Filter words: explain character’s actions or thoughts and fall into the “telling” the situation versus “showing” the experience. Filter words can be removed because the action is understood and don't need to be stated.
Visual: See, Saw, Spotted, Look, Watch, Notice
Example:
I saw the bee buzzing around the daisy.
The bee buzzed around the daisy.
Auditory: Hear/heard, Sounded
Example:
I heard the scream coming from the daisy.
The daisy screamed.
Internal: Think, Thought, Wonder, Realize, Can, Decide, Believe, Knew, Decide, Seem
Example:
I wondered why the flower was scared.
Why was the flower scared?
Filler and crutch words: These are adverbs and/or phrases that add length and can often be left out or the sentence rephrased.
My filler crutch word is “that”. When I first came across this list, I used the “find” function for each word, embarrassed to find “that” numbered in the thousands.
There are occasions to use any and/or all of these words or phrases, but finding alternatives to avoid fillers may amplify your writing.
Example:
It was odd that the flower’s screams troubled me.
It was odd the flower’s screams troubled me.
These are some filler/crutch words warranting consideration:
a bit, a little, a lot, about, above, absolutely, according to, across, actually, after, against, almost, an, and, around, at, basically, because of, before, begin, behind, below, beneath, beside, besides, between, beyond, breathe, but, by, by way of, can, could, definitely, down, during, except, exhale, for, from, go, go to, has, have, honestly, in, in addition to, in front of, in place of, in regard to, in spite of, inhale, inside, instead of, into, just, kind of, left, like, literally (-ly words in general), may, maybe, must, near, nod, now, obviously, off, on, on account of, or, out, out of, outside, over, possibly, quite, rather, really, right, seemed, seriously, shall, shrug, since, slightly, somehow, somewhat, sort of, start, suddenly, that, then, then thought, through, throughout, till, to, totally, toward, truly, try, and try to, under, until, up, up upon, very, will, with, without, would.
Comments