A Post About Overusing Words Post
When I did my first read-through of RTS 500 years ago I noticed that I had a serious problem with the word, "just." When I finally did a word search for "just" there were so many the search wouldn't go through. Thanks for that, Word, you got your point across.
While this was alarming and frustrating, I took my time removing them from my masterpiece (that's what MS stands for, right?). I realized that unless the character was exasperated, "Just do it already!" 'just' is a filler word. It makes the sentence longer and adds nothing to the original content. In fact, it takes away from the original content by apologizing for it.
Ex: They went to the store.
They just went to the store. (Sorry, not sorry!)
Then there is this article and this one that discuss how women overuse "just" in the business world and how it "damages women's credibility" blah blah blah. Well it turns out in books this is also true, but with less "damage" coming from the word and more annoyance.
Overusing words in general is a mistake. For instance, back in the 90's everyone peppered their language with "like." It's taken this long (60 years) to finally die, or maybe I haven't been hanging out with teenagers enough recently.
Now I know I'm over doing it with the 90's and J.K. Rowling examples, but they are the first that came to mind, and again, relevant. A friend of mine was re-reading the classics and came to notice that J.K. had a love affair with "as ever." Example: Ginny's hair was as red as ever. My friend said, "Get over it, J.K.!" (Which I thought was a bit harsh, but she wasn't sitting there.)
This tends to happen more frequently with qualifiers (good, just, very, quite), which when writing fiction, literally add nothing to the description. In fact, even using the words "beautiful" or "ugly" are rather meaningless. "It was a beautiful sunset" is probably the worst description I've ever heard. That's what you tell your friends when you get home from the beach. Give the reader something to work with!
Another one I've noticed is the overuse of adjectives. You should not use the same adjectives to describe anything in a single paragraph. Break it up! Nothing should be shining and glittering twice in one paragraph, especially if you are talking about different things. Buy a thesaurus.
If you think these articles and examples changed my writing, you're wrong. I still overuse words constantly and don't find them until I'm editing. I also have a weird habit of adding a comma if I take a break in my thought process. Sort of like pressing "enter" when you send a chat even though your thought isn't complete. But these are my editor's burden to bear now.
All my love,
L.B.
While this was alarming and frustrating, I took my time removing them from my masterpiece (that's what MS stands for, right?). I realized that unless the character was exasperated, "Just do it already!" 'just' is a filler word. It makes the sentence longer and adds nothing to the original content. In fact, it takes away from the original content by apologizing for it.
Ex: They went to the store.
They just went to the store. (Sorry, not sorry!)
Then there is this article and this one that discuss how women overuse "just" in the business world and how it "damages women's credibility" blah blah blah. Well it turns out in books this is also true, but with less "damage" coming from the word and more annoyance.
Overusing words in general is a mistake. For instance, back in the 90's everyone peppered their language with "like." It's taken this long (60 years) to finally die, or maybe I haven't been hanging out with teenagers enough recently.
Now I know I'm over doing it with the 90's and J.K. Rowling examples, but they are the first that came to mind, and again, relevant. A friend of mine was re-reading the classics and came to notice that J.K. had a love affair with "as ever." Example: Ginny's hair was as red as ever. My friend said, "Get over it, J.K.!" (Which I thought was a bit harsh, but she wasn't sitting there.)
This tends to happen more frequently with qualifiers (good, just, very, quite), which when writing fiction, literally add nothing to the description. In fact, even using the words "beautiful" or "ugly" are rather meaningless. "It was a beautiful sunset" is probably the worst description I've ever heard. That's what you tell your friends when you get home from the beach. Give the reader something to work with!
Another one I've noticed is the overuse of adjectives. You should not use the same adjectives to describe anything in a single paragraph. Break it up! Nothing should be shining and glittering twice in one paragraph, especially if you are talking about different things. Buy a thesaurus.
If you think these articles and examples changed my writing, you're wrong. I still overuse words constantly and don't find them until I'm editing. I also have a weird habit of adding a comma if I take a break in my thought process. Sort of like pressing "enter" when you send a chat even though your thought isn't complete. But these are my editor's burden to bear now.
All my love,
L.B.
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