Jen's Writing Tip #7

Watch "ly" words


We've heard it before. Editors don't like words that end in "ly". Sometimes they are necessary and even make your paragraph better, but most of the time they get in your way of a clean cut manuscript. I once was guilty of this writing sin. I had about 4 "ly" words in one paragraph. A critique partner pointed out how it slowed down the flow of the story. As I thought about it, losing all those words helped with the word count goal I tried reach. So before you hand in those manuscripts to your critique group or a publisher, read through that work. As you come across each "ly" word, see if your sentence can go without it.