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The Writing Coach: I’m Just Editing You Some
I’ve had a bit of writer’s block the last few months. I’ve been spending the time productively by going back and editing the series I’ve been writing. It’s more than two million words thus far. Nineteen full volumes, and now that I am writing again, about a twelfth of the twentieth volume. Part of all of this was that I realized one of the stories in the first volume needed to be split and several chapters added. I finally did that. When writing, it’s good to get a little distance between writing a passage (or several chapters) and going back to reread and edit it. This led me to edit through from the very first volume to the last.
When one takes a journey through over two million words of one’s writing, one is bound to notice patterns. Some of those patterns are bad for the writing. In my case, I have noticed that I severely overuse and abuse two words: just and some.
Just is a flexible word. It can be used to mean only, solely, simply, and many shades of meaning that have little to do with meanings such as rightful, fitting, or appropriate, let alone retributive. Sprinkling the word just a bit here or there is not so bad. But in one volume, I had been through about seventy-five thousand out of one-hundred-twenty-five-thousand words with removing or replacing most of the justs when I decided to see how many were left. I had two hundred and nine. It was close to two-tenths of a percent of the words I had in the volume. That was after I had removed most of them from three-fifths of the manuscript. Imagine twenty manuscripts like that. In many cases, I was able to delete the word altogether. In others, I replaced it with a more fitting word. Le mot juste, one might say.
Some is also a flexible word. Sometimes, one needs to use it. But used to indicate an indefinite number of something, it is a poor writing habit. He had some marbles in his hand? How many? Was it five? Was it a whole passel? (Passel, by the way, started out as “parcel,” but lost its R. There are many other words like this, and even names, such as Pusser, which started as “purser.” But don’t worry, those R’s show back up in words such as “marm.” Those school marms are stealing all the R’s.) Was it a handful of marbles? Or only a couple? I found I was using “some” in this way far too often. Unlike “just,” I never counted the somes. There would be too many in composite words as in the second sentence of this paragraph. But as I have been editing, I have become more specific as to how many of whatever there were some of. It’s enough to make one lose one’s marbles.
The problem with identifying my bad writing habits is that they are not mine alone. They are pervasive unless one has been trained by a good writing teacher or one has trained oneself to avoid these errors. Thus, it is as I come out of my burrow to see if I can see my shadow, instead I see just and some everywhere. I have attuned myself to make those words glow in neon colors when I read them, and I can’t turn that off when reading what other people write.
Now that you are paranoid about what you write and how many times you are using these words, have you noticed any other bad habits you have in your writing? (Wouldn’t you like to make the rest of us paranoid about your writing peeves?) Are there words you abuse? Are there other things you do in your writing that you know you have to watch out for?
Published in Literature
I have been trying, with modest success, to limit the use of adverbs in my writing. (Proofreading helps.)
Sometimes it’s crucial, like the difference between these two.
Good grief, Arahant, I have so many I can’t list them all here! When I’ve realized my duplications, I try to remember to look up a synonym. And then of course, I overuse those, too! But I think that you’ve created a discipline around recognizing those kinds of words and it is a great practice. I think I definitely need to try harder!
I have something for this somewhere, let me look. . .
Ditto. It
definitelycuts my word count, though.You are definitely going to make me nuts with this post! Oops . . .
Yes, I have been thinking that when I don’t delete the “just,” I’ll come back later and decide the five most common words I have replaced it with are also overused. 🤔
Join the club. I’m
justmerely sharing my nuttiness.I read Stephen R. Donaldson’s first Thomas Covenant series. Mr. Donaldson was awfully fond of the word ‘condign.’ Fond enough of it that I started to look for it. Once or twice would be okay, but I probably wouldn’t have noticed.
I use too many commas. Fortunately,,, the comma key has started to stick.
Mine, too. I think I dripped a bit of tea on it.
I find myself increasingly aware of Samuel Johnson’s advice that when I think I have crafted some particularly clever zinger, bon mot, or killer insight within a piece, I should delete it immediately because it will likely distort and ruin the point of the piece as I contort the rest of the prose so as to preserve this novel gem.
I find it best to often let a draft sit overnight and then prune. The affection for the cuter elements has receded a bit by then making removal less painful.
I spent years writing and editing military documents. The military has its own style that isn’t easy to master but is critical if you want to get people promoted or want to win millions of dollars for a program. For some things you must exaggerate in a pithy manner.
I did master the art of writing letters to the editor, letters that made my point in the 600 words allowed, that almost always made it onto print, and never were edited for grammar. I retired from that sport and cancelled my account when the paper added a few sentences that altered the meaning of what I wrote (a political alteration).
I do miss writing. Posting comments on social media ruins a person’s skills. So has autocorrect.
Then write something. 😉
However, there’s also Strunk and White’s admonition to “avoid fancy words.” I think the reason it is sensible advice, and the reason it applies in this instance, is that the same principle applies: synonyms often sound contrived, which will distract readers in some way. I always want to say to authors, “Why interrupt yourself?” :) :)
I usually ignore repetitions of small adverbs such as “just” and “only” for that reason. If the only substitute I can come up with is a word that is not used very often in spoken language, then I know it will garner more of the reader’s attention than the writer might want at that moment. I will leave the repeated adverb.
Reading is like driving in traffic: the goal is to keep moving. :) :)
In short, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Two is okay; three might be distracting; four sends me to a thesaurus. I usually go by that rule of thumb.
It also depends on where the words are in the afflicted sentences. :) Two sentences in a row that begin with “only” will distract readers.
Just to make a suggestion I follow often: If I’m looking for emphasis–and that’s what adverbs usually do, provide emphasis–I will often simply start a new sentence and perhaps even a new paragraph.
And, by the way, repeating a word is a fantastic form of emphasis.
Editors are always trying to avoid the overuse of italics, boldface, capitalization, and quotation marks. That tends to be the first editing priority. If repeating a word can get us out of those emphasis patterns, we’re thrilled. :) :)
Also, another good trick is to create a “dump document.” Paragraphs or sentences you are undecided about can go there rather than in the deleted bin.
It’s a great trick I have used over the years in my own and others’ writing. It gives me an opportunity to see the passage I’m working on without the copy I’m questioning.
It’s sort of the way people who prune bushes and trees work. They will often tie a branch back just to see the effect before they decide whether to keep it or not.
You haven’t lost the copy. And perhaps it needs its own essay.
It gives you a way to slow down the editing process, and it keeps you from losing something that may be really good.
Prunings can be cuttings and take root elsewhere. “Will you look at what those slugs have done to my runner beans—”
Agreed, but my synonyms ain’t no more fancy than my blue jeans.
I am stubborn in my writing ways, but if I’m going to take advice, I’ll come here and take it from the best. Thanks, Arahant!
Right. :) I was trying to describe a principle.
If the substitute for the adverb is attention getting for some reason, it could be an interruption you don’t want.
Sometimes the repetition isn’t as noticeable to the reader as it is to the writer. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
I guess I should. I have created some short posts on ricochet but didn’t consider them to be writing projects but casual comments that I didn’t slave over. That is one reason I check “Do Not Promote.” Another is I will say things on ricochet that I don’t intend for global distribution, especially personal and political things. Ricochet advertises promoted articles on Xitter. I don’t want leftie trolls harassing me. In fact, I block every leftie who comments on my Xitter comments. I am even careful on comments I make on promotable posts, but possibly not careful enough. Such is the world we live in today.
It is characteristic of my entire oeuvre that I eschew the arcane and esoteric and even verbosity itself.
Say it ain’t so, Joe, er, Jim.
This would be absolutely catastrophic, eventually leading to the collapse of the truly venerable Lolly Inc. Did they do something to, like, totally offend us?
:)
Agreed.
I am also happy to see your posts because they almost always end with a conversation-starting question. Starting a conversation was one of the original goals for the Ricochet website, and I admired it very much.
We (including me) tend to use the editorial pronouncement style here. :)
Your posts always remind me that we’re here to talk about important things with each other.
Thank you for keeping that light shining. :)
That was one of Claire’s Eleven Tips, which may still be linked in the Knowledge Base somewhere.
It does still exist:
https://ricochet.com/kb/how-to-write-a-great-post/
I don’t think I can opine on the quality of my writing habits, especially when compared to the great Arahant. I’ll just let my avatar’s moniker speak to the moment here.
Sometimes an engineer has to know his limits.
I am an engineer.
I write short plain sentences.
Subject, verb, object sentences.
Editing is to see if I can combine any sentences and still make sense.
I am paranoid about matching parentheses.
When I am done, I see the latest post by Dr. Bastiat and just cry over my writing.
Hello. My name is Charlotte, and I too am an over-user of just.
Hi, Charlotte!
Also, I adore adverbs. If using too many adverbs is wrong, then I don’t want to be right.