a sentence with relative ease.

You could also look at the many examples online, essentially helping you to learn and therefore recognise the uses of both voices in your own work.

Editing or re-editing your work once you're familiarised with some examples, you should be much easily identify where you tend to slip into passive voice.


At the end of the day, using passive voice unknowingly, I don't think is the worst writing mistake by a long stretch. Especially since, if you want to create some sort of disconnect between a character and their actions, passive voice could be used to good effect. However, learning the difference, which hopefully I've helped with here, is the best way to effectively identify, particularly passive sentence structures, in your own writing.

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