Thursday, July 1, 2010

Word and Phrase Frequency

You've written your story and now it's time to edit.

One of the processes of editing is removing reoccurring words and phrases. But, how do you do this and do it right?

Some writers use programs to single out these occurrences. Others may do it by sight or by reading out loud. This is a process that one must develop as an individual writer.

I'm giving it a shot with a program called Textanz.

My first run shocked me. I couldn't believe that I had repeated phrases within the same paragraph. This was a real eye opener. It is human nature to repeat things, and it will show in your writing.

How do you edit Word and Phrase Frequency?

5 comments:

Conda Douglas said...

Useful post and I use a program called Wordcount. Yes, it's shocking, we've all got our favorite words that we use and use and...

Aubrie said...

I was just doing this today with Wordle. I had too many "Likes" and "eyes" and "everything's"

Anonymous said...

Conda, I googled Wordcount, but couldn't determine which program you have. I'm trying to find the best one to use, for the least money.

Aubrie, I've used Wordle in the past. It's a cool program. Is this what you use for this process all the time. As I said above, I'm trying to find the best one to use.

Autocrit is wonderful but you can only use it for 800 words 5 times a day or pay like 47 dollars for a year of unlimited use. I sure don't want something I have to pay for each year.

Terry W. Ervin II said...

A thing to be aware of is speech patterns, especially with specific characters in a novel or short story. In cases such as this, variability in word choice may weaken rather than strengthen.

Anonymous said...

Terry, good point.

 
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