Dec 07 2008
How to Edit - words to watch
There are a few other words that you should search for:
“Then” – a surprisingly unnecessary word. Wherever you find it, try deleting it and see what happens. Most of the time, you don’t even need to replace it with anything!
“That” – similar to “then” above. Often superfluous, you are better off without it.
“Suddenly” – one of those “-ly” words and one of the most over-used words in novel writing!
“And” – there’s nothing wrong with “and” where it’s needed, but often it’s used to connect two sentences that don’t need to be connected. Try taking out the “and” and see whether the two statements stand on their own. If the only reason you joined the two sentences together was to avoid starting with “He” or “She” twice in a row – don’t be so lazy, rewrite one of the sentences!
