The New Yorker (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Friday at last. I don’t know about you, but I have had a grueling week. I finished up a couple of short stories for submission to several magazines. Never know if they will be accepted, but since I am planning an anthology of them, nothing is ever wasted. In the anthology I don’t believe I will have to give a disclaimer that “this story was rejected by the New Yorker,” or anything like that. So it really doesn’t matter if the story gets published or not, since I will be able to use it one way or another.
I am also still working on editing my second novel. I won’t bore you with the fact that my first is still with the publisher and no date of release as yet. WTF. . . it is a good thing I made my fortune in freeze-dried tacos* because if I relied on book sales to eat I would be a very skinny guy indeed. Right now I am going through the entire text with the idea of eliminating certain words that are the hallmark of an amateur. These are the kinds of words that have the effect of slowing the action or at the least, making strong sentences very weak. So that you may benefit from my pain, here are the words that I am eliminating while choosing other ways to complete the thought that I am trying to project. The are: about, actually, almost, like, appears, approximately, basically, close to, even, eventually, exactly, finally, just, just then, kind of, nearly, practically, really, seems, simply, somehow, somewhat, sort of, suddenly, that, truly, utterly, were.
I wish I could say when I use the “find” feature on Word that the results come back with no matches. I wish I could say that, but unfortunately it just doesn’t happen. When writing sometimes we fall into the lazy mode of getting the idea down on paper (so to speak) and not looking at construction. There is really nothing wrong with that as long as we go back and make the corrections.
*Piece of fiction warning
To end the week I have a little Haiku which sums up the editing process.
Edit This by John W. Howell
Every word I wrote,
Placed carefully on the page. . .
Comes under the knife.
Have a great weekend. Oh and while you’re up,
would you get me another Margarita? Thanks.
Fiction Favorites 
I always found it weird that certain words are considered marks of an amateur. It makes it sound like these words are banned or forbidden from being used. Though, I have noticed that this rule seems to be aimed more at exposition than dialogue. People talk with all the words of the English language, so removing some because they’re literary ‘simpletons’ sounds a little off to me.
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Have to agree. In dialog all bets are off. BTW you shouldn’t care anyway. Just finished Beginning of a Hero and bought Tower. I’ll get a review posted on Amazon this weekend. Hint : number 5
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Woo-hoo! Glad to hear you liked it. I have to ask. Favorite character? 🙂
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Let’s see. I liked a lot of them. I think Selenia was my favorite because she was strong and true to her beliefs. I liked how she Kept Luke at the academy to finish his studies. I also liked it when she punched him for going out against the Lich. I also like Nimby and Aedyn. Nimby a thief gone straight and Aedyn as a religious leader and wise counselor. Fritz is good as well. I think having these guys all together in the next book will be great. I of course like Luke and Kira. Luke is as the title suggests Beginning. He is a little emotionally immature , but what should we expect. I like Kira for supporting Luke. All in all a great cast. Oh yes and the drite. The Poncho to Quixote-like character to Luke. Love his puffs.
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Glad you liked the cast. They grow and evolve a lot as the story progresses. The next book gives all of them a big boost in development.
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It will be nice to see Luke grow as well
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That’s one of the fun parts about a series. The lead can rise, fall, and stumble like a normal human being.
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Thanks for the word list. I’ll be looking for those in my next WIP.
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It’s a pain since we all use them. Dialog should be exempt. Thanks. 🍷
Sent from my iPhone
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Like you said, nothing wrong with lazy mode, as long as we come back and fix the words. My idea of a successful life is being as lazy as possible while still accomplishing your dreams. Hmm.. maybe that’s my problem. Happy Friday John!
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Sounds like a good philosophy. Happy Friday to you as well
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