Don't Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

The photo above was taken north of Manhattan, KS, where I live. I used it today to share a bit of the beauty of the Flint Hills with you.

Today's topic is not the rolling hills and prairie grasses. It's writers being redundant. I'm an avid reader, and so often I will be engrossed in a story when I come across a paragraph that tells me something I've already been told. It irritates me when it happens more than once. 

I feel like the writer doesn't think I'm intelligent enough to understand what he/she said the first time. It's common knowledge that we learn by repetition, but there's no reason to hammer the reader over the head as if to say Get this! by repeating the same information. How many times do I need to be told that Glenna hated her father'? Or that Susannah loved beautiful rings? It's often the little things that are told again and again, not the major points in the story. 

I read a book by a very successful author several months ago. The basic story was a good one, but the writer said the same things over and over and over until I thought I would scream. I ended up reading the last chapter to see what happened to the protagonist and vowed never to read another book written by the same person. What is difficult for other writers to accept is that this author gets published on a regular basis. Hard to understand.

Another form shows up when writers are redundant within one paragraph. They will say something, then two sentences later, they make the same point with different words. Give your reader some credit. They do not need to be told the same thing twice, even if you don't use the exact same words. 

Repeating the same word numerous times in one paragraph makes for some boring reading. It's so easy for the writer to do this without even realizing it. The key here is to watch for word repetition when you edit. It's something that often stands out when I am critiquing the work of someone else. We see problems like this in the work of other writers far more easily than when rereading our own writing. 

When we're engrossed in the subject we're writing about, we don't pay much attention to the number of times we use those passive verbs like is, was, were and others in that family. Redundant, yes, but also makes for boring sentences. Of course, you'll use these verbs often, but, as you edit, replace as many as possible with action verbs. You'll lessen the repetition but also have stronger, more interesting sentences. 

If you're writing an article about a tourist spot like a cathedral or a vegetable gardener, it's difficult to keep from using the keyword numerous times. You can't always avoid it, but work on using synonyms rather than repeating the same keyword over and over. Or consider a pronoun occasionally, just not too often. 

Being aware and watching for redundancies are habits every writer needs to develop. We all do some of the practices written about here today, but recognizing that we do is step one to improving.

The next time you're reading a novel, enjoy the story but watch for repetition. You might be surprised at how often it occurs.