More often than not you'll have named characters with similar-sounding names or names all beginning with the same letter. Which is why you should always check your character names. Have you got two sarcastic divas? Or two brooding gentlemen? Do you really need two? Or would it be more effective to have one? But more often than not, you can condense the duplicated characters into one more effective and efficient character that readers can get to know better.ĭuplicated Personality Traits - likewise, look for repetition in personality type. For example, do you have two mentors? Are there an unnecessary number of allies? Of course, sometimes these duplications are needed. For example, the hum of a bee and the hum of a car's engine.ĭuplicated Archetypes - duplicated character types. Same Words, Different Meaning - the flip side of that repetition is using the same word in a different context. For example, describing cold temperatures multiple times with words like chill, icy, cool. For example, just, but, so, that, look, hand, eye, glance, walk.īut what about the other, more subtle forms of repetition?ĭifferent Words, Same Meaning - writers often unintentionally use different words to describe the same thing. But usually, writer's think of repetition as crutch words or phrases they unintentionally repeat multiple times. Okay, sure, everyone knows their first draft will be riddled with repetition. So here are 3 things to avoid in your prose. Including not using a full stop - you only have to look at Mike McCormack's 272 page Solar Bones to know that, the whole thing is one sentence! But there are some tactics that sharpen your descriptions and sentence level craft. There are no rules in prose, you can get away with virtually anything. ![]() The Anatomy of Prose Textbook and Workbook Writing Good Prose: Three Mistakes to Avoid If you're interested in learning more about the types of professional editing, there's a fab post on the ALLi blog here. Of course, you may prefer to dive straight into professional feedback and learn from the things an editor picks up. This type of detailed deconstruction isn't for everyone but I'm a word nerd and I love going deep into analysis.
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