Do You Hear What I Hear?
In the craft of writing, there's lots of potholes to avoid. Many of them have to do with distracting the reader. One of the things I have to watch out for in my writing is the echo.
Ever heard of that? I hadn't, until a writer friend started pointing them out.
Echoes are when you use a word repetitively in a short block of text, or even words that sound similar. While an echo can be used to make our work stronger (as in repetition for effect or emphasis), it can also weaken the work when used without thought.
So check your writing! Look for common sounds in a paragraph, or the same word used a few times. Then break out the thesaurus and find a new word! :-)
Here's a link for more information.
Ever heard of that? I hadn't, until a writer friend started pointing them out.
Echoes are when you use a word repetitively in a short block of text, or even words that sound similar. While an echo can be used to make our work stronger (as in repetition for effect or emphasis), it can also weaken the work when used without thought.
So check your writing! Look for common sounds in a paragraph, or the same word used a few times. Then break out the thesaurus and find a new word! :-)
Here's a link for more information.
Comments
Thesaurus.com was my best friend while writing my book. But even with that, I must have written my book in an empty room because there was some massive echoing going on.
Great point!
I never heard them called that before, but, yes, I do check for repetitive words/sounds.
It's so easy to fall into the comfortable word trap.
SNORT!
A good way to find echoes in your writing is to read your scenes aloud. Not only does this catch the same word being used again and again, but it will also catch words / phrases that sound the same or are off balance due to rhyming or rhythm anomolies.
Still, IMO, there's nothing that can touch a second opinion and a read from a writing pal or crit partner. After all, what writer wants to pass up the opportunity to have someone else read their stuff? Not me, as you very well know! :-)
Lynnette Labelle
http://lynnettelabelle.blogspot.com
The echo is not only words repeated in the same paragraph, but sprinkled throughout a book. We all have favorites we use over and over again.
Pick a word and do a search/replace command. For awhile, HGTV had a rash of the words, "eclectic and whimsical." Mom and I would roll our eyes and keep count. We sure don't want our readers reacting like that to our words.
Excellent post, Jess.
Blessings,
Susan :)
Nice analogy!
I hadn't heard them called that either, until my lovely friend Anita read my work and started highligting stuff and in her bubble she'd write, "echo". And I was like, what??? What is that? LOL
Thanks for posting about this; it is one of my pet peeves! I even see published books with this, and wonder why the editors didn't catch it.
Happy Day,
Jen
It sure is easy. Nag is a strong word. Makes me wonder what kind of characters you have going on! :-)
Thanks for teaching me this, though. I knew about using the same word, but I had thought of checking words that SOUND similar.
*smirk*
Great advice. Also, those words are unique, so they're more likely to stand out. I've heard that if we're going to use a strong, unique word, we should only use it once or twice in the manuscript, or it'll start to stand out.
You're smart to read your own writing out loud. I'm very bad at that (maybe why Anita finds all my echoes, lol).
I notice it in others' writing too, so I try to change my words up. I find that reading things hard copy helps too.
I know, cool word. Echo sounds so much better than repetitive. LOL
I see it too, but I think once an author has a fan base and has proven themselves, editors may become more lax. They're human and it might be easier to skim through an author's manuscript, esp. since the editors are so swamped with work.
I think after I get published I'll still be keeping my crit group (if they'll have me, lol) so they can keep me sharp. :-)
Once you learn what your pet words are, it is wise to go through your ms at the end with the find feature and search for those specific words.
I was wondering though. What if our character's have "pet" phrases or words they use. Do you think there is room for that in your story? Or would that get old?
I think it would be fine, so long as these attributes/phrases/habits are balanced and add to the scene, rather than being a distracting, in-your-face type thing. As long as it's not overdone, I don't think it would get old.
I've heard that before too.
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Thanks for the blog award! I'm heading over now!!
smooches,
Larie
Just make sure you choose the right word to take the place of the word you're deleting. Sometimes a synonym doesn't have exactly the same meaning. :-)
I think I heard of that website! If I remember right, you can download quite a bit that it'll check. And I think there are writing programs out there that check for this too, as well as cliches.
So you took a writing class? That's cool. I did too, and it was mostly about poetry, but for some reason the teacher didn't mention this.
Great tip!
That's cool. I'd never even heard it called that before this one friend of mine. A wavy line, huh? LOL