October 23rd, 2005
I’ve been spending the past week revising my latest young adult manuscript and have used a lot of red ink getting rid of unnecessary words. Two of my favorite useless words seem to be “just” and “that”. It seems that no matter how many books I write, they show up over and over and have to be cut during revisions. There were zillions of them in this 250-page manuscript. I put them in without even thinking about it.
Do you have words that tend to pop up continually during the first draft that you end up having to cut out later?
October 23rd, 2005 at 1:52 pm
I have certain words I find I use too much, like dark and pain. My characters are usually tormented, LOL. I go through at the end and either cut them or find synonyms so they aren’t overused.
October 23rd, 2005 at 4:40 pm
Pain & Dark??? Interesting words, at least. I imagine I overuse a lot of words. just and that being two of them. I tend to use the word okay a lot too.
October 23rd, 2005 at 7:08 pm
turned, sharp, just, that….
Apparently I start a lot of paras and sentences with he and she.
October 23rd, 2005 at 7:21 pm
Dark and pain? Suzanne, I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that you don’t write comedies, LOL. Just is a big offender for me! That and “actually.” I have no idea why. There are others, but they vary from story to story. Turned and against are two that I have trouble finding synonyms for that don’t sound awkward. And kiss. There are no good synonyms for kiss!
October 24th, 2005 at 6:18 am
Just. That. Actually. After all. Only. Possibly. Like. The usual suspects, I guess. Often I edit them out…and then go back and put half of them back in because, let’s face it, they’re words we (i.e. people) use a lot. So I figure my characters might also use them a lot. Sometimes it’s just necessary to use just!
October 24th, 2005 at 6:20 am
And now I’m smiling because the word verification I had to (just) enter was bonk (+ some other random letters.) Ha.
October 24th, 2005 at 3:41 pm
Bron, you brought up a good point. I often leave those “justs” and “thats” in dialogue. It’s those in the narrative I try to cut out.
And isn’t that the truth about “kiss”!?
October 25th, 2005 at 9:05 pm
Mine?
1.Just
2.that
3.So
4.Again
5.Seem
ARGH!
Tanya
October 25th, 2005 at 9:07 pm
Interesting that you cut them from your narrative, Trish. I try, mostly, to keep the narrative in deep POV or the POV character’s voice…so it’s pretty much the same as the dialogue. If that makes sense. But then again, that’s where I’m most likely to do the cutting of overused words as well. Hmm. Interesting.
October 28th, 2005 at 4:52 pm
Then…..Then……….Then =)
*sigh*
Certain body parts also tend to be a hassle *ggg*
October 31st, 2005 at 10:13 am
Just, of course, and glanced. And there may be more I’m not aware of. But I use “just” way, way too often. My CP is always crossing them out.