Superfluous Words

I just took the title of my current book manuscript down a notch. I removed a superfluous word - the word "OM."

How can you tell if a word is a superfluous word? First, you look up the word "superfluous" if you don't know what it means. Then you look at what you've written and ask yourself:

• Do I need this word to convey meaning?
• Is it somehow especially interesting?
• Does it add a needed pizzazz or an underlying connotation?
• Is it doing something more than just taking up space?

If the answer is no to these questions then, my dear friends, take it out.

For whatever reason it took me a few months to take my superfluous word out because I just liked the sound of it. I suppose I was too attached to it, and I think writers do have a way of getting attached to their words.

But should we add words to our writing just because they sound cool? How's this: "She bounded across the room - boing! bajang! bazoom! - and attacked the piece of cake."

Say what?

Hemingway's philosophy was to keep it short and to the point, and to make sure every word that's written advances the story. I think it's a valid perspective, to be honest. And since I have a background in technical writing it probably makes sense for me to adopt a similar philosophy. I spend a lot of my career removing excess words that have absolutely no real meaning, and people like the copy much more because of it.

So in the spirit of anti-superfluism (that's not a word), my new working title for my book is: "An Offbeat Path Through Yoga." And I like it. No superfluism here.