Prisimpad: A Guide to Wattpad, Writing, and Whatever

ON WRITING: Redundancy is Redundant

This will end up being another brief chapter, not that a lot of these on writing chapters have been particularly long. It really depends on what I have to say on the matter. Sometimes I don't feel I can thoroughly cover it, but it's still something I should at least mention in this guide. With that being said, let's talk about writing redundancies.

One of the many things I learned from my two attempts at actual editing, is about redundant writing and how it can sneak into your books if you're not careful. I probably won't be able to give you a complete list of every possible redundancy you might make, but I'll give you what I can so that you'll have something to consider. What is redundant writing? It's basically repetitious expressions. We often take them for granted because they're so ingrained in our culture. You see things like "Free gift" everywhere when the word gift already implies it's free, you can't give a gift to someone and it not be free. If that person gives you money for the gift, it isn't a gift. It becomes a purchase. Same thing with Safe Haven. A haven is a safe place by the very word of it. Adding safe to it basically is saying safe safe place. Yet those two are things we see on a regular basis and have no problems with it. They're still redundant.

Redundancy in writing can be bad. It can slow the flow of your story and fatten your word count. So when it's possible to kill the redundancy, do it.

I'll give you some examples now and hopefully you'll have a better sense of what to look for. If you're struggling to cut your word count for any reason, chances are you have a lot of these or a lot of adverbs which can be killed.

Here we go, samples of redundancies in writing...

She nodded her head – or any variation of this sentence. The fact is, there's nothing else a person can physically nod. Therefore just say "She nodded."

Close Proximity – Proximity, by definition, is a closeness of space. Kill the word close.

Twelve noon – Unless I'm missing something, there is only one noon and it's at twelve. So you're basically saying it twice. Same goes for twelve midnight. Everyone knows Midnight falls at twelve am. You don't need to repeat it. Just use noon or midnight.

He reached out his hand and helped her up. – Or other variations of this statement. I've done this one before. We don't need the "he reached out his hand" the act of him helping her up is already implying he reached out his hand. So just write "He helped her up."

She reached up and cupped his cheek – This one can be tricky because if they character is shorter then she is, obviously you'll need to show how the characters is shorter or taller, but for the most part be on the look out for any act where reaching happens. Check to see if it can be destroyed because the following verbiage already implies a reaching of some sort. Assume your reader isn't stupid and knows that to grab something means they have to reach for it.

End result – A result is already the end of something.

Postpone until later – The act of postponing in general means to do it later. Just say postpone.

Unexpected surprise – the act of a surprise is, in itself, unexpected. You can't expect a surprise, it's not a surprise if you know it's coming.

Frozen ice – Ice is frozen. It can't be anything else. If it's not frozen, it's water.

Kneel/knelt down- This is another one I'm guilty of. The act of kneeling is already a movement to a downward position. Just say knelt or kneel.

Lag behind-  The act of lagging is to be behind something.

Nape of her/his neck -  You have only one nape on your body and it is where the neck meets the skull. However, this is another one that is so ingrained in our culture that it can work if you find it too weird to just say nape.

New beginning – A beginning is already new.

Pair of Twins – If they're twins, they're already a pair. So unless you have multiple pairs of twins, they're just twins.

Palm of her/his/their hand -  Again, I'm guilty of this one a lot. There is no other palm a person has, by virtue of saying "palm" the reader knows it's their hand.

Raise/rise up – The act of raising or rising is already moving up. Delete the up.

Round in shape – Round is a shape, we already know this. Round can't be anything but a shape.

Sole of his/her/the/their foot/shoe – Other than a soul people only have one sole and it's on their foot/shoe.

Three-way love triangle – A love triangle already implies there are 3 people involved.

Soft whisper -  A whisper is already the act of speaking softly.

Loud shout -  A shout is already the act of speaking loudly.

Unintended mistake – A mistake can never be intended. If you intended it to happen, it's not a mistake.

Smooth/hard/rough/etc to the touch – These are another I'm guilty of. If it's smooth, or a texture of any kind someone can feel, we already know the act of touching is involved.

Bald headed – Another one I do. Generally when someone says a person is bald, they already know you imply their head is what is bald.

Welp, those are all the ones I can think of at the moment. Hopefully it's enough to get you started. Identify your redundancies and see what word you can drop or if there is a better, more concise, method to write it.