A writing tic is something you write over and over again without realising it. Perhaps you’re in the zone and the words are flowing, especially on your first draft. You’re bashing the story out and before you know it your favourite writing tic is all over the place.
We can be completely oblivious to the way we overuse words and phrases without realising it. Their repetition can be distracting or boring for readers. Readers notice patterns, even if they can’t pinpoint exactly what’s wrong. Or perhaps it’s something that only we, the writers, spot when we go back and reread our work.
Sometimes, you discover (or are told!) you’ve used the same expression three times on a page. The problem? That repetition makes your writing sound amateurish and weak, even dull.
A confession
The text for my new book came back from the editor who pointed out some word repetitions. Two examples were ‘tight’ as in expression, and ‘pull’. (Action heroes are always pulling something or somebody…) After going through my manuscript with her suggestions, I thought (rather casually) that it might be worth quickly checking for others. Imagine my horror when I found ninety-two ‘looks’ in 24,000 words!
To be fair, many were doing different jobs
‘Look, can we reschedule?’
‘I’m looking for a good hotel’
He gave me a puzzled look.
She looked down.
‘Let’s have a quick look.’
‘Look’ is such a common word that we often overlook(!) it. But goodness me! So I went to work and halved the number, then pared that second selection. The text is now much stronger.
Possible alternatives
‘Do you think we could reschedule?’
‘Could you recommend a good hotel?’
The ‘he’ subject could say ‘What on earth are you talking about?’
She studied the ground, or She bowed her head, or She suddenly found her shoes very interesting.
‘Shall we quickly check?’
If you really can’t get away for a direct use of ‘look’, consider ‘gaze’, ‘study’, ‘glance’ and ‘search’.
Other common horrors include:
Overused dialogue tags (speech tags beyond ‘said’, ‘replied’, ‘continued’ and ‘added’. You’re allowed the occasional ‘cried out’ or ‘shouted’. 🙂 )
Repeated gestures (characters always running hands through hair)
Filler words (‘just’, really’, ‘quite’) and filler verbs (‘try’, ‘manage’, ‘start’)
Stereotypical descriptions (everyone has ‘piercing’ eyes)
Be careful with your smiles and the overuse of ‘I/he/she knew’ and ‘I/he/she thought’.
Remedies
First of all, be prepared to be self-critical. I know that’s unfashionable, but it alerts you to the fact that you have probably not written the most accomplished prose ever.
Use Find/Replace in your writing programme for words you suspect you overuse. I am fully aware I write ’turn’ and ‘pull’ far too often. These are my first targets.
I keep a list now. At the top are those two, plus (of course) ‘look’, ‘glance’ (eyes again!), ‘tight’, ‘really’, ‘smile’, ‘yet’ and ‘eye roll’.
For speech tags, resist the urge to add an adverb or use a less common word to produced potential jolters such as ‘he uttered dramatically’ or ‘she admonished’ in order to convey meaning. I’m sure you can insert tension in the scene by other means. Sometimes you can drop the speech tag entirely.
After you’ve done that, put your work through a critique writing partner, a strict beta reader and, best of all, an editor.
When you examine each of your tic words and think about their function in the sentence, you will nearly always find a different way of expressing it by using a stronger word, dialogue or a reaction.
Happy writing!
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA, Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, is now out.
Find out more about Roma Nova, its origins, stories and heroines and taste world the latest contemporary thriller Double Identity… Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email update. As a result, you’ll be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.
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