Writing Tics

I recently came across this post by  Leslie Pietrzyk about Writing Tics.

It hit home.

I am now checking my manuscripts for eyes, grins, smiles, sighs, laughs and racing hearts that have over stayed their welcome. . . and believe me there are many.

My characters live happy lives and their smiles and grins frolic throughout my stories.
Eyes are definitely a writing tic of mine and my characters all seem to have heart problems.

In addition to body words, I have an attachment to the word - just. In my latest MG  that I have been busy editing again, I found 113 justs. Which is just way too many!

But what do you do to fix these problems?

 I went into my manuscripts and started cutting and changing.

I took out some of the justs, but replaced others with different words, such as only, simply, merely, plainly and exactly. (After all, I couldn't take all of them out, that would destroy my word count.) I now have 64, which I am sure some of you would say is still too many.

Rhyme Zone and The Emotion Thesaurus have come in handy. I have an PDF of Emotion Thesaurus and use it often. If you go to the link above, there is a place where your can order a copy and also a free download of Emotion Amplifiers: A Companion to the Emotion Thesaurus. You might want to go check it out. (But don't forget to come back)


At Rhyme Zone type in your overused words to find their synonyms, definitions, related words, etc.

With Emotion Thesaurus check under categories such as anxiety, eagerness, disgust, elation, embarrassment, excitement,  happiness, nervousness, relief, surprise, worry, etc. to find another way to express what you want to convey in your manuscript.

If they are smiling because they are excited, then check under excitement to see what other body language could express that. Or if they are sighing, you might check under relief, worry or nervousness - or whatever other reason your characters are emitting sighs.

Why is their heart racing? If it is from nervousness, excitement, anxiety or surprise, then check under these categories in Emotion Thesaurus.

Do you have a writing tic? Want to share it with us?

I hope this helps you in some way when editing your manuscript.

Posted by Janet Smart  on Creative Writing in the Blackberry Patch.

Helpful Writing Sites

I love visiting sites on the internet.
There are a lot of great sites out there for the writer.
If you notice on my sidebar I have a long list of some of my favorite Writing Links.

I often write in rhyme. I would  be  lost without Rhyme Zone. It is a great site. It not only helps you with rhyme, but also gives you near rhymes, synonyms, antonyms, definitions,  related words, similar sounding words, homophones, etc. If you are stuck finding a rhyme for a word, then search under related words for another word to use that you can find a rhyme for. I also find this so helpful with my MG manuscript writing when I am searching for just the right word to use.

I love Auto Crit Editing Wizard. It allows you to paste a section of your writing into it and it will edit it for you! It shows you problems in your manuscript. You can paste your work two or three times a day for free.

I just found Reading Rockets. It looks like a great place with all kinds of info. There are long lists of recommended children's books by themes. I am going to be returning there a lot.

You Tube is a great place to visit. Many picture books are read there in their entirety. Go there and put the title in the search engine. You can look at a book and then decide if you want to buy it or check it out at the library.

It is time consuming going to sites, but some of them are very helpful and worth the time it takes to check them out.

What are some of your favorite sites?


Posted by Janet F. Smart on Creative Writing in the Blackberry Patch.