The truth about "that"

Some interesting advice from the blog of writer William Jones. He is talking about the overuse of the word "that" in recent fiction.

I will admit I am a frequent offender. You can read the rest of his post here, but this was that section that stuck out to me and something I am going to try in the current rewrites I am working on.

Thanks, William.

clipped from williamsramblings.blogspot.com if you're a writer, try re-writing a sentence without "that." I bet you'll find your style varies, and the sentences flourish with other words. Yes, sometimes "that" can be a prose killer. It's easy to use, easy to spell, and it comes naturallyto us. All of those are warning signs. Take the difficult path with your sentence. Or start counting "that" in writing - just to see how often it is used or overused. And of course, sometimes we simply need to use "that." After all, that is why "that" was invented. :)