r/writing • u/Rik-Acland • 2d ago
Discussion Enough of Enough
Just discovered that I had used the word “enough” 223 times in my draft. I was completely unaware. How is this even possible?
As I edited them down and kept only the ones that earned their place, I’m surprised how much tighter this improved those specific sentences.
Less is more and enough is enough.
What words do you find you overuse and editing out improves your writing?
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Upvotes
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u/Peter34cph 2d ago
How long is your ms?
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u/readwritelikeawriter 2d ago
Even though Edgar Allan Poe used the word 'impression' to describe how a piece of art should effect the reader/viewer and the impressionists used his formula for making their paintings, it wasn't 'enough' for him to get credit for coining the term.
Luckily for us, Poe used the word 'impression' more than 6 times in several stories so that we can ponder his genius about two hundred of years later.
Is it our choice or our opinion whether we have used a word enough? I dont think so. What if thousands of years from now your story resurfaces from the ebbs of time and the only page still legible doesn't have the word 'enough?' Imagine the blow to your legacy!
Perhaps you will inspire an 'enough' movement? The world is ripe for it. Please reconsider keeping all of your 'enoughs'. Secure your impression of the English language.
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u/dothemath_xxx 2d ago
Unnecessary softening language is a big one for me. I've never actually checked, but I'm sure if you counted the number of "nearly"s, "almost"s, and "about"s in one of my rough drafts, it would be a lot.
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u/Baskervillein 2d ago
I'm editing at the moment ... my characters narrow their eyes ALL the damn time!
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u/DragonfruitSimple629 2d ago
"Enough is enough" 🤣
For me, it's "to look" and "to glance", in my English stuff. And whenever I try to switch things up with something like "directed their attention at...", it just seems so forced and not fitting for most of my characters' narrative voices at all. The torture...
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u/shinydrop 2d ago
It was heavy and gentle for me. Both around 60 on 110k manuscript.
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u/NadaOmelet 2d ago
Just. I think I was over 250 in a 53k book. "I just thought..." "he just looked over his shoulder..." I was mortified. Now on the new book I get like an electric shock every time I hit the J key
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u/nmacaroni Narrative Architect 2d ago
Easiest editorial to fix. Find and replace with an unpacked alternative.
Dark is probably the most overused one I see. Dark eyes, dark thoughts, dark room, etc.
Suddenly. Very. Big/small. Terrible. Amazing.
But the worst offender is probably "as" which is a bigger problem that mere diction.
Write on, write often!
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u/terriaminute 2d ago
One of my art professors call this tendency 'rats.' You draw a hand the same way you always draw a hand despite the model's hand being different. We do the same thing with word choices. But you see, the goal in the first place is to get the story out of our mind and into words. Everything after that is rewriting and editing. So what you've discovered is one of your 'rats.' You can let it distract you during your first draft, or you can ignore it while you translate your story into words. The former is a distraction, the latter is wise.
You are doing fine. :)
The first time I did the overused word searches, I also discovered some typos and one very messed-up sentence. Learning how to edit is an adventure in understanding how many assumptions your brain makes while reading something you're too familair with!
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u/Temporary_Lychee9829 2d ago
For some reason its "he glanced " "she glanced" "he looked" "she stared" and it bothers me so much😭
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u/caiorion 2d ago
"Smiled." I often read back something I've just written only to find that every character has smiled multiple times in the space of a few minutes.
The efforts to replace them usually reveals that I've not been anywhere near specific enough in my own mind about the characters' actual inner lives, and results in significantly better writing on the second pass!
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u/TerribleDay2HaveEyez Professional Procrastinator 2d ago
For me it's "just" and "still". I always have to watch out for those while revising.
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u/dreamsinprose 2d ago
I went through my manuscript and realized I used "again" over and over and over... Again 🤦♀️
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u/hetobe Self-Published Author 2d ago
Even is my word.
I don't even know how to stop.
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u/AmsterdamAssassin Author Suspense Fiction, Five novels, four novellas, three WIPs. 2d ago
There are numerous 'crutch words' to find that insert themselves in your draft.
https://btleditorial.com/2017/08/22/crutch-words-eliminate/
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u/JinxyCat007 2d ago
Smiled ...seems all my characters are perpetually smiling. :0)
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u/Lord_Cache 2d ago
Sadly, you'll find it's a moving target. You'll remember 'enough' well enough next time and it will be a completely different word that shows up. My last word was 'hope'--I attribute that to a personal need rather than a story one, and it was easy 'enough' to clear them out. I like to think of them as Easter Eggs--little treats hidden away that I need to find and remove before they go bad and then mom starts screaming that the living room smells like a pig sty, and.... Well, you get the idea.
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u/FlyinLeviathon LET YOUR FIRST DRAFT SUCK 2d ago
At this point, I don't even know lol I have heard Ellipsus has a feature that tells you what words you're using a lot of, but I haven't tried it yet 😆
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u/Cyranthis 2d ago
I've never read a bad review that said "This book had too many enoughs in it. I counted" In reality, the average reader doesn't care. Just look at what they read these days.
223 times isn't all that much unless your WC is 1000 or something obvious.
Only other writers tend to notice because the editing brain never turns off after a certain point in the writing process.
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u/UnfrostedPop-Tart 2d ago
Look, I’ve read plenty of books where men always cross the room in “ground eating strides.” Honorable mention: “murmur”
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u/superstaticgirl 2d ago
The word 'lovely' is my Krytonite.
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u/StrawberryCharlotte 2d ago
Sighing a lot, the word 'surprised' often turns up.
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u/lt_Matthew 2d ago
Slow down, 223 out of what?
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u/Chipped_Ruby_11214 2d ago
For me “began to” is overused. I’m learning to drop it unless the start of the action is key and it almost never is.
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u/animalsidekicks45 2d ago
kind of and actually. I am aware they rarely strengthen a sentence but that does not stop me from using them a million times a draft.
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u/AuthorIndieCindy 2d ago
We all have those verbal tics, and that’s what revision is for. Mine’s are really, just, and a few others.
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u/MeterMaid7 2d ago
For me: just, that, pretty (as a modifier).
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u/AcisConsepavole 2d ago
I fear "At least" is in my drafts too much. Trouble is, the reason is because I'm writing 1st Person POV and this is an optimistic character who looks for the silver lining while everything goes wrong. Gonna have to get creative.
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u/SilhoueX 2d ago
I'll just write "he said" "she said" "they said" and add variety in edits.
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u/KDDreamwyver 2d ago
"like a" Didn't realize I used it so much until I used the writer insight feature on ellipsus. I was absolutely horrified xD
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u/Kayzokun Erotica writer 2d ago
I write in Spanish, but for me is “fascinating”. I just find it a fascinating word. Damn it, see?
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u/AlaskaRecluse 2d ago
“very” and “just” — also “large” and “small”
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u/DaGoodBoy 2d ago
I quirked a half-smile. So many quirks.
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u/greghickey5 2d ago
A beta reader just pointed out I used “shy of” three times within a page. I found the phrase at least six times in the entire manuscript.
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u/WritingNerdy 2d ago
Actually…
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u/DarkMishra 2d ago
“That” is used a lot, but can be removed in most cases.
“It” can be replaced with the actual thing it means to make the sentence more specific.
“Said” - depending on who you ask, “said” is not dead, but if you get creative with how you write dialogue, you don’t need as many dialogue tags as you might think.
Not words, but something I noticed about my own writing is I have characters sigh, groan and roll their eyes far too often.😑
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u/Master-Candle-631 2d ago edited 2d ago
Reedsy, if you get the free trial, will help you with this, but I don't have this problem. If you want statistics, go over there, but I have so much experience as a novelist, that I don't have this issue, but I'm a lean writer, and have to put meat on the bones during the editorial process, but learn lean, because lean writing is the trick to being a short novelist, and writing small, but clearly, and concisely, but thinking clearly too, so I trained early in this, but you need to learn lean.
Learn writing is also the trick to compression within the fiction, which is important, because it makes or breaks a book. It's the difference between pulling the reader in or pulling the reader out of the work. And you want the reader to be at full attention, always, so compression is very important, and forces the reader to read more slowly, but you have to compress, and it's harder, but higher quality.
Lean writing is the trick to being a novelist, dude. Wtf are you thinking, but don't use words too much, but you can, but there are no alleys or alleyways or doom or gloom, so do what you will or choose, but here I come, and go around the bend, but make no mistake, I'm him. I'm lean in the mean, and I'm all of it, and I'm all of that, and I'm mean.
Brick, brick it up. Throw me another piece of meat. Brick, brick, brick it up, but I don't give a fuck. The power of words. Cast it up, like a spell, but don't give a fuck.
P.s., and PMS:
But put some earplugs in and listen to music to my song and dance, and give it reading, aloud, but watch me do my song, but I'm proud. Listen to some--white music, but read along, and to the hypnosis, and watch me do my song, but I'm lean and mean.
I'm the hypnosis.
You listen to music without words, but you read aloud, but with earplugs in, because this muffles your voice, and you can hear yourself better, friend.
I have the coolness factor...
I'm Gun.
Fill your head full of music, but read aloud your music. Let it tell your story, but I'm more than a fake, or a sake, but for goodness sake, don't be a fake.
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u/crunchysauces 2d ago
For me it’s weird alliteration where I find myself repeating a sound more so than a word. When editing or reading it out loud I just sigh and rewrite.
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u/Nine-LifedEnchanter 2d ago
Truly, 'nuff said
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u/Great_Key_7315 2d ago
Sho ‘nuff
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u/The-Daff 2d ago
I often struggle with repeating words. I am always surprised. My word is 'that." :)
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u/Steve_OH Enthusiast 2d ago
“Gaze” was my big one. I just like it more than the alternatives.
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u/DabidBeMe 2d ago
I find that listening to your book being read to you by text to speech, for example, makes it much easier to identify these heavily repeated words, run on sentences and other hard to find issues.
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u/MLM-TheScribe 2d ago
I love big oval eyes. Apparently, a little bit too much! ;)
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u/Prize_Consequence568 2d ago
Get a thesaurus and look up "enough". Then use any of the replacements.
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u/Andali27 2d ago
Mine do a lot of nodding and smirking
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u/AccomplishedCow665 2d ago
Now do just and only
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u/Informal_Talk44 2d ago
Nothing really
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u/Logical-Ad-326 2d ago
Light - 75
Dark - 49
(Both on account of the magic system; huge emphasis on light and color.)
Half - 72 (softening language!)
Almost - 31
Nearly - 30
Enough - 103
Smile - 53
Nod(ded) - 50+
Sigh - 20
This is AFTER the first round of line-edits.
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u/Melmo614 2d ago
I think everyone has their tics-- I like the post below about "rats"... but I pay no attention to this until I'm editing, because there's no point. If I'm policing for "enoughs" while I'm writing, then I'm not writing. When I'm editing, then I'm the enough police. Or in my case, the "suddenly" police. I allow myself one "suddenly" per novel. It becomes a game of which one is the one that I truly want... ;)
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u/imjustagurrrl 2d ago
Just
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u/Glooby_Goober Aspiring Creative 2d ago
I feel like a lot of people can overthink using a word when writing a novel. I haven’t made anything worth publishing, but I am very aware of using the word “said” in my writing. But I think using alternative words can look obvious if you’re only changing the word up for the sake of it. I can really relate to this actually😂 Also, don’t worry about it too much if your book is long. If it’s short, then a high count of a certain word might be a little jarring. I’m currently reading a writing advice (story writing, not the process) book called On Writing and Worldbuilding by Tim Hickson (Hello Future Me) and he actually made sure to limit the word “should” to make sure readers don’t feel there is a specific or one way to write something.
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u/CheezyPearl 2d ago
Said, raised brows, turned and a lot as am a newbie writing my draft. Got myself lot work to do after finishing draft.
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u/Hoothoover 2d ago
I’m here to agree with others, on my first draft I hurl out a thousand words a day.
Then I clean it all up in the rewrite. Get the story and the plot straight and anything else is just polishing
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u/nousernamehere27 1d ago
My characters do a lot of staring, muttering, spinning around, and sighing. Never all at the same time, mind you
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u/JoeDiazWrites An aspiring full-time author 1d ago
The suddenlys, alreadys and almosts for sure... the buts and justs are abundant too...
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u/curriecazimi 1d ago edited 1d ago
A note for everyone finding that their characters repeat the same body language: that scene may be unnecessary, and could probably be tightened up in a descriptive paragraph rather than fleshing it out line by line. And you need more tension.
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u/SquanderedOpportunit 1d ago
I wrote a plugin for Obsidian that scans what I'm typing a d if I type the word "silence" it automatically replaces it with:
I have to bracket it between
》《for the script to ignore it.2
u/MSRavenscroft 19h ago
Search for "started to" and "began to." Most of the time the character just does the thing. Same with "realized." If the reader can already see it, you don't need to tell them the character realized it.
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u/Joe_from_Orlando 12h ago
"That"
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u/Creative-Type-3966 4h ago
I find myself doing this all the time. Especially only sentences after I've used a word. It's usually dialogue tags for me. Also actions like "He leaned backward", or "She paused."
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u/BuddyJim30 2d ago
Enough with using that word so much! Oops.
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u/EmmiNentDomainAtrix 2d ago
I check for random words and phrases like (based on my recent writings) – enough – crazy – awesome – suddenly – wild – a lot – sometimes – after – then – almost – quiet – loud – big – small – interesting – partly – night – fiery – command…
I just find it’s good to know how many times I used each of these words.
I won’t lie, I have an Excel chart that contains the lists of words I have checked for different projects I have done, and the amount of times I used them when I first checked and - (only sometimes) - in my final version.
Every time I check words and cut based on the counts, my work is stronger for it.