Filter Words

Let's have a little talk about showing versus telling.

It's the age-old battle that every writer has had to fight: when to show and when to tell? Because both are obviously necessary; it's impossible to either show or tell all the time, and both extremes are bad writing.

So, how does one determine when to show (through action or concrete examples) and when to tell? Well, this isn't the right question. As with passive voice, the first step is to understand when one is telling instead of showing.

You can look for repetitive sentence structures, vague or non-existent imagery, and "to be" verbs, but let's be honest, that's a long, tedious process that yields confusing results. Here's an easier way: Look for filter words.

Filter words are words that clutter one's writing by adding an extra verb between the POV character's perception and the reader's eyes. For example, in the sentence, "Cheryl saw the horse," saw is a filter word. The reader, instead of seeing the horse, sees Cheryl seeing the horse. That's a form of telling. Not only that, but it clutters the writing with meaningless action ("seeing" isn't very exciting, is it?) where there could be rich description: "The glossy black stallion stood in the meadow, tall and muscular, its head bowed to the ground to nibble a daisy."

And if you really want to show that Cheryl is seeing this horse, you could show her reaction after the description: "The glossy black stallion stood in the meadow, tall and muscular, its head bowed to the ground to nibble a daisy. Cheryl stood by the edge of the trees, staring in awe. 'Wow,' she whispered."

Filter words can also set up a barrier between the reader's mind and the character's thoughts. "Martha thought for sure that Edgar loved her..." doesn't tell us much about Martha or Edgar. It's kinda blah. (Homework time: Spruce up that sentence by showing how Martha expresses her belief in Edgar's love.)

Are filter words always bad? No. Sometimes they are necessary. Every word in the English language exists for a reason, so no word is necessarily "bad." (Well, except maybe for cuss words... but there's a theological discussion there involving Philippians 3:8 that is honestly way off-topic, so I won't get into that now.) Not all filter words need to be eliminated. It's a choice that should be made on a case-by-case basis, as with many things writing-related. However, filter words are a helpful tool for finding instances of telling--and they're easy to type into a search bar.

Just in case you want to pull up your current project in a word processor and ctrl + F for any filter words, here's an incomplete list:

Perception Words:

Perceive, notice, see, hear, experience, feel*

Thought Words:

Think, know, understand, realize, believe, want, remember, imagine, desire, love, hate, wonder

*Feel could fit into either category, depending on whether we're discussing physical touch, a "vibe," or an emotion.