The least liked and retweeted tweets I put in Twitter are about filter words.
However, some of the most important writing tips I put on Twitter (#writingtips) is about filter words!
Here’s the truth.
The single biggest impact you can have on your writing is to learn about filter words and avoid them.
They’re called filter words because they add successive layers between you and the reader. Every time you use a filter word in your novel, it removes the reader from experiencing a scene one more layer.
Just like filtering water through layers of sand and charcoal, enough layers create an impassable barrier.
You want to be a professional writer? Here’s step one – identify and remove every filter word in your novel.
Start with “saw”.
“He saw three boxes, one of them open. Earth had been shoveled into it carelessly, and hurriedly.”
Spot it?
Rewrite.
“Three boxes lay before him…”
The Grammar police will no doubt object to cardinal sin number two, ending a sentence in -ly! But that’s the subject for another article.
You want the reader to experience the novel through the protagonists’ eyes. If you suddenly switch the narrative to writing ABOUT the protagonist rather than THROUGH the protagonist… novel weakened.
Weakened enough, and it’s discarded. You’ll find it in the cardboard box at the yard sale.
Learning about filter words had far more impact on my writing than anything else I’ve learned!
Saw. Observed. Felt. Heard. smelled. tasted. And every synonym of them. Any word that describes what the protagonist experiences needs to be removed. “Agony ripped through him like white hot flames”, not “He felt the agony tear through him.”
I don’t think I’ve ever had a retweet about filter words. So, here’s an observation (without using filter words)…
I have far less competition for my books.
I want you to succeed. Learn about filter words and get published. Ignore that rule and be rejected.
