Writer’s Tip #38: Delete Repetitive Redundancies
When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer’s tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make the adjustments.
Today’s tip: Delete Redundancies
You’re on a roll. You’re impressed with your ability to string two, or ten words together. You figure more is better.
Wrong. Get rid of redundant words. Here’s what I mean:
Past history–what other kind of history is there?
sky above–can the sky be below?
continued on–can you continue any other way?
hung down–hung up? Not the same thing
roof over her head–otherwise it’s a floor (below her feet)
whispered softly
tall skyscrapers
end result
alternative choice
mix together
qualified expert
close proximity
red in color
small in size
I think you get the idea.
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Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-weekly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, she is editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
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