Circle Words

[Cory Swanson]

After a few years of working with a writing group where people come and go, I’ve noticed that a lot of writers have a word or two that they will do mental gymnastics to avoid saying. They somehow think it’s a sign of weak writing to use that word. I’ve met writers who avoid the words “was” “just” “that” and most recently I met a writer who will never join a simile with the word “like” for fear of sounding like an amateur.

They’re all arguably good writers, but I can find examples of great writing by great writers that use all those words and often in abundance.

So what’s your word that you will do somersaults to avoid? Or is it something more esoteric like avoiding adverbs like the plague.

Asking for a friend who’s wondering what ways they’ve been unwittingly offending the writing gods. Dang it, another adverb!

 

[Ashleyne]

In primary scool, I was taught only to use one 'and' per sentance. I've managed to shake of this rule, but in my first draft of my first book, only one 'and' per sentence.

 

[L.L.Lotte]

it depends on the voice you want to achieve.

Are the words needed? No, but sometimes those words are required to pull off an authentic sounding narrator.

 

[HareBrain]

Other traditional ones are "suddenly", "then" (used as a conjunction), and "somewhat". I can't say I never used these, but I'm wary of them.

 

[Cory Swanson]

Other traditional ones are "suddenly", "then" (used as a conjunction), and "somewhat". I can't say I never used these, but I'm wary of them.

Oh, I’ve heard the “suddenly” arguments. “Nothing happens suddenly,” they say. Then they suddenly look somewhat reticent.

 

[Luiglin]

I try and minimise the use of 'was' and 'like', although, for some characters, I do use them in dialogue above and beyond what's required. If I use them in descriptive I feel like I'm failing as a writer and just being lazy.

Try running a word count on specific words. You will find it quite an eye opener.

[^ get me, sounding like I know something ]

 

[Cory Swanson]

I try and minimise the use of 'was' and 'like', although, for some characters, I do use them in dialogue above and beyond what's required. If I use them in descriptive I feel like I'm failing as a writer and just being lazy.

Try running a word count on specific words. You will find it quite an eye opener.

[^ get me, sounding like I know something ]

I try to avoid the “was.” Especially if there’s a better word, but it’s a myth that it’s a sure indicator of passive voice.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Oh god. Now you all have given me anxiety about what I might be doing. I’m careful only of adverbs and perhaps executing unnecessary ‘that’s.

pH

 

[Harpo]

That that is, is.

 

[tinkerdan]

It's called balance.
Be aware, not obsessed and know that sometimes you can leave one or two of those bad boys in the group, just to liven things up a bit.

 

[AlexH]

I don't think there are any words I out and out avoid. Maybe "then" as it's rarely needed. Like most things, they're probably all fine in moderation.

Oh, I’ve heard the “suddenly” arguments. “Nothing happens suddenly,” they say. Then they suddenly look somewhat reticent.

For me, it's more that words like suddenly and immediately slow down whatever is happening suddenly or immediately.

 

[tinkerdan]

The only thing about suddenly that makes me avoid using it is that usually the person receiving the suddenly is not likely to know what happened to them, so at best it should read:
Suddenly....

 

[-K2-]

“Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thought-crime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed by eactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten. . . . The process will still be continuing long after you and I are dead. Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller. Even now, of course, there's no reason or excuse for commiting thought-crime. It's merely a question of self-discipline, reality-control. But in the end there won't be any need even for that. . . . Has it ever occcured to you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now?”

George Orwell, 1984

K2

 

[Steve Harrison]

I try to use the right words for any given situation, so nothing is off the table. If a word exists it's available for me to use, and, if not, I make one up...

 

[Culhwch]

I don't know that there are any that I avoid actively while writing, but when I'm weeding I do tend to have to get rid of a lot of 'was's and 'that's.

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

I spent a couple of weeks after I finished my novel ferreting out words that seemed to repeat too often, then doing a word search for each in the entire manuscript, and fixing them as much as possible. (For a 200,000+ word manuscript, this took some doing.) It's a pretty simple way of improving your writing.

 

[Karn's Return]

I try to use the right words for any given situation, so nothing is off the table. If a word exists it's available for me to use, and, if not, I make one up...

Exactly this. I don't avoid words needed for the situation. I also tend not to use too many words either, and that might be a problem, come to think of it...