So far, you should have cleaned out the unnecessary hedges, intensifiers, and qualifiers from your manuscript. Time to tackle the next bit.

Resist Readymade Phrases

In 1862, Stephen Foster’s “merry, merry month of May” was fresh and exciting; not so much these days. Seriously, if you can't think of something original to say, at least make that readymade phrase leaner than it is. Some of these phrases may seem to fit in your work but they don’t. They are wordy and they are clichéd. Take “due to the fact that” and “in light of”, for example. You can replace both with one word – “because”. And “in the event of” should be “if”. Where one word will do, don’t write four or five.

Don’t State the Obvious

Your readers are not stupid; give them some credit for their understanding. Readers don’t like their intelligence insulted and when you state the obvious, that is what you do. For example, instead of writing “the facts were examined by experts in their fields”, all you need is “the facts were examined by experts”. Where else are they an expert? You could cut this down further by writing” the experts examined the facts”.

Instead of “ what I believe to be true today”, you could write, “what I believe today”. Similarly, you don’t need to say, “the month of September” or “the color purple”. We know September is a month and we know purple is a color.

Target the Excess and Remove it

When you settle down to write, it will help you if you have a strict word count. It will make you question every phrase, every word. Another way to help you is this – write a poem or two. It may not be what you do but it is an excellent way of making you watch what you write.

Consider this – when you remove the excess, you find that you have room for more ideas. Even if you have no word limit, set yourself a challenge. For every 1000 words of writing, cut 300 words without losing the meaning. Set a rule that phrases are replaced by single words and make sure that word is necessary. Instead of “Adam and I saw the same movie”, write “we saw the same movie”.  Remove empty phrases that don’t contribute. Remove clichés – readers hate those, by the way.

Targeting the excess flab and removing it should be an essential part of your writing. What won’t help you is thinking about it while you are writing. The easiest way is to write, let the ideas flow and then revise as needed. Take a few days to scan your manuscript and do each section several times. An even better way, if you can, is to put your manuscript away for a week or more before you trim it – your mind will be less cluttered and you will spot the excess easily.

Eventually, you will become conditioned to write this way and your revision sessions will get shorter. But you must never stop revising – it’s the only way to hone your skill.