FILTERING

If you an author going through the editing process, you've probably been cited for filtering. I know I have. So what is filtering? Basically, it's being an intrusive narrator. For example, instead of writing: He heard a bird chirp overhead. Just write: A blue jay chirped overhead.
     The reader does not need to be reminded that someone is telling a story. He or she needs to experience it through the character.
     Theses are some filter words to avoid:

    to note
    to experience
    to be able to
    to sound
    to sound like
    to decide
    to seem
    to look
    to see
    to watch
    to hear
    to think
    to wonder
    to watch
    to seem
    to feel
    to realize

Instead of: I watch the wave crash on the shore.
                  The wave crashed on the shore.

Filter words or phrases are added at the beginning of a sentence to the world as filtered through the character's eyes. Instead, the reader experience the scene without a filter. It is more realistic that way.