Small Edits for Strong Writing

NOTE:  Monday's post on Sunday due to an early appointment I have on Monday.

 It's the little things that you fix when you edit that helps you produce strong writing. There's a song made famous by Frank Sinatra called "Little Things Mean  A Lot." It's true in our everyday life and in this writing journey we're on, as well. 

The poster for today can be helpful in eliminating the unnecessary word 'very' in whatever you write. It's so easy, so tempting to grab a 'very' out of the air and plunk it down next to a noun to let people know you mean business. If you say, "The memo was very short." you're hoping to convey the kind of message it was. Instead of using 'very short,' substitute the word 'brief' which means the same thing but eliminates the 'very' in your sentence. Throwing a very next to the noun is the lazy way.

Take a good look at the list. None of the words in the second column are beyond understanding. A Rhodes Scholar need not explain any one of those words to a reader. They are all better than a noun preceded by 'very.'

There are many unnecessary words that pop up in our first drafts. A writer said that editing is labor, and it can be when you have to think about all the unnecessary words that must be changed or deleted. It's not a checkmark kind of list. A writer must go through paragraph by paragraph and line by line when editing.

What about starting sentences with the word 'so?' A writer is telling what happened and continues the next sentence with something like "So she pulled the plug and watched the water swirl until it vanished completely." Why would you need the 'So' to begin. Cut it, slash it, snip it but get rid of it. This sentence works well if you delete the 'so' and capitalize 'she.' If you write sentences that begin with 'so,' you develop a habit of using the word and your entire story or whatever you're writing has the word 'so' sprinkled throughout. Your habit can become boring to your reader.

How about the word 'down?' If you write "Sheila sat down on the park bench." the word 'down' is totally unnecessary. When you tell your reader that 'Sheils sat...' you need no further explanation. 'Sheila sat' is quite clear.

In my beginning years of writing, I tended to use the word 'just' on a too frequent basis. I'd write something like 'I just hate driving on icy roads.' There is absolutely no valid reason to keep the word 'just' in that sentence. It doesn't add anything. It becomes clutter. 

Do you have a favorite unnecessary word that you are guilty of using? Has the word become such an old friend that you plop it into sentences without even thinking about it? Do you use 'really' for emphasis instead of finding another word that conveys that thought? You could probably substitute 'really' for 'very' in our poster list and substitute the better word in the second column.

All the above are 'little things' but mastering the usage, or nonusage, of them will help to make your writing strong and clear.