I kid you not, I opened my manuscript to work on editing earlier this week and... I closed it immediately.
Why, you ask? Because I'm on the round of edits where I take out all my filler words. You know, words I use too much when they're not necessary to the sentence or context. And....
I had 1,145 instances of the word "that".
This is probably because I write like I speak, and as a Midwesterner, my speech includes a lot of "thats".
There's nothing wrong with it, really. Except a lot of them aren't needed for sentence structure.
You see, the thing with taking filler words out of a manuscript is you don't have to get rid of allllllll of them. Just the unnecessary ones.
I started with 97 "agains" and kept 32 of them.
I started with 390 "so's" and kept 212.
In the end, editing out words in your document comes down to A) whether they're necessary and B) whether you like how the sentence flows more with or without them.
Sometimes it isn't about perfection. Sometimes it's about aesthetic, flow, and poetic license.
Remember, Reader, writing is ART. It isn't a science. There isn't a perfect equation.
Just you. The page. And endless combinations of thousands of words.
Some of my hard work and poetic license turned into A Tale of Blood and Blossoms, Vol I:
Make sure you check it out and prep for book 2 (coming soon!). The narrative flow is π₯
Until next we meet!
Megan
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I'm the author!
Hey, I'm Megan, and I'm here to supply you with epic little stories and unconditional support for your writing. You're family now, so don't hesitate to reach out or reply!
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