I’m currently finishing a first draft. And it’s too long. Much too long. It needs lots of cutting.
And therein lies a dilemma.
My first draft is definitely my voice, with all its good and bad points. One of my bad points is repetition. Duplication. Saying the same thing over and over again, but in different words.
Yes, bad point number one to the fore.
Also in the first para of this post (sigh).
Problem is that, if ⁄ when I start cutting out the sin of duplication, I also risk changing the authorial voice so that it isn’t mine any more.
Oh dear.
Cutting habit words?
I can, of course, make cuts by removing my habit words and phrases.
Of which of course is one. I blogged about that a while ago.