Self-Edit: Vague, Weak and Unnecessary Words

You’ve finished your draft. You read it again; it kind of sucks. There’s something missing, it sounds blah, not like you at all.

What happened to your voice? Are you robbing your writing of its power?

You have a never-ending challenge to grab and keep your reader’s interest. If you can’t hold their attention and engage their emotion, you may lose them.

Be Precise

Many words and phrases are so commonplace they glide unnoticed past our radar. These words are eroding your reader’s attention and weakening your writing.

The easiest way to strengthen your writing is to cut those weak words and phrases, those words that don’t add to the overall meaning and make it difficult for readers to understand.

Many of these words are filler words, words to keep our hands busy at the keyboard while our brains find the next thought. These words add no value to sentences and can and should be cut.

Precision should be the goal of every author. You are creating these worlds and your characters. You are the authority. Don’t weaken that authority with vague details and fuzzy ideas.

Think of it like gardening. You’ve planted your healthy vegetable garden and it’s growing green and strong. But what happens when you don’t keep it weeded? The weeds strangle the plants and kill the entire garden. Just as weak words will strangle and kill your story.

Every word you use should bring something important and unique to the sentence. Your words must engage and attract attention, express emotion and advance the plot.

Really?

Weak phrases can make your writing sound bland and boring. Really, actually, very and just are bland words. They add nothing and can almost always be deleted.

Good, bad, small, big and nice are subjective and vague. They don’t tell the reader anything. Is tall six feet or six feet eight? Tall to one person can be short to another. 

What is a good pizza? Does that mean it tastes good, or it's made with healthy ingredients, or it’s shaped like a cat instead of round? Or is the crust just crispy enough, the sauce tangy with garlic, the mozzarella hot and stringy? Then say that.

Vague words should be replaced with more powerful and specific words. There are a plethora of nouns, verbs and adjectives just waiting for you to choose them.

Most of us tend to use safe words, the words that pop into our heads first, the words everyone is using. But don’t self-edit on autopilot. Make every sentence sing by choosing the right words to convey your meaning.

You want to use appropriate language for your subject, genre and audience, but you don’t want to sound like everyone else. Your writing should stand out, you want your voice to be unique.

Be Bold

Don’t you lose interest when reading something long-winded and rambling? So will your readers.

Sifting through useless words exhausts them. They want to know the key points of your story. Grab them and hold them by using powerful and meaningful words. Be concise.

Write what your inner demons or muse demand you write, but then clean it up.

• Remove redundant phrases to create stronger, more direct sentences that get your point across faster.
• Strengthen weak adjectives by replacing weak words with one strong word. Seek out and use the best words for the situation.
• Eliminate vague verbs that don’t move your point forward.
• Delete filler words that add no meaning and simply take up space.
• Construct dynamic sentences using active voice to promote a stronger and more direct tone.

Every word should earn its place in your story. If it doesn’t add anything, delete it.

There will be times where your story demands vague phrasing for plot reasons. But when not necessary, don’t take the chance on confusing your readers by using vague words such as seems, appears, looks as if, approximately, about, roughly, more or less, almost or nearly.

Be bold and precise in your word choice.

To Cut or Not to Cut?

While few of these words are explicitly bad for writing, eliminating them or decreasing them can make your writing clearer, more direct and much easier to read.

Your writing should take the reader on a journey, each word moving the reader closer to the conclusion. If it doesn’t, get rid of it.

It’s easy for these words to make their way back into your writing. Incorporating these checks into your Self-Edit regimen will make your writing more powerful.

Download your free copy of Self-Edit Checklist: Vague, Weak and Unnecessary Phrases and keep it handy for your Self-Edit.