Crutch-words, or: how to get your writing to sparkle just a little bit more

On and off I get the urge to learn something new about writing. This morning, I wrote about a thousand words and my brain needed a breather. But still I wanted to write. I knew I couldn't (because, y'know, exhausted brain), so the next best thing was 'Think about writing'.

The following 'treatise' on crutch-words was what one-and-a-half hours of reading in the web produced. Some of the presented information I knew already (overused adverbs, yikes!), but some I hadn't thought of before (groups of words, anybody?).

These are NOT my original thoughts. I'm not that good. Yet this information was valuable to me, and maybe it'll be to you, too.

I linked the website where I found the particular wisdom at the bottom of the last paragraph.

============ Ready? Go! =============

First off, what is style?

A writing style isn’t defined by your content. Rather, it is primarily defined by how you treat content. You might use long, compound sentences, or you might use very few dependent clauses. You may pile on adjectives and use metaphors, or you might just stick to a simple noun + adjective + verb combo. Perhaps you prefer to use a broad vocabulary and a thick thesaurus, or you might just stick to basic words.

The one thing that every writer has in common, regardless of style, is that they use “crutch” words. What separates a mediocre writer from a great one, however, is that great writers learn what their crutch words are, and remove them during editing.

Crutch words and phrases are words you automatically use in your writing over and over again. They are comfortable. They are obvious. But they’re NOT a good thing. Even if you have a sparse style, that’s no excuse to stick to your comfort zone.
(http://www.wiseinkblog.com/writing-2/how-to-identify-your-crutch-words-and-highlight-your-style/)

Crutch words are those expressions we pepper throughout our language as verbal pauses, and sometimes as written ones, to give us time to think, to accentuate our meaning (even when we do so mistakenly), or just because these are the words that have somehow lodged in our brains and come out on our tongues the most, for whatever reason.
(https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/09/actually-literally-what-your-crutch-word-says-about-you/323648/)

Repeated crutch words, contrary to popular belief, are NOT part of an author’s style. This is because they’re communicating content, rather than a structure. It’s possible to use different words, or create a different way of describing something and still maintain the same style.
(http://www.wiseinkblog.com/writing-2/how-to-identify-your-crutch-words-and-highlight-your-style/)

Words make lousy crutches. Not only will they not keep you from hitting the floor if you're wobbly on your feet, they will also annoy your readers if you lean too heavily on them. In the editing process, crutch words are almost as invisible to writers as comma infractions, but they are vastly more irritating.
(http://www.writingbugncw.com/2017/04/crutch-words.html)

========= Here the treatise stops and I, Caden, speak again ===========

So, say you want to avoid these pesky words. Some of them might jump out to you when writing, now that your attention has been sharpened. But some will not. You'll get told by Beta-readers, you might recognise them by chance—and forget about them, promptly. You can't remember all.

First solution: Stickies on your laptop. Could work for the most often used words you want to avoid.
Second solution: Make a list and pull up this document, every time you get to writing/editing. You can add to this list, and you'll remember to look out for these words/phrases better, if you look at them often. You'll be alerted to their presence.

For me, I compiled a list from a lot of different documents (i.e. http://writershelpingwriters.net/):

1. Unspecified words/Overgeneralisations (i.e. almost)
   
2. Actions (i.e. begin)
   
3. Body parts (i.e. eyes)
   
4. Overused adverbs (i.e. actually)
   
5. Overused adjectives (i.e. awesome)
   
6. Diluting prepositionals (i.e. in the process of)
   
7. Groups of words (i.e. at the end of the day)—and no, I'm not sure that 6) and 7) aren't the same thing. Tell me dear reader, if not!

If anyone wants the list, give me a shout per PM.

Caden over and out.