I usually edit out overused words last, but since a few beta readers pointed some out… I started fixing, and then the overused words snowballed.
I always have overused words. I think all authors do… but the quantity of words, sometimes appearing five times on the same page, astounded me.
Was it the speed I was writing? The lack of read-throughs before going to beta? (I usually read my manuscript five to ten times before going to beta)
I’m not sure, but I’m definitely not happy. What a terrible, tedious week.
Repeated words might not seem like a big deal, but they ruin the flow of a novel. They stand out, and can pull the reader from your story and remind them they are “only reading”.
Shame on me
That is NOT what I ever want to do to my readers. It is my job to help them escape for a little while. If they are reminded it is “just a book” then shame on me.
That’s why I took an entire week to tackle this before submitting to my editor. The only problem is that another beta pointed out a portion that would be more intense if I made one small point in the story a touch harder on my characters… and I agree.
So that leaves me with two weeks left to do another developmental edit/rewrite on the beginning of the story, and finish the re-write of the ending that I inadvertently started while getting rid of the repeated words in the last two paragraphs. PLUS do a complete final read-through start to finish.
Two weeks until the deadline?
No, this is not where I would like to be so close to the novel being due… Especially since ASHES IN THE SKY went up on Goodreads this weekend, and I was supposed to start EMBERS IN THE SEA last Wednesday.
Tons, tons, tons of pressure… But I WILL get this manuscript in on time.
And I will try my best NOT to make sleep optional.
Jennifer M Eaton 
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I’ve been using the thesaurus like crazy lately trying to avoid overuse of words. I read some where that you should never use the same descriptive words twice in a paragraph and try you best to avoid it for every page.
I am a little more anal. My problems are usually strong verbs, and l try not to repeat the same word in ten pages – but i have gone down to five pages at times.
Lately I’ve been coming across, ‘hummed’. As in, ‘she hummed thoughtfully’ … very weird. Is there a new meme I’ve missed? 🙂
Humming… Hmmmmmm. That’s a new one.
Yeah, that list to check keeps getting long, and I suspect it will continue to do so after every beta round on every story. I think my mind decides that if it has to give up one “favorite,” it’ll find another!
Yes, but i find myself much more wary of words I have spent a great deal of time trying to remove
Every author’s nemesis! LOL It used to be eyes, put, and just. Now I see that my new work has with a billion times and for. LOL
I always find new words to add to the list
In his novel 11/22/63, Stephen King used the word ‘obdurate’ a trizzillion times. Made me nuts. Because of the meaning, I wondered if it was on purpose, but that didn’t help either. 😦
Wow! Especially such an obscure word
I had to look it up. Afterward, the word screamed at me each time I came across. Can’t figure out it’s overuse. Someone else who read the book, when I asked, hadn’t ‘noticed’.
I’d definitely notice a word like that. The second time would bug me, and after that I would be looking for whether it was a character trait. Was it in dialog?
No, if memory serves, it was NOT in dialogue. I read book shortly after it came out, borrowed from my daughter’s M.i.L
I do believe at the time another reader made a similar comment. Maybe an inquiry out to the community might not hurt. I can do it. ❤
I just finished a final run through after my editor’s changes, and I noticed I used the word ‘lunged’ about four times (as in, he lunged at her). Maybe that’s not much for a whole novel, and my editor didn’t say anything about it, but I noticed it. So I changed one to a ‘he charged’ and another to ‘he sprang’. Funny the little things we notice. Good luck!