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Writing Advice

How to find filter words and filter them out

Filter words. Think you’ve never heard of them? If you’re an author, I can guarantee you include them in your writing—and often. Filter words can be a big problem for any author, but they are particularly pesky for newer writers who may not be as familiar with  the concept just yet. Fear not—we are here to explain what filter words are, why they’re (usually) a problem, and how you can eliminate them in your fiction writing.

What are filter words?

Essentially, filter words (sometimes known as filter phrases) are words a writer uses to show a scene, setting, or situation through a character’s perspective. While that may not sound like a bad thing (and indeed, sometimes it isn’t), there are a few common issues that can crop up with filter words:

    • Filter words add a layer or interruption between the reader and the scene you are painting.
    • Filter words often make sentences feel clunky or overly wordy.
    • Filter words can cause repetition.

Susan Dennard of Pub(lishing) Crawl sums it up nicely: “Filters are words or phrases you tack onto the start of a sentence that show the world as it is filtered through the main character’s eyes.”

Of course you want your reader to live the characters’ experience, but filter words won’t help you. They’re some of the weakest words you can write, in fact, because instead of putting your reader in the character’s shoes, you’re putting another layer between them.

Filter words list

As a book editor, I make it a point to eliminate unnecessary filter words in every manuscript I work on. Susan Dennard provides this list of common filter words to look for, and I’ve added a couple more for good measure:

    • to see
    • to hear
    • to think
    • to touch
    • to wonder
    • to realize
    • to watch
    • to look
    • to seem
    • to feel (or feel like)
    • can/could/couldn’t
    • to decide
    • to know
    • to sound like
    • to notice
    • to be able to
    • to note
    • to experience
  • to remember

Filter out the filter words for a stronger narrative.

And these are just the most common ones! To show you their devastation in action, here’s an example of a short, filter-ful paragraph with the filter words bolded:

Maria noticed James had gone silent and was staring past her out the coffee shop window. Turning and looking herself, she saw a beautiful woman on the sidewalk, talking animatedly on a mobile phone. Maria felt a little tug of jealousy, and she turned back around furiously and stared at James, who jumped and looked down at his espresso. She realized he wasn’t blushing, but he seemed uncomfortable. “Who is that?” she asked as she watched his face for any sign of guilt. She wondered if he could ever tell her the truth. She decided right then this would be his last chance to regain her trust.

And here it is reworked slightly with the filter words eliminated:

James had gone silent and was staring past Maria out the coffee shop window. A beautiful woman was outside, talking animatedly on her mobile phone. Jealousy tugged at Maria’s gut, and she glared at James, who jumped and shifted his eyes to his espresso. He wasn’t blushing, but that didn’t mean anything. “Who is that?” she asked. Was he guilty again? Was he even capable of telling the truth? Perhaps he deserved one more chance to regain her trust. 

The difference between these two paragraphs is striking. By removing the filter words from a first person narrative, you’ll coax out your narrator’s voice so it rings clearly in the reader’s mind. And regardless of the POV, your reader will feel the experience of your characters more deeply and directly.

How to eliminate filter words in your writing

It’s almost impossible to write a novel manuscript without having some (or many) filter words slip into your text. Reviewing this list ahead of a long writing session, however, will keep them in mind as you are writing, and hopefully help you avoid them as you work.

Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to edit out filter words in your writing. But with a bit of dedication (and time, of course), you can use the trusty “find” function in your writing software of choice to scan for the above phrases. It may not eliminate every instance of filter words, but it’s a great place to start and will help you get a better sense of how often you’re using them.

Sometimes filter words are an essential part of the meaning of the sentence, and in those rare cases, you’ll want to keep them in. But knowing which ones to strike and which to keep requires just a little bit of critical thinking. When you’re editing your own work, ask yourself: What essential information am I leaving out by removing this filter word and/or restructuring the sentence? If the answer is “none,” then put a line through it or hit that delete key.

You may be unable to keep yourself from writing filter words in a first draft, but after a while, filtering out the filters will become second nature—and your manuscripts will be stronger as a result.

For more examples of filter words in action, check out Pub(lishing) Crawl and Write it Sideways.

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Writing Advice

You might not know you’re making these grammar mistakes, part 2 Passive voice and run-on sentences

By Leah Wohl-Pollack, Lead Editor This is part two of our series on common grammar mistakes you might not know you’re making. Check out part 1, which covers misplaced modifiers and dangling participles, here. In this post, we’ll cover two more grammar mistakes indie writers often make: passive voice and run-on sentences. By the end of this post, I hope you feel a little more confident about editing your writing for grammar. It's called grammar

1. Passive voice

You may or may not remember from English class that all verbs are either active or passive in voice. In sentences with active verbs, the subject takes responsibility for the action. With passive voice, the action is not attributed to a subject at all. Despite what you might have heard, passive voice isn’t inherently bad; in fact, it makes frequent appearances in political and legal writing, and with good reason. It can be useful for a writer who wants to avoid attributing responsibility to a particular person or group:

The president was advised not to sign the bill.

In this example, the writer may not want to list out who advised the president, so the passive form is appropriate. Passive voice is also useful when the “do-er” of the sentence isn’t necessarily important:

The constellation can be observed from September to February.

Since anyone with the ability to see and a view of the night sky can observe the constellation, using the passive form of the verb is fine to keep the subject open. Twinkling stars But when you’re writing fiction, you’ll probably want to avoid the passive voice (except in a few special cases). In order to drive the narrative forward on a sentence-by-sentence basis, you must allow—nay, encourage!—your subjects to own their actions. Here’s an example of passive voice that I might come across when editing fiction:

Mike’s breath was held as Lynn peered over the edge of the cliff.

It’s almost definitely important to the narrative that Mike is nervous about Lynn’s safety, and describing Mike holding his breath is a good storytelling choice when you consider the concept of show vs. tell. But the passive form of the verb (was held) is clunking everything up. This use of the passive voice attributes the action to no subject at all, even though the subject here is essential to the story. To rephrase the sentence with active voice, we simply need to attribute the action (held) to the correct subject (Mike):

Mike held his breath as Lynn peered over the edge of the cliff.

What a difference! This switch to active voice keeps the sentence flowing smoothly, and the reader stays immersed in the scene. It also helps show what Mike is feeling without telling the reader outright.

2. Run-on sentences

Generally speaking, a sentence (also known as an independent clause) is made up of a subject and a verb. A compound sentence contains two or more independent clauses tied together with either a conjunction or a punctuation mark. Sometimes, you might find yourself tying together multiple independent clauses—but you’ve neglected to include the appropriate conjunction(s) or punctuation. Enter the dreaded run-on sentence. As a book editor, I come across these puppies here and there. But how are you supposed to recognize a run-on sentence when you’re self-editing your novel? Here’s an example of a run-on sentence:

I love to go to the coffee shop next door to work on my writing it is always easy to concentrate there.

This sentence contains two independent clauses that haven’t been properly tied together; in other words, it’s missing a conjunction and/or punctuation mark. If you’re not immediately sure whether a sentence you’ve written is a run-on, or you know it’s a run-on but can’t tell where the missing conjunction or punctuation mark should go, you can try the question trick. This is a simple method that involves turning your sentence into a yes-or-no question. If the whole sentence can be easily rephrased into a single question, it’s not a run-on. If it needs to be turned into two questions, then you know it’s a run-on and you know where to put the missing conjunction or punctuation! Let me show you how it’s done. Using the example above, we find the first part of the sentence is easily turned into a single yes-or-no question:

Do I love to go to the coffee shop next door to work on my writing?

But if we try to turn the entire sentence into a single question, it doesn’t fly:

Do I love to go to the coffee shop next door to work on my writing it is always easy to concentrate there?

To make it work, we would need two separate questions:

Do I love to go to the coffee shop next door to work on my writing? Is it always easy to concentrate there?

This trick has shown us we definitely have a run-on sentence on our hands. On top of that, we also know exactly where in the sentence to insert the missing piece: between the words writing and it is. In this case, we could solve the problem in two ways: either using a punctuation mark on its own, or a conjunction with a punctuation mark. Using a punctuation mark:

I love to go to the coffee shop next door to work on my writing; it is always easy to concentrate there.

Note that not just any punctuation mark will work. In this example, inserting a comma instead of a semicolon would create another problem: a comma splice. But if you despise semicolons or would just rather use a comma, be sure to pair it with the appropriate conjunction. conjunction-junction Using a conjunction with a punctuation mark:

I love to go to the coffee shop next door to work on my writing, because it is always easy to concentrate there.

That wraps up part 2 of our series on grammar mistakes you might not know you’re making. With these two posts, I hope to prepare you to tackle your self-editing head-on. At the same time, we all know catching every one of your own grammar errors is darn near impossible. That’s why, after you’ve done your part, you can send your manuscript to Invisible Ink, where we’ll fix your errors and keep your voice.

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Writing Advice

You might not know you’re making these grammar mistakes Part 1: Misplaced modifiers and dangling participles

Blue sky with a red and white yield sign and blog title
By Leah Wohl-Pollack, Lead Editor This may come as a shock, considering I’ve been known to fall asleep cradling my Chicago Manual of Style, but I don’t believe proper grammar is the be-all and end-all when it comes to good creative writing. Like to split infinitives? No problem. Want to end a sentence in a preposition? Be my guest. But when you’re an indie author writing a novel, there are a few style and grammar rules you should always pay attention to. (See what I did there?) In this post, I’ll give you a rundown of two common grammar mistakes—misplaced modifiers and dangling participles—and some tools you can use to eliminate them from your writing. Check that grammar

1. Misplaced modifiers

Misplaced modifiers are among my favorite grammar mistakes, mostly for their unintended humor. Modifiers come in several forms: words, phrases, and clauses. Because they warrant their own discussion, we’ll cover modifying phrases/clauses in the next section on dangling participles. Right now, let’s look at the issue of misplaced adjectives and adverbs. As you may know, a modifier is a word or phrase that describes a noun within the same sentence. It usually describes the noun it is closest to, which is why misplacing one can cause undesired absurdity or confusion. Here’s an example of a sentence with a misplaced adjective:

The flimsy man’s kite ripped when it got caught in a tree.

Spoken aloud, the meaning may or may not be clear, but written down, there’s an obvious problem. The adjective flimsy is meant to describe the noun kite, but in its current placement, it’s modifying the noun man. Placing the modifier correctly would look like this:

The man’s flimsy kite ripped when it got caught in a tree.

 

strike-that-reverse-it

Easy enough. But what about when a misplaced modifier is an adverb rather than an adjective? For example:

They considered whether to play the game Sarah had brought thoughtfully.

While Sarah may have consciously brought a particular game to the party, to say she had brought it thoughtfully doesn’t make a lot of sense. Instead, the modifying adverb thoughtfully should be moved to sit in front of the verb it is intended to modify.

They thoughtfully considered whether to play the game Sarah had brought.

A misplaced adverb can also cause something called a squinting modifier—a modifier that could potentially look toward (hence the word “squinting”) either the noun before or after it. Take a look at the example below, as squinting modifiers can be tricky to spot.

Runners who practice often can go longer distances before getting tired.

The squinting modifier in this sentence allows for two potential interpretations:

Runners practice often so they can go longer distances. Runners can often go longer distances as a result of practicing.

How you fix this sentence will depend on your intended meaning. If it’s the first meaning you’re going for, you could try rephrasing the sentence without an adverb to avoid further confusion:

Regular practice helps runners go longer distances before getting tired.

If it’s the second meaning, you could try a more descriptive adverb:

Runners who practice can usually run longer distances before getting tired.

 

2. Dangling participles

As I mentioned earlier, dangling participles are a particular kind of misplaced modifier, and an incredibly common one at that—I find at least one in every novel I edit. In order to understand how not to dangle participles, let’s start with a quick refresher on what they are. To form a participle, take any verb (let’s go with sleep) and add an -ing ending. Then you have the present participle of the verb (sleeping). To use the present participle as a modifier, you could write:

Don’t wake the sleeping cat.

The participle sleeping acts as a modifier for the noun cat.   sleeping-cat Still with me? Good. Let’s move on to participial phrases. A participial phrase contains a participle and modifies the subject of a sentence. It’s just like the sleeping cat, but it has two clauses instead of one. Here’s an example of a participial phrase used correctly:

Smiling at everyone she passed, Stacy walked to the restaurant.

          Participial phrase (modifier): Smiling at everyone she passed           Subject of the sentence (noun): Stacy A dangling participle typically occurs at the beginning of a sentence, like with the previous example, but unlike the misplaced modifiers we covered in section one, you can’t fix a dangling participle just by moving it to a different spot in the sentence. The reason is that a dangling participle ties the modifier to the wrong subject, usually because the subject is either missing or in the wrong place. Here’s an example of a sentence with a dangling participle at the beginning—a popular construction:

Watching the clock, the minutes drag by.

So the participial phrase occurs right at the beginning of the sentence; that’s fine. The problem occurs in the second clause, where we seem to have a missing persons case on our hands. Here, the minutes take the subject’s place. In other words, the minutes are watching the clock. How do you fix this? Well, somebody must be watching the clock, and it’s certainly not the minutes. Insert the correct subject, and you’ve got a complete sentence again:

Watching the clock, Stacy felt the minutes drag by.

This solution works, although it requires an extra verb that also happens to be a filter word (feel). Not the best choice stylistically.   star-wars-bad-feeling Another solution would be to rephrase the sentence so the subject comes first:

Stacy watched the clock, feeling the minutes drag by.

That works—but that extra filter word feel is still sneaking in. To get rid of it, we could try rephrasing another way:

Stacy watched the clock as the minutes dragged by. -or- The minutes dragged by as Stacy watched the clock.

The last option is my favorite for its slightly stronger voice, but there’s nothing wrong with the other options if they suit your style.   Hopefully this post has given you some insight into two common grammar rules worth paying attention to as you’re writing and editing your novel. Don’t be discouraged if you find you struggle with these mistakes—many writers do! Thanks for reading, and keep an eye out for the second part of this series—we’ll tackle passive voice and run-ons, two more of the most common grammar mistakes in creative writing.
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Self Publishing Advice Writing Advice

Author Cate Beauman takes us inside her wildly popular Bodyguards of L.A. County series

cate head shot

Cate Beauman fell into writing more than she dreamed of it. “Writing novels never made my bucket list,” she says. “One day I picked up a pad of paper and scribbled down the thoughts in my head. Next thing I knew, I had over 100,000 words. I’ve been obsessed ever since; now I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

A former New England resident, Cate now makes her home in North Carolina with her husband, two boys, and their St. Bernards, Bear and Jack.

Cate is currently working on Reagan’s Redemption, the eighth novel in her best-selling romantic suspense series, The Bodyguards Of L.A. County.

For information on new releases, monthly giveaways, and upcoming events, sign up for Cate’s newsletter. Cate can be reached on her website, www.catebeauman.com, or on her Facebook page. You can follow Cate on Twitter @CateBeauman.

Tell us how you originally got the idea for the Bodyguards of L.A. County series.

I never planned to write a series. The thought never occurred to me as I wrote Morgan’s Hunter, the first novel in the series—and really, my first work as a serious writer. I was simply telling the story of a bodyguard who was protecting his feisty principal in the backwoods of Montana. But then I introduced Ethan and Sarah to the plot. As the manuscript started to unfold I became very intrigued with the idea of giving Ethan and Sarah a story of their own. Not long after finishing Morgan’s Hunter, I wrote Falling for Sarah, which was supposed to complete a two-book series. Then Austin and Hailey were added to the storyline, and I realized I had a series on my hands. The rest, you could say, is history!

Tell us about your upcoming book, Reagan’s Redemption. Who will we meet in this novel? What kind of excitement can we expect?Reagan's Redemption - Ebook

Reagan’s Redemption is the story of Doctor Reagan Rosner and her bodyguard, Shane Harper. Reagan is at a crossroads in her life after a heartbreaking and unexpected tragedy. Unsure of what to do, she joins The Appalachia Project, a government-run program aimed at bringing aid to some of America’s poorest citizens.

Shane Harper is assigned to keep an eye on Reagan and the pharmaceuticals they have on hand in the odd and often hostile little town of Black Bear Gap.

As Reagan and Shane work together to help a reluctant community, they uncover secrets the town intends to keep hidden at all costs.

You are a master at balancing both romance and suspense in your novels. How do you make sure you give your readers a healthy dose of both, without crossing any lines?

That’s a tricky question. Honestly, I’m not exactly sure how I do it. I love romantic suspense. I’ve read the genre for years, so I think I try hard to give my readers what I would want. Romance always plays the central theme in my stories, but sprinkling in elements of danger really adds something special. Love and romance are hard enough, but when the characters’ lives are in peril and the odds stacked against them, it heightens the entire experience. I love weaving the two together.

What sort of lessons do you hope your readers take away from your novels?

I don’t typically write with messages for my readers. Basically, reality bites sometimes and I love to give my readers a place where they can go and get lost in someone else’s problems for a while. Mostly the stories I tell are for pure entertainment. I strive to make my characters flawed and relatable and their experiences exciting yet plausible.

You’re quite the prolific author. How do you keep coming up with fresh ideas on a similar theme?

I spend my time off watching lots and lots of crime television. When I find myself running low on ideas, I sit down with a pad of paper, turn on the television, and wait for a documentary or situation on a crime show to pique my interest. When I see something special my brain kicks into high gear and ideas just start flying. Sometimes I can see scenes for the new story I will tell in my head right then and there—one of the true gifts of an overactive imagination!

What is your editing process like?

Typically I write in a three-draft form. First draft is getting the ideas down in a loose story form. My second draft is when I get the story right by adding more of the emotive and physical descriptions, and the third is when I run my manuscript through a program called AutoCrit Editing Wizard. The program helps me find overused words, slow passages, so on and so forth so that when I send my work off to Liam at Invisible Ink Editing he’ll have as clean of a copy as I can give him.

What is your publishing process like?

I self-publish, so my publicist and I handle the workload ourselves. We do lots of blog tours and interviews. I also spend a lot of time with my Facebook fans on my author page getting them ready for the launch of each new story. I think that is one of my favorite parts of this whole journey—meeting and interacting with so many great people.

Do you have any advice for budding authors?

Never give up on your dreams. When I started out in this business I almost quit after the first editor I contacted told me I couldn’t write and I shouldn’t quit my day job. Luckily, I have a lot of really supportive people in my life who encouraged me to keep writing. I’m glad I did because telling stories is one of my biggest passions and has changed my life for the better. Write because you love it and the rest usually falls into place.

Last question—you are being pursued by thieves intent on stealing your latest manuscript. Which of the hunks from your book would you want to protect you?

Oh, wow. This is truly an impossible question to answer! All of the agents from Ethan Cooke Security are more than capable of keeping my manuscript and me safe, but they’re all so different and intriguing in their own ways. It’s kind of like asking which of your children do you love more. I love them both with the same power but their unique qualities are what make me adore them. How’s that for an answer?

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Self Publishing Advice Writing Advice

An author’s guide to the editing process

By Liam Carnahan, Founder, Invisible Ink Editing

You’ve finally typed out the final word of your novel and hit “save,” and now you are ready to take a step back from your work. This can be a scary moment for any writer, but if you can find a reliable editor you trust to provide you with honest and helpful feedback, there’s no reason to worry.

But what do you do next? Don’t let your anxieties about editing be a roadblock on your path to publication. Here is a step-by-step guide on how you can complete the editing process (especially if you’re working with Invisible Ink).

Step 1: Read it again

This is absolutely the most painful part of the process, but fortunately you can get it out of the way first. Many, many famous authors have dreaded rereading their own work, so if you cringe when looking over your words, you’re not alone.

The key here is to remain calm and to keep your hand away from the “delete” key. As you’re reading, you may feel the urge to slash and burn sections you think don’t work, or you may begin to feel that the entire manuscript is hopeless. Don’t let yourself make those decisions—if you do, your piece will never reach the bookshelves (or online marketplace).

Instead of deleting or revising, make a note of the sections that give you pause. Remember that your beta readers and professional editors will let you know when they think something needs to be adjusted. You can tell your editors about the sections that give you concern if it puts your mind at ease, but sometimes it may be best to let them do a cold read of your piece. If they don’t single out the same sections you did, then you can probably put those anxieties to rest.

Step 2: Send it to the beta readers

Many people out there enjoy reading so much that they’ll read an unfinished manuscript to help an author grow. Some authors choose to tap their friends and family as an audience for this stage, and if you have loved ones who will give you honest feedback, then this route can be a good one.

If you aren’t comfortable showing your work to your friends and family, then you can reach out to online communities to get this done. Goodreads is an excellent place to start, but there are many options out there if you take a look around. Bear in mind that we here at Invisible Ink also offer an affordable beta reading service. The number of beta readers you need depends on their skill and insight. If you have a loved one who is an avid reader and experienced editor, or if you hire a professional editor at this stage, a single beta reader should be fine. However, you may want three or four beta readers if they are less experienced at providing insight.

Once you receive all the feedback, move on to the next step.

Step 3: Submit to Invisible Ink EditingOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

This may seem like an odd stage to get in touch with Invisible Ink, but we so often encounter authors who wait until the final steps of their self-editing process before reaching out. Our schedules book up in advance, so you likely won’t be able to book in an edit until several weeks from when you first contact us.

For this reason, getting in touch with Invisible Ink sooner rather than later is a better move. It’s much easier to push back an editing date (provided you give us notice) than it is to book you into a full schedule!

Once you send us your inquiry, we’ll get back in touch and request a segment of your novel—typically 5,000 words or so—that adequately represents your style, tone and the level of editing necessary for the entire piece. We’ll perform a free sample edit of about 750-1,000 words and return it to you with a pricing suggestion and an estimated turnaround time.

Step 4: Perform edits and read it again

Now that you’ve gotten feedback from your beta readers, it’s time to go back to your work and make the changes they suggested if you feel they are valid. Odds are, if more than a couple of your beta readers pointed out an issue, it’s something you’ll need to address.

This stage should be a bit easier than step one, because you’ll already have read all your words. However, if you are adding, removing or otherwise altering big sections to the manuscript, you’ll need to do another thorough read-through to make sure the entire work is ready to be sent off to a professional editor.

Step 5: Send over the manuscript

This is the easiest part! Just send your editor the finished draft of your manuscript with any additional information you think he or she will need, then take a deep breath and take a load off – you deserve a few weeks of rest.

Step 6: Review your edits and ask any questions

The final step of the editing process comes once we return your review. If you opted to receive a full critique as well (something we strongly suggest, particularly for writers publishing their first books), then you’ll have plenty to read through in the coming days or weeks.

Once again, you will very likely have some questions about the edits we made, and we are always available to give you the answers you need. In some cases, we will set up a Skype or phone session to discuss the edits live; after all, our goal is to make sure you’re fully satisfied with your work and walk away with a publishable version of your novel.

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Self Publishing Advice Writing Advice

Your indie novel is a (beautiful) gutter

It’s an ugly metaphor, but it’s one that makes sense to me as a professional editor. Think of your story as a gutter running along the side of a house. Making up that gutter is the meat of your story: plot, characterization, setting, style—everything. Your goal is to nab your reader and pull him or her through the gutter, not unlike the itsy bitsy spider. But your reader needs to make it smoothly from the opening of the gutter (your first page) to the spout at the end (your final page).

Readers must pass through your novel like water through a gutter.

Unfortunately, as anyone who’s spent time on a roof will tell you, gutters get clogged. Big clumps of muck block the passageway, making it impossible for water—your readers—to pass through unhindered.

When you sit down for a proofreading or editing session, you want to clear out all of the gunk until your gutters are clean enough to eat out of. Then you can focus on enhancing the most valuable parts of the story. It can be difficult, however, to see all that gunk when you’re so immersed in the narrative, and that’s why a second set of eyes is a crucial step in the editing process.

My fellow book editors and I spend much of our time identifying and eliminating the muck from manuscripts, particularly when we provide a literary edit. However, indie authors also need to be on the lookout for the gunk when reviewing their own pieces. So don’t be afraid to get on those rubber gloves and start cleaning those gutters, baby.

—Liam Carnahan, Founder and Chief Editor of Invisible Ink Editing