Another wonderful post.
Sharla’s been getting receiving tons of love at Writers In The Storm this week. As part of our “thank you,” we’re bumping this amazing post of hers up by several days. ~ Jenny
by Sharla Rae
The idea for this blog was generated at one our recent critique meetings. We were critiquing a first draft and whoa! I heard an echo of one particular word all over two pages.
As it happens, way back in June of 2010, I wrote a blog called Echoes – Repeat Offenders and explained that they are words and phrases writers over use. Sometimes echoes are caused by a writer’s own speech pattern, that is, words we use a lot when we talk. But sometimes they pop up because we used weak or lame verbiage. And sometimes the lame verb “is” itself an echo.
Ladies and Gents – I give you GET!
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ellaquinnauthor
Ella Quinn ~ Author 
*sigh* One more word to look out for! I’m already culling just, that, was, -ly and -ing words! I wonder what the last word standing will be? LOL Thanks for the post, Ella. One more reminder that writing is work. 🙂
LOL, Jenna. Just remember nothing is absolute. If you’ve ever read anything where the author or editor succeeded in riding the book of was and ly, you know how poorly it read.
Thanks for the blog love, Ella. Sharla is an amazing critique partner and she has many wonderful tips!
-Fae Rowen
Hi Fae, you’re welcome. She really does.
I don’t get it. Ha-ha-ha-ha! Seriously, I’m always a fan of anyone advocating for strong verbs. Yet, I always adore radical moves in writing–has anyone heard about the E-prime movement? E-prime folk take grammatical matters a step further by recommending we eradicate “is” and all “to be” verbs. Daring, no?
I know. I read a book recently where the editor did his/her best to rid the novel of that, ing, ly etc. It was a very awkward read.