Unnecessary, weak words, like grammatical expletives, dilute our writing, but most of us don’t even realize we’re using them. That’s because they are part of our everyday conversation.
I’ll tell you about my rude awakening to filler words and weak qualifiers (e.g. “very, really, a lot”). When I was going through the editing process with my first novella, I noticed I used the word “just” twice in a sentence. Out of curiosity, I searched up how just many “justs” were in the whole document. My story was infected!
Here is a list of overused vague qualifiers/filler words. Sharpen your writing in minutes by searching your manuscript with the “find and replace” feature and removing/changing these words.
- very
- too
- so
- quite
- rather
- somewhat
- basically
- virtually
- generally
- slightly
- really
- a lot
- sort of
- indeed
- still
- almost
- fairly
- even
- a bit
- a little
- kind of
- usually
- a few
- mostly
- and my favorite “just“
Stephen King said that the road to hell is paved in adverbs. I would then say that same road is blacktopped with the words in this list. It’s almost impossible to get out of the habit of using them, so make sure you look for them before submitting, publishing, or turning your manuscript over to your editor.
What word out of this list do you notice in your writing?
I’d love to know if you’ve filtered your writing for these words. How many did you find?
Happy Writing!
—Christa
Our focus this month is on
systemizing your self-editing process.
I would say the only squabble I have with this advice, is in dialogue. People use these common filler words when they speak, especially depending on what region you’re from, and they can add color to dialogue. My worst (non-dialogue) crutch word is “Just.” I’ve also heard them referred to as “crutch” words.
Great point! I forgot to consider the dialogue. Also, if you write in first-person, which is my favorite POV, your character has to talk like a normal person. Thank you so much for the caveat.