: Re: Is it a bad habit to write "something" too much? If so, how to get rid of it? I just realized my prose is filled with somethings. Here are some examples: I was already too far away

@Ogunnowo420

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Every writer has certain phrases they repeat "this", "what I did", "and then", "some sort of".

Mine is "some sort of".

Where and how you employ these phrases have to do with your style. It would be a sin to omit all of them. It would be excellent to keep them where they fit.

"something" isn't anything to omit, it lets the reader put whatever they want in its place. You wouldn't want too much of that or they'll lose grip of the story. But it does add mystery. Consider this example:

She wanted me to move to Houston or something. She had ideas about us. A whole future.
She had been doing some thinking. I had my own ideas of how that would go. It would be
something that would end in a fiery explosion visible for many miles in the night sky.

The first something works because it tells us the reader is hardly paying attention to her. The second something can be omitted. It obfuscates. (also doing away with night sky).

It would end in a fiery explosion visible for many miles.

If removing the words you use to frame the imagery leads to a better result, cut it out. Otherwise, sometimes they lend a familiarity or extra beat to a sentence, and can be left as they are.

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