Tags
editing, editing tips, Overused Words, Self-editing, Strong vs Weak Words, Strong Words, Weak Words, writers, writing, Writing Advice, writing tips
I wrote about my discovery of my overuse/reliance on the word “it” here. I shed bitter tears while editing out about a million “its.” A new revelation was my overuse-run-it-into-the ground reliance on “its” evil twin “them.”
As with “it,” every time I read a “them,” I asked myself, “who/what is the them?”
I own 462 purses and my husband loves me because I store them on his side of the closet.
He is more understanding than my husband.
I own 462 purses and my husband is ready to divorce me because I store my collection on his side of the house.
~~~~~
I hide my jagged cuticles and chipped nail polish from my mother-in-law because she makes fun of them.
Do we have the same mother-in-law?
I hide my nails from my mother-in-law because she makes fun of my obsession with daily manicures.
~~~~~
I have many followers and I keep them engaged by writing insightful blog posts.
We must have the same followers!
I had many followers but I lose 20 readers every day because I write nothing but drivel.
Robin Coyle 
Pingback: Strong vs Weak Words ~ Part 38 ~ Everyone and Everybody « Robin Coyle
No doubt about it, you are doing a wonderful job of strong vs weak words. Makes me wonder, though, how FAR this can go? I’m sticking around till the end to see how this story ends (giggles daintily).
I have a fair few more to do. Stay tuned Tess!
I think them is related to they, as in “They say……..” Who are they?
Ha! See the post I did on “they.” You might hit on it soon.
Pingback: Strong vs Weak Words ~ Part 20 « Robin Coyle
Seriously, please get this published, missus! It really would make you a mint – so useful! 🙂
You must be catching up on my blog today (or last night). I love it!
I am going to see about publishing it. Heck, it is about written already anyway!
Yes, please, please do so! Honestly, I think it would do really, really, really well and you already know there are a lot of followers here who would really appreciate it! 🙂
E-book you think? Or traditional publishing?
Well, personally I’d prefer the traditional book, so why not both? 😀
I buy hard copies of writing how-to books because I like to highlight and make notes. So, I would prefer the traditional route as well.
I love this series – but I fear I’ll never finish my novel if I follow all your advice. Or it’ll be far too short. 🙂
I’ve lost about 3,000 words, but while editing I saw places where the story is thin and can’t wait to go back to add to the character development.
It’s one I need to follow out of all of them! 😎
I’ve been meaning to ask you. Do you have a novel in progress?
I like the picture of the sign a lot!
Isn’t that funny? My friend said, “There is an art to confuse to conformity.” It stuck in my head and I used the line in my book.
I like the way you rewrite.
Thanks from one Robin to another!
I hope to find the time to go back and read all your posts on weak words. My hard-to-break habit is use of “to be” words……..
I did two posts on “to be.” It is a tough one, but with practice rewriting them out, it got easier. I hope you do have time to read the series. If you do, let me know what you think.
https://robincoyle.wordpress.com/2012/06/27/strong-vs-weak-words-part-16/
https://robincoyle.wordpress.com/2012/06/28/strong-vs-weak-words-part-17/
“Them” is in my bad books at the moment also… so easy to generalise when you have the convenience of “them”, rather than identifying what or who it is that’s bugging you 😉
I went from 90 ‘thems’ to 49 in my WIP, but I am going look at the ‘thems’ again to see if I can name who the ‘them’ is in more places. I bet I can.
Oh, boy. All them things I need to take out? My mind is reeling. Pronouns are toughies. ; )
The more I went through the process, the easier it became. In fact, I went back and found more because I learned how to revise the sentence. Good luck if you attempt it!
This is awesome. Ive never thought of “it” that way! Must pay closer attention to my writing.
I forgot to ask . . . Will you have writing time while on vacation?
I’m so obsessed over not using these critters my writing is suffering. I think more often than not we spend more time worrying about what we shouldn’t write than actually writing. Most of my favorite ‘famous’ books break these rules all the time anyway. I mean, it’s nice to be aware of these things, but for me personally, being too vigilant can be taken too far, and the simplest meaning of what you are trying to convey gets lost in excess words in the attempt to avoid the use of one.
Well I hate to hear that.
Perhaps we are in different places in our writing. With the first draft, I wrote from my heart without thinking. The story fell onto the pages with abandon. NOW, I am paring the excess words so the story shines through. As a result, I’ve edited out about 3,000 words. The writing it tighter and needless words aren’t getting in the way of the telling.
If I tried to follow the “rules” on the first draft instead of letting the words flow, I would probably given up the notion of writing a novel altogether.
I completely agree, Robin. All I was trying to say is now that I’m in the final stages of my edits, I’m so focused on weeding stuff out, I’m losing my voice and my story. It doesn’t read as well, at least not to me. We’ll see what my lovely betas have to say, right? 🙂 That’s who counts…the readers.
Losing your voice isn’t good. I went too deep in edits once and ended up putting my voice back in places. I’ll be curious to hear what your betas think. Perhaps you are being too hard on your writing.
You are so smart. And cute. And the photo of the sign makes me laugh.
I thought it might make you laugh. Our kind of humor, right?
I really like your strong vs weak words posts. They make me think more about the way I talk and the way I write.
Please continue!
Well thank you so much! That is lovely to hear. I have more up my sleeve!
The posts are very refreshing to me in a “wow..I make those mistakes all the time!” kind of way!
And that’s good for me..because English has always been a strong point for me and I want to maintain that..I’m still learning!
We are learning together, aren’t we?
When I find a word that sits on the page like an innocent lamb I think, oh ho! What mischief are you up to my little friend? As you see from these posts, I poke at the word a little bit and often discover the word sabotages sentences. Voila! Another idea for a post.
Thanks to you Robin, I type a word and wonder if I’m penning evil.
They are only evil if you use “them” two million times like I did!
Confuse those that you can’t convince?
There is an art to confuse into conformity.
Are there any words we can use? 😉
If I keep going long enough, there won’t be any left, will there?
Ha ha! I’m starting to wonder the same thing. 🙂
But seriously, Robin, these are great. You’re really providing a useful service for us. By focusing on one tiny editing bit at a time, it allows us (or at least me) not to get so overwhelmed with the editing process.
You are all such talented writers so your kind words humble me.
For me myself personally (ha ha! That was yesterday’s post!), focusing on one element/word in my WIP at a time is needed at this point because the story has been told, now it needs polish.
Plus, reading it one-more-bloody-time from the top would be counter-productive right now.
Ah… So many little nasties to purge
But our writing is so much cleaner without them
Whenever I go through one of these purges, “Less is more” rings in my head.
Actually, you usually end up with “more” words in these purges
Not me. I lost 3,000 +/- words in my WIP.