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writing-editing.md

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Writing Editing

Banned Words: Before publishing, search for the following words and remove them when possible.

  1. Just
  2. That (one max per paragraph) or "that this"
  3. Already
  4. Actual / Actually
  5. Think
  6. Pretty
  7. Really
  8. To be
  9. Would / Would be (one per paragraph) -> [word]-ed
  10. Great
  11. Got
  12. Around
  13. A lot
  14. Very
  15. Thing / everything
  16. Much
  17. Unfortunate / fortunate
  18. Nice
  19. More
  20. Many
  21. Some
  22. Mainly
  23. May -> Will (or remove)
  24. Maybe -> Are (or remove)
  25. Can (one per paragraph)
  26. Try
  27. Still
  28. Like / Likely
  29. Probably
  30. Typically
  31. Thought
  32. Also
  33. Was -> word(ed) (on per paragraph)
  34. Away
  35. Eventually
  36. Considered
  37. Now
  38. Perhaps
  39. This (one per paragraph) -> the
  40. Had / had to (one per paragraph)
  41. Once
  42. Continue
  43. It -> Noun instead
  44. Only
  45. Allow
  46. Should
  47. Both
  48. Attempting
  49. Other / Others
  50. Almost

Banned Phrasings

  1. I think
  2. I believe
  3. It seems
  4. Seem to
  5. At the time
  6. Will be -> is (make present)
  7. "Of course"
  8. "This means that"

Other Bits

  1. "Screenreader" filter - use a screenreader and adjust to taste, eliminating awkardness
  2. "And" filter - walk write to convert "and" into "ing" or eliminate the conjuction completely
  3. "Or" filter - walk write to convert "or" into "ing" or eliminate the conjuction completely
  4. "Of" filter - walk write to eliminate "of" if repeating in the same sentence
  5. "Can" filter - walk write to eliminate "can" completely
  6. "ly" filter - walk write to eliminate advrbs and modifiers that fill the writing without substance
  7. "to" ... "to" .. - cap sentence.

Other editing

  1. "Active voice" filter - walk write and flip verbs -> nouns to nouns -> verbs
  2. Scan for Escher sentences - Example: "More people been to Berlin than have I."
  3. Scan for tautologies - Example: "Your best bet is to make the right choice."
  4. Look for incomplete thoughts, how sentences may not resolve, how paragraphs are muddled.

Interesting Vocabulary

  1. Zugzwang
  2. Reify
  3. Luddite
  4. Exemplar
  5. Promulgate

Resource

  1. Why Write?
  2. How to Write Satire
  3. En dash, em dash and hyphen