Word overuse

[MetaFrosty]

Is there a good rule of thumb when it comes to how often a word is used? Basic words don't really have much of a limit, I'm sure, but when it comes to more specific descriptors it would definitely feel wrong to re-use it so soon after the previous use.
I tend to ctrl+F through my script from time to time when I'm unsure whether to use a word and if I see that I've used it quite recently, or too many times over the course of the whole script, I might try to reword the line or find another word that fits.
Is that a good practice or am I being paranoid? I feel like I have to avoid being repetitive but when something happens repeatedly in a scene it can be a challenge to avoid using the same words.
How do you deal with this, and similar issues?

[Lexer]

A rule of thumb I follow is that repeating words shouldn't be so close together unless there's no other good word. By that, I mean actual spacing when you look at it as a page instead of an electronic manuscript. If you have page view on your word processor, turning it on would be good.

You mentioned descriptors though. Did you mean adjectives? Maybe you don't actually need them to begin with.

Some sample passages from you would be helpful.

[MetaFrosty]

Hmm, a sample passage would be difficult because I generally find a way to solve it and I don't know if I have something on hand to demonstrate with.
I suppose as an example, describing somebody running. There's a lot of words to describe the different ways someone can run and a lot of those are for a specific type of running. If there's a lot of running involved in a particular scene it feels tricky to avoid re-using a word.
The main point is whether or not that should just force you to get creative with your wording or if it's not a big problem.

[Holland]

I think it's important to switch words up, especially verbs. I find it really obvious when you're reading something that's incredibly repetitive (without trying to be). It's one thing if it says, "He just kept running, and running, and running..." for emphasis, but when it's spaced out in a paragraph, substituting it for sprinting and perhaps even restructuring the sentence with the third verb might be best.

I sometimes follow my personal rule of thumb, which is to only use a verb in narratives once per paragraph, never more than five times per page, and never more than ten times per chapter. There are some exceptions, though, and I think you can get away with it a bit when you're writing a visual novel since they're not looking at it all together on the same page where the repeats fly out at you as you're going along.

When it seems like there's just no more synonyms for the word, I throw down the thesaurus and rework the sentence instead. You can usually change it so you don't need to say the word at all.

I also think that little words are important. I had an English teacher in my vocational school that didn't allow us to use the same word twice in a sentence. That even included variations of "a/an", "I", and "the". You don't realize how much filler's in your sentences until you break them down like that.

[Lexer]

Hmm, a sample passage would be difficult because I generally find a way to solve it and I don't know if I have something on hand to demonstrate with.
I suppose as an example, describing somebody running. There's a lot of words to describe the different ways someone can run and a lot of those are for a specific type of running. If there's a lot of running involved in a particular scene it feels tricky to avoid re-using a word.
The main point is whether or not that should just force you to get creative with your wording or if it's not a big problem.

You shouldn't force yourself to get creative. Use the simplest word available and only be concerned if you're using it to describe the action in every sentence and even then only when it breaks up the rhythm of the scene, which it often does anyway. Specific words like "scamper", "hurried", "bolted", and "skedaddled" have specific images associated with them too. I only use them when I have a particular image in mind. I guess that should be the main concern. The image you want to show your reader. Not whether you used a word x number of times.

"Speedwagon skedaddled serenely" is something I will always try my hardest to write in.

[madomadomadotsuki]

These are definitely excellent points! As Lexer said, it's important to consider the message or image you want to convey to the reader, and sometimes by writing verbose passages or being too creative can detract from that. At times, direct and succinct words could be the best, and even as the English language has such a variety of words with specific meanings and connotations, sometimes the simplest words can be just as effective.

For your example when you are describing someone running, there could be other ways to think about how to write this passage aside from using loose synonyms and the like – Fate/Stay Night's plethora of running scenes had descriptions of enmity, looming death, and how futile it seems escaping from the enemy. By describing the approaching threat, that tension and the scene got further accentuated, and, in turn, it helped us describe this running scene in a whole other way. So I guess you want to think then in the bigger picture of what sort of message and image you want to convey, and the creative scope you can pull with that – by not necessarily detailing the action itself, but the surroundings at times too.

[SinSisters]

Heh, personally I Ctrl+F as well to make sure I don't see too many highlights too close together... As a rule of thumb, I would say, the more obscure the word, the less often you should use it. Saying "John is the most lackadaisical man I've ever met" and later "Why are these kids so lackadaisical?" will sound a lot more unnatural to a reader's mind that "John is the laziest man I've ever met" "Why are these kids so lazy?" The awesome thing about having a big vocab is that you can use these creative words that will stick in the readers mind. The downside of the word sticking in the reader's mind is that if you use it too many times, they'll think that it's the only word you know how to use.'
Natural sounding work should be your number one concern, however, because forcing a reader to reread a sentence two or three times will break up the flow of a story a lot more than using a word twice would!

-Nat

[breadslam]

Everyone's added quite a few excellent points already, so I hope you don't mind if I throw some of my ideas into the mix.

Word repetition is an issue with young writers but not the only thing you should be looking out for if you want to improve yourself. Vary your sentence length and structure! Look for paragraphs that all begin with the same opening. Otherwise, it all becomes a mushy mess that the player or reader habitually skips over.

[Lexer]

Everyone's added quite a few excellent points already, so I hope you don't mind if I throw some of my ideas into the mix.

Word repetition is an issue with young writers but not the only thing you should be looking out for if you want to improve yourself. Vary your sentence length and structure! Look for paragraphs that all begin with the same opening. Otherwise, it all becomes a mushy mess that the player or reader habitually skips over.

Yeah, structure is a lot more important than word repetitions.