Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Common Offenders -- My List of Kill Words


We all have them – the list of words that we use too much, the ones that agents and seasoned authors tell us to use sparingly.    I call it my kill list.   I don’t worry about them my first run through; simply write the manuscript however it flows.  It isn’t until the third or forth read through, when I am happy with the content and ready to tweak the grammar, that I employ my kill list.   Even in final form, you will find a splattering of these words in my manuscripts -- I don't delete them all, just make an effort not use them as useless fillers.  Here is my kill List.   Have I forgotten any?

That
Had
And
Really
Very
Little
Then
Than
Just  (This on is my favorite and my most common offender!)
About
So
But
Like

9 comments:

  1. Oh my, JUST. That's my number one right there. Probably with "so" as a close second...

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  2. Yup. My writing buddies and I are constantly deleting those words from each other's manuscripts. It's like when we type them they become invisible to us but they are typed in blinking neon to everyone else.

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  3. my most recent one is 'though' and I suffered from some over 'well' use for a while. But yup, that list looks pretty accurate to me ^_^

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  4. WELL! That's mine...and probably just. You've read my WIP. I'm sure you can point out a few that I've missed.

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  5. thanks Loralie -- adding though to my list now!

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  6. "JUST" is def one of my fall back words.

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  7. Oh yeah... I use "just" so much ... I just wish I had a dollar for every one I trim out with revisions. That would suit me just fine. lol

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  8. Don't forget 'felt' 'and 'it was'! Man, I signed up for this online editing program and stopped using it because it told me I had 23 too many 'it was's' in one chapter. How dare it? LOL

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  9. Good list to have. As soon as I finish my first draft I will use it to fine tune.


    Michael

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