“That just about sums up that problem.” Or does it? That which is that is too much of that. I searched for the word ‘that’ in my most recent manuscript. What I discovered shocked me. In a 65,000-word story, I had used ‘that’ over 450 times! Now that is a lot of ‘that.’

Doesn’t it bother you when you’re reading, and the story is full of too many repeated words? It bothers me. That is one of those words. So, too, are the words like (liked, likes) and look (looked, looks). And ‘got’ – I hate the word ‘got.’ There has to be a better word than ‘got.’. Do you know what ‘got’ means? Most of the time it’s the past tense of the verb to have. So, when you read, or write, ‘I have (I’ve) got to have that book,’ you’re actually saying, ‘I have have to have that book.’ Awkward, right? Why not just say (or write), ‘I must have that book?’ Or, better yet, ' I want that book.’

We’re writers, so we must have a good enough grasp of the English language to find a useful substitute. If not, there’s always a synonym that’ll work.

Here are some words to avoid overusing, with some suggested alternatives:

that – perhaps there’s no need for ‘that’ word at all or switch it with a simple ‘the.’

very – I always chuckle when reading young writers’ work. They love to accentuate a point with the word ‘very,’ sometimes even repeating it multiple times. There are better, more expressive words like: extremely, exceedingly, exceptionally, tremendously, vastly, and many others.

really – I use this word a lot in dialogue. Why? Because that’s an euphemism in the spoken English language. It’s often used when a person wishes to express their surprise at what they’ve just been told and they say, “Really?” Otherwise, it’s rather a useless word that expresses nothing. Here are some better alternatives: actually, truly, genuinely, honestly, undoubtedly, certainly, and the list goes on.

smiled – Don’t we always love a character who smiles? Sadly, too many characters in stories are smiling repeatedly, and for what purpose? How about something more expressive like: grinned (some editors don’t like this word either) or beamed?

looked – Are you using this word to compare two objects or people: ‘He looked like a chocolate bunny.’ Or, are you expressing what a person is doing: ‘He looked over his shoulder.’ Either way, there are better words: glanced, gazed, stared, gaped, peered, regarded, considered, and many others.

turned – Too many ‘turns’ and the reader will be dizzy. How about: revolved, rotated, spun, whirled, swiveled, and many others? Or, if using turned to mean a change, how about: became, changed, and so on?

Editors are known to oppose the use of onomatopoeia unless it’s a children’s story using lots of alliteration. Why? Once again, I refer to my young student writers: they overuse onomatopoeia. The hissing and growling (and so on) become too much, and the story is lost in the sound effects.

You can use these words, of course, but use them sparingly. When I finish my first draft of a manuscript, I do a word search for each of these overused words to see how many I can obliterate, erase, or change to something more effective. It’s worth the effort.