Clusterfuck Draft To Legible Story

Passive vs. Active

"Come on! Be more active, man. You love to lollygag, don't you?"

People must have told you this once in your real life, right? Well, not lollygagging. 'Be more active'. Similar to fiction. Be more active when you write. I'm talking basic here. You can Google for a supplementary explanation.

It's easy to spot an active voice from a passive one.

Active voice is when the subject (doer) is doing something.

Example:
Karin writes this chapter.

How about passive?

Example:
This chapter is written by Karin.

Another example:
It was raining. (Passive)
The rain poured down. (Active)

You can easily spot passive writing when you see 'be' verb. Is (are), was (were).

BUT there are times when passive voice works better than active. If someone tells you: "Never use a passive voice in your writing", kick them where the sun doesn't shine.

Example of good and supposedly be written passively:
It was Saturday.

It would be contrived to try to rewrite that. Come on! How else would you write it?
"Saturday graced itself upon us."? 😑
Nah. Unless you write purple prose, that's a bit dramatic.

Additionally, judicious use of the passive voice can be powerful if you want to place the emphasis on the object of the sentence rather than the subject.

So, for example, if you said:
It was decided that Steve should be executed, the readers' thoughts are automatically with Steve. They're left to wonder about who wants to execute him (and that could provide a narrative hook, which provokes curiosity to keep them reading).

Another time you might avoid the active voice would be when it just doesn't matter who the subject of the sentence is. So you might say:
It was rumored that Janet murdered her husband.

There are times when passive works but always try to write actively. Don't be too rigid. Be as firm as an eraser. Firm but still flexible. 😉

Yours,
Karin.

Reference: http://www.fiction-writers-mentor.com/passive-voice/