A couple of times readers of my manuscript have suggested that I tighten up the language, and I was never sure what that really meant.
Recently an AROHO sister, Kristen Ringman, posted an interesting piece about the overuse of the word JUST which caught my attention. I know I use that word a lot. The writer explained how the word is often used by women writers to soften their expression or to seek permission to even have something to express.
I decided to search my work-in-progress for the word just and found that I had used it 277 times out of 123,000 words. I checked each instance carefully. While some were justified I eliminated more than 100 of them that served simply no purpose.
I believe that must be a good example of tightening. Like kegal exercises for the female writer. Do I dare now do a search for VERY...
Recently an AROHO sister, Kristen Ringman, posted an interesting piece about the overuse of the word JUST which caught my attention. I know I use that word a lot. The writer explained how the word is often used by women writers to soften their expression or to seek permission to even have something to express.
I decided to search my work-in-progress for the word just and found that I had used it 277 times out of 123,000 words. I checked each instance carefully. While some were justified I eliminated more than 100 of them that served simply no purpose.
I believe that must be a good example of tightening. Like kegal exercises for the female writer. Do I dare now do a search for VERY...
just
jəst/
adjective
- 1.based on or behaving according to what is morally right and fair."a just and democratic society"
synonyms: fair, fair-minded, equitable, even-handed, impartial, unbiased,objective, neutral, disinterested, unprejudiced, open-minded,nonpartisan; More
adverb
- 1.exactly."that's just what I need"
synonyms: exactly, precisely, absolutely, completely, totally, entirely, perfectly,utterly, wholly, thoroughly, in all respects; More
- 2.very recently; in the immediate past."I've just seen the local paper"
synonyms: a moment ago, a second ago, a short time ago, very recently, not long ago
"I just saw him"
