Filter Words: A List for Fiction Writers and How to Cut Them

Filter words are verbs of perception and thought, such as saw, heard, felt, noticed and realized, that put a character between the reader and what is happening. "She saw the door swing open" makes the reader watch her watching. "The door swung open" puts the reader there.

Cutting them is one of the quickest line-level fixes in a draft. Not every one should go, though, and the list below says which to keep.

StoryWith AI is our own product, so weigh what we say about it accordingly.

Key takeaways

• Definition: Scribophile's guide calls filters "unnecessary words that separate the reader from the story's action."
• The usual suspects: saw, heard, felt, thought, wondered, realized, noticed, watched, seemed, decided, knew, looked.
• The fix: drop the character and the verb, and make the thing perceived the subject of the sentence.
• Keep a filter word when the act of noticing is the point, when you need to show whose point of view you are in, or when distance is the effect you want.
• Filter words are not crutch words. "Just," "really" and "very" are a different habit with a different fix.
• Close point of view makes filtering stand out, because the reader is already inside the character's head.

What are filter words?

The idea is usually traced to two craft books. The novelist John Gardner, in The Art of Fiction, described "the needless filtering of the image through some observing consciousness," and advised that "almost every occurrence of such phrases as 'she noticed' and 'she saw' be suppressed." We are quoting him as quoted by the writing teacher Emma Darwin and by James Thayer in Author Magazine; neither gives an edition or page.

Gardner's own example, as Darwin gives it, shows the whole idea. "Turning, she noticed two snakes fighting in among the rocks" becomes "She turned. In among the rocks, two snakes were fighting."

The other is Janet Burroway's textbook Writing Fiction. Scribophile credits Burroway with coining the term and quotes her calling filtering "a common fault and often difficult to recognize."

Sources: Emma Darwin, "De-filtering your draft" (19 June 2026), James Thayer, Author Magazine (16 May 2010) and Scribophile Academy, "An introduction to filtering" (undated), read on 24 October 2026.

The filter words list

This list is ours, grouped by sense. Most of the words appear on the craft lists credited below; a few (spotted, observed, listened, understood, appeared, found herself, was aware that) are close variants we added. Each group has the rewrite that usually works.

Groupings, examples and the added variants are ours. The other words come from lists published by Scribophile (undated), TCK Publishing (10 February 2021), Writer's Relief (24 January 2024) and The Writer (12 June 2024, updated 12 October 2024), read on 24 October 2026. The sight example follows one by James Thayer.

Two notes on the table. "Seemed" is a special case: sometimes the uncertainty is real ("the room seemed empty" before someone steps out), and then it stays. And thought verbs often turn into free indirect thought, a question or a statement in the character's voice, as in the "wondered" row.

Why do filter words weaken a scene?

They add a step. The reader has to process the character perceiving before reaching the thing perceived. Ruthanne Reid at The Write Practice (10 August 2022) puts it this way: "A filter word puts distance between the reader and your character, filtering that character's experience."

The effect is strongest in close point of view. Emma Darwin's post on psychic distance (13 September 2024) describes the closest kind of third person, where "we lose touch with anything that the character doesn't see or think." If everything on the page is already what the character sees, "she saw" tells the reader something they knew, and pulls the camera back.

Chuck Palahniuk made a stricter version of the same point in a LitReactor essay (12 August 2013). He told writers to stop using thought verbs such as "Thinks, Knows, Understands, Realizes, Believes, Wants, Remembers, Imagines, Desires," at least for six months, because "Instead of characters knowing anything, you must now present the details that allow the reader to know them." That rule is about telling instead of showing, not perception, but it catches many of the same sentences.

Sources: The Write Practice, "filter words", Emma Darwin, "Psychic Distance" and Chuck Palahniuk, "Nuts and Bolts: 'Thought' Verbs", read on 24 October 2026.

When should you keep a filter word?

Most sources agree that some should stay. Emma Darwin (23 March 2022) gives the clearest case: "If the point of the sentence is a sudden, important realisation, then 'realises' is possibly going to be the best way to make that point." In her experience of clean-ups, 75 to 80 percent of the filtering gets cut. The rest stays.

Examples are ours. The reasons draw on Emma Darwin, "Three Things About Filtering" (23 March 2022), James Thayer (2010), Scribophile and The Write Practice, read on 24 October 2026.

Reid's test is the one to keep in mind: "it's crucial that you only use them when you're aware of it, not by accident."

Filter words vs crutch words

They are different habits. Filter words are about perception and distance. Crutch words are verbal tics and intensifiers such as just, really, very, actually and basically. Ian Chandler at The Write Practice (31 March 2016) describes crutch words as words that "can be completely respectable words, but when you use them too much, they become filler words."

The fixes differ too. A filter word is usually rewritten, by turning the sentence around. A crutch word is usually deleted, or replaced with a more exact word.

Source: The Write Practice, "How Crutch Words Are Holding Back Your Writing", read on 24 October 2026.

Hypothetical example: one paragraph, before and after

Hypothetical example, written for this guide.

Before:

Mara heard footsteps on the gravel outside. She looked through the window and saw a man standing by the gate. She felt her stomach tighten. She wondered how long he had been there, and she realized she had left the back door unlocked.

After:

Footsteps crunched on the gravel. A man stood by the gate, hands in his pockets, watching the house. Mara's stomach tightened. How long had he been there? The back door. She had left the back door unlocked.

The revision cuts five filters: heard, looked, saw, felt and wondered. It keeps the realization as its own short beat, without the verb, because the reader now arrives at it with her.

How do you find filter words in your draft?

1. Search for the list. Use find-all in your word processor for each word in the table, including other tenses: see, sees, seeing, feel, feels.
2. Search for "could." "She could see," "he could hear" and "I could feel" are filters with an extra word attached.
3. Read each hit in context. Ask whether the noticing matters. If not, make the perceived thing the subject.
4. Watch the rhythm. Cutting filters can leave a run of short sentences. Vary them as you go.
5. Do it late. Filter words are a line-level pass. Fix structure and scenes first, so you are not polishing sentences you later cut.

Our self-editing checklist puts this pass in order with the other line-level checks, and how to edit a novel explains why it belongs near the end.

Where StoryWith AI fits

StoryWith AI does not have a filter word checker, and your word processor's search is the right tool for this pass.

What its Write studio does have is a quality panel that runs as you write, without using AI actions. It flags hedges and weak verbs (very, really, quite, just, kind of, sort of, "got" and "was" plus an -ing verb), possible passive voice, adverb-heavy passages, long sentences, monotonous sentence length and three sentences in a row that start the same way. Apart from the long sentence and monotony checks, those flags work on English prose only. That catches the crutch words, not the filters.

Its main job is a level above the sentence. It reads the manuscript you wrote and returns ranked diagnostics: one list of what to fix, sorted by severity, with each finding linked to the passage that caused it, covering structure, pacing, character arcs, continuity and more, as listed on our features page. It never rewrites your prose unless you ask for an edit and accept it.

It is the wrong tool if a line-level filter word sweep is all you need.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What are filter words in writing?

Filter words are verbs of perception and thought, such as saw, heard, felt, noticed, wondered and realized, that place a character between the reader and the action. "She heard the door slam" filters the event through her; "The door slammed" lets the reader experience it directly.

What is a list of filter words?

The words most craft sources list are saw, heard, felt, thought, wondered, realized, noticed, watched, seemed, decided, knew and looked. Others include smelled, tasted, remembered, could see, could hear and was aware that. Check other tenses too.

Should I remove all filter words?

No. Keep one when the act of noticing matters to the plot, when a realization is the point of the sentence, when you need to make clear whose point of view a scene is in, or when you want distance on purpose, for example to show shock. Remove the ones that only repeat what the point of view already tells the reader.

Who came up with the term filter words?

Sources differ. Scribophile credits Janet Burroway, in her textbook Writing Fiction. The novelist John Gardner also wrote about "filtering" in The Art of Fiction, advising writers to cut almost every use of phrases such as "she noticed" and "she saw."

Are filter words the same as crutch words?

No. Filter words describe a character perceiving or thinking and create distance. Crutch words, such as just, really, very and actually, are habits that pad sentences. Filter words are usually fixed by rewriting the sentence; crutch words are usually deleted.

Do filter words matter in first person?

Yes, often more. In first person the reader already knows everything comes through the narrator, so "I saw" and "I heard" usually add distance without adding information. Writer's Relief (24 January 2024) defines filter words as words that create distance between the reader and the first-person point of view of the character.