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Trim the fat from your fiction: Redundancy – by Kerri Miller…

Chris The Story Reading Ape's avatarChris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

on Utopian Editing site:

Great stories can be ruined by too many words. Redundancy in particular can make your prose squeak like the clarinetists in a middle school band (I’m allowed to say that because I played clarinet).

Not all repetition is bad. It can be used to emphasize or connect important ideas, like “I have a dream” in MLK’s best-known speech. But most of the time, it’s simply clutter.

You want the reader so immersed in your story they forget they’re reading words on a page. Anything that reminds them of your fingers on the keyboard MUST go.

We’ll look at four types of undesired repetition today:

  • Dialogue tags
  • Character names
  • Pet words
  • Hidden redundancy

Grab your manuscript and a utility knife!

Continue reading HERE

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About The Owl Lady

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Viv Drewa is a Michigan native who has enjoyed reading and writing since 1963. Though she studied medicinal chemistry at the University of Michigan, her passion has always been writing. She had been awarded third place for her nonfiction short story about her grandfather's escape from Poland. Later, she rewrote this story and was published in the "Polish American Journal" as "From the Pages of Grandfather's Life" and has republished it on Amazon.com as a short story. Viv took creative and journalism courses to help in her transition to fulfill her dream of becoming a writer. She worked as an intern for Port Huron's 'The Times Herald", and also wrote, edited and did the layout or the Blue Water Multiple Sclerosis newsletter "Thumb Prints." She also has a business promoting authors. Owl and Pussycat Book Promotions. Viv, her husband Bob and their cat Princess, live in Port Huron, Michigan.

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