Three hundred twenty-nine. Just how many times can someone use the same word in a single manuscript? I don't know if it's a record, but I managed to use the word "just," on average, just under once a page in my 346-page manuscript. That's just nuts.
When I sent my work for critique, I hadn't yet done the basic editing exercise of searching for crutch words, even though I had just mentioned to Joan that she search for one of her own fall-backs. She'd found several, enough that she felt justified shooting me a thank-you email. It's not like I'm just ignorant of the need; I just forgot.
Pamela did me the favor of circling every instance of the word on a particularly egregious page. I think it appeared six or seven times. Now, there are times when there's no better word to use--the surviving 144 might support this idea, although I plan to just shave those down too--but seven times on a single page? Just not good writing.
What's funny is that "just" is a modifier, a word meant to strengthen a sentence or idea. As I considered each use of the word, I was just amazed that more often than not, the use of "just" weakened rather than bolstered the thought I was trying to convey, just made it flabby. I'd thought (if I'd thought) as I wrote that I was just making my point. But time after time, when I just deleted the extraneous, or reworked the sentence to eliminate its use, the idea was just stronger, just smoother, just better. Even better than just deleting, sentence restructuring in particular was just excellent at improving the writing and clarifying the communication.
I've been critical of word overuse in published works. I recall a novel I read about five years ago by an extremely successful writer who made me just crazy with his use of "presumed" and "understood." I was bothered enough to take the time to actually count the words in a chunk of the book, though after about a hundred pages I just gave up. Just averaging, one of those two words showed up every other page. Just too much!
The remaining instances are mostly just there because of character voice. I was mindful to make sure that when it was there, it was just because of how my main character thought and especially spoke. Another pass and I'm sure there will be more that just bite the dust, but I am also sure that some just belong there, and will survive. Just a guess.
It's not just "just," either. I have a list next to my computer now with other words that will get the find treatment. I expect to add words to it in days to come. Before I send out the next version, you can bet I will have searched for them. all. As for when it's time to query? If I failed to do this search, that would
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| The tally sheet (Joan laughed at me for this) |
Three hundred twenty-nine. How many times can someone use the same word in a single manuscript? I don't know if it's a record, but the word "just," appeared nearly once a page in my manuscript. That's nuts.
When I sent my work for critique, I hadn't yet done the basic editing exercise of searching for crutch words, even though I had recently suggested to Joan that she search for one of her own fall-backs. She'd found several, enough to shoot me a thank-you email. It's not like I'm just ignorant of the need; I forgot.
Pamela did me the favor of circling every instance of the word on a particularly egregious page. I think it appeared six or seven times. True, sometimes a common word is the best word, and some of the surviving 144 might support this idea, but I plan to shave those down. But seven times on a single page? Not good writing.
What's funny is that "just" is a modifier, a word meant to strengthen a sentence or idea. As I considered each use of the word, I was amazed that more often than not, I'd failed to bolster the thought but instead made it flabby. I'd thought (if I'd thought) as I wrote that I strengthening my point. But when I just deleted the extraneous, or, better, reworked sentences, the writing and ideas were stronger, smoother, better.
I've been critical of word overuse in published works. I recall a novel I read about five years ago by an extremely successful writer who made me crazy with his use of "presumed" and "understood." I was bothered enough to take the time to count the occurences, though after about a hundred pages I gave up. Averaged, though, one of those words landed on every other page. Too much!
In my WIP, the remaining instances remain mostly for character voice. I was mindful to ensure when it was there, it was because of how my main character thought and especially spoke. Another pass and I'm sure more will bite the dust, though some belong and will survive.
It's not just "just," either. I have a list next to my computer now with other words that will get the find treatment. I expect to add words to it in days to come. Before I send out the next version, you can bet I will have searched for them. all. As for when it's time to query? If I failed to do this search, that would
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