Filter Words

Filter words are those that unnecessarily filter the readers experience through a characters point of view, or take them away from the story. These words slow the action of a scene and aren't generally needed.

Filter words include;

Felt - Feel

Smelt - Smell

Thought - Think

Saw - See

Heard - Hear

Tasted - Taste

In most cases, these words can simply be taken out of the sentence.

I.E.

She felt cold and shivered - She shivered.

She could hear wolves - Wolves howled.

'How silly,' she thought. - 'How silly.'

Or reworded.

I.E. He saw the castle - The castle rose before him.

He could smell coffee - The scent of coffee. The wine tasted of cinnamon - Cinnamon warmed his mouth as he drank the wine.

She could see nothing - Darkness enveloped her.

In a few cases filter words can be used but you want to keep them to a bare minimum in order to keep your reader absorbed in your story and stay connected to the character.

An example of a filter word being used could be;

Thoughts raced through her mind.

But in most cases, just take them out during your editing phase :)

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