Friday, January 27, 2012

Tip


Be cautious of using words like "begin" and "start". Just have your characters DO it.

28 comments:

  1. Yes, Yoda, I shall begin to listen.

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  2. Yes! Yes, yes, yes! I tell the people whose work I critique this type of thing all the time. You don't need to say 'He started' or 'He began'. Just tell us what he's doing!

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  3. Great tip. And a way to cut unnecessary words.

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  4. A good tip to remember.
    Oh and thanks for your advice about links.

    Yvonne.

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  5. These are two words I had to go through my ms and eliminate. For the most part they weren't necessary.

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  6. And when doing, it's never suddenly. I have to go through and find/delete all of my sudden/suddenly.

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  7. I think I'm going to go run a search on my manuscript now... ;)

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  8. (Done. Holy cow, I just removed like twenty words.)

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  9. Oh, so true! I write that all the time! "She began to ..."

    Then I delete it later. Urgh!

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  10. Ouch! You hit one of my weaknesses. In my current revisions I've lost count of how many instances of "started to" I've removed.

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  11. Great tip. I'll begin to check on my use tomorrow!

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  12. I'm starting to get better with this. Oh, I mean, I'm getting better with this. ;)

    And Kelley is talking about me, btw. I'm totally the one she yells at for using the word 'start' too much, lol.

    Love ya Kelley, you keep me in line!

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  13. I'm beginning to start to think that may be a good idea.

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  14. “Do or do not... there is no try.”

    However...

    Write with Yodish sentence structure, I should try not.

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  15. No begin, no start, no to be or was, no absolutes, no adverbs, no just--forget it, I'm back to an empty page. LOL

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  16. Oops! That's halved my word count.

    Great tip.

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  17. Those are two words I avoid using (but I know they still show up).

    Have a great week.

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  18. I gotta check this out. My slash and burn is not going too well. If I find starts and begins in there maybe I can make a dent. Thanks.

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  19. Visiting from Stina's place...

    Yes, I need to hear tips like this repeatedly--it usually takes awhile to sink in.

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Comments brighten my day.

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