I stumbled (via Jody Hedlund and the Steve Laube Agency) across a cool tool that will help me weed out those repeat phrases, the ones I like to weed out if I can. (Ok, that was almost painful to type.)
The phrases you would repeat in reality tend to sprinkle through your MS, like hiccups that you never notice. As with Ninja Wordle Skills, the WriteWords Phrase Frequency Counter will help improve your writing, in this case by identifying two or more repeated words in your manuscript.
Two Words
The two-word option wasn’t very useful, because saying “for you” fourteen times in your manuscript isn’t exactly cause for alarm. However, fourteen instances of “deep breath” probably are (we’re not in final draft form yet, so I’m not panicking. But still. Ugh.)
Three Words
The three-word option was a little more handy. Thirty phrases of “I wanted to” (along with 18 “I didn’t want’s”) is probably an indication of some flabby prose, and ten instances of “like everyone else” is a bit startling, because I wouldn’t have guessed that was anywhere in the whole story.
Four, Five, and Six Words
This is where it gets interesting. “The back of my throat” gets used way too often, and a truck shouldn’t “lurch to a stop” more than once or twice in a story. I’m pretty sure that’s a rule. But overall, I was surprised there weren’t too many awful “hiccups” in my prose. Maybe the Ninja Wordle Skillz have taken hold.
What wacky repeats do you have in your MS?
p.s. Happy Weekend!
Thank you for sharing this, Sue. I'll head over there, now! I'm not sure what phrases I use most often. See, need tool now!
What a great tool! Thanks Susan! This will be a big help with my revisions.
When I first started, I used the phrase, "the last thing she/he needed" A LOT.
And for each new ms, I tend to have a new set of phrases/words I overuse. Funny!
~JD
That was fun. Most of my repeats were more manners of speach than anything. One that did stand out was "the fifth winter of my womanhood," (3x) but that was intentional. Thanks for the links. They are now bookmarked!
I'm definitely going to have to try out this tool (I'll link this post next Friday so I don't forget it).
I've noticed a few repeat phrases in my new wip. I'm dreading how many more I haven't noticed yet.
I hadn't heard of these two helps but will be using them. Thanks so much.
Have a great weekend.
I can't remember now what my repeats were, but I did get them out with word search. So, it's comforting to know we're all in the same boat with this!! Sounds like an interesting tool. Thanks for making me aware of it, and have a great weekend!!
Ann Best, Author
Wow, what a cool tool! I've never used it before and never even heard of it but you can be assured I'm going to now LOL!
@Sherie I know! I had to check it out immediately.
@Andrea Best of luck with your revisions! π
@Justine I think I'm the same way, a new quirk for each character. Sometimes that's good, sometimes not so much.
@JB I have a few intentional ones like that too! π
@Stina Oooh, I get to be in the Friday Links? *happy dance*
@Mary Have a great weekend! π
@Ann Word search will get most of them, for sure. Thanks for stopping by! π
@Lindsay It's kinda irresistable, isn't it? What's with us writers and our tools, anyway? π
Oh, that phrase function sounds amazing. Gonna have to try it out. Thanks!
Cool tool! I recently finished U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton, of the best-selling Kinsey Millhone alphabet series. I wonder– does she or her editor realize how many times that particular book has "he/or she shrugged into a windbreaker"?
I'll read another one just to see (and because I liked the book!) But just to illustrate– even the wonder authors do this!
@Tricia I hope it helps!
@KarenG I've seen that too (in other books) – I think it's SO much easier for the reader to see than the writer (or editors, who've read it many times as well). We need the cold, calculating, computer mind to ferret it out for us. π
This was a funny post. Also if you have time checkout this online tool called Grammarly. It can be found here http://www.grammarly.com/ and works best if you load like a page at a time.
Thanks for the tools.
bethfred.com
Thanks for the info! I am actually looking for something like Editor by serenity software but I need it to work for mac. That or I go get a cheap PC to use for just that purpose but id rather not have to do that…
Liz ^_^
http://www.vampyrekisses.com
Oh, wow. I am both excited and terrified to try this! π
Good tips. Bless that Edit feature on my Mac. I'll type in these and see how many things like "back of the throat" I come up with. It's so easy to fall into repeating while you're working on character, plot, tone and a million other things that these little reminders are great for that revision time. Thanks, Susan.
Good tip!
Some of my word redundancies are that everyone is laughing and
"sidling" up to someone.
@Michael I ran a chapter through Grammarly and came up with 199 errors – holy cats! However, I didn't do the sign-up to see what they all were. Have you found it useful?
@Beth Thanks for stopping by! π
@Elizabeth I've seen several of these add-on editing software packages for Word, and I could never convince myself to spring the cash for them. Did someone you know actually use Editor and say it was worth the cost?
@Shannon I doubt it will be as bad as you think! π
@Clee Yes, revision is almost a different part of the brain – I have to piece it up to look at it from all sides. π
@Catherine I love that word "sidling"! Now, I need to go find a place to use it. π
Very interesting. I have to see what phrases I use too much!
Sounds like a great site! My crutch word is just, at least the one I'm currently quite conscious of. I just can't seem to get enough of it, though I'm sure there are more π
@Kelly It is intriguing! π
@Sherrie "Just" is my crutch too. Also "small" and occasionally "wheezed" (go figure!). Having multiple-word-crutches just (!) makes it worse. π
What a cool site – I'm definitely going to check it out! I don't know what my overused phrases are … yet! π
Ooh, I have all sorts of nasty little weasel words. Seems. sort of. slightly. little.
The little buggers kill me.
Aaaahhhh!?!? See? Little buggers…
@Jemi Good luck! I hope it helps! π
@Bryan Ah, the diminutives. My favorite is small; everything is small in my world. I can do a search and replace for that word and it's like a little flag saying good lord, write something more descriptive. π
Awesome tool. I ran it on the first 25 pages of my current WIP, 'to the' showed up 29 times and 'she wanted to' popped up 5 times. I can live with that.
I'm sharing this with my writer's group. Thanks for posting.
Now that is cool. I have to try it out. Thanks!
What great links. Thanks for sharing. I plan to use them to help me eliminate some repeats. This is great!