I am VERY VERY excited - or how to avoid the over use of very

[comicfan]

Like any other writer I find I am often reworking what I wrote, trying hard to get out of the constant mistakes, and trying hard not to sound like an idiot, even though I have a degree.

 

I am sure that I am not the only one to fall into the habit of just using very to define a word rather than going that extra step so you don't end up seeing it over and over again. However, I seen a page that just made me stop. I like it and now keep it bookmarked. Figured I had to share so it could be passed along to another.

 

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1xuHX5/:X.l2v0Mz:Ph@Eq4fa/writerswrite.co.za/45-ways-to-avoid-using-the-word-very/

[Mann Ramblings]

nice little article and totally relevant!

[LJH]

I edit very out

[Sasha Distan]

cool. just checked my current chapter and i think 6 occurrences in 7000 words is ok. four of them are in speech.

[mickey1952]

I very much agree that "very" is a very overused word, and very likely in many of the very stories that very many of us very varied readers enjoy right here on the very popular GA.

 

(Sorry, I just couldn't help myself!)

Edited January 26, 2014 by mickey1952

[Ron]

(Sorry, I just couldn't help myself!)

 

Sure you could but you thought you were being very witty.     

[Ron]

I edit very out

 

Very, is on my list of monitored words and phrases in SmartEdit and surprisingly, my use of it is sparing.

[mickey1952]

Sure you could but you thought you were being very witty.     

Not really. I just thought I was being a smartass.

[Ron]

Ha! That too, but you didn't expect me to say that to such a cool member, did you!?

[mickey1952]

Ha! That too, but you didn't expect me to say that to such a cool member, did you!?

Actually, now I kind of wish I'd been trying to be witty. It would have almost been fun to have been called on it. *grinning*

[The Pecman]

No less than Stephen King has said that after he does a first draft on one of his novels, he routinely flags all the adverbs and gets rid of 90% of them. "Very" is high on that list (though it's technically an adjective and not an adverb, same deal). 

[James Hiwatari]

I wrote a story of mine (The Princess and the Wandered, for one of GA's Anthologies) with the explicit aim of never using "very". It lead mostly to substituting "very" for some other adverb, but it was still a fun exercise.  

[Adam Phillips]

My high school sophomore English teacher had this grading convention that she called The Line.

 

She gave us a list of things she never wanted to see, and she told us that if she saw one of them, she would draw a line across the page in red pencil at the point of the infraction, stop reading, and give the paper an F.

 

The word "very" was at the top of the list.

 

I never forgot it.

[Thorn Wilde]

My high school sophomore English teacher had this grading convention that she called The Line.

 

She gave us a list of things she never wanted to see, and she told us that if she saw one of them, she would draw a line across the page in red pencil at the point of the infraction, stop reading, and give the paper an F.

 

The word "very" was at the top of the list.

 

I never forgot it.

 

That seems a bit extreme, doesn't it?

[The Pecman]

She gave us a list of things she never wanted to see, and she told us that if she saw one of them, she would draw a line across the page in red pencil at the point of the infraction, stop reading, and give the paper an F. The word "very" was at the top of the list.

 

Wow, that's very harsh.

 

I would've done the paper, not used the word "very," and then said, "I very much hope this satisfies you very much, you silly bunt. Sincerely, verily yours, Adam." You could also do what Harlan Ellison did with his college writing teacher, and mail the teacher a copy of every one of your published books (assuming you have a career someday). 

 

I think self-control is one thing, but censorship is something else. One use of the word "very" in a chapter ain't gonna kill anybody. Overuse is something else.