Seemingly.
Nine letters, three syllables, and one massive pet peeve.
The word has its uses, but all too often it’s used under a myriad of reasons that all fall under one umbrella cause: a writer’s lack of confidence.
You see it a lot in cases like,
“His face contorted, seemingly angry.”
“A seemingly dangerous man.”
“A crowd of seemingly millions.”
Examples like these come from moments of self-doubt where a writer isn’t confident enough to say something. To make a statement. Instead, words like seemingly allow for beating around the bush, skirting the issue, and several other cliches. And seemingly isn’t alone either.
Almost, kind of, apparently, sort of like, and several others that allow someone to hide behind not taking a stance for fear of being called wrong.
Feels like I’m standing on a soap box at this point, but let me state (with certainty) that the biggest reason these words are my pet peeve is because I often find them in the early drafts of my own writing.
Yes. I too suffer from a lack of confidence. I think it’s required to do any kind of writing.
If we look at the early examples, and resist the urge to bring in the issues or show, don’t tell, word selection, and rewriting sentences to make them not suck, we get:
“His face contorted, angry.”
“A dangerous man.”
“A crowd of millions.”
They aren’t great sentences, but they’re stronger. Confident. They say something and dare the reader to question it. And frankly, if your reader isn’t on your side enough to believe that a man is angry, a box is heavy, and water is wet, than you have a much bigger problem on your hands than being afraid to make a statement.
So fear not, fellow scriveners. If you’ve done your research, there’s nothing to be concerned about. Nothing to stop you from making any and every statement in your writing.
It’s your world. It’s your story.
