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Writers of Fiction & Memoir: Do You Have the “well” Habit?
Please don’t do this in your writing.
I have a client who has what I call a “well habit.”
“Well, after this is over, we’ll find a new form of amusement for you.”
“Well, the room across the hall is still available,” Blair offered.
“Well, hello, counselor! It’s nice to see you!” she said.
“Well, I’m liberated,” she said. “I can do whatever I want.”
“Well, I’d better act now,” she said.
“Well, since you asked…”
“Well” as an adverb adds nothing to a story and contributes to weak writing. I see it most often in dialogue, where the author has begun a character’s sentence with “well,” as in the previous examples.
This is a word you can do an EDIT/FIND for in Microsoft Word and eliminate.
In the following examples, “well” has been eliminated or replaced with words that have stronger emphasis. Read these out loud and you will be able to hear the difference in the strength of the voice.
