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?