by Stephanie Morrill
We’re continuing to celebrate the release of the Go Teen Writers book (available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and Kobo Books) with more free printables from the book’s Extras section. today’s is a list of our weasel words and phrases:
Quirked (my characters are always quirking eyebrows)
So-and-so rolled her eyes/ran her hands through her hair
Like
Just
Were
Was
Said
Asked
Very
Smile(d)
Sigh(ed)
Really
“Or something” (I like to throw that in to the end of a lot of my sentences for some reason.
“We should go to the movies or something.”)
Past/Passed—I have issues remembering which is correct.
It—Especially at the start of sentences. Often “it” should be replaced with something more
specific.
Vague words
Many, few, lots, a lot of, a little, some, most, almost, more, a few, rather, might, perhaps,
much, often, for the most part, like, seem, etc.
Absolutes
Every, very, entire, everyone, everything, etc.
Verbs that facilitate telling
Feel/felt, see/saw, hear/heard, think/thought, look, watch, taste, smell, wonder, decide,
notice, remember, recall, consider, ponder, is, am, are, was, were, has, had, have, etc.
Infinite Verb Phrases (Starting sentences with —ing words)
Continuous action words
As, when, while, after, continued to.
Pronouns
Overuse of “they” or “them” tends to create the feel of an omniscient POV.
Time transitions
Just, then, as, the next day, all at once, soon, etc.
Adverbs
Softly, angrily, sadly, really, basically, immediately, very, actually, surely, usually, truly,
suddenly, etc.
Double verbs
Started to, began to.
Some other words on my list:
Thought/though/through, loose/lose, there, it, be, being, been, became, that, well, poor,
anyway, quite, however, about.