I'm editing my novel, (I'm about a third of the way through) and it's amazing the tendencies you find in your own writing when you have your words printed before you. A list of words I'm beginning to loathe:
1. Suddenly. This word makes me sound as though I don't know how it came about. Suddenly, he jumped. Doesn't that sound like even he didn't know why he jumped?
2. Seemed. Either something is or isn't. There is no seemed, unless it appears to be one thing but isn't.
3. Nod. If my characters nodded any more, their necks would snap.
4. Repeat phrasing. I detest when I repeat the same description of a single object/setting/whatever in separate chapters.
5. Dangling Participles. Okay, well, I knew of this before writing. I'm aware when I'm doing it. I just ignore the rule of the participle relating to the noun closest to it if it's at the end of a sentence. "He sat in the chair, hoping to not arouse suspicion." In the last sentence, it's pretty obvious that the chair is not afraid of being suspected. "He" is. Still, the arrangement makes me uneasy.
6. Needless words. How'd you get in my manuscript? Cuts her manuscript in half.
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