Samhain Publishing Ltd Weblog

'As's and 'But's...

No, I didn’t pick this topic for the title alone! The day we were asked to blog, I was busy picking out repeated words and phrases in a book I had bought the previous evening. By the time I had hit Chapter Three, I had begun to realize the characters always had the same way of picking something up and the dialogue was filled with tags that told me how something was said rather than letting the characters speak for themselves. Then came the “as”s and “but”s… I feel like I need to add “Oh My” to that for some reason. The number of repeated words in this book (which shall remain nameless and I’m happy to say is not one of SP’s), is astonishing. I’m not sure if I picked it up because I’m an editor or because there are so many of them. The number of “that”s is off the chart.

What I am talking about are not called filter or filler words, this is about plain old repetition. I have heard these words referred to as slipper words—because you feel comfortable using them. And everyone does it. I re-read what I write at least 3 or 4 times because one scan is specifically for repeated words and phrases. I tend to love “about”. I’m not sure why it has crept into my writing. In speech lately, I’ve noticed I say “yeah” a lot.

I finally deciphered where “yeah” came from—talking to my cats. No, I’m not some spinster editor in a cramped little attic clicking away on her computer keyboard who talks to cats all the time. However, I do tend to say the same things to the cats because, well, they are cats. It’s not easy to have a discussion on vampires or werewolves with them and keep the conversation interesting. Usually it’s sentences like “Do you want something to eat? Yeah, you’re such a pretty little girl”. One cat you can only say “little girl” to and another “baby”. If you mess up and use the wrong phrase with the wrong cat, ears can go back! We know that’s not a good thing. Because I say “yeah” to the cats a lot, it has crept into my everyday speech. Something I’m working on.

All repeated words are not bad. There are times they are there for a reason, to make an emphasis or a point. When done effectively, it is used only at certain places in the writing and not throughout the entire story.

What can all of us do to look at our writing with fresh eyes and recognize the repeated words and how do we fix it? First, the recognition.

Recognizing Repeated Words and Phrases

Keep a List—If you tend to use certain words a lot, begin putting them on your checklist of things to do when you edit yourself. What? You don’t have a checklist? Good topic for my next blog in a few weeks! Common words such as: as, so, that, like, but, about, quite, however, simply, really and just. Uncommon words—words that are your favorite such as “yeah”.

Read the story out loud—Better yet, tape the story while you are reading it out loud and play it back the next day. Your ear will begin to pick up words that are said a lot and you will also hear the cadence of your sentences. You’ll begin to notice characters dialogue tags being repeated such as “said dryly”, “her tone was…” and others.

Have a critique partner or friend read it—Specifically mention to them that you are on the hunt for repeated words and phrases. If you don’t have a CP or a friend (and I doubt that), you could look into a program called AutoCrit. One of its strengths is to find and highlight repeated phrases and words.

Fixing Repeated Words and Phrases

Restructure your sentences—if you tend to use compound sentences a lot, there will probably be a lot of “and”s and “but”s in your writing. Using simple statements can eliminate these. But the issue then can become having ALL simple statements. The last thing you want is your story to read like a “See Dick run.” book. The opposite may be needed. If nouns are repeated in several lines, the way to eliminate them may be to combine sentences.

Don’t write when you’re tired—I have heard this more often than any other method of fixing this problem. As your eyes grow heavy and you slip closer to the dark abyss, your mind will begin to allow anyone and everyone to the party and those pesky little repeat demons will take advantage.

Repeated phrases or words in writing can be glaring once you’ve noticed them. It has made me stop reading a book and never pick it up again. I suddenly start concentrating on finding that next instance rather than reading and enjoying the book.

Do you have another method of finding or fixing repeated phrases?