Welcome to the Big Reveal
I enjoy reading author interviews, but often times they don’t ask the kinds
of questions I wonder about. So I’ve assembled a group of writers at
all levels, from un-agented to published, and every week I will have
a new question for them.
What word(s) or phrases show up way too often in your work?
Jay Bendt, Un-agented Author
Then, that, sighed, so.
Lara Schiffbauer, Un-agented Author
Too many to list. The good news is I’ve moved on from “that.” It’s sad to do a word search and find that the word you thought you hardly used shows up every other page.
Mark Koopmans, Un-agented Author
Just.
Really.
Gosh.
And, (as in the beginning of a sentence.)
Eileen Cook, Published Author
Eye rolling. In my first drafts I people rolling eyes all over the place.
Kelley Lynn, Published Author
Ooo, good question. I don’t think this is ever the same across all stories. One story will be riddled with ‘that’. Others will have too much adverbs. Still others will have a phrase where I’m like, “Where did that come from?”
Chloe Banks, Agented Author
I’m having a real issue with ‘that’ at the moment. I use it way too much. I also use the words ‘just’ and ‘like’ too much. Oh, and my characters do a lot of ‘turning’!
Valerie Cole, Agented Author
I have three crutch words I’ve identified over the years: “Just,” “And then” (cue the Dude, Where’s My Car jokes), “looked.” Oh, also “leaned”—that’s a new one I just picked up on. Everyone’s leaning over or leaning against or leaning to look at something.
What word(s) do you overuse?
Hmmm. I’ll have to check for leaned, thanks Valerie. My list is big also. My worst offenders are definitely THAT and WAS. I don’t have the exact number, but I’m pretty sure I cut 500 THATs from one of my manuscripts. I’m getting better though.
Smile. I can describe it a hundred different ways, but boy do I like to make my characters smile a lot. It’s a problem.
Lots of ‘thats’ floating around. Guess I should check my books for it. My own words a many and varying. Right now I’m seeing a lot of ‘like’ show up. It’s like I’ve time travelled back to the 90s when I was a teen.
“Yeah” I find myself deleting enough of them. =)