Author Confessions: Weasel Words
Do you have any weasel words in your speech? I go through phases at times where a certain word pops up more often than others. For instance, a few years ago I seemed to be continually surprised at God’s work in fashioning my relationship with my boyfriend (now husband), Ben. I was often heard to say “Seriously?”
This was so automatic that when he proposed, and I realized what he was doing, that was the first word out of my mouth! Seriously? Followed by “Get on with it then!” A funny memory. Of course, I said yes.
Some people have weasel words or phrases almost as a tick or space holder. “I know,” or “Um,” or “Ah,” This can be annoying to a listener when used too often.
As writers we often have weasel words that can creep into our stories. These words don’t really add anything to the story and often are not necessary or can be substituted with something else.
This is not an all-inclusive list:
Just
That
Suddenly
Very
Every
Some
Most
But
OK/Okay
Different genres might have their own as well. Since I work mostly with romance, I find that heart is often way overused in the books when there might be a variety of other ways to express the emotion going on in the “heart” of the character.
As a writer of Regency romances I found the phrase “a bit” would often creep in and was easily deleted without changing anything of value in the sentence or paragraph.
These are simple little words and every author has a favorite. As an editor, if a word keeps popping up over and over and doesn’t need to be there I might flag it for the author or delete some of them. Trying to police these words can be hard because we often don’t even realize we’re reading them. It’s not that you have to get rid of every instance of these words and sometime they are appropriate, hence this becomes a judgement call and subjective.
OK is an interesting one. Pelican Book Group has a house rule where we use OK instead of okay in our stories. What amazes me is how that stands out so much when going over a text. It can become a bug-a-boo or weasel word as well and sometimes as authors we need to find other ways to express what is going on in the narrative or dialogue.
How does an author decide how to get rid of weasel words? Three questions can be asked to help make that decision:
- Will my sentence make sense without it?
- Does it sound natural? Sometimes in dialogue it might be better to keep it.
- Do I need it? Does it improve or hurt your writing ?
Always go with what is best for your story.
Weasel words are subtle and sneaky but something every author needs to watch out for so that our stories can be as clean and readable as possible. Not always an easy job to do but one that must be done. In speech or in writing, what words tend to be your most used weasle words?
