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Originally Posted by PJsmomma  I need some tips for getting past using be verbs and past tense in my writing.
Do you know of any exercises or articles about it?
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When I first submitted a story to a workshop, I was told that I used passive verbs. It took me a while to figure out that they meant "was" / "were". I have a habit now of going through my "be" verbs and checking wheather the verb is the most precise I can use. If not, I look for a more precise verb, especially if it is in an opening paragraph.
So basically being attentive to each word, that's the point.
What do you mean by "paste tense"? If your piece is in the past tense, then you'd be using the past tense, nothing wrong with that. Or do you mean "passive"? Some suggest step by step editing: you first read your piece and pay attention only to verbs; then you edit for adjectives; then you edit for something else.
So if you want to make your writing more precise, do just that. Read while keeping an eye for each verb and see wheather it is active or passive and wheather you can do better. Use your thesaurus a lot.
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