Word Ecomomy

In the interest of word economy we’ll skip the boring and unnecessary intro paragraph and get right to it…

1.      Omit Excess and Unnecessary Words. Words like “almost” and “nearly” are almost never necessary (you see what I did there? 😉) Those of you who know me won’t be surprised that this tops my list as ways to omit excess words from your drafts. “Almost” and “nearly” are my pet peeves as they don’t only place excess words into your prose they also slow don’t or abate the action completely.

I don’t want to see your character almost fall down the mine shaft. Make them actually fall down it and then I’ll lean in and say: “And then what happened?”

Speaking of actually that’s a word that is rarely needed too. You should also check for very, really, quite, just. All words ending in -ly should be scrutinzed along with all filter words (see point #2 below).

Clients often incorporate unnecessary words in the form of up or down. There is rarely a need to say “he stood up” or “she sat down”. Simply saying “he stood” or “she sat” shares the same piece of information.

2.      Omit Filter Words. This one is a bit trickier as sometimes you have to rearrange an entire sentence or paragraph to pull this one off. But, trust me when I say, your writing will be better for it! Some filter words (include but not limited to: saw, felt, heard, wanted, needed, wished…I suggest printing off a more complete list, linked here, and keeping it near your keyboard) are easily omitted while others will require more work.

3.      Don’t be afraid to simplify your language to get rid of excess words. I’m all for beautiful prose but not at the expense of clarity or to the point where you’ll lose the reader.

4.      Use a strong action verbs to omit the excess. Ex. “She ran as fast as her legs could manage” can easily be changed to “she sprinted”.

5.      Use a strong and consistent voice. If your character has previously had very little to say don’t make them suddenly loquacious, not without good reason. And by strong voice I mean one that is authentic and interesting. We are always vying for readers’ attention among so many outside distractions. Give your characters voices that are up to the challenge!

That’s certainly not the only words to get rid of but it’s a great start! Until we meet again, Happy Writing!