All,
This is an illuminating discussion and it's nice to see one that revolves around writing.
I have spent most of my life teaching and writing non-fiction. It has only been in the last two years that I have ventured into fiction, and I find it a delightful puzzle and much harder that it appears. It seems like there are many rules and just when I adhere to one, I find it doesn't always work. There are exceptions.
I agree that "was" can be misused. Some of you have seen it in my work. Why write - "He was trying" when you can state much clearer "He tried." But someone above made the case that too many "was" is boring for the reader. That's not true. "Was" is an invisible word. Just like "said" is an invisible word. That's why writers are prompted to use "said" as a dialogue tag rather than other tags because the reader doesn't see it.
Vern's argument that using "was" is more telling than showing, is to me, the best reason for trying to avoid it. However, it's not always possible to do so; the over-eradication of "was" can make your story sound stilted and artificial. It's the same as when you go out of your way to find a synonym so you don't repeat a word, and it just doesn't fit. I'm guilty of that as well.
When I read books written by some fairly famous authors, I look to see if they are following the same rules. They aren't. I'm glad to see I am in good company.
Sherry
But
