No. I'm not on a diet. Greetings from the Hermit WRiter.
The following
bullets I gleaned from a speaker at a writer's event years ago. You can find the
same recommendations in every style book. I review these regularly, to keep the
concept of "cutting the flab" on my mind as I write.
1. Wordy phrases – due to; on account; the reason
2. Weak constructions – type of man who; manner of
3. Tired phrases – emotional roller coaster; much
to be desired; bit his lip
4. Redundancies – absolutely essential; reason
because; recoil back
5. Overused & becoming meaningless – actually;
basically; ultimately; of; as
6. Tinny & overused – then; suddenly; finally
7. Idle words – just; that; there; then
8. Intensifiers – very; certainly; literally
9. Not worth mentioning – minor characters;
descriptions not pertinent to setting
10. Unwarranted
repetition
11. ADJ and ADJ
strings – white snow; remove if absence doesn't modify sentence
12. ADVs – remove
and strengthen the verb
13. Worn word choice
– pump them up
I'm guilty of using weak constructions 9in the manner of) but working on eradicating them from my writing. Last week I read about how "actually" is meaningless and overused. I [actually] was typing a comment on FB and used this word, went back and deleted it. So we're never too old to learn. I've imprinted your bullets in my brain for future reference. Oops. Will this become a "tired phrase" ? Greetings Jo
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