Welcome to the wonderful world of writing on Wattpad!
This is Wattpad, not the Olympics, so there's no need to panic. Anyone can try it, no training required.
Writing doesn't have to be complicated, and you don't have to be a graduate of some fancy...
As a writer, we write words, but sometimes we write too many unneeded words or repeat ourselves.
This chapter is a bit nit-picky, but if you're dreaming big, it's good to know and look out for.
Filler words and phrases
Filler words and phrases are unneeded words that slow down the pace of our story. They sneak into our writing like cat hair on freshly laundered clothing, and they're just as annoying to find and pick out.
I found ProWritingAid to be decent at picking out filler phrases. You'll probably need a human editor to help with the repetitive words, although I've found the text-to-speech editing round helps me find a lot of them.
Some examples of filler words:
Open up your book. (Open your book)
I sat down in the rocking chair. (I sat in the rocking chair)
Some examples of filler phrases:
I grabbed the gun and managed to fire two rounds at the intruder. (I grabbed the gun and fired two rounds at the intruder.)
When I held his hand, he seemed to like it. (In this example, remove "seemed to" and put his reaction: When I held his hand, he smiled softly at me)
Repetition
Sometimes our minds fall into a rut, and we overuse a certain word or use similar words too closely together, which can distract the readers and knock them out of the story flow. This can happen in the same paragraph or in nearby paragraphs.
Example:
As I ran into the forest, I ducked beneath the tree branches, hoping the men pursuing me would lose sight of me. Panting, I hid in the underbrush and tried to be quiet. Footsteps crunched through dry leaves as the men searched the forest.
Even using forest in several consecutive paragraphs can get repetitious. Try rewording such sentences so you can drop the word or find a similar word (thesaurus.com is helpful here).
I already made a chapter about the word 'That', which is another word that often sneaks into our writing unnecessarily.
These are small fixes, but they can still make a difference in your story, especially when it comes to filler words and phrases in action scenes where you don't want the pace to slow down.
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