Tansy Ragwort, pretty but toxic to cows and horses. Why do writers need to worry about weedy words? After all, what could be wrong with including a simple "really" or "every" in a sentence? Aren't they included in daily speech? Don't they add emphasis? Don't they help convey the meaning or emotion being expressed? These are all arguments I used when an editor sent my first non-fiction piece back with this comment, "Delete the weedy words, and try again."
The answer: Nothing is wrong with including them if your goal is to keep the power out of your writing. Each word that does not move your story ahead is a useless word, so why use them. Flooding your work with useless words are like Tansy Ragwort. They are toxic to the reader, and therefore, toxic to your story.
Here are just a few of the words I try to delete before I send a manuscript off to an editor.
The answer: Nothing is wrong with including them if your goal is to keep the power out of your writing. Each word that does not move your story ahead is a useless word, so why use them. Flooding your work with useless words are like Tansy Ragwort. They are toxic to the reader, and therefore, toxic to your story.
Here are just a few of the words I try to delete before I send a manuscript off to an editor.
- as
- before
- so
- basically
- eventually
- about
- mostly
- often
- kind of
- little
- felt
- slightly
- somewhat
- just
- but
- then
- usually
- seemingly
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