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| My present TBR pile, not exactly as shown. photo credit, heroinetv.com |
WRONG!
Now is the time to revise that other book I've been working on. As I go through the MS, a pattern has emerged. It's nice to see I can spot my own writing tics now. Here are the top five mistakes I caught on revisions.
1. My characters bite their lips and raise their eyebrows way too much.
2. 'Cory ran across the lawn.' Sounds much better than, 'I watched Cory as he ran across the lawn.'
3. When I take out the word, 'just' the plot STILL moves forward. Amazing!
4. 'Jesse felt embarrassed.' is a lazy way of saying, 'Jesse blushed as she squirmed on the bench, her eyes darted everywhere around the room, except where Cory was standing.'
5. Most words ending in 'ly' are unnecessary.
Do any of these sound familiar?
Next Monday I'll be blogging the latest episode of Once Upon A Time.
Cheers!
15 comments:
Yes, these do sound familiar! My characters always smile and nod, all day long. They're generally a happy, agreeing bunch which makes revising kind of annoying. I also overuse the word "just." It's a bad, bad habit that must be broken. :-P How great that you can recognize your mistakes! It should make writing the next ms easier... right? :-)
And don't forget shrugging...my characters shrug so often they're practically mimes!
Ah, yes the shrugging! Who knew shoulders could be so expressive?
And when they're not shrugging, they're pausing. And don't even get me started on when they pause to shrug!
LOL I just finished revising and proofing my WIP (notice that 'just'?) and I found that I use 'that' a lot (see?) I went back and deleted over 200 'that's'!
In addition to all the above, I just realized in my MS I have a few places where I misused "farther/further."
My first novel had a lot of adverbs. I think it was commonly acceptable 10-20 years ago since most of the older books I pick up off the shelves have tons of them. The newer stuff doesn't.
Even when you take out all the 'justs' the plot still moves forward. Amazing!
So true, Dickens would spend four pages describing the fog.
I have an "arched his eyebrow" addiction!
Also, I went through my wip and removed the words "I turned to see..." It's another lazy way to tell instead of show.
My characters were turning so much they needed Gravol.
I tend to gravitate to a lot of "as" constructions. "She did this AS she did that." A CP made me take out EVERY single one.
I should do a count now, there should only be one or two now in my entire MS.
Thanks for the comment, Valerie. I'm guilty of that one too.
Love this! I am obsessed with the phrase "just like," and I describe WAY too many things my characters are doing during dialogue. (Ben shifted the hem of his t-shirt and ran his fingers through his hair before shrugging and saying, "I don't know.")
My characters ALWAYS seem to have their breath swept from their lungs, too. Don't think that's physically possible.
The lungs get mentioned a lot in mine as well. Deep breaths, Lisa. Thanks for commenting. Good luck with your writing.
My male characters seem to do a lot of grinning and winking- I'm wondering what this says about my own idea of flirting:) Great post!
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