Self-Editing Checklist of Overused Words

Are you writing a novel? See if you’ve got these plot elements in your First Act, and follow along on my blog for Acts Two and Three.

Are you revising your novel? Here’s the first half of my checklist of overused words.

1. A lot
2. Again
3. Almost
4. And
5. As
6. At least
7. Back
8. Be
9. Began/Begin
10. Breath(e)
11. Brow/eyebrow
12. But
13. Even
14. Eye
15. Feel/Felt
16. Gasp
17. Glance
18. Going
19. Had
20. Hair
21. Has
22. Head
23. Hear
24. Instead
25. Is
26. It
27. It is (was/would/had)
28. Just
29. Know
30. Laugh
31. Like
32. Look
33. Of Course

For the rest of the list, divided into the following categories…

• Adverbs / Prepositions—use in moderation
• Signs of Weak Verbs—can you make the verb stronger?
• Signs of Wordiness—cut all excess words
• Repeated Descriptions / Actions—use in moderation
• Repeated Pronouns—make sure the antecedent, the word they refer to, is clear
• Filtering Language—deliver rather than present information
• Overused by Characters / Narrator—watch sentence beginnings, especially

…click the image below.

Source: Overused Words You Should and Shouldn’t Delete