Repetition

Being a Better Writer: Repetitive Ticks That “Don’t Exist”

Max Being a Better Writer , ,

Welcome back readers! I hope you’re doing better this Monday than I am. As I am still sick. On the mend, thankfully, and I’ll be picking up some Nyquil today to at last give this cough the boot, but it’s been tenacious in hanging on.

Anyway, before I get to today’s topic, I do have one news topic to bring up: Thanksgiving and the Black Friday Sale.

Midnight on Thursday, and running through the next week, most of my lexicon of books will be getting in on the Black Friday sale goodness! If you’ve been holding out on a particular title, this will be the time to grab it! Or if you’re looking for a good Christmas gift for the reader in your family … this is it!

There’s only one catch. Due to Amazon’s bizarre handling of international digital markets, the sale isn’t consistent across all countries. Sorry. But I’ve done my best to put as many of my books as I can on a sale if possible.

And a steep on, too. We’re talking 50% off or more. Even for new books like Shadow of an Empire or classics like Colony. I’ll post more about it as the day approached, but for now? Set your alarms and get ready. If you know folks hunting for a deal or looking for Christmas gifts, let them know!

Okay, with that bit of news out of the way, let’s talk about repetitive ticks that don’t exist. With a title topic like that, I’d expect that a bunch of you are expecting me to talk about “Saidisms” and other repetitive words, but … nope! I’ve already talked about that. You can find that post here.

So then, what’s this post about? Well, it’s a curious one, but as the title says, I’m talking about repetitive ticks that don’t exist.

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Being a Better Writer: Said and Other Repetitive Words

Max Being a Better Writer , , , ,

Today’s post is going to be a shorter one,  as I still have more near-final proofreading to get done by tomorrow on Unusual Events, and I need to get to work on that to make sure I reach the January 19th upload date (after which you’ll be able to pre-order it, huzzah!).

Now, this post was inspired by something I read over the weekend, a blog by another author that crystallized and reacted with a lot of what I’ve noticed both here and on other writing sites among novice writers. Basically, that there’s a trend going around right now among younger English students (particularly those freshly from or in high school, where this idea has taken root with the teaching administration) that use of certain words, especially those that suffer repeated use in the same paragraph, should be avoided.

Right, some of you are probably thinking “Well, yes. You should avoid repeating yourself, right?” Well, yes and no, and I think some confusion between the two may be where part this problem is arising. So let’s take a look at that.

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