A short and helpful post today!
Obvious. Is this a word you use in your writing? i.e ‘it was obvious she was into him’
Ahhhhh but was it? Or did you just tell your reader it was obvious rather than showing them. Obvious and any form of the word needs to be critically regarded during your re-writes. I expect you’ll find as I am that it frequently gets crossed out. I don’t think I’ve found one to be necessary yet. And it’s all thanks to this very smart quote from Michael Crichton’s book Travels.
“Be careful about ‘obviously’. If it’s really obvious you don’t need to say it, and if it’s not obvious it’s insulting to say that it is”
Which has me biting my lip in annoyance at every ‘obvious’ or ‘obviously’ that I discover in my MS. So here it is another WIP tip for things to watch for when re-writing your MS.
If it’s obvious you won’t need that word.
First, I LOVE the title of your blog. Second, YES. That is all that needs saying.
Thanks for stumbling across me, I'm glad, now I can explore your blog 🙂
<3 Kelsey Leigh
Hi Kels! Thanks and welcome to my blog 🙂 I enjoyed reading yours today, looking forward to the next post!
Seconded on the title! And I love the tag line even more 🙂
This is a great post. On the train to work this morning I read an article on 'Show, don't tell' being the first rule of writing, and that certainly applies here.
Maybe you could use 'obvious' in an ironic sense – i.e. 'It was obvious she was in to him' from his POV, if you've previously made it obvious through your writing that she isn't! What do you reckon?
Oh! You're right! It is telling and not showing. Hmmm…back to the drawing board for me!
Crichton made a very good point that I've never thought of. I don't think I use obviously often, but I'm going to be on the look-out for it from now on. Thanks for the tip!
This is an excellent point that I can't believe never occurred to me. I will most definitely be checking my manuscripts.
Great tip! "Obvious" is obviously one to get rid of. 😉
a good tip but i think if someone uses it in speech, it is allowed.
"Obviously!"
🙂
@ AlphaChick – maybe in a speech.. but it might not register well otherwise 🙂
And I'm glad you all found it helpful 🙂
Good point, I now have yet another word to watch for.