Cutting the Excess
Last week, I was asked about my process to cut words from my writing. This is a subject near and dear to me since my drafts are overwritten. This is the list I came up with.
Anyone think of other things to look for?
Additions:
- Question all adverbs.
- If the verb is a form of to be I try to find an active verb to replace it. I find it cuts words in the process.
- Sometimes I use sentence diagramming to show me where the fat is if I have trouble with a sentence.
- Look for the ending -ing, questioning if that is the the appropriate tense for what I am trying to convey often helps me cut out unnecessary words.
- Question dialogue. Does it advance the plot in some way or can it be paraphrased and still move the story along?
- Scenes/Paragraphs/Chapters: Does it advance the plot or character in any way? Are they weak?
- Look for the words of, that, type, seemed, appears, like a, and find ways to rewrite them without the words.
- Question uses of began, begin, start, What does it convey that dropping it wouldn't?
- Redundancy: Are there sentences with synonyms such as down and below in them? Or other words that imply the same thing?
- Redundancy: Are the same ideas or concepts repeated in the same sentence? IE News articles use future outlook a lot when they only need one; outlook implies future.
- Are there too many details? a couple of solid, specific details, not all of them. Remember that there will be more details in a scene when slowing down time.
- Review modifiers, are they necessary?
- Can words or concepts be reduced through the use of a metaphor or analogy?
Anyone think of other things to look for?
Additions:
- Look for passive language and make it active.