Sloppy Writing 101.11
 
When I first started writing, I used really a lot. Really, I did. Along with very, truly and fairly, really is one of those unnecessary words.
 
My examples from FROSTY.
 
-I didn’t really know where she went.
-If I thought they truly meant it…

 Taking out really and truly changed nothing in the meaning and therefore they are unnecessary. Very and fairly have never been a problem for me, but I counted 43 reallys in FROSTY. I left a few that were in dialogue, but the rest I deleted.
 
I got rid of another fifty words.
 
So watch out for really, very, truly and fairly. You probably don’t need most of them.