Time for another straightforward post! Hooray!
There are several different types of editing passes I think are necessary, but we'll cover that more in depth later. For now, I want to write specifically about filler words that can (and should) be edited out.
Once you've gone through at least a couple drafts, do a word search for the following words to see how many of them you can cut or change to enhance your novel!
Though
Slowly
Slightly
That
Was
Just
Very
Rather
Really
Quite
In Fact
So
Pretty
Of course
Surely
Actually
Looked
Suddenly
You'll likely also have words that YOU overuse consistently (for me this includes goodness, as if, etc.
Another way to enhance your writing, and make sure you're getting deeper into your character's POV is to cut sensory words.
I/She/He/(etc) felt, heard, saw, etc.
For example:
Instead of: "I heard his breaths echo through the chamber"
try: "His breaths echoed through the chamber"
(A simple example, but a good way of showing how those extra words are unnecessary)
One last note: This doesn't apply to dialogue! People write differently than how they speak. IMO, you should leave those filler words in place in dialogue if it represents how the character you created would phrase things. But remember, you need to know the rules to know when you can break them.