Filter Words
- Robyn Weightman
- Oct 31, 2018
- 1 min read
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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