"But then again . . ."

Sunshine13 · Sep 9, 2008

My lord. I'm going through my ms with the Find tool, trying to get rid of my overly used frequent phrases. Boy this one was bad. I had probably 10 "But then again" 's in my ms, which is just too many IMO lol.

Anyone else have a tick like this? I have a few more. That's what revising is for I know, but how do you work on getting rid of these natural writing ticks? Just time and practice? "Perhaps" is another one I bet I'll find a lot of. Some of it is just my voice I think. Blarg.

CaroGirl · Sep 9, 2008

Yes, it's time and practise. You need to be aware of this stuff while your writing, or at the very least while editing, to make sure it doesn't sneak into the final draft. Over time, you'll have trained yourself not to use those phrases any more. And then you'll have to work on the next bad habit!

Red-Green · Sep 9, 2008

Every book I write has its own overused words. I keep a list at the top of the document called "Alert words." That way when I'm done with the rough draft, I can go through and delete. My current WIP, the problem words are: just, actually, seriously, little, and a couple of choice expletives.

Carmy · Sep 9, 2008

Time and practice -- and an alert Beta reader.

Mumut · Sep 9, 2008

If only one character says 'but then again' quite often, that can be part of that person's character. It could be turned into a joke. If he/she says something definite for once the others present could say 'but then again' in unison and burst out laughing. But then again, if everyone is going around using the phrase yes, you'd better weed some of it out.

Diana W. · Sep 9, 2008

One thing I've noticed is my tendency to use the word "okay" too much. There's going to be some major editing going on in the future!

mlhernandez · Sep 9, 2008

Boy, do I, lol! I have a list sitting on my desk for edits. I seem to be getting a smidge better.

Feathers · Sep 9, 2008

Yeah...the thing that worked for me, mainly, is to try and stay conscious of avoiding writing them as I go along. It's like a mental red flag. After that, just time and practice...

Some of my worst ones are stressors like "so, very, just." I seem to develop new ones for each book; it's like as soon as I get rid of one bad habit, I develop more.

-Feathers

Telstar · Sep 10, 2008

Yes, I think every author has some overused words or phrases.
Some annoys me so i try to change them when revising my WIP.

qwerty · Sep 10, 2008

That is a word I overuse. I know that I do it, so it's a problem that I must overcome.

Carmy · Sep 10, 2008

LOL @ querty. I've been so diligent in cutting out "that" that Word is now asking me to insert it.

"As" is the word I'm working on now. All my characters do something AS they do something else. Busy blighters!

dawinsor · Sep 10, 2008

I find overused words only when I read the close-to-final draft of my book out loud. At that point, I can hear them even several pages apart. But while I'm writing, I'm usually too absorbed in something other aspect of the story. So for me, getting rid of overused words is late stage cleanup.

JVaughn · Sep 10, 2008

What's the problem with 'that'? Can you give some examples of when it's unnecessary?

Susan Lanigan · Sep 10, 2008

I am a pluperfectionist. "By the time he had gone to the store, the other had had their dinner and had drunk the wine." That gets tedious after 100 pages.

CaroGirl · Sep 10, 2008

JVaughn said:
What's the problem with 'that'? Can you give some examples of when it's unnecessary?

It's quite often unnecessary. Consider the following:

"I knew that I had a grasp of the situation when he told me that I'd won an award. After all that time and effort, I figured that I deserved everything that I got, and more."

Most of those "that"s can go, right? Voila:

"I knew I had a grasp of the situation when he told me I'd won an award. After all that time and effort, I figured I deserved everything I got, and more."

JVaughn · Sep 10, 2008

Makes sense. Thanks.

Torin · Sep 10, 2008

My characters tend to turn a lot. On rereading, I find them whirling like dervishes. They turn around, turn back, turn toward, turn their heads...to everything, turn, turn, turn. LOL.

qwerty · Sep 10, 2008

JVaughn said:
What's the problem with 'that'? Can you give some examples of when it's unnecessary?

Yep. See my post.

I know that I do it, so it's a problem that I must overcome.

Now take out the thats.

But then again, I didn't think about it, but I have a lot of turning as well. As I read torin's post, I realized that that is a bad thing.

Bluestone · Sep 10, 2008

qwerty said:
That is a word I overuse. I know that I do it, so it's a problem that I must overcome.

That's SO me! In my first book, I did a Find and found 1400 thats! That's a lot of thats! I culled and weeded and deleted and replaced and whittled it down to 283. I tried to get it lower still, but they all seemed to have their place and felt right.

I do a Find for everything, including words I have that niggling feeling I've overused and discover maybe 6 or 7, but they are memorable words and don't need to be there more than once or twice. And any descriptive or word likely to stand out to a reader that appears on the same page. It's amazing how easily our eyes can slip over our own work and miss the obvious.

"But then again . . ."

Sunshine13

Mom by day, writer by night!

CaroGirl

Living the dream

Red-Green

KoalaKoalaKoala!

Carmy

Mumut

Well begun is half done...

Diana W.

I'm evolving

mlhernandez

Feathers

emerging from the writing cave

Telstar

I create people

qwerty

exiled Brit

Carmy

dawinsor

Dorothy A. Winsor

JVaughn

Susan Lanigan

CaroGirl

Living the dream

JVaughn

Torin

Wandering vaguely

qwerty

exiled Brit

Bluestone

It's never too late to dream big