Your goal as a writer is to construct captivating stories in which people can lose (or find) themselves. Your workers are words. Words capture your reader\u2019s attention, words keep her spellbound as she reads, and words paint magical images in her mind. No wonder Hamlet was obsessed with them.<\/p>\n
However, as with real-life workers, some words are lazy. Some words are not doing their job. And it\u2019s your role as an overseer to catch these lackadaisical pretenders and condemn them to the Backspace Pit.<\/p>\n
How do you know which words to trust? Here\u2019s a good test: take a suspicious word\u00a0out of your writing and see if you lose any meaning or impact. No? Then cast away the loafer and don\u2019t look back.<\/p>\n
Here are five\u00a0common slackers. If they have infiltrated your ranks of workers, be ready to fire them.<\/p>\n
This word is stealthy. How stealthy, you ask? Very stealthy. It creeps into your writing when you try to convey a strong emotion, to depict an extraordinary sight, or to enhance the impact of some action.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery\u201d should raise an alarm in your mind because of two things. First, it\u2019s a weak word in and of itself. Second, it indicates that the word it\u2019s trying to enhance is too weak to stand on its own.<\/p>\n
Getting rid of \u201cvery\u201d usually requires getting rid of the word it enhances, too, and replacing it with a single, stronger word. Very big? Gigantic. Very tall? Towering. Very scary? Terrifying.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s\u00a0 Think\u00a0 When you come across \u201cthat,\u201d take\u00a0it out and check if the meaning has changed or if the result is confusing. No and no? Bye-bye, \u201cthat.\u201d<\/p>\n Common cases of the that-isis include \u201cthought that,\u201d \u201csaid that,\u201d \u201cimagined that,\u201d and so on.<\/p>\n I could tell you a lot about this slacker. Actually, it\u2019s not a bad word in the way \u201cvery\u201d is. But it is sometimes redundant.<\/p>\n For example:<\/p>\n He could sense the thickness of the carpet under his feet.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n If he could do it\u2026 why not simply do it?<\/p>\n He sensed the thickness of the carpet under his feet.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n And if that sounds off to you, you may try something like this:<\/p>\n The carpet felt thick under his feet.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The word \u201ccould,\u201d especially coupled with sensory input, usually adds nothing to your story. Fired!<\/p>\n This bad worker reflects badly on you. When it\u00a0infiltrates your writing, it makes you sound as if you\u2019re too lazy to do\u00a0things properly. Sure, it\u2019s easy to use when you want to describe that indescribable\u2026 thing, but it creates a sense of vagueness that seldom has a place in writing.<\/p>\n Try replacing this word with exact, clear imagery. Don\u2019t settle on this generic worker when more specific ones are available to help you express\u00a0 These workers are not only redundant 90% of the time, but they also draw attention to themselves instead of doing their work. And that\u2019s a big no-no.<\/p>\n Consider the following:<\/p>\n He knew Megan was in the next room.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n And consider this simpler, sharper version:<\/p>\n Megan was in the next room.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Caveat! This substitution only works in\u00a0first-person<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0limited third-person<\/a>\u00a0point of view. In these POVs, everything you write is what the protagonist knows, sees, hears, thinks, or wonders. There\u2019s no need to include the action explicitly.<\/p>\n Sharp, tight writing is the way to go when you want to conquer your reader\u2019s mind. Make sure that every word in your writing is doing its job; otherwise, fire it. With all the slackers gone, the remaining words will do their job that much better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","categories":[11,16],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/415"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}very simple<\/del>\u00a0child\u2019s play.<\/p>\nThat<\/h2>\n
that<\/del>\u00a0this word does a good job for you? Be careful. Statistics show that in 50% of the cases, it does nothing but clutter up the sentence. Don\u2019t pay for a worker who doesn\u2019t pull his own weight!<\/p>\nCould<\/h2>\n
Things<\/h2>\n
things<\/del>\u00a0your ideas.<\/p>\nThink \/ Realize \/ Wonder \/ Know<\/h2>\n
Recap<\/h2>\n