The trend these days is to de-clutter. We get rid of the excess in our offices, our homes, our cars, our yards, and garages. De-cluttering can only go so far in writing before you've lost the impact. I once overheard an MSU professor telling her students to get the 'it' out of their creative writing. That tiny two-letter word is not better than the longer words you could be using.


Try doing a word search of your manuscript for the word "it" and replace it with the wordier version. Does the new version read better? This seems to improve most writing--with the exception of "A Tail of Two Cities."