Fine-tuning: concrete examples

When the overall arc of a story is satisfying, and the characters and the setting all seem to belong, then the writer often turns to fine-tuning. Here are some examples of the fine-tuning I do:

made a crackling noise
crackled

made a whooshing sound
whooshed

gave a smile
smiled

I heard her fingernails clicking against the tabletop
her fingernails clicked against the tabletop

I wondered if he liked me
Did he like me?

These are examples of pruning out filter words, bringing us one step closer to the action. Sometimes I leave in filter words because the narrator is using distance as a defense mechanism, and that's part of my intended characterization process. But many other times, I prefer immediacy and directness. Once I had some good editors point out these weak phrases, they started jumping off the page and waving their little serif hands at me.