I saw them fighting

Here’s another writing habit I see a lot in our critique group – even in my own stuff (hopefully only in the first draft). Take out the distancing terms like “I see”, “she heard”, “he smells”, “they felt”…

As a writer you want to be conscious of the image you are putting in the readers head. Which one of these is stronger?

a.) Daisy saw Bo and Luke duking it out. 

b.) Bo took a swing at Luke.

Unless you want the focus on Daisy of course, but then she better be showing some strong emotions and not just seeing because that’s a waste. The reader is already seeing things.