PSA: Avoid This Sentence Structure

What I'm about to say comes from a place of love and respect. My only hope is to help us all become more engaging writers.

It's no secret that I read a lot of articles on Peliplat. I enjoy it. However, reading a plethora of articles causes one to notice patterns. There is one sentence structure that I've noticed across many writers that simply needs to be put to rest. Everything in moderation, of course, but this structure is wildly overused right now.

It's the “it's not this, it's that” structure.

Here are some examples just from the past few days:

“[T]he ancestors left this not to be forgotten, but to be found.”

“Christmas here is not about warmth or goodwill. It is about repression.”

“I did not just witness the story. My body absorbed it.”

“[H]e felt something that wasn’t a system command. It was a refusal."

“These weren’t just alternatives, they were revolutions.”

I know that it creates a feeling of a revelation and makes you sound smart for cracking a previously unsolvable code, and I agree that it has its place in writing, but only like once or twice in an article. When I see it 10 to 15 times (sometimes) in a single piece, the repetitiveness gets aggravating.

I'm sure I'm not above it. I'm sure I've used it before, but now I'm on the lookout for it and will avoid it the best I can, unless it is absolutely necessary, perfect, warranted, etc. 

If you want to be a unique voice, you have to separate yourself from the crowd, and if the entire crowd uses this structure, it becomes monolithic and unoriginal

Of course, I should leave writers to write how they feel, but if Peliplat wants to help writers get better and work towards a world where we can co-create together, then I simply must bring this to the community's attention. I only want to help us all get better.

So, watch out for the “it's not this, it's that,” structure. It's not good, it's bad.