It shows up maybe three times in a whole novel, so I shouldn't slam it. Especially with 'and' and 'the' and 'said' sucking so much oxygen.
When I hear or read 'literally'. It pushes me out of the story and has me rolling my eyes.
If this were a novel, I'd be writing, 'I literally rolled my eyes' or something. If I had my way, I'd make 2012 The Year We Stamp Out Literally.
Because the golden rule for 'Literally' is that is must precede a cliche. Otherwise why does the writer bother?
An ad for a reality/weight-loss program on TV in Australia features an ex footballer who is now 'Literally too big for his boots'.
A children's program I watched with my son had the line, 'She's a scientist who literally knows her onions.'
Then there's this from a newspaper this week:
Then there's this from a newspaper this week:
"On the way home, she crossed the rail line and found herself (literally and metaphorically) on the other side of the tracks."
It could be that only I am hyper-aware of literally. But if you're writing, you need to be vigilant.
One of the golden rules of writing is to avoid cliches like the plague. (See what I did there?) So if you have to say 'literally', it means you're about to prop up a cliche.
Take the literally out and the cliche falls over. At which point, I beg you to take the cliche out as well, then we'll all be better off.
You don't need literally. If something is happening, it's happening, you don't need to have it literally happening.
Are there some words or phrases that get you all riled up? Come and share.
And then you can get back to twitter.
4 comments:
I notice that one too, though probably not as much. I'm itching to rid my own writing of though (yep I realized I used it in the previous sentence. You see how bad my addiction is) and that.
Don't worry Heather, at the rate I'm going, there won't be any words left!
"You don't need literally. If something is happening, it's happening, you don't need to have it literally happening." Well said. "Literally" almost always bugs me when I see it in writing.
Thanks Cynthia,
it's one of those words we use as filler in conversation, but writing needs economy. Writing is completely different to real life conversation. One of those tricks where we use artifice to make things natural.
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