Writing Tip 146: Empowering Every Sentence (i.e. not starting with “It was…”)
Not since “It was a dark and stormy night,” has “It was…” been a recommended start to a sentence. And, really—if we’re getting down to it—the famous Edward Bulwer-Lytton quote could have been stepped up a notch.
Just think about the difference between “it was a dark and stormy night” and “the stormy night was dark.” The switch is a simple one, but suddenly, the line is more direct and a bit ominous.
A writer could (and should) take it further, practicing the old advice of show don’t tell. This exercise might lead to a more evocative sentence still:More