I’ve just finished a final pass edit on my WIP novel. Whenever I do this final step before sending out a story on submission, I run through this “search and destroy” list for where I can tighten my manuscript.

Save this list for your own final pass edit!

I have to point out: these are not auto-delete, but signposts showing me where I can cut words. I tend to write long (cue montage of overwriting examples*) so being able to bring it back down to a normal human level of words is something of a superpower of mine through SHEER BRUTE NECESSITY. With this whole filler word editing checklist, look at the words around the problem child as well. Often, there’s great opportunity for word count tightening lurking nearby.

1. BEGAN to verb / STARTED to verb

You rarely need to say, “She began to run.” Replace with “She ran.” Use for effect when it adds meaning—not when it doesn’t.

❌ She started crying.

✅ She cried.

2. WAS verbing / WERE verbing / AND verbed

Things like “She was running” can often be tightened to “She ran.” Not always—sometimes it’s necessary for past continuous tense when something happened before the current moment (“had been” is also for past continuous tense).

❌ She was running faster than she thought was possible.

✅ She ran faster than she thought possible.

❌ She leaned back, and nodded.

✅ She leaned back, nodding.

3. FELT, SAW, LOOKED, THOUGHT, etc

In close first or third POV, these just add distance between reader and character.

❌ She felt electricity ripple across her skin.

✅ Electricity rippled across her skin.

4. UPs and DOWNs, ABOVEs and BELOWs, OVERs and UNDERs, etc

Commonly used where they don’t add anything, because whatever they’re referring to is only in that direction. Obviously, not always a remove, but often an opportunity to tighten.

❌ She lay down on the bed.

✅ She lay on the bed.

❌ The sky overhead was streaked with smoke.

✅ The sky was streaked with smoke.

5. THAT

Often unnecessary! Remove it, read the sentence again: if it makes sense, leave it out.

❌ It was the house that she grew up in.

✅ It was the house she grew up in.

6. ON, TO, THE, AS, IF, etc, when “sticky”

When lots of these guys get together, they become sticky words. Sticky words slow reading down because we take longer to parse the sentence. Look for places in your writing where they glomp together like drops of honey, and rewrite.

❌ She didn’t like it on the top of the bed all that much because it was prickly on the woollen blanket.

✅ On the bed, the woollen blanket prickled: her skin crawled.

7. SAID / SAYS

Look at your dialogue tags and assess if they’re necessary. If it’s obvious who’s speaking, remove it. If you can combine with the next action, do.

❌ “I don’t think so,” she said, stretching.

✅ “I don’t think so.” She stretched.

Bonus tip: SAID and SAYS are invisible dialogue tags. Others can be distracting.

8. HIS / HERS / THEIRS

Let me explain. This one pops up for me as repetition during choreography and physical descriptors. Obviously, we’re not getting rid of them all. But we can get rid of some.

❌ Henry sat against the wall, his arms draped on his knees.

✅ Henry sat against the wall, arms draped on his knees.

✅ Henry sat against the wall, arms draped on knees.

Note, it doesn’t always work. Use your common sense:

“Jane wrapped her arms around her body” vs “Jane wrapped arms around her body” reads like she’s grabbed disembodied arms from somewhere. No one wants that.

What other filler words do you search for and destroy in your manuscript?

I’d love to keep building this list—send me your go-to search and destroy list for getting your story polished to its brightest shine.

*Cue montage of overwriting examples:

• I have a draft in my metaphorical bottom drawer that’s sitting at over 210k words… and it’s not finished 😭
• I routinely wrote 8000 words for 3000- or 4000-word assignments at university.
• My honours thesis, while capped at 80k words, had a 200k appendix attached because NO WORD COUNT ON THE APPENDIX HAHAHA!!! SUCKERS!!!
• I started writing the introduction for a 3000-word essay once and by the time the introduction was finished, it was 2800 words long, so I though f-it and wrote a 500-word conclusion to get it in under 3000+10% and submitted it, and I got a High Distinction.