Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Overused Words

Amanda Rose at Flowering Fiction recently tagged me in the "Look" challenge. This little exercise does numerous things. It's a fun way to put some excerpts out there and inspire some interest in my work, but it's also a way to check for overused words. The rules are to count the numbers of times you use the word 'look' in your WIP and then share three interesting excerpts.

First, I'll share my numbers. 36 'looks' in the first 17,000 words of The Heir of Futhark. I already changed a few of them.

Second, three excerpts.
 
 
#1 Zomelak looked each of them in the eye. Was there courage still in their race, or were they the cowards Cage had named them? “What will he do if we disobey him? Kill us?”


#2 The lessening of the ash fall allowed a clear look at the sharp rents in the land where red molten rock surged and bubbled. Not so much as a single wall of the smallest hovel or great mansion still stood in the ugly, steaming cauldron.

#3 Bayard pranced nearby, still agitated by either the scent of blood or his master’s condition. Sabell couldn’t look at the victims of the horse’s attack. His large hooves had minced the villains into bloody, broken pieces, none of the mess recognizable as people. In his frenzy of killing rage, the warhorse had trampled the robbers Cage had already killed. Gore covered Bayard hooves and halfway up his legs. Each time his movements brought him near one of the bodies, he stomped it again.

Thanks to Amanda for inviting me to join this. I'm not very good at passing these type of things on but I invite anyone to take the challenge.

What word do you tend to overuse? Do you search it out and change words when you're done with your manuscript? Did you go 'look' at Amanda's blog?

17 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Makes you go back and find those overused words, doesn't it? One of mine is 'felt.'

shelly said...

I have a love for the word pummel.

Hugs and chocolate,
Shelly

Luanne G. Smith said...

I'm scared to check how many "looks" I've got in my WIP. I know I overuse "just" and "really" and "turned" most of the time, so I always have to weed those out.

fairbetty said...

This is a great exercise! Really makes you step back and examine (almost said "look") your WIP... and will make it stronger in the long run!

Lynn Proctor said...

i am sure i over use lots of them--but sometimes a character would tend to talk a certain way :)

LD Masterson said...

I like this exercise, and your excerpts. I know I overuse look and stare. Shrugged is another bad boy for me. My characters are shrugging all over the place.

Unknown said...

I used the word facade to death and then tried to raise it from the dead and use it again.

momto8 said...

I have never thought about this before. interesting and useful exercise!

L. Diane Wolfe said...

I'd be scared to look for 'look' in my work.

"Was' used to be my bane. Then I adopted the motto "Stop the WASes!"

Golden Eagle said...

I'm not sure which word I overuse the most; I really should put my novel through Wordle or something and find out.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

I recognize more of my overused words from your posts. Felt, Just,and LD, I have to watch my characters for too much shrugging too.
Pummel and facade, never thought for checking for those.

Unknown said...

After taking a look at my first 24,000 words, I found I was guilty of overusing everything: just, turn, look... I have a lot of work to do :/

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. One less reason for an agent/editor to dislike my work.

Talli Roland said...

Look is definitely one I'm conscious of, along with just. Sigh!

Cate Masters said...

I notice I tend to overuse words, but a different one for each story. Go figure!
I would have tagged you for The Next Big Thing but too late, lol

Christine Rains said...

That's a really good percentage of "look" usages. I tend to use "just" a lot. They usually get deleted!

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

Thanks for the thought, Cate.
Christine, 'just' is one of my sins too. I cured it when I named one of my heroes Juston. His friends called him Just for short. Made me really aware of using that word elsewhere.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

Jenn, I have to search out my 'turn' also. My charactes will get dizzy if they turn as much as I have them doing.