Moderation in all things… especially these 34 words. Clusters of these words are the chief cause of the dreaded “wordy” syndrome. They’re also symptomatic of stage directions vs. meaningful characterization.

Take control of what’s on your page. Do an editing pass to seek and destroy this list.

That
So
Well
Just
Really
Little
Then
As
While
Which
About
Very
All
But
Was
Were
Had
And
The
Her
His
He
She
It
They
To
By
For
In
From
Into
Of
Out
Because

Two words in particular go beyond “moderation” into “should never appear in commercial fiction” territory:

  • It
  • Because

“Because” is like the silica gel pack of fiction, drying everything out. You might as well hit your reader over the head with a big bat with EXPOSITION carved into the barrel. Probably misspelled.

“It” is more than scary clowns in sewer drains. “It” is lazy. “It” obfuscates meaning and makes readers work too hard to follow along.