Tag: cutting out words

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A Lighter Look at the Writer's Life

Just Another Post

lighter look at a writer's life

Clutter: (verb) to crowd something untidily.

I have a confession to make: I am a clutter person. I once read an essay in which a lady told a friend she had her “pilots’ license.” She further explained it was actually “pile-lots,” because she liked to pile her magazines, newspapers, and other things around her home and her office.

Well, hello.

One day at the end of summer break, I decided to do some cleaning in the bedroom. I threw away many things and felt good about it, but I know I need to do more. My wife is currently working on our kitchen cabinets in the same way.

All this cleaning made me think about my writing and how it, too, can become cluttered. We all have our “pet words,” and one of my favorites is “just.”

I just feel a need to tell you about this. I just got back to work from summer break, and I just need a nap. I just need a cool drink, and maybe I’ll just run to the vending machine for a snack.

Refer back to the definition at the beginning of this piece: to crowd something untidily. Not only does that reflect my personal spaces at times, it also reflects my writing. I use other pet words as well, and it is always a revelation when I use the “search” feature and find that I have used a particular word NUMEROUS times in a piece.

I have learned the art of decluttering my prose through writing assignments with specific word counts. Several years ago I was tasked with writing a magazine profile piece with a 750-word limit. I worked on the first draft, and I hit 1,000 words before the subject, who had accomplished great things in adulthood, had even left school. I did two things: (1) requested an additional 250 from the editor (which he obliged) and (2) began cutting the clutter.

I have since worked on several devotional projects, some with a word count as low as 250 words counting a Bible verse and a prayer. With these assignments, words like “just” and “that” were on my decluttering radar.

In the end, decluttering your writing is a way to give your readers a smoother experience. They can only work their way through so many unnecessary words before they choose to turn away. We want them to keep reading and coming back, don’t we?

I just want to make my readers happy.

Carlton Hughes wears many hats—some serious, some goofy.

During weekdays, he sounds like Charlie Brown’s teacher (wah-wah wah-wah-wah) as a community college professor of communication and journalism. On Sundays and Wednesdays, you’ll find him playing games, performing songs with motions, and doing object lessons in his role as a children’s pastor. He and his wife also attempt to keep up with their two college-age boys.

In his “spare” time, Carlton is a freelance writer who has been published in numerous books, including several recent releases from Worthy Publishing: The Wonders of Nature, So God Made a Dog, Just Breathe, Let the Earth Rejoice, and the forthcoming Everyday Grace for Men. He has been featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul and other publications and is represented by Cyle Young of the Hartline Agency. He contributes regularly to two writing blogs, almostanauthor.com and inspiredprompt.com. He specializes in humorous observations of everyday life, connecting those experiences with spiritual application.

Carlton loves watching classic sitcoms like I Love Lucy, eating way too much chocolate, and rooting for his favorite college and high school basketball teams. He is on the planning committee for Kentucky Christian Writers Conference and a year-round volunteer for Operation Christmas Child.

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Craft The Writer's PenCase

Putting Fire in Your Fiction—Part I

fire-2When drafting your novel, then self-editing, go back and determine whether or not any given scene moves the story along and how important it is. Your novel is only as good as your write it. Prepare your novel for publication while improving your craft. I can’t remember how many scenes I actually cut from “Meghan’s Choice.” I learned a lot about how to decide whether a scene was important enough to keep. #amwriting #fireinfiction

Continue reading “Putting Fire in Your Fiction—Part I”
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Child's Craft

Strengthening Your Children’s Story

So, you’ve written your masterpiece of a story. You finally put your great idea onto the pages. What a fabulous accomplishment. Great job! However, it’s still not ready to submit to a publisher. Now it must be strengthened.

Rewriting is the next step where your great story becomes magnificent! Don’t dread this stage. The fun continues. You get to play with your words. First, check your word count. It doesn’t matter at this point how many words you have. Your job was just to get it on paper – to let it flow and hopefully you did. But the first part of rewriting is to know how many words you need to eliminate.

[bctt tweet=”Rewriting is the next step where your great story becomes magnificent! #rewrite #editgoal” via=”no”]

Keep in mind your target age group. Here are word count guidelines for each group. These may vary from publisher to publisher so check the Writers Market Guide for each publisher’s guidelines.

0-2 board books (less than 250 words)

2-4 toddler board books (500 words or less)

5-8 picture book (roughly up to 1000 words)

7-10 chapter books (up to 15,000 words)

9-12 tween (20,000-35,000 words)

13+ young adult (55,000-70,000 words)

If a publisher states they accept picture books up to 1200 words. Don’t send them a manuscript with 1500 words hoping they’ll make an exception. Send them what they publish.

Check to see if each sentence, thought, idea moves your story forward. Is it all necessary? Shave off a part and see if the story still flows. If it doesn’t, put that part back in and shave off a different part. Sometimes the shaving actually strengthens the story.

For picture books, circle all the verbs. That’s right. All of them.  Picture books contain few words so choose them wisely. Try to eliminate the weak verbs: is, are, am, was, were, will, have, had, has, be, been. Then strengthen them. Check for synonyms and plug in other words. Play with it.

Next, underline your adjectives and adverbs. Try to eliminate ‘ly’ words and find stronger words.

Here is an example:

Sally ran quickly to get out of the rain. Suddenly she stopped when she saw a bright rainbow. Now she was happy.

22 words.

Circle the verbs: ran, get, stopped, saw, was.

Underline descriptors: quickly, suddenly, bright, happy.

All pretty weak. Let’s see if we can tighten it up a bit.

Sally raced from the rain but slowed when a sparkling rainbow appeared. She smiled.

14 words. Not an exciting story, but the same point is made with less but somewhat stronger words.

Now, highlight words you’ve used more than once. In the first example I used ‘she’ three times, which is too many. In the second example ‘she’ is used only once.

If you’re writing a story about a kitten, how many times did you use the word kitten? Unless repetition is your goal, can you replace it with another word while keeping the words age-appropriate? Kitty, cat, ball of fur, fluff ball.

Shorten, tighten, strengthen.