What tricks do you use to avoid repetition?

[SecondCircle]

As for the whole literal or figurative tag thing, its been argued in the past about how someone can't "shrug" a word or "smile" a word.

Such as

"I thought it was pretty clever," Dan shrugged.

That's actually the wrong way to do it. One cannot shrug a word. To test this theory, shrug your shoulder and see if words come out.

BUT as a reader when I see stuff like this, I understand what's going on. I get that Dan shrugged as he said that, without having to see it written as robotic as

"I thought it was pretty clever," Dan said with a shrug.

Don't need that. I get it. The former is wrong but it painted the picture for me. So as a reader I'm gonna keep trucking knowing that Dan shrugged when he said that.

I actually prefer more figurative or creative ways of writing, as they paint a picture better than just writing something like a technical manual.

Usually I do avoid it though and go with something like

Dan shrugged. "I thought it was pretty clever."

 

[49greg]

I read my stories out loud. You'll catch everything that sounds wrong, repetition, echoing, awkward phrasing.

I learned this with a writing group. I could edit something 10 times, and as soon as I had to read it out loud in front of a group, I was marking things up left and right.

I started practicing reading out loud, to know when I would hit my time limit, and the number of issues I found was mind boggling.

If you haven't tried this trick, I suggest you give it a go.

I like that idea. I think I'll try that.

As for me, I try to keep my use of "Anyway" down to a minimum. But that just a habit I use in letters and emails. Don't think I hit it too hard in stories.

When I'm doing dialog I try to let the flow of the conversation tell who is saying what.

 

[dacoach44]

And... it is only worse because twas the offensive line. Nothing shy about her, huh?

 

[Torinona]

I'm speechless!

You folks rock... the suggestions, the discussions, the inclusions of examples, the humor, the general banter between some of you... all of it and more, your responses have been multi-faceted and more helpful than you know.

I definitely plan to try a variety of what was discussed here, the reading aloud, the removal of dialogue tags altogether and just figuring other ways to fine-tune the stories I'm currently writing and my writing in general.

Now that I know you folks are so helpful, I'm only going to continue to abuse your kindness in the future! Thank you again and I hope there will opportunities where I can offer my thoughts and ideas as well.

Tor