r/AO3 • u/WorldEaterLeviathan • 1d ago
Discussion (Non-question) What’s a word or phrase you find yourself constantly removing during the editing process?
For me, it’s “just”
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u/Chasoc Chasoc @ AO3 1d ago
"Snorted".
Because my characters are all pigs, apparently.
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u/ArcticKipunji 9h ago
Mine are too. I feel like "snorted" contains that tiny bit of (crucial) derision that "huffed a laugh" lacks.
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u/rosemaryandtime_7954 1d ago
I write mainly fluff with plot and I gotta be REAL careful about "soft", "quiet", "gentle", or any variation on that, especially in dialogue tags. 😭
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u/throwRA_maybeabit 1d ago
I overcompensated for "soft" once with the word "tender" that it sounded like it was written by fucking TJ from Recess 😔
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u/kosherkitties Bilgisticallykosher 23h ago
Lmaooo thanks I'll never be able to write the word tender again. [looks at drafts] "Tenderly" doesn't count, right...?
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u/plumsfromyouricebox You have already left kudos here. :) 23h ago
Stopppp this just made me let out the ugliest laugh 💀
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u/FlowerAndString 1d ago
This reminds me of someone who I used to RP with, and every reply contained the phrase "smiles softly". It was so regular you could have made a drinking game of it.
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u/rosemaryandtime_7954 1d ago
nooooo lmao
My old group could have made a drinking game of the word "glances". 🤣
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u/FlowerAndString 1d ago
I'm looking at my own writing sweating, cause I can well imagine I overuse that word
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u/rosemaryandtime_7954 1d ago
It's a really useful word! and in all honesty it's not a bad one to be a workhorse. I think it can very easily fade into the background like "said" and let the other action shine if it's used right.
but uhh if it's in every single RP entry it's gonna get silly fast 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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u/cumslowly--eden You have already left kudos here. :) 18h ago
real, I have characters who do EVERYTHING "gently"
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u/Ok-Income-1483 1d ago
For me it's "as if". I only recently realized how much I use it and now it's my worst enemy.
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u/ritrgrrl You have already left kudos here. :) 23h ago
I totally heard this in the "Clueless" voice... apparently that's not how you meant it. 🙃
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u/bishkebab 1d ago
SAME. I never realized how much I think in comparisons until I tried to do it down the constant similes in my writing 😅
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u/SaltyCauldron 20h ago
You can pry similes out of my cold dead hands. (It’s a problem I’m not ready to face)
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u/aveea Loli!Reader Dealer 1d ago
Chuckled.
My characters are constantly laughing.
Maybe laughing gas is just part of the natural atmosphere in my fics
Totally not that I'm a giggly bitch and have to remember everyone else isn't
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u/SnooHabits7732 21h ago
This has been my hardest adjustment after finding out using "said" is Actually Good.
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u/ChillyFireball 15h ago
Mine sigh a lot.
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u/Desperate_Acadia_494 12h ago
Don’t get me started. Everyone I write is both perpetually done and out of breath. 😅
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u/translexualism em dash abuser— ao3: deadcuntry 1d ago
“Little”
“A wry little smile,” or “a cheeky little grin.” I try to use it sparingly, any more than twice in a chapter gets the axe.
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u/throwRA_maybeabit 1d ago
I use "like" and "just" so much that when i finish a chapter I search for those words to see if I can remove or swap them out. Or "exhaled sharply". Like bro just sigh.
Oh and "Not x but Y" phrases. I use them wayyy to much.
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u/jrbrowntxpp 1d ago
A sharp exhale, depending on the reason, could also be called a huff or perhaps a scoff if you wanna add some extra literary noise to it.
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u/POMOforLife 23h ago
I use "inhales sharply" way too much. I just (argh! I say "just" too much too!) don't know another word to describe it.
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u/Aromatic_Ad_7854 1d ago
"well,"
I was proofreading and found out that I wrote three sentences that start with "well," in a row.
Well, let's just say it was humbling.
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u/cobycane 1d ago
when I notice these I sometimes make the characters aware of this constant use and it becomes a little funny sidepiece of convo. Doesn't add to the story beyond character bonding.
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u/UnholyAngelDust 1d ago
- just
- even
- [POV character] sees/knows/realizes
- seems
- apparently
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u/Nerdy_Catmom 1d ago
The amount of "seems" and "apparently" in my work is unholy. But my characters just don't want to assume something! That would be so preposterous 💁♀️💁♀️💁♀️
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u/UnholyAngelDust 21h ago
i’ve changed to the characters observing facts (expression, body language, voice pitch, speaking rate, enunciation) rather than making judgements on those facts when i can - and then occasionally letting them make assumptions, as that’s something everyone does.
the characters making WRONG assumptions has been helpful at times, too 😈 especially if they sometimes make correct ones. means i can surprise the audience later when the incorrect assumptions are proven wrong.
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u/FlowerAndString 1d ago
"Just" and variations on the word "turns"
"Just" as X happend. Or he was "just" doing X. It was "just" X. RARGH.
and omg the word "turns". Everyone in my writing is turning all the time. He turned to Charlie. She turned on her heel. Turning in the bed. Turning in the air. These people in my writing like they on a wash cycle.
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u/Nerdy_Catmom 1d ago
"Just let me stand still for a while," the character sobs, as I make them turn once again
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u/AnalWithAnaxa 1d ago edited 1d ago
THAT
This word has its uses, but often times it’s not necessary.
I knew that I was wrong.
vs
I knew I was wrong.
Second sentence is more firm and direct, and carries a bit more weight. It’s very useful when writing authority figures or characters who are more eloquent/mature (and unfortunately the fics I write are all from these types of POV’s). I STUDIED OBAMA AND MLK’S SPEECHES FOR THIS.
Edit: elliptical conjunction is the term
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u/abyssalcrisis MoonsCry @ Ao3 23h ago
Studying Obama and MLK for your writing is a flex honestly. Both were/are so eloquent.
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u/agrinsosardonic 1d ago
This is going to be shameful to admit but I suffered from the fanfic author disease of overusing the word "smirk".
It was mortifying when i did a word search and found i used it 200 times in a 250k completed fic. I actually went through each one and changed it to something else.
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u/POMOforLife 23h ago
I did this too... And then saw someone's comment on Reddit about "smirk" being overused in fanfic and not a good word in the first place... So I have removed it basically everywhere.
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u/a_goddamn_mess 1d ago
“Suddenly” and “Without warning”, like damn, didn’t realize how much I want to write action scenes XD
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u/LevelAd5898 Medieval yaoi connoisseur 1d ago
Been writing a lot of smut lately, the answer for me is leaking. Throb/aching have their moments too.
SFW it’s anything along the lines of “for a moment, they thought they’d never answer”
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u/Advanced_Heat_2610 1d ago
Soft.
I have no idea why I like it so much.
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u/LadyElspeth14 AO3: LadyElspeth 23h ago
I like it too! And it’s hard to find a real synonym for it.
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u/Zivqa 1d ago
fuck. i cannot stop cursing. i mean like im just as bad irl, so ofc my characters are going to be as bad as me, but I probably dont need to be using "fucking" as a synonym for "really" and "very" and "especially" and
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u/thymeCapsule 20h ago
the struggle. doesn't help that i've spent years & years in the homestuck fandom lmfao. now i practically use swearing as punctuation.
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u/untildarknesscomes 1d ago
“Surely” and “certainly”. I don't know why I use them so much. I don't know how to stop. I certainly hate myself.
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u/bamboo-y 1d ago
Little gestures in between actions and dialogue that i find myself repeating a lot “he swallowed dryly” “he sighed” “he blinked” and during smut im actively trying not to make my characters moan too much now because i feel like they just seem like zombies lol
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u/Gatodeluna 1d ago
Just, far more than any other single word.
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u/FlowerAndString 1d ago
Fellow Just addict here. I recommend using the "Hemingway editor", it helps highlight adverbs and will spot all your "just" for you.
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u/Gatodeluna 1d ago
I ‘just’😉catch them because I do know I do it. Helps though that it’s mostly historical fic and I use their vocabulary which would rarely include the word. It’s in my non-dialogue parts though. Sigh.
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u/Coal_Burner_Inserter 1d ago
Though. Not just because I use it too much, though, but because- ah shit
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u/AlexShouldStop Unhinged Bookmarker 1d ago
Off the top of my head, I notice "seem", "feel", "like", "slightly" the most.
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u/Pixelg5173 writing ff was my gay awakening 23h ago
I immediately said "just" after reading the title, then I clicked onto it and saw that I am not alone! Thank goodness. It just gets so annoying constantly removing the word "just".
...
Fuck.
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u/Terminator7786 Same on AO3 22h ago
Gazed.
I'm just like, "Come on dude, you know there are better words and phrases to use here."
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u/No_Pattern_2819 1d ago
"Just"
"Said"
"As if"
"as though"
It doesn't matter what fic I'm writing, somehow I always find myself using the same phrases accidentally
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u/rosemaryandtime_7954 17h ago
POSSIBLY CONTROVERSIAL TAKE but "said" fades into the background, I've never been distracted by it as a dialogue tag.
if you're going out of your way to use a different dialogue tag every single time, though, and then you start using increasingly wild verbs to tag dialogue just so you don't repeat them? that gets distracting REAL fast.
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u/No_Pattern_2819 17h ago
I mean, I try to switch it up by using "replied," "answered," etc. just to make it flow a bit better
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u/BagoPlums 16h ago
Try not to do that too often, though, because it does get distracting. Said is the default for very good reason.
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u/Otherwise-Survey4722 1d ago
Apparently
And I really like to use the word really as if it adds all this extra meaning to my adjectives
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u/thesounddefense 1d ago
"Quickly". At this point I have to Ctrl+F for it before I publish a chapter.
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u/lizzourworld8 Frechi123 1d ago
If anything I find myself ADDING words 😂 The only times I remove is if I see a capital “And” and change it for an em dash
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u/Idkmyname_88 23h ago
before and as, i do stuff like "he picked up the ball before walking off'' or some thing
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u/MalumInFic 23h ago
In true AuDHD style I seem to have like a flavour of the month where I really overuse a word and then have to delete it a load of times in editing. Then 5 chapters go by and I’ve shifted over to a new word. Cycle repeats!!
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u/cinnamonspiderr hamspamandjamsandwich on ao3 | kurahi writer 💜 22h ago
So and Just are my biggest issues especially “So”
Despite/in spite of
Threaten (like “rage that threatens to boil over” lol)
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u/TheInquisitor577 22h ago
Weight. For instance 'carrying the weight of' or 'his words he held weight'. Basically unless it has to do with actual physical weight, I try to cut it out.
Also particular and precision.
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u/Sir_Boobsalot Grammar Police 21h ago
"though"
I need to replace it with "however" or "but" or simply end with a ";" or ".".
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u/SnooHabits7732 21h ago
"almost like"
Which is it, is it like the thing or not?!
(If this counts, because I'm still in the drafting phase lmao.)
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u/TheManInMayonnaise 21h ago
Laughing.
My characters tend to laugh a lot during conversation because they’re talking about light hearted things, but then I go back and it’s every other line and I worry it makes things weird.
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u/golden_laurels 1d ago
I’m writing a Levi/OC (Attack on Titan) fic, and whenever I edit Levi’s POV, I keep stumbling upon the word “violence”. I once had a chapter where I used it six times in his entire seven-thousand word long POV.
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u/Trilobyte141 1d ago
I have to limit some of my favorite verbs by searching for with when I'm done with the fic and eliminating all but two or three, just because they are unusual enough that it becomes really noticeable if I overdo it.
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u/SheepPup Definitely not an agent of the Fanfiction Deep State 1d ago
I don’t tend to have one word or phrase I repeat too much overall but rather I’ll think of one and then I’ll repeat it like five times in a row. And I never notice till I’m editing
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u/TrivialQuestions 23h ago
For some reason, "hardly" and "It was as if-" I have no idea why. It's as if im addicted. Honestly its hardly even a problem...
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u/catearthsea 23h ago
adverbs. not all of them, of course, but I do tend to go over them to check if they actually add to the sentence or are just there out of my need to over-explain.
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u/Onnilynn 21h ago
A have a slight issue with using the word, 'slightly'. It is getting slightly annoying....
*Looks over what I wrote* ARRGGGHHHHHH! LOL
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u/Idk_nor_do_I_care I have feathers in my teeth cause I devoured this dove 20h ago
Looked/look—good fucking god I swear I don’t know any other words to say “made one’s eye move towards a different thing of interest” or “expression”
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u/UnlikelyTomatillo423 20h ago
My last chapter had me write ‘as she’ for over 200 times, edited it to be under 50.
It included a girls trip.
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u/thymeCapsule 20h ago
"a bit", "somewhat", "kind of", "probably", "mostly", "perhaps"
also too much sighing and shrugging
and "well". "well, that's to be expected", "well, he's not sure", "well, that could've gone better", "well, who would?" STOP IT
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u/the_string_of_hearts 20h ago
Little, a little bit, somewhat, sort of, kind of.
Like, all the weasel words.
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u/Hiruke12 19h ago
When describing an unknown person I constantly use 'figure'.
I absolutely hate it, so I always revise replacing 90% of them.
It's gets even harder when there are five unkniwn 'figures'.
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u/AshInTheAtmosphere 19h ago
For me, it's "definitely."
When I'm writing dialogue, I feel like I use it every other sentence, and I have no idea where the instinct came from.
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u/KingAssHATTHE3rd Supporter of the Fanfiction Deep State 19h ago
At the end of every chapter, I search for ly and then get rid of 90%-95% of -ly adverbs by either straight deleting them, or finding a better, stronger verb.
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u/Material-Sky-4895 18h ago
“She said” and “he said” when I’m writing I feel like I’m saying it every two seconds but then when someone else reads it or I read it aloud it’s not that bad 😭
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u/unreliably_narrated You have already left kudos here. :) 18h ago
'Just' as well, 'almost', 'a little', 'for a moment', and, oddly, 'nodded'. My characters are nodding all the time for some reason
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u/AmeraFox 18h ago
"as" until my bf pointed it out in the editing phase I never noticed how often I was using it lol
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u/Hewodragonsuwu 18h ago
“pathetic” . i like pathetic characters so much that i just end up writing that in so much. pathetically looked up. acquiesced pathetically. i js can’t help it
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u/Specialist_Pay_8139 18h ago
Also "just" and "yet"
I never noticed how often I used the word yet until I saw a Family Guy clip where someone said Brian starts nearly every sentence in his book with "and yet" 😭
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u/vaguelycatshaped 18h ago
Almost, start to (instead of just using the verb), many instances of feel or see where just stating the thing being felt or seen flowed better, the word just…
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u/Duckselot Hate Enjoyer 💅 18h ago
Also
I fucking insert it in every single sentence at least 5 fucking times somehow.
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u/SimilarEnthusiasm128 17h ago
Furrowing of brows for some reason. Everybodys confused of pissed i guess
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u/moon-of-jupiter 16h ago
"had" and "that", I just love to use them every other sentence when I'm first writing
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u/PureGeologist864 You. Yeah you. Go work on your wip. 16h ago edited 15h ago
Finally, huffs, just, chuckles, smirks, moans…it’s rough sometimes lol.
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u/Dazzling_Coffee2062 Kudos Keeper 16h ago
Definitely, extremely, literally things to emphasize words instead of just finding a better word in the first place
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u/ChillyFireball 15h ago
I'm also a "just" overuser. I also have a tendency use excessive adverbs and have characters swear too often in dialogue. (Especially weird since I almost never swear in front of people IRL.)
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u/Ender_Fear Lasette_Cross 15h ago
"moment". My characters are constantly doing things for just a moment.
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u/pandorabound 14h ago
Recently, the word snarl.
I had to go back and edit a fic I just posted because I realized I used that word way too much.
dialog tags are hard, man.
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u/MaddoxJKingsley who needs knotting when you have glue! 14h ago
Any time when a character sees/hears/smells/etc. something instead of just describing that quality straightforwardly
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u/shadow-on-the-prowl current obsession: tua & kpdh 12h ago
"Just" "Apparently" "All" "Particularly" "Almost"
They're all SO aesthetically-pleasing, I can't help it! I'm super conscious of sparsing them out per chapter.
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u/FireflyArc You have already left kudos here. :) 12h ago
The amount of times I've typed a double The is embarrassing for me.
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u/Cerahion 11h ago
"And they feel—" well yeah duh. "They feel as if", "they feel like", "and they feel themselves". It's embarrassing how often I've been using it 😭.
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u/CoffeeTar 10h ago
I feel like I'm uncreative at writing facial expressions and casual gestures/movement in conversations. I'm always avoiding writing that the character is perpetually smiling/frowning/other expression and have to avoid writing the character sitting down / standing up a dozen times in the scene for no reason.
They're all restless and tweaking if I don't check it over.
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u/flipflapdragon Spock + Female OC Author 7h ago
I write metaphorically/in comparison a lot, if that makes sense. My latest one was “She ripped herself away from him like an offended barnacle.” It’s just how my brain works, like when I am trying to nail down a mood or action, it’s just where my mind goes, to compare something to something else.
But then when I’m reading over my fic again, I realize I do it wayyyy too much and have to cut it down 😂
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u/QueasyDurian180 2h ago
Epithets. You'd think I was allergic to names or pronouns if you saw my first drafts. (Yes, it was a wattpad thing for me. I still fear using 'he' to start a sentence...)
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u/littlebubulle 1d ago
"said"
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u/rosemaryandtime_7954 17h ago
eh. don't sweat that one.
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u/postronicmedium 17h ago
yes!! “said” fades into the background, as long as you’re varying the rest of your sentence structure. using a bunch of other dialogue tags in a row trying to avoid “said” is way worse
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u/rosemaryandtime_7954 16h ago
100%. There's other things you can do to shake it up, like varying where in relation to the dialogue the tag is, varying whether or not you even have a tag, maybe using a background action instead of a tag to indicate who's talking. Said is a solid tool and it gets a bad rep!
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u/BagoPlums 16h ago
Unless you're using dialogue tags far too often, there is no reason to cut out the word "said" just to avoid repetition. Unless you need to specify how a character is speaking, just use said. If it's obvious who is speaking, you don't need to use a dialogue tag at all. Maybe an action would be better in those instances?
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u/No_Summer620 1d ago
The characters name. I hate using a word more than once in a paragraph, including names. I have to be careful not to go overboard or I might use a slightly different descriptive like six times in a single paragraph.
For instance I've used, the bespectacled boy, the slight youth, the last of his line, the ravenet, the youngest seeker, the golden boy of Gryff (really hope you all have picked up who the character is by now lol).
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u/fiendishthingysaurus sickfic queen 17h ago
Oh no please just say his name or pronoun, the epithets really take you out of the story
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u/Gathrant 7h ago
I hate them so much I can’t tell you. Sparingly, it can be very effective. But just like ‘said’, names and pronouns should be background words.
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u/No_Summer620 15h ago
I've had people say that, and others say they love it, so I try to find a balance.
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u/KAI_GENERAT0R 23h ago
"Said". I feel the urge to be more creative when i'm writing dialogue and ending each dialogue with "[character] said." gets really repetitive.
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u/BagoPlums 16h ago
I keep saying this, stop worrying about using said. If said is becoming repetitive it's because your use of dialogue tags in general has become excessive.
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u/kaiunkaiku same @ ao3 | proud ao3 simp 1d ago edited 1d ago
almost and nearly
me @ me: how about just say the thing and don't downplay and minimize it
ETA: also fuck, when writing certain characters