Words you use too often

Layne · Jul 22, 2010

Just for a quick experiment, I highlighted the last 600 words I wrote today and applied a word find on the selection.

"Was" turned up 16 times.
Words ending in "ly" turned up 11 times.

While this is a horrendous discovery for me, I'm happy to report that within those 600 words, "that" only showed up twice- a big deal for me.

On a similar subject, I remember reading a book where the author had apparently fallen in love with the word "deadpanned", and insisted on using the word at least once every chapter.

Do you guys overuse certain words?

seun · Jul 22, 2010

I definitely overuse certain words and have to pick them out in the edits. Look(ed) is a particular failing of mine.

Wayne K · Jul 22, 2010

I read a book in which the author used the word 'regaled' three times. It was annoying the second time--it hurt the third

I did the search thing and found that I use the N word a lot, but its mostly in dialogue, and I have to used the language of the time because it's a memoir.

I still wonder about it and might remove a few

DeleyanLee · Jul 22, 2010

Of course. The mind isn't worried about words when it's gushing all over the page in a fit of creative energy--at least mine doesn't. So I use too many of this word and seem addicted to that word. That's why as soon as I know I have the scene down, I go back and play with the words immediately and dig out all of those who aren't doing the real work and are just flow-based placeholders.

I don't think there's anything wrong with it, as long as the end results says what I meant to mean.

Wayne K · Jul 22, 2010

The other word I use too often is 'I'

Its hard not to use it in memoir, but 'the peron who is me' need to slay a few here and there

Paranormal_Writer · Jul 22, 2010

I definitely use the word 'was' too much, but this is something I'm trying to change. I also overuse the word 'it'.
IT'S good if you notice these things though because IT is so easy to go back and re-work them if you find yourself doing IT too often. hehe.

Said The Sun · Jul 22, 2010

Sometimes I get enchanted by some neat word like 'resilient' or 'digress' and then use it with pleasure and gluttony.
Three days later I re-read and delete/replace half of them as I shake my head.

C.T. Richmond · Jul 22, 2010

Oh yeah, I use the word "just" all the time. Every couple weeks, I make myself go through my manuscript and take out most of the "justs."

smcc360 · Jul 22, 2010

'Towards' is the word I over-work.

'He walked towards...'; 'She turned towards...' ; 'They all looked towards...'

PGaritas · Jul 22, 2010

seun said:
I definitely overuse certain words and have to pick them out in the edits. Look(ed) is a particular failing of mine.

Looked is a crutch of mine as well. Seun, what do you do with all your Look(ed)s? Do you stare, glare, gaze, peer, glimpse, survey, admire, ogle, study, scour or just re-work the sentence?

I also need to spend a chunk of time chasing away "that". I didn't realize how sneaky that word was until I read others' travails on AW and searched my own mss.

amlptj · Jul 22, 2010

for me it would probably be "Anyway"

Hathor · Jul 22, 2010

C.T. Richmond said:
Oh yeah, I use the word "just" all the time. Every couple weeks, I make myself go through my manuscript and take out most of the "justs."

I'm just glad to know I'm not the only one

katiemac · Jul 22, 2010

"Just" is also my crutch.

kaitie · Jul 22, 2010

Hesitate. My current narrator has lots of quirks, but I let most of them slide. He's probably got a tendency to overuse "really" though.

Phaeal · Jul 22, 2010

PGaritas said:
Looked is a crutch of mine as well. Seun, what do you do with all your Look(ed)s? Do you stare, glare, gaze, peer, glimpse, survey, admire, ogle, study, scour or just re-work the sentence?

I also need to spend a chunk of time chasing away "that". I didn't realize how sneaky that word was until I read others' travails on AW and searched my own mss.

If you're writing in first person or third person limited, the POV character is a given, and everything sensed is being sensed through the POV character. Therefore you don't have to write: "He looked at the grey pony dancing on the high wire." You can just write: "The grey pony danced on the high wire."

Similarly:

"She felt the fire sear her arm" = "Fire seared her arm."

"I heard sirens" = "Sirens rent the night."

"In the lobby, he smelled the oily reek of stale popcorn" = "The oily reek of stale popcorn haunted the lobby."

Carlene · Jul 22, 2010

Me too! I "just" can't stop using it. "Just" is the first word I check for on a finished manuscript. Also "bit" for some strange reason.

Carlene

C.T. Richmond · Jul 22, 2010

Look at all of us "just" addicts! Glad I'm not alone.

Hathor,

I'm just glad to know I'm not the only one

Haha. I'm just so glad too!

milly · Jul 22, 2010

I use "as if" and "not only"...it's weird how I manage to do it, but I do...it's as if I not only do it, but I do it alot

hehe

Celia Cyanide · Jul 22, 2010

I have the hardest time with this in dialog, because characters, like people, tend to overuse words. But if a word is overused, it's overused, period, I can't really justify it by saying, "that person talks that way." I need to tone it down. But that can be hard because dialog sometimes writes itself.

kaitiepaige17 · Jul 22, 2010

I use "as" way too much. And of course, the wonderful people of AW pointed that out, so I'm currently in "as" rehab

Celia Cyanide · Jul 22, 2010

katiemac said:
"Just" is also my crutch.

It's a crutch for me, because I really like that word. I love how it doesn't really mean much, but you can put it in a sentence and add emphasis and subtly change the meaning. I suppose the thing to do would be to find a more concrete way to do that.

Hathor · Jul 22, 2010

I like the word too. So I just try to use it with restraint. I don't think I could eliminate it entirely. I wouldn't be me. (Now see I could have put "just" in all four sentences, just like that.)

backslashbaby · Jul 22, 2010

Yep, 'just' and 'really'

I like emphasis! I thought it was a Southern thing, perhaps? We love our emphasis terms here (oh, the awful similies you hear are kinda true

).

kaitiepaige17 · Jul 22, 2010

backslashbaby said:
Yep, 'just' and 'really' I like emphasis! I thought it was a Southern thing, perhaps? We love our emphasis terms here (oh, the awful similies you hear are kinda true ).

I think it's a Southern thing too

I love my "justs" and "reallys" too! Not to mention, "definitely," and "probably."

Eh.

Phaeal · Jul 22, 2010

I get rid of most of the flabby words like "just," "only," "sort of," "probably" during my cutting phases, when every damn word has to pull twice its weight.

It's the repetition of unusual words I dread and watch for. Now, if you're writing a book about falconry, then you'll need to use words like "mews" and "jesses" often. However, in a nonfalconry book, where you might use them metaphorically, more than one occurrence could be too many.

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