Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash
“felt” is an imprecise word, often overused. Try to limit it to once per page, switching it out for a stronger, more precise verb whenever possible. Don’t avoid it altogether, because its broadness does offer its own charm in the range of interpretation. But decide when you want the reader to put their own feelings on the page and when you want to put the feelings on the page in them.
Above is the polite version. The full-on editing rant – felt doesn’t MEAN anything. How did they feel? What did they feel? Only time “feel” is good is “I feel a disturbance in the force.” If I got six feel/felt on the same page, I’m going to start taking the felt and making toys with it.