I just finished reading a good story with interesting characters. The story plot was strong. Unfortunately, the author “furrowed” the brow of many, if not all, the characters. This word, used repeatedly, finally became an inevitable distraction. It’s okay for a writer to furrow a brow occasionally but mix it up. There are many synonyms: wrinkled, creased, crumpled, lined, wrinkly, rutted, crinkly, puckered, crinkled, rumpled, crushed.
Another word used repeatedly in this same book (at least a dozen+ times) was “broken” to describe relationships or a character’s psychological health. Synonyms: wrecked, fragmented, shattered, cracked, smashed, damaged, ruined, destroyed, faulty, malfunctioning, defective could have replaced ‘broken’ to mix it up and keep the writing fresh and inventive.
Don’t feel bad, Anne-Marie, we all do it. A good friend, beta reader/s, or editor saves us from ourselves. Saved from certain words slipping into the descriptions and dialogue over and over. But what if we don’t have any team and have to rely on our own editing? Here’s what you do: Highlight your entire book, right-click on ‘find’, a,’ and type in any word you suspect you’ve been redundant with. A good editing program will highlight the repeated word throughout your manuscript so you can go to each word and make your correction. Now you can change that repeated word with a synonym listed in your writing, Thesaurus program.
“The last thing one knows in constructing a work is what to put first.” Blaise Pascal
“Writing is not a calling; it’s a doing.” T. Sugarek
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