WORDS TO AVOID?

StephieM · May 11, 2005

Just catching up on some of the "rules" of writing, which words I should avoid, that kind of thing.

Here's my list...if I'm wrong or I've missed something please let me know.

1. Have been (have, been)
2. But
3. There is, there were, they are...
4. would, could
5. "ly" words (use sparingly)

Thanks ahead of time!
Steph

maestrowork · May 11, 2005

Add these to the mix (as usual, there are always exceptions, and these "rules" don't apply to dialogue):

"almost"
"somewhat"
"somehow"
"some"
"quite"
"very"
"had"
"beautiful"
"is because" (as in, "the reason for X is because...")

BlueTexas · May 11, 2005

Suddenly, out of nowhere, "blank" happened.

The deus ex machina ending.

And the bane of my writing career, too much exposition in the beginning.

reph · May 11, 2005

Overused and sometimes wrongly used words:

fruition
unique
ironic
restive
involve, involving
hallucinatory

maestrowork · May 11, 2005

"More/Most importantly" (the correct word is "important," not "importantly")

Deleted member 42 · May 11, 2005

"Due to," even when it's used correctly, has been so tainted that it makes my hackles rise.

azbikergirl · May 11, 2005

rather, little, pretty (used as qualifiers)
seemed

maestrowork · May 11, 2005

"just" (I admit, it used to be my crutch word)

every cliche you can think of...

"honestly"

"thus" (I don't know, I just hate this word)

"you" (try to use "we" more often)

trumancoyote · May 11, 2005

Hahah. I use all of these things -- and too often, at that.

Ahaha...hah...heh... Hm

Birol · May 11, 2005

There's words you're supposed to avoid? Like they come from the wrong side of the tracks or something? *cringe* And here I always loved all words equally. Live and learn I guess. I wonder what vipers I've let into the nest with my babies? :Smack:

Trepanny Peck · May 11, 2005

Words that should NOT be avoided

At school, I was always taught never to use "nice" or "good". I think that this is an extremely stupid rule, as they are often the best and most appropriate words to use if you're talking about something that is mildly pleasant or a virtuous person respectively.

The same teacher also taught me never to use the word "said" if a different verb could be used, but if I had to use "said" to always use an adverb with it. I can understand that she wanted to develop juvenile vocabularies, but my God, what it did to my writing until I realised that the books I enjoyed reading broke The Rules all the time...

NeuroFizz · May 12, 2005

started to . . ., as in "he/she started to move toward the door . . ." followed by an interrupting action. I used this occasionally until I realized (through a reader) it was passive. Have the character get into the action, don't have him/her start to get into the action. Once in the action, then interrupt.

began to . . . ditto

James D. Macdonald · May 12, 2005

Picanthropus

Few stories are improved by having this word. I avoid it with a firey passion.

azbikergirl · May 12, 2005

I was also told to avoid 'even'

maestrowork · May 12, 2005

"Even"? I never thought of that as anything to avoid...

"See," "hear," "smell"...

azbikergirl · May 12, 2005

Yeah, as in

He didn't even give me the time of day. = He didn't give me the time of day.

I've found, though, that some sentences just aren't the same, don't have that je ne sais quoi, without it. Same with 'just.'

maestrowork · May 12, 2005

Use with moderation, that's all.

I used to find three or four "justs" on one page, sometimes one after another. Wow! Like, How did that happen?

"He just finished drinking his coffee when the phone rang. He grabbed the receiver just before the answering machine would pick up. 'Just my luck,' he thought. It was just Justin..."

You get the idea...

Jamesaritchie · May 12, 2005

Stephanie76 said:
Just catching up on some of the "rules" of writing, which words I should avoid, that kind of thing.

Here's my list...if I'm wrong or I've missed something please let me know.

1. Have been (have, been)
2. But
3. There is, there were, they are...
4. would, could
5. "ly" words (use sparingly)

Thanks ahead of time!
Steph

I hate the idea of avoiding words. There are no words that shouldn't be used, though I will go along with UJ and say Picanthropus is an exception.

BUT for the most part, it's a matter of how you use a word, not whether or not the word should be used. After all, "I could have been a contender" is a pretty famous sentence, and it uses three such words in a row. There are many good words writers avoid for no rational reason except some say they should. You even use an ly word in saying we should use ly words sparingly.

Use the word that fits, and that sounds right to your ear.

Jamesaritchie · May 12, 2005

Rules

Trepanny Peck said:
At school, I was always taught never to use "nice" or "good". I think that this is an extremely stupid rule, as they are often the best and most appropriate words to use if you're talking about something that is mildly pleasant or a virtuous person respectively.

The same teacher also taught me never to use the word "said" if a different verb could be used, but if I had to use "said" to always use an adverb with it. I can understand that she wanted to develop juvenile vocabularies, but my God, what it did to my writing until I realised that the books I enjoyed reading broke The Rules all the time...

I think your teacher was the one breaking the rules. The rule is to use said, not to avoid it. And adverbs bite.

ashlee111 · May 12, 2005

How can one possibly avoid using the word "said" especially when they are writing a book?

Zane Curtis · May 12, 2005

Echh. I hate how topics like this go out of their way to miss the point.

It doesn't matter the slightest little bit how you write your story. What matters is that you edit it afterwards. And editing is not about deleting "naughty" words. It's about looking at each sentence as a whole, and rearranging it so it is vivid, grammatical, to the point, and pleasing to the ear. And while you're at it, you should make sure it contributes to the plot, characterisation, and mood of the scene.

The best you can get from all these red-flag words is a hint of where you may have gone wrong. And you may not have gone wrong. If you write a story that demands a colloquial kind of style and delete every "kind of" and "every" and "just", you'd just be pointlessly gutting it. If you avoid every single word you're supposed to avoid when you write, you probably wouldn't write anything at all.

NeuroFizz · May 12, 2005

James D. Macdonald said:
Picanthropus

Few stories are improved by having this word. I avoid it with a firey passion.

Let's go way off the point. I'm a member of the "Duck Club." To join, I had to use the word "duck" (meaning the animal, not used as a verb) in a scientific talk to an international audience. My buddies (colleagues, none of whom work on ducks) thought it would liven up the proceedings if we had to somehow work the word into our talks. We all did it without distracting from the messages of the presentations, and it caught on with others and really charged the sessions, particularly the evening ones in the tavern.

I propose a "Picanthropus Club" with membership to anyone who uses the word, or Picanthropus erectus in a work of fiction (to describe an action, someone can "go Picanthropus", kind of like "going postal" is used, although the two aren't equivalent). UJ would have honorary membership for bringing it up in this medium, but further mention here will not give membership.

oswann · May 12, 2005

NeuroFizz said:
Let's go way off the point. I'm a member of the "Duck Club." To join, I had to use the word "duck" (meaning the animal, not used as a verb) in a scientific talk to an international audience. My buddies (colleagues, none of whom work on ducks) thought it would liven up the proceedings if we had to somehow work the word into our talks. We all did it without distracting from the messages of the presentations, and it caught on with others and really charged the sessions, particularly the evening ones in the tavern.

I propose a "Picanthropus Club" with membership to anyone who uses the word, or Picanthropus erectus in a work of fiction (to describe an action, someone can "go Picanthropus", kind of like "going postal" is used, although the two aren't equivalent). UJ would have honorary membership for bringing it up in this medium, but further mention here will not give membership.

'Picanthropus Erectus' is a fantastic album by Charlie Mingus the jazz bass legend. Highly recommended.

I could easily insert a reference into my WIP. Does this count?

Os.

James D. Macdonald · May 12, 2005

NeuroFizz said:
I propose a "Picanthropus Club" with membership to anyone who uses the word, or Picanthropus erectus in a work of fiction...

May I propose that to become a voting member, the piece of fiction must be professionally published?

Fractured_Chaos · May 12, 2005

Would someone care to define Picanthropus for me? I did a search in Dictionary.com, and the closest I could get was: Pithecanthropus erectus n : former genus of primitive apelike men now Homo erectus [syn: Pithecanthropus, Pithecanthropus erectus, genus Pithecanthropus]

*I feel like such a dummy.

WORDS TO AVOID?

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