Most authors have pet words and phrases that will pop up in their writing. These are things you use unconsciously and because you’re not aware that you have used this word or phrase, it may appear many times in your manuscript.
My pet word is fantastic. I have to be careful to check where this has appeared because it could be enough to take a reader away from the story. Can you imagine a character from another planet using the word fantastic?
The more common pet words that I have seen are:
- and yet
- seemed
- almost
- quite
- also
- even
- really.
Sometimes you could have an entire phrase or action that becomes a pet, maybe one of your characters rolls their eyes or flicks their hair, or if you’re a nonfiction writer you might use ‘for instance’ many times in the same chapter.
So how do you know when a word or phrase has become a pet?
- Do you use it in everyday communications – texts, emails, conversations?
- Look at ten pages of a current manuscript you’re writing, are there any words that have appeared over and over again?
- In those ten pages are there any unusual words or phrases that don’t fit in with the story or style of the writing?
If you think you have come across a pet word or phrase it’s a good idea to do a search for it after you have completed writing your manuscript. This well help you find out exactly how many times you have used that word or phrase throughout the manuscript and pinpoint where they are.
Trust me; you’ll probably have that OMG moment where you think I can’t believe I used that word again.
In the previous article kill your darlings, I cover the importance of removing elements of your story to make it better.
Look at doing the same for your pet words.
When you find one, consider if you need the word or phrase at all. You may be able to delete it altogether or re-write it to avoid repetition.
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