Editing Exercise One: Overused Words
March 4th 2010 12:20
Based on what you've read and worked on so far, make a list of five words you think you overuse. You'll probably-especially in a Nanovel-find an overuse of words like 'was', 'have', 'bloody' if you have a lot of gore, 'beautiful' if your character's exploring a new world. 'Moments' is a big one for me as I've struggled to find new ways of judging time for my world.
Beside each one, when you do your work for the day, do a tally of how many times that word has been used. After you've read your chapters for the day, find a thesaurus and look up similar words. List three similar words that you are comfortable using beside each word that you overuse, and then replace each word you overuse at least once in your chapters for the day. Keep this list close to you when you're editing the rest of your novel.
Make the effort to replace at least one overused word in every chapter that you edit.
Beside each one, when you do your work for the day, do a tally of how many times that word has been used. After you've read your chapters for the day, find a thesaurus and look up similar words. List three similar words that you are comfortable using beside each word that you overuse, and then replace each word you overuse at least once in your chapters for the day. Keep this list close to you when you're editing the rest of your novel.
Make the effort to replace at least one overused word in every chapter that you edit.
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