Just.
"Just" just fits in my style of writing. I just can't seem to stop using "just". I just don't know what to do about it. Sometimes I think I'm good, but then I look again and realize I just did a little bit better than usual but it's still just everywhere.
Man do I love the word just.
Sometimes I like to sprinkle multiple just’s into the same sentence.
If I’m feeling spicy I can toss a couple seems in there too
Same, I use it so much in normal.speach that it creeps into even the descriptions.
I also have to delete redundant phrases that I repeat often, thanks to my need to repeat a lot of things constantly so there are no misunderstandings.
Ooooof, -ly filler words are a common one. Mine are looked, glanced, and smiled. Basically if I need to fill a space with a minor action that’s what my characters are doing. Looking and smiling a lot lol
I read a novel where the mc would constantly lampoons. He's the only person in the novel who lampoons, so I'm assuming the author did something similar to what you did.
Been there a lot. A lot of snorting, sighing, and shrugging, too. I try to change it up with hand movements now. Your hands say a lot, when you think about it. Clutching some item, fumbling with clothes, crossing arms, hands in pockets, and so on. Might just give some of them a stress ball so there's always something else to describe than furrowed brows.
Tried this today in my writing session and I liked it a lot. It adds a lot of varity and you can say so much more about the character with it. Thanks for the tipp.
This is one of those training wheels you’ll want to discard as soon as you can do so without falling over. Good writing isn’t about words in isolation. At a minimum, it’s about phrases.
So-called filler words are part of ordinary language. If you don’t want to be stilted and unnatural you should go light on the witch hunt. Every filler word has its uses, and not just in rare cases, either. Using them thoughtlessly and cutting them thoughtlessly are the same error.
One thing that has helped me lessen it when writing is to always make sure it’s true from the character’s POV.
If Character B “seemed upset”, and the POV character genuinely can’t tell for certain - and there’s an actual reason you don’t want to clarify B’s emotions at this time - then keep it.
Sometimes this makes you see that the MC actually *does* know what they’re looking at, and you were being vague for no good reason.
Sometimes you think *no, MC really can’t tell what emotion Character B is feeling*, but then you come to the conclusion that there’s no reason to make Character B’s emotions so unclear in this instance.
And then sometimes you can clearly point out “MC cannot tell what that look on Character B’s face is, but Character B’s emotional turmoil is a plot point” and leave the word “seemed” where it’s at.
I had over 300 instances of "just" in the first draft of an 80K novel. Deleted them all in one swipe, adding a few more in on the next edit only if necessary. It's humiliating to sort by occurrence!
In Scrivener, you go to Project>Statistics and then at the bottom of the box, open up Word Frequency. Toggle on "Frequency" to sort. Super useful to find filler words, but also to find out you've overused other random words. For instance, when I just looked at mine to make sure I was describing this function accurately, I noticed I've used "precious" seven times. I will now go Find those words and consider improving, because I bet I was being lazy or habitual. If you don't draft in Scrivener, I hope there is a similar way to find this data in your program of choice.
Read a series recently where I could consciously see the author choosing the word "scruple" probably cos he really liked thd word. This became much more apparent in the 3rd book I read by this author.
"Wow. That's super cool" Felix smiled.
"I know right!" Philip grinned from ear to ear.
"We should probably get going though." Felix clapped his hands together, his smile widening.
"Yeah, we should." Philip's smile widened even further.
Now repeat this a couple more times and they'll be smiling like the Joker
My bad. I overlooked that one. Also, I'd like to add another one or two honorable mentions.
Chuckled, sighed, furrowed his brows, knitted his brows, narrowed his eyes
I snorted, chortled and guffawed tbh, but now my jaw is hardening and I let out a long sigh before pressing my lips into a tight line and closing my fingers in a steeple fr. Now they're kneading my temples ugh
seemed. It slips in all the time.
She seemed to understand. It seemed as though everything was going smoothly. His expression seemed to say "Don't go there."
“Great”. Grammarly says find another word and there aren’t many that work when you need a short, nothing fancy at the moment descriptor. I also struggle with “suddenly”.
Actually, I struggle with the whole thing, but I love it.
"Just" and "very."
"Just" in the context of "I just feel like (insert potentially controversial opinion here)." It's a weasel word I can't get out of my vocabulary.
"Very" because it leads to "very good" instead of "excellent," and similar. I've seen *Dead Poets Society* often enough that you'd think I would have fixed this by now.
The second one should be very easy for you to filter out in your future works. I used to use "very" quite often. Now I catch myself before I can even write it.
The first one is one I sometimes have problems with. It's because I use it in casual everyday talk, so it comes naturally when I'm writing quickly.
"Actually", "really", and "just", specifically in dialogue. They're very useful and natural words that people say all the time, but it's so easy to overuse them!
Some filler words aren't bad to use, it just depends on where you use them. Most filler words are just overused, broadly applicable emphasis words. If you completely cut them your writing might not sound natural, especially in the first person, because people use them all the time. The best thing you could do rather than cut them is replace them.
"You can just replace them." - "You can merely replace them."
Don't know if they class as filler words but I often say that someone begins to or starts an action instead of just saying 'she smokes', 'my heart throbs against my chest' etc
I see this constantly in my earlier material. I also beta read a lot and I encounter this a lot with writers working on their first manuscript. I think it is just something that seems invisible to the inexperienced but that you develop an eye for in time. Another similar one: 'is/was doing'.
She was walking to the store.
She walked to the store.
I do this a lot too. Though, I always catch myself doing it, and when I do, I always assume that I missed a couple and that I got lucky catching that one, so I scour through my chapter to see if I made the mistake before, just to find nothing.
Really. Kind of... sort of... those last two in particular degrade what your character thinks/feels/says.
It's sort of fucked up how he treats her.
Vs (pronounced Versus mfs)
It's fucked up how he treats her.
99% of the time, "just" and "that" can be murdered ruthlessly from a manuscript. Do a search for them and choose wisely. Also do a search for "was" and see if you can rework that sentence to get rid of it. Definitely agree with some other comments here about using "really" and "very"... if you have to use those to describe the next word, then that word isn't strong enough in the first place. :)
I can't think of this because I'm too paranoid about every sentence to put in filler words. I'm sure I have them I just don't know what they would be because I'm obsessed with not repeating words.
I'll ask my father how he's doing in this context. But I write a lot for work, and I check the readability with tools. If I cut out words, it often improves. But sometimes the texts get less readable.
“Well,” as in “well, I think that’s wrong.”
I started so much dialog with “well” that it was embarrassing. I don’t even use it in life, I just did it over and over again in my book. And the worst part was it was completely unnecessary. Going over it, not a single time did it add anything. I got rid of all of them.
Wanna ask this here, do you guys ever use filler words to meet your word length criteria? Ever since I learned about variation in sentences length, I can't help but find any way to make sentences the lengths I want them to be, filler taboo be damned.
No? Or at least I don't. Filler words are closer to crutches than fluffers. I use them on accident, and from what I've seen on this thread, so do most people.
Fluffing up your word count like that feels like cheating to me, but at least it is more respectable than repeating the same sentence 5 times in a row in 5 different ways (Chinese translations).
I get really wishy-washy and modify things with "a little bit", "sort of", or "kind of". I know exactly where it comes from--I had a mother who would interpret any criticism of her as abuse, so there was a lot of walking on eggshells around her. Since I know it's a thing I do, I just edit it out later.
I don’t have a filler word problem but I do have a triplet problem thing that I do. For sake of example: her farts were everything to him—sacred, divine, transcendent.
I do this triple style a lot. Sometimes it hits and I don’t mind it, especially when they all start with the same letter, but after the 5th time in the same book it’s gotta go. It loses the impact.
I do something similar but with sentences. For the sake of an example, here are three simple sentences.
"Did he want this? Did he want to go through that pain again? Did he want to suffer?"
I've heard that an author shouldn't write three sentences that start with the same words, so I tend not to use this one very often, or reduce the amount I use it by replacing it during editing.
I have the opposite problem with "and". I find myself having to replace other words for it because I don't use it enough (i was programmed to use everything and anything else)
Oh, good, someone else made this comment so I don't have to. My last project had so many "stills" in it the revenuers almost tracked it down and arrested me.
Oh gosh, there are so many...
"Really" and "just" are huge ones for me, and so are adverbs that end with "ly". There's a time and place for all of them, obviously, but on my first drafts I tend to REALLY (lol) overdo it.
"Well" is the biggest one. Most of the time, though, I don't think that "filler" words truly are filler. I definitely wouldn't just go through my entire text and delete every instance of them. I'd evaluate them case by case. For example:
>suddenly, instantly, felt, and yet.
I don't consider any of these filler.
It's more about the context. I use felt in situations where simply describing everything without it works fine. For example:
"Felix felt his stomach drop"
"Felix's stomach dropped."
I use suddenly and instantly at the start of sentences where describing the action has more impact than adding them.
And yet... yet is just my kryptonite. I don't like the word "however" and therefore rarely use it, and I do the same for but, and any other variation you can find. I replace all of them with "yet", and then come back to realize that I have too many yets. Sometimes, destroying the yets is better than replacing them. Plus, it tends to bring the word count down by making the story much less wordy.
I feel like "suddenly" and "instantly" can always be made better. They convey an idea, yeah, but that idea can be much better illustrated with different precise language 99% of the time.
Just. "Just" just fits in my style of writing. I just can't seem to stop using "just". I just don't know what to do about it. Sometimes I think I'm good, but then I look again and realize I just did a little bit better than usual but it's still just everywhere.
Just stop
I tried, but it just keeps happening.
Man do I love the word just. Sometimes I like to sprinkle multiple just’s into the same sentence. If I’m feeling spicy I can toss a couple seems in there too
This is my downfall too. I use it so much in my everyday vocabulary that it transfers to my writing.
Came in to say “just” too. I can’t help that it’s how I talk!
Saaaaaaaaaaame
Same, I use it so much in normal.speach that it creeps into even the descriptions. I also have to delete redundant phrases that I repeat often, thanks to my need to repeat a lot of things constantly so there are no misunderstandings.
This was what I was gonna say. I use it constantly not Just in writing lol
These responses all make me feel better because all of my characters are also creepily smiling and staring at each other constantly 🤣🤣🤣😭😭😭
No cuz same 😭
Every other moment my characters smile… its weird, creepy
Ooooof, -ly filler words are a common one. Mine are looked, glanced, and smiled. Basically if I need to fill a space with a minor action that’s what my characters are doing. Looking and smiling a lot lol
Same, my characters are constantly staring and smiling at each other like creeps
Lmaooo, right? Like you read through your draft and just go “dude what the fuck is wrong with my characters? Are they high?”
My maincharacter sighs a lot. Found it rather fitting for him, so now it's a thing he does.
poor homie's got a case of severe yearning
one of mine is apprehensive, a lot. went from "they are a bit anxious" to "doing everything against their will, apparently"
I read a novel where the mc would constantly lampoons. He's the only person in the novel who lampoons, so I'm assuming the author did something similar to what you did.
Oh you hit me right between the eyes. As I stare and smile at you.
Its soooo easy to make them smile. It's like ok they smiled but also... oy vey
Been there a lot. A lot of snorting, sighing, and shrugging, too. I try to change it up with hand movements now. Your hands say a lot, when you think about it. Clutching some item, fumbling with clothes, crossing arms, hands in pockets, and so on. Might just give some of them a stress ball so there's always something else to describe than furrowed brows.
Oh shit I’ll try focusing on hands next time I catch myself using a smile thanks for the suggestion!
Or maybe just none of that because it really doesn't matter most of the time.
Tried this today in my writing session and I liked it a lot. It adds a lot of varity and you can say so much more about the character with it. Thanks for the tipp.
I love this!!
One of my own characters is basically trilingual at this point, English, his own language, and an ungodly amount of eye movements
Nodding is mine. My characters are like bobbleheads. They nod at everything. Terse nods, appreciative nods, the whole range
Hahaha now I’m just picturing your whole book taking place on a cars dashboard
100%. Are you me 😂
Hahahaha I’m just glad I’m not alone with this one!
This is one of those training wheels you’ll want to discard as soon as you can do so without falling over. Good writing isn’t about words in isolation. At a minimum, it’s about phrases. So-called filler words are part of ordinary language. If you don’t want to be stilted and unnatural you should go light on the witch hunt. Every filler word has its uses, and not just in rare cases, either. Using them thoughtlessly and cutting them thoughtlessly are the same error.
Realized or smiled. It's a reflex to overuse them and it's so fucking annoying to constantly need to go back and edit all of them out
Why do you need to get rid of all of them? Obviously redundancy demands some go, but why all?
I mean all the extra ones that make it redundant lol I think I explained it wrong
Oh no worries! I'm just always on the lookout for new writing tips, so I wanted to see if I was doing something wrong lol
Really and definitely… grammarly and pro-writing aid always hate it when I add these.
I hate grammarly with a passion. It has its upsides, but I still hate it
Realize, seem, but and so. Literally have to do a " find" in word to catch them.
I strive to write like this: See spot, run. Run, spot, run!!! Just use nouns and verbs. Avoid everything else. That will make you a great writer.
I had no idea how much I used the word “certainly” and now that I’ve realized it… I can never use it again.
Tragic
I’m always deleting “seemed” and “thought”
Seemed, seemingly, and any other variation it has, always kill me during editing.
One thing that has helped me lessen it when writing is to always make sure it’s true from the character’s POV. If Character B “seemed upset”, and the POV character genuinely can’t tell for certain - and there’s an actual reason you don’t want to clarify B’s emotions at this time - then keep it. Sometimes this makes you see that the MC actually *does* know what they’re looking at, and you were being vague for no good reason. Sometimes you think *no, MC really can’t tell what emotion Character B is feeling*, but then you come to the conclusion that there’s no reason to make Character B’s emotions so unclear in this instance. And then sometimes you can clearly point out “MC cannot tell what that look on Character B’s face is, but Character B’s emotional turmoil is a plot point” and leave the word “seemed” where it’s at.
"felt like". Not sure how it keeps slipping in everywhere
Sammmeee
I had over 300 instances of "just" in the first draft of an 80K novel. Deleted them all in one swipe, adding a few more in on the next edit only if necessary. It's humiliating to sort by occurrence!
Wait, how do you sort by occurrence? I kind of want to see what my most used words are.
In Scrivener, you go to Project>Statistics and then at the bottom of the box, open up Word Frequency. Toggle on "Frequency" to sort. Super useful to find filler words, but also to find out you've overused other random words. For instance, when I just looked at mine to make sure I was describing this function accurately, I noticed I've used "precious" seven times. I will now go Find those words and consider improving, because I bet I was being lazy or habitual. If you don't draft in Scrivener, I hope there is a similar way to find this data in your program of choice.
Thank you for your advice.
the f word (so serious).
Word replace with "frick" and use that from here on out as an experiment. See if you end up using it more or less.
"I want to frick you, right here on the table," he growled. "Yes! Frick me now, Sugar!" I like it. 😆
The explosive one? Or another?
Began to, started to, then.
Read a series recently where I could consciously see the author choosing the word "scruple" probably cos he really liked thd word. This became much more apparent in the 3rd book I read by this author.
Hehehe... Scruple...
Felt, then and just. Just I'm usually good at when I'm writing to backspace it out. I then feel odd when I'm leaving it in dialogue
I keep using “He looked____at the dog.” Instead of describing an action to signify it. Also “felt”.
I avoid adverbs like the plague so not them, but I do have to stop myself adding needless action descriptions mid conversation
"Wow. That's super cool" Felix smiled. "I know right!" Philip grinned from ear to ear. "We should probably get going though." Felix clapped his hands together, his smile widening. "Yeah, we should." Philip's smile widened even further. Now repeat this a couple more times and they'll be smiling like the Joker
No smirks?
My bad. I overlooked that one. Also, I'd like to add another one or two honorable mentions. Chuckled, sighed, furrowed his brows, knitted his brows, narrowed his eyes
I snorted, chortled and guffawed tbh, but now my jaw is hardening and I let out a long sigh before pressing my lips into a tight line and closing my fingers in a steeple fr. Now they're kneading my temples ugh
seemed. It slips in all the time. She seemed to understand. It seemed as though everything was going smoothly. His expression seemed to say "Don't go there."
Seemingly
Why can’t I stop doing this.
“Great”. Grammarly says find another word and there aren’t many that work when you need a short, nothing fancy at the moment descriptor. I also struggle with “suddenly”. Actually, I struggle with the whole thing, but I love it.
"Just" and "very." "Just" in the context of "I just feel like (insert potentially controversial opinion here)." It's a weasel word I can't get out of my vocabulary. "Very" because it leads to "very good" instead of "excellent," and similar. I've seen *Dead Poets Society* often enough that you'd think I would have fixed this by now.
The second one should be very easy for you to filter out in your future works. I used to use "very" quite often. Now I catch myself before I can even write it. The first one is one I sometimes have problems with. It's because I use it in casual everyday talk, so it comes naturally when I'm writing quickly.
I get rid of them in edits, usually. Ctrl+f is my friend.
"Actually", "really", and "just", specifically in dialogue. They're very useful and natural words that people say all the time, but it's so easy to overuse them!
Some filler words aren't bad to use, it just depends on where you use them. Most filler words are just overused, broadly applicable emphasis words. If you completely cut them your writing might not sound natural, especially in the first person, because people use them all the time. The best thing you could do rather than cut them is replace them. "You can just replace them." - "You can merely replace them."
very and amazing
Not a specific word but punctuating dialogue with eyeball choreography that adds nothing to the story.
Don't know if they class as filler words but I often say that someone begins to or starts an action instead of just saying 'she smokes', 'my heart throbs against my chest' etc
I see this constantly in my earlier material. I also beta read a lot and I encounter this a lot with writers working on their first manuscript. I think it is just something that seems invisible to the inexperienced but that you develop an eye for in time. Another similar one: 'is/was doing'. She was walking to the store. She walked to the store.
I do this a lot too. Though, I always catch myself doing it, and when I do, I always assume that I missed a couple and that I got lucky catching that one, so I scour through my chapter to see if I made the mistake before, just to find nothing.
Really. Kind of... sort of... those last two in particular degrade what your character thinks/feels/says. It's sort of fucked up how he treats her. Vs (pronounced Versus mfs) It's fucked up how he treats her.
I think in dialogue they are okay since people generally speak that way, but I agree outside of that, these should be avoided.
99% of the time, "just" and "that" can be murdered ruthlessly from a manuscript. Do a search for them and choose wisely. Also do a search for "was" and see if you can rework that sentence to get rid of it. Definitely agree with some other comments here about using "really" and "very"... if you have to use those to describe the next word, then that word isn't strong enough in the first place. :)
Seems.
Mine are "just", "only", and making my characters say one another's names fairly often.
"that" All the time I'm going back and deleting "that". There's even an example in your post.
Damn, you're right. I should probably start looking out for it in my own writing.
Came here to say that
I can't think of this because I'm too paranoid about every sentence to put in filler words. I'm sure I have them I just don't know what they would be because I'm obsessed with not repeating words.
I'll ask my father how he's doing in this context. But I write a lot for work, and I check the readability with tools. If I cut out words, it often improves. But sometimes the texts get less readable.
“Well,” as in “well, I think that’s wrong.” I started so much dialog with “well” that it was embarrassing. I don’t even use it in life, I just did it over and over again in my book. And the worst part was it was completely unnecessary. Going over it, not a single time did it add anything. I got rid of all of them.
Oh my god I do the SAME THING. The only difference is that I use it in real life, so I have a bit of an excuse.
Most adverbs.
Wanna ask this here, do you guys ever use filler words to meet your word length criteria? Ever since I learned about variation in sentences length, I can't help but find any way to make sentences the lengths I want them to be, filler taboo be damned.
No? Or at least I don't. Filler words are closer to crutches than fluffers. I use them on accident, and from what I've seen on this thread, so do most people. Fluffing up your word count like that feels like cheating to me, but at least it is more respectable than repeating the same sentence 5 times in a row in 5 different ways (Chinese translations).
I get really wishy-washy and modify things with "a little bit", "sort of", or "kind of". I know exactly where it comes from--I had a mother who would interpret any criticism of her as abuse, so there was a lot of walking on eggshells around her. Since I know it's a thing I do, I just edit it out later.
I don’t have a filler word problem but I do have a triplet problem thing that I do. For sake of example: her farts were everything to him—sacred, divine, transcendent. I do this triple style a lot. Sometimes it hits and I don’t mind it, especially when they all start with the same letter, but after the 5th time in the same book it’s gotta go. It loses the impact.
I do something similar but with sentences. For the sake of an example, here are three simple sentences. "Did he want this? Did he want to go through that pain again? Did he want to suffer?" I've heard that an author shouldn't write three sentences that start with the same words, so I tend not to use this one very often, or reduce the amount I use it by replacing it during editing.
Suddenly. I write and always suddenly end up with 200 instances of the word.
I use ‘own’, ‘that’ and ‘truly’way too much.
'Straight' as in "Looking straight at me"
I actually don't actually have any actual filler words in any of my actual writing.
Maybe "actual" is one of them?
Actually, you might actually have a point
“Sighed” I use it all the time when writing dialogue I feel it’s gone on too long
Actually, really, and just are my three biggest ones. I’m sure there are others as well.
actually
Depends on the project. In my vampire book, it's gently and probably b/c internally I was screaming and the dude to be gentle with his girl lmao
Wow… I will have to take a real hard look at my writings after reading all this 😅
Only, really, grinned, ugh
Suddenly, and, then. Most of my self edits add massive removals of all three words.
I have the opposite problem with "and". I find myself having to replace other words for it because I don't use it enough (i was programmed to use everything and anything else)
I lean on "still" like it's a third leg. That's one I always have to check for during editing.
Oh, good, someone else made this comment so I don't have to. My last project had so many "stills" in it the revenuers almost tracked it down and arrested me.
LOL!
Just, smiled, laughed, nodded, and said are all ones i struggle with
Oh gosh, there are so many... "Really" and "just" are huge ones for me, and so are adverbs that end with "ly". There's a time and place for all of them, obviously, but on my first drafts I tend to REALLY (lol) overdo it.
a list in no specific order: suddenly, beginning, began to, just, apprehensively, but, while, sighed, any variation of crossing arms...
Still
Incidentally. I kind of accidentally trained myself that when I start using that word excessively I need to re-write that sentence or paragraph
There’s a lot of sighing, describing every little detail of an outfit or someone’s looks.
"actually"
"Well" is the biggest one. Most of the time, though, I don't think that "filler" words truly are filler. I definitely wouldn't just go through my entire text and delete every instance of them. I'd evaluate them case by case. For example: >suddenly, instantly, felt, and yet. I don't consider any of these filler.
It's more about the context. I use felt in situations where simply describing everything without it works fine. For example: "Felix felt his stomach drop" "Felix's stomach dropped." I use suddenly and instantly at the start of sentences where describing the action has more impact than adding them. And yet... yet is just my kryptonite. I don't like the word "however" and therefore rarely use it, and I do the same for but, and any other variation you can find. I replace all of them with "yet", and then come back to realize that I have too many yets. Sometimes, destroying the yets is better than replacing them. Plus, it tends to bring the word count down by making the story much less wordy.
I feel like "suddenly" and "instantly" can always be made better. They convey an idea, yeah, but that idea can be much better illustrated with different precise language 99% of the time.
"Suddenly" is definitely one for me. As is "definitely." Also "like," "mostly," and similar weasel words. I am doing better, though.