Step 4: Repetition

Step 4: Repetition: A killer that can stop your story dead in its tracks.

Do not repeat words!

I see this mistake all of the time. I think we all have our own nemesis. However, repetition creates a boring story. We are authors. We love words. If you can't think of a synonym, right click on the repeated word, go to synonym and view your choices.

Sometimes we don't know we have repeated a word. Read your scene out loud. It will slow everything down and you will see lots of mistakes you didn't know you had.

ex. But she had been hot for him, a wanton in his arms.
Didn't know him at all…
He'd married her. He didn't have to bid on her. He could march right up there and tell everyone that she was his wife.
By then he could have annulled the marriage.
White women are good for only one thing. More of his words hammered inside her head. Good to fill a man's needs and warm his bed at night--nothing more. White women are flirts.
She wasn't like that. Emma St. John wanted to scream at Dakota. She wanted him to feel pain.
Silver bells shivered and moaned.
Sounds that had once soothed and eased her loneliness no longer gave comfort.
"Sold!"

ex. But she had been hot for him, even a wanton in his arms.
Didn't know him at all…
He'd even married her. He didn't even have to bid on her. He could even march right up there and tell everyone she was his wife.
By then he could even have annulled the marriage.
White women are good for only one thing. Even more of his words hammered inside her head. Good to fill a man's needs and even warm his bed at night--nothing more. White women are flirts.
She wasn't like that. Emma St. John wanted to scream at Dakota. She even wanted him to feel pain.
Silver bells shivered and moaned.
Sounds that had once soothed and eased her loneliness no longer gave comfort.
"Sold!"