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Tuesday, October 03, 2006I've over-undulatedStrange, the words we overuse without realizing it. Eric caught on first, and I did some further investigation. As it turns out, I've used the word undulating six times in my novel. Six times! Lest you think I'm a thesaurus-wielding ninny, I must point out that "undulate" is simply a part of my vocabulary. Kids used to make fun of my vocabulary when I was young. I've always been a lover of words. Not that "undulate" is such a fancy-schmancy word, but...well, obviously I like it on an unconscious level. Things should never undulate six times in the course of 290 pages. Currently, I've gotten rid of three undulatings. At least one more needs to be expunged before the Undulation Level can be considered satisfactory. I'm looking on the bright side, though. If my revisions have dwindled to the point where I'm getting rid of extraneous and repetitive words, that's a good thing. It means my plot is solid, my dialogue is un-dorkified (mostly...still have a few doozies to deal with), my writing is clean. The question is, when do you stop? I could clean up like this on a regular basis and never truly feel "finished." It's like doing laundry. What a thought: "Writing a novel is like doing laundry. No matter how much you clean up, there's another dirty bit waiting in the basket." That's enough to make me run screaming from my office. Okay, now 'fess up. Did you have to look up the word undulating? (Insert evil grin here.) That's okay. I didn't learn what it meant until I was in college. The theatre major in the dorm room next door used to do this odd characterization, which she called "The Undulating Witch." I remember standing there thinking, "What the heck does undulating mean?" Now I'm thinking, "How the heck could a witch undulate?" And thanks to Mary Beth the theatre major, I ended up with six undulatings in my novel. Back to work. Can't wait to see what bizarre, repeated word I'll fish out next... Labels: writing |
About Me
I am: Mother to five stunningly individualistic children... Writer of young adult fantasy... Passionate advocate for Women At Home... Madly in love with my husband... In need of Organic Gourmet Chocolate on a regular basis. I've got a Paypal account if you'd like to contribute to the cause....
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8of my readers are feeling chatty:
door
now everyone is say "Wha????" LOL
LOL
Ya, Eric found a cluster of "weird," too. I do things in clusters sometimes. :P
"Things should never undulate six times in the course of 290 pages."
Unless you're writing one of those trashy romance novels. ;-)
What's wrong with excess undulating. Give yourself a break, keep it in there! I do the same thing...seems like a different word in each book. Usually my overused word relates to some kind of pain or emotion. Oh, the work of a writer. Fun, yes.
how about "sighs" ?
"Undulated" was one of my vocabulary words in the fifth grade. I had to write either a poem or a paragraph using whatever the word was. For some reason, undulated stuck with me.
Possibly because my father is a vocabulary nut, and would pop out words at random for me to go look up. Made him happy if I didn't have to go look it up.
Mh - yes, I did look it up. But don't I have a great excuse??? So the "Waving Witch"? Is that right?
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