Writing tip: Choosing repetitive words
I recently reviewed a soon to be published memoir that is translated from French and unfortunately the translator’s word choice is so poor that it inspired this “don’t’s” article. Word choice can be a positive or negative quality in writing for many reasons. In this case, the sin of the writer is the repetitive use of words and phrases. On. And more. And more. Most writers who do this don’t realize they’re doing it, and it’s one of the best reasons to read your work aloud, and one of the easiest writing pitfalls to fix through careful editing.
For example, today I came across the following sentence:
“Actually, this was very unrealistic.”
I know what you’re thinking: “reality” and “unrealistic” are not the same word. But repetitive word choice isn’t always about the exact same word or phrase being overused; different forms of a word count, too. First, when they are in the same sentence or paragraph, they can be a red flag of redundancy. Would the meaning of the sentence above be different if we cut “actually”? No. You can’t say an idea is unrealistic if you haven’t thought about it in terms of reality.
Also, the potential for greater depth and nuance can be lost if you reuse favorite words and phrases at the expense of variation. If we replace “really” with a more specific word or phrase, the sentence becomes much more effective and meaningful. For example:
“Given what had just happened in the Middle East, this was highly unrealistic.”
Prayed:
“Out of my dreams, this was very unrealistic.”
Sometimes varying your word choice is even more basic: If you reread a paragraph in your fiction and find you’ve used the word “couple” three times, drag your thesaurus. Try “duo” or “couple” or “lovers”. Note that while the words may be listed as synonyms, each has its own connotations, and the strongest writers are careful to choose the word that best conveys their intended meaning and fits the tone or mood of their writing. . That applies to every word in every sentence, of course.
In short, word choice is an easy area to get lazy or careless about, but it is one of the most important aspects of good writing, if not tea the most important. Choose wisely and with variety, my writer friends.
