Word Census

Guides

Overused words, seen clearly.

Ten essays on the repeats that pull a reader out of a novel — prose echoes, filter words, intensifiers, and the pass that fixes one problem at a time. Then run the census on your own manuscript. Stewart Ferris’s writing handbooks go further into the trade.

  1. 01Why Your Novel's Prose Echoes Are Ruining Your Reader's ExperienceA prose echo is a word repeated so often it pulls the reader out of the story. How novelists spot authorial tics, and how Word Census makes them visible.
  2. 02Filter Words Are Killing Your Immersion (And How to Fix Them)Saw, heard, felt, noticed, watched: filter words tell the reader about an experience instead of letting them have it. How to find them and cut them.
  3. 03The "Very" Problem: Why Intensifiers Weaken Your WritingVery, really, just, actually, and quite add words without adding meaning. How to replace intensifiers with stronger verbs and cleaner sentences.
  4. 04"Suddenly" Isn't Sudden (And Other Time Marker Problems)If everything happens suddenly, nothing does. Why then and suddenly flatten pace, and how to cut time markers without losing the sequence.
  5. 05The "That" Epidemic: How a Tiny Word Clutters Your ProseMost thats can go. A practical test for the filler conjunction, plus which and who, so sentences stay clear without the clutter.
  6. 06Body Language Tics: When Your Characters Nod, Shrug, and Sigh Too MuchNodding, shrugging, and sighing stop meaning anything when they appear on every page. How to vary gestures so characters stop feeling mechanical.
  7. 07Flow State Blindness: Why You Can't See Your Own Overused WordsDrafting hides your own repeats. Why self-editing misses authorial tics, and how a word census shows the manuscript you actually wrote.
  8. 08Show, Don't Tell: The Ultimate Fix for Overused Filter WordsShow, don't tell is the practical fix for felt, saw, and thought. Sensory detail and action that put the reader in the scene.
  9. 09Strengthen Your Verbs, Cut Your AdverbsWalked slowly is a weak verb with a bandage. How to swap adverb-verb pairs for precise verbs, and when an adverb still earns its place.
  10. 10The Perspective Pass: How to Edit for One Problem at a TimeStop trying to fix a draft all at once. A perspective pass hunts one problem—that, just, filter words, suddenly—until the prose is actually tighter.