How to seek and destroy filter words with Scrivener

Filter words dig into prose like ticks on a sheep’s back. When I draft, I don’t even realise I’m using them — and I suspect many authors are the same. Come revision time, and they are one of the first things I look for with the aim of rewriting them out of existence.

What are filter words?

But firstly, what are these horrible things of which I speak?

Filtering shapes the reader’s experience through the lens of a character. While we as writers want readers to engage with our characters, excessive filtering falls into the trap of showing, not telling. By filtering a reader’s experience, you’re inhibiting their ability to directly engage with the story — at least, that’s the theory. It also slows things down because filtering is generally more verbose.

So, here’s a list of the most common filter words:

* to see
* to hear
* to think
* to touch
* to wonder
* to know
* to realise / realize
* to watch
* to look
* to seem
* to feel (or feel like)
* to decide
* to sound (or sound like)
* to notice
* to be able to
* to note
* to experience