Frenemy

As I sit here, on this cold and wet afternoon in Melbourne, quick editing the third book of one of my series, I discovered a writing frenemy. That one word that always pops up at the start of the sentence that the grammar checker says I need to place a comma after. It didn’t actually hit me until I was almost finished how much I had actually used this word.

I began to remove it and must remember to remove the rest, well as many as I need to, when I do the next edit (after my beta reader has finished with it).

The good thing about discovering a word frenemy, is that you are most likely going to use it less than you currently do. There will be times when they are necessary to use, but for me it’s going to make for a better manuscript if I simply remove them. This one word today, in particular, is not a complex word. Two letters, for the main culprit and three letters for a lesser one.

Whilst they are easy to use, and are probably used in everyday speech, they are not required when you are writing speech. Even if they fully reflect the nature of the character speaking the word. Other words can do the same thing without being as boring or redundant.

By embracing your word frenemies, you have the best chance of using them only when they are needed. You probably don’t need to create a data file to list those words because they are still valid words to be used, just not as a filler at the start of a sentence. At least with the grammar checker I use, I can see the rest of the sentence so can make that decision to remove it or keep it.

Love your word frenemies and make them work I the way you want them to and don’t let them sneak in to sentences where they are not always required.

Happy hunting.