Red Pen Series - Crutch Words

These are commonly overused terms or phrases in writing. They add little to no meaning and are utilized out of habit. When self-editing you may miss how often you utilize some of these terms because you have read your story (along with writing it) so many times that it becomes muscle memory and we tend to miss things as we shift into a sort of autopilot with familiarity.

What are some of the more common crutch words?

I am going to break them down for you in their categories (this is by no means a comprehensive list).

Intensifiers and Adverbs:Words that strengthen or emphasize the intensity of an action or quality.

Really

Very

Just

Actually

Basically

Literally

Definitely

Vague Qualifiers: they are non-specific terms, they create ambiguity into the meaning.

Seem

Appear

Almost

Sort of

Kind of

A bit

Spoken Fillers: These are reflex words used to fill a silence. They can also create ambiguity into a sentence. While using them in dialogue is a character choice, in descriptive language it does not add to the meaning and can soften your intention.

Well

So

You know

I mean

Like

Mental Filter Verbs: (these can be often identified as “telling” vs “showing” within writing) Identifying this can help strength writing and create better character and world building connection to your reader. These can be words that “tell” a character’s mental process instead of “showing”.

Thought

Realized

Wondered

Understood

Action Fillers: These are words that authors tend to use out of habit to express physical actions.”Show, Don’t Tell”

Looked

Glanced

Smiled

Shrugged

Nodded

What can you do to help spot these words and phrases in your own writing when self-editing? These suggestions help to change the dynamic between your story and your brain. You are actively switching autopilot off.

Read your story backwards (see my post about editing backwards)

Read your story out loud

Utilize the find/replace tool in your writing program (this will search out how many times you have used one of these crutch words) This can also help you to find where they are in the story and just read that section vs rereading the whole novel once again looking for them.

What do you do once you identify a crutch word?

Delete them

Read the sentence out loud omitting the word, if the meaning of the sentence doesn’t change or the impact of what you intended remains the same, simply delete it.

Show, Don’t Tell

Where filter verbs are overused, you can replace them with other words that maintain the meaning of the narrative.

Example: really mad change to fuming

‘I could tell by the way he walked into the house, slamming the door, that he was really mad’

‘I could tell by the way he walked into the house, slamming the door, that he was fuming’

Same meaning but evokes a different response from the reader.

#redpencilseries #editingtips #selfeditingtips #indieauthorsupport