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Q&A The excessive use of 'and'

If you read closely you can very often identify certain words and phrases that authors prefer to use. Those will be used far more often than in writing from other people that you read. Sometimes it...

posted 5y ago by Secespitus‭

Answer
#1: Initial revision by user avatar Secespitus‭ · 2020-01-20T21:33:53Z (almost 5 years ago)
If you read closely you can very often identify certain words and phrases that authors prefer to use. Those will be used far more often than in writing from other people that you read. Sometimes it's just a subconscious feeling that tells you who the author is, for example if you are often reading texts written by your colleagues who have been published on a blog under a technical account that belongs to someone. At other times it will be obvious, such as when a certain fantasy author is probably a cat-person because every race and important character gets a comparison with cats at some point in the story. 

The thing to keep an eye on here is to have your own style, but not letting your little quirks be troublesome. It's okay if your beta readers notice a thing or two about your writing style, even if it's that you like to write long sentences containing "and" and "or" when not strictly necessary. If that's what sounds good to you and what feels natural it's fine. It's not fine if your beta readers start telling you that they can't follow your sentences anymore and are tired because you are using "and" at least three times every couple sentences.

Put your writing aside for a couple days and read it out loud to yourself and you will notice anything that's "excessive" - and probably a couple things that are not as bad in reality as they sound to yourself. Many people are a lot harsher to themselves than they would be to others, which means that you can easily be your best critic. I'd still recommend to ask a couple of your beta readers to keep an eye out for anything excessive or unusual. If they notice you should think about whether that's something you want or not. 

Other than that the best advice is to look at your favourite authors to see how they are solving the problem and a look at your least favourite authors to see what they are doing wrong in your opinion. In the end it always depends on your target audience and how your writing should read to that target audience.