You’ve got a great plot, a fascinating protagonist, and an intriguing setting, yet for some reason every time you read your 100,000-word manuscript, it feels dull. The sentences simply don’t flow and sometimes feel unwieldy.

The problem likely is wordiness – the use of a lot of words though fewer would do the job and even add some punch to your writing. Consider the following wordy sentence:

Michael knew her so well, like how she would mull over such unpleasant things, setting Addie’s mood negatively for the rest of the week.

The sentence would be more effective if written as:

Michael knew well how Addie mulled over such unpleasant things, souring her mood for the rest of the week.

To eliminate wordiness, look at the following issues that can weigh down and clog your sentences:

Adverbs
These modifiers of verbs, adjectives and even of other adverbs rarely strengthen your sentences. Instead, opt for a better verb. For example…

Brad immediately turned his eyes to her.

…would be better if written as…

Brad’s eyes swerved to her.

Adjectives
These modifiers of verbs aren’t quite as bad as adverbs, but usually they are bland and so add nothing of importance to the sentence. Often a better noun could be used than the one being modified.

So instead of writing…

She pulled off her strapless shirt.

…revise it to…

She pulled off her tube top.

Passive voice
Passive voice merely tells that something “exists” and usually clutters the sentence with a lot of extra and longer words. That’s not very exciting. So rather than write…

From the café patio, Jeff, Tim and Dean were watching the passing office girls.

…find the active voice verb and change it to…

From the café patio, Jeff, Tim and Dean watched the passing office girls.

Repetitiveness
Sometimes authors repeat concepts from sentence to sentence. Combining those sentences can ensure the writing flows better. For example…

The ship’s senior officers decided to change course for 70 Ophiuchus. The reason for their decision to change course for 70 Ophiuchus were the colony’s superior medical facilities.

…could be revised to…

The ship’s senior officers decided to change course for 70 Ophiuchus because of the colony’s superior medical facilities.

Another twist on repetitiveness is using words already implied in the same sentence. To wit…

He wore a shirt that was blue in color.

…could be rewritten as…

He wore a blue shirt.

Weak verbs
Some verbs are overused and only fuzzily show what actually occurred. Instead, look for a stronger verb that can handle the heavy lifting. To that end…

He quickly did a counter steering maneuver, bringing the van back under control.

…could be edited to read…

He jerked his wheel the other way, bringing the van back under control.

Wordy stock phrases
Often authors add a stock phrase to a sentence, wrongly believing it helps the reader better understand the relationship between items. Such unnecessary wording includes due to the fact that, at all times, and by means of. They actually slow the sentence and can be replaced with a single word. For example…

The rancher grew oranges, which is a citrus fruit.

…might instead be written as…

The rancher grew oranges, a citrus fruit.

Begin fallacy
At times, authors commit the double error of weak verbs and wordy stock phrases by saying that something is “beginning” or “starting.” Rather than focus on such a dull act as in…

Mike began to reconstruct the information.

…just dive right into the action…

Mike reconstructed the information.