I taught a class on my Write Workshop loop last year and the discussion came up about over used words. People began listing theirs and I tried to keep a list. I’m curious about this again as I go through the final draft of the new YA I’m working on. I find myself using the same action tags and many of the same words to describe things. Boring. That’s okay for a first draft when you’re trying to get the words down, but never for a final draft.
That’s the most time consuming part of me, and I have to thank my Thesaurus for most of the help. Many times the words below are an easy out and keep us from giving real detail, even if it’s one word, in our story. I’m horrible about saying, “THING.” It’s driven every editor I had crazy, and my professors at school. So I’m working on my THING problem. 
I also use “felt,” which doesn’t express anything at all. It’s a “telling” word.
There are many people who contributed to the following list, including my friends Rosemary Clement Moore and Nikki Duncan, as well as members of the Write Workshop loop. I hope you’ll add some of yours, and if you have any ideas for action tags that don’t include the the words, glance or look, please share. I can use all the help I can get. 
DISCLAIMER: I’M NOT SAYING YOU SHOULD NEVER USE THE WORDS BELOW. I’M SAYING THESE ARE WORDS WE SOMETIMES USE TOO MUCH. THAT IS ALL. THANK YOU.
only
just
-ly
even
that
was
is
could
would
had
option
small smile
smile(d)
began to
started to
as she
as he
noticed
realized
sighed
chuckles
shudders
large
small
the fact that
beautiful
grinned
glanced
eye(s)
look
looked
turned
really
finally
Eyebrow(s)
eye
Eyes
Lips
Stomach
Adrenaline
Tears
Heart
Smile /smiles /smiled
Smirk
Tremble
Glance
Fists
Stepped back
Whirled
turned
Emotion/s
Look
looked
Scan/ned
filters:
saw
felt
knew
realized
heard
thought
wished
mused
hoped
assumed
figured
supposed
turn into questions:
wondered
considered
was curious
as
-ing
spun/spin/spinning
bloom/bloomed
beautiful/beauty
handsome
Absolutely no colons whatsoever.
Watch excessive name use, especially for POV characters.
All but eliminate direct address.
Eliminate waves of “some feeling.”
No grimaces. Ever.
OK should be okay.
Move
Bring
Brought
Push
Pull
Press
Reach
Went
Came
Saw
Watched
Heard
Thought
Felt
Knew
Tasted
Smelled
There may be some dupes, because I compiled them from different people. But that should get us started. Oops, I think that’s one of those words.
Related posts:
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Exclamation! points! are! often! overused!!!
My personal bugaboos: “then” and “and then.”
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Michael, Those are good ones.
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Mine pet peeves are:
Although, yadda yadda
Occasionally, yadda yadda
And the misuse of dashes, semicolons, commas, and colons!
Do NOT get me started on the difference between bullets and numbered lists!
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Staci,
I have the worst problem with commas. Seriously.
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Great list! I’ve been going thru my latest manuscript with a similar list. You have a few more for me to check on. Thank you!
(And, I didn’t have a single ! in the entire thing, must be learning something subconsciously).
~S
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LOL on the ! That’s something from years of journalism. We just don’t use it. No one is every really that excited. LOL
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Well
As well
as well as
These just really annoy me.
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Those are good as well.
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Great List, Candice.
The day I learned what commas (and the semi) could do for me was the best writer-day of my life.
Over-used words (as a writer)
It
Then
As
Reader pet peeves: Any word I have to look up in the dictionary.
Does anyone know of software that can ID overused words?
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Nina, I don’t mind looking up the occasional word. I figure I should probably know them any way, but if I have to look up too many I’ll put the book down.
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I’ve been using a program called StoryMill to write my first novel in. I’m really loving it and one of the features is a its word frequency list.
My top ten list is:
1. Have
2. Just
3. Would
4. What
5. So
6. Delara (main character)
7. Didn’t
8. Ercan (main character)
9. Up
10. Out
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One thing I think to bear in mind is that these words aren’t necessarily bad either. Some of them are just wasted words which can easily and should be deleted, but some are often just fine…as long as you don’t overuse them. I wonder sometimes how much we as writers stress over some of these, when as readers, these kinds of words are generally overlooked and/or ignored. We run the risk sometimes of looking like we’re trying to hard to come up with different ways to say look, when in reality the reader pays little attention to those kinds of tags anyway. I think it only becomes an issue when as a reader, you actually notice something particular, such as seeing the word “look” or “looked” eight times in two pages.
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Jim I think that is the point. None of them are bad words. Some of us “just” use them more than we should and it helps to know some key ones.
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I find these lists so silly, and the aspiring writers who think merely avoiding ten or twelve words will turn hackneyed, unskilled sentences into prose even sillier (really, more depressing). Words are like ingredients. Advocating against the use of a food without considering the recipe, the ultimate goal, is, without question, absurd. Would we ban carrots from all dishes because a few unskilled home cooks made inedible dishes that featured them? The words aren’t the problem. Inepitude is.
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WOW Kay-Marie that’s pretty harsh LOL. I don’t think any writer would ever think that by avoiding 10 words it will turn their novel in to a masterpiece. I agree words are like ingredients. It’s the finished dish that matters. However, even cooks have to learn which ingredients not to overuse.
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Kay-Marie, As I mentioned before with Jim, I think you missed the point. The point isn’t to never use these words. It’s a list for those of us, who don’t always know when we are using them too much. I have a real problem with the words “thing,” “felt,” and “look,” and I don’t even see them in my manuscript. That’s the point. To give us clues to words that maybe we rely on too much, and they make us lazy writers.
I’m sure you’re erudite and never have that problem, but some of us do. So we need silly lists to help us remember.
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I have a bunch of these things, too
]
Really and *that* are my worst offenders. (I usually have to go through a ms numerous times to winnow out all the damned thats.) [I had an exclamation point at the end of that sentence...but I went back and took it out
I used a word mapping program a friend pointed me to online–you put your entire ms into it (select all and then paste) and it gave you a word map with the most used words largest. Looked, back, and like were big. Dang it all.
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Deborah, I have a problem with those too.
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Oh and share that link for that word program if you have it.
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My fave word is “feigned.” Kinda weird, huh?
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You can take the librarian out out of the library, but …
I don’t think I’ve ever in my life used that word. But I’m going to now. 
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I think @jmartinlibrary is feigning. LOL! My worst offender in my current WIP is ‘head’…I wonder what that says about me…
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Chantal, I’ve always wondered about you.
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there
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Good grief! I’m writing a manuscript with a first-person POV. The character is a field biologist (my background), and he uses his eyes all the time. In fact, he has lots of senses that he uses all the time. Why? Because it’s a story about how he lives and survives in a very strange world, and I need to describe it to you. That’s why.
Second peevish whine: grinning. I like grinning, *especially* when it’s meant to be ambiguous. Is the character grinning at the joke, grinning at you for making a stupid joke, or scared that he didn’t get the joke, and grinning in hopes that this is the right response? In a first person POV, what if the protagonist doesn’t know just then what that ambiguous grin means? Oh yeah, that’s right. Omniscient third person is the only way to go. Sorry, I forgot.
Third peevish whine: If you’re not into seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting, or feeling, then you have to describe reality in terms of what it is or was. Except that you don’t want to do that either. I guess my character doesn’t get to learn what his wine tastes like, or why the wonderful woman sitting next to him is so excited about it. Too bad.