Lately, I’ve gone through some extensive editing down of my fiction manuscript. I received some excellent peer-review advice and I’ve also been reading some great books on the topic of editing, notably Stephen King’s On Writing. First, I squashed out what little remaining pesky passive voice I had. Then I went through and eliminated nearly all the adverbs, particularly those in the dialog attributes – i.e. “What did you say?” she shouted loudly or “I am not ready for this,” he whispered quietly. No, these are not real examples from my work. Mine weren’t that bad, but you get the point!
Now I am in a phase of simple cutting. I realized that I have a tendency to repeat myself or say the same thing if different ways, as if that makes my point stronger. It doesn’t. It slows the flow and it sorta insults the reader at the same time. So, I cut, cut, cut the duplication.
I’ve also noticed that I am apparently an addict. I am addicted to Absolutely Worthless Words (AWW). Worthless clarifiers like truly, nearly and the ever-boring just have bloated my manuscript. Lame. Snooze-O-Rama. Check please!
image by swordsswords.com
While I am sure there is a 12-step program to cure me of my addiction, I am not a patient person. I am more the type who prefers to rip the band-aid off all at once, along with skin, hair and anything else that gets in the way. I have tossed out the pruning shears and now I am hacking away with a battle-axe, trying to remove all the lameness that AWW has brought to my manuscript. I know that these clarifiers, like many other things that lead to addiction, can be healthy in moderation. So I’ve left a couple of them in, here and there, to paint the landscape, if they really, truly are needed. (See what I mean?)
Below are the AWW words that I’ve plucked from my prose. How about you? Any common standouts that pop up in your work after a wild night of binge writing?
- completely
- actually
- just
- really
- finally
- truly
- ultimately
- directly
- nearly
- only
- certainly
- simply
- merely
- extremely
Bill – In as much as the aforementioned list endeavors, albeit clumsily, to circumscribe a comprehensive listing of extraneous verbosity which occupies most correspondence and social intercourse . . . I think I forgot the point I was trying to make.
I am just going to nod along like I know what you’re saying… : )
Quietly. My characters did a lot of things quietly. I had to quietly do a search and extract the word when possible, quietly, of course, so as not to stir them into a revolt.
I see you know my pain too. I couldn’t believe how horrible some of mine sounded. He just wanted…she truly was stunned…it was simply the path he chose. Ack. Double ack. Sounds like you were much more diplomatic about your removal – I just yanked mine out! : ) Thanks for sharing!
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