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Q&A "Thought" Verbs: A sign of weak writing or a stylistic choice?

According to Chuck Palahniuk you should avoid "Thought" verbs as much as you can. These include: knew, thought, realized, believed, etc. However, I've seen many of them in books that I read. And I...

3 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T03:59:03Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/15942
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Alexandro Chen‭ · 2019-12-08T03:59:03Z (over 4 years ago)
According to [Chuck Palahniuk](http://litreactor.com/essays/chuck-palahniuk/nuts-and-bolts-%E2%80%9Cthought%E2%80%9D-verbs) you should avoid "Thought" verbs as much as you can. These include: knew, thought, realized, believed, etc.

However, I've seen many of them in books that I read. And I think they somehow simulate real speech (useful with first-person narrative). Here's an example from my own writing:

> Lying back down, I thought about what he had just said—and realized I wasn't unhappy anymore; I no longer had this pressure in my chest; I felt released, light, as if I could reach the ceiling above me.

Are "Thought" Verbs a sign of weak writing? Or just an stylistic choice?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2015-01-20T12:53:07Z (over 9 years ago)
Original score: 10