One of the fastest ways to weaken a scene—without realizing you’re doing it—is by filtering everything through your character. Is your writing filled with these?
I saw.
She noticed.
He heard.
She felt.
I realized.
These words seem harmless. They feel natural. They even feel like they help anchor the reader in the character’s experience. They don’t. They create distance, and distance kills immersion.
The Issue
Filtering happens when the writer inserts the character’s perception between the reader and the action. Instead of letting the reader experience the moment directly, the writing adds a middleman.
Barry heard footsteps behind him.
She noticed the door creak open.
I saw the blood on the floor.
Nothing is technically wrong with these sentences. Grammar checkers won’t flag them. But they all create the same problem: they remind the reader that they are being told a story instead of letting them live inside it. Compare those to:
Footsteps echoed behind Barry.
The door creaked open.
Blood spread across the floor.
Now the reader is in the scene. No buffer. No filter. Just experience.
Why Filtering Weakens POV
Writers often think filtering strengthens point of view because it keeps the character “present.” In reality, it does the opposite. Strong POV doesn’t come from telling us what the character perceives. It comes from showing the world as the character experiences it. When you write:
She noticed a shadow move across the wall.
You’ve added an extra layer the reader has to process. When you write:
A shadow moved across the wall.
The reader experiences it at the same moment the character does. Filtering creates a subtle narrative voice that sits between the reader and the scene. It turns immersive writing into reported writing. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
How Filtering Adds Unnecessary Wordiness
Filtering doesn’t just weaken immersion. It also bloats your sentences. Look at the difference:
He heard a loud crash from the kitchen.
A loud crash came from the kitchen.
She felt the cold wind against her face.
Cold wind cut across her face.
In both cases, the filtered version uses more words and delivers less impact. Multiply that across a chapter—or an entire manuscript—and you’re looking at hundreds of extra words that don’t add value. Filtering is one of the easiest ways to tighten writing without losing meaning.
How to Find It
This is one of the easiest issues to diagnose. Search your manuscript for:
- I saw
- I heard
- I felt
- I noticed
- I realized
- She saw
- He heard
- She noticed
- He felt
You’ll likely find clusters of them, especially in early drafts. Another red flag is phrases like:
- I could see
- She could hear
- He could feel
These almost always indicate filtering. Once you start looking for it, you’ll realize how often it shows up.
How to Fix It
Most of the time, the fix is simple: remove the filter and rewrite the sentence so the action stands on its own. You’re not changing the meaning. You’re removing the distance.
Barry heard footsteps behind him becomes Footsteps echoed behind Barry.
She noticed the door was open becomes The door stood open.
I felt my heart racing becomes My heart pounded.
When to Use Filtering
There are rare moments where filtering is useful—usually when you want to emphasize confusion, realization, or internal awareness. But those moments should be intentional, not constant. If every sentence is filtered, the writing starts to feel muted and indirect.
Let the Scene Do the Work
Readers don’t need to be told that a character saw something. If it’s on the page, they already know. Your job isn’t to narrate the character’s awareness. Your job is to present the world as they experience it. When you remove filtering, your writing becomes: tighter, clearer, more immediate, and more immersive. And best of all, it happens fast. This is one of those edits where a few passes can dramatically improve the entire manuscript.
So next time you see “I saw” or “she noticed,” stop. Ask yourself if the sentence works better without it. Most of the time, it will. And once you start cutting these, your writing will feel sharper almost instantly.