That. That? That! THAT!

Sometimes things happen to a writer which makes them stop dead and look at what they are doing. Sometimes this reflection leaves you cold and wondering if you are as good as you think you are.

That happened to me last night.

One of my readers, Steve, sent me his very detailed comments regarding Error of Comedies: Occupations. He picked up unintentional spelling mistakes, made excellent comments regarding voice… and then highlighted the word ‘that’.

A wet fish hit me in the face. It was everywhere. So much of my dialogue was passive. So little of my dialogue had any passion. Nearly every instance of the word ‘that’ was redundant.

Steve had highlighted every redundant ‘that’ in green, so that the manuscript looked like an alien version of measles. I opened the original manuscript and did a global search for, what I now call, the word that shall not be named.

The strange part for me was the way it changed my mood. At first I was disappointed I was so reliant on the word. Then I became angry that I was so lazy to employ it so frequently. Then I saw my dialogue anew.

This was damned good stuff. When I read it aloud with all the words that shall not be named, it came over well and sounded real. When I re-read it losing the offending word, suddenly it came alive, had energy and pace.

But worst, was when I realised I had gone through this about 2 years ago. I recalled how I had opened all of my manuscripts and did a global search for the word that shall not be named. And again, I removed nearly every instance. So why had I forgotten that I over used it? Why hadn’t I searched for it before I sent it out to my readers?

But then again, what does it matter? Steve has put me back to where I need to be to develop my work. Gill didn’t spot it, but Steve did.

And thank goodness, as it means that Error of Comedies: Occupations is going to be better than I first thought.

But I don’t think that I’ll have it published by Christmas now… But who knows?