I'm going through A Broken Sun now, and cleaning up some of the "no duh" items. Never really thought about how much I did it. "No Duh" items are those items that you put in to smack somebody in the face about a character's actions that aren't really needed.
For example: you may have the most literary metaphor for a smell in the air, like "a potion of body odor mixed with morning breath and left in a rest area for a year." BUT, if you put "I smelled" or "He smelled" or whatever in front of it, well, that's kind of a "no duh" item. Rather than stating the obvious - OF COURSE you smelled that - give the odor itself some life.
An almost visible cloud of body odor hovered in the subway..." like that. It makes it immediate. Vibrant. And less OBVIOUS.
And if you already knew that, and are finding yourself saying "no duh", let me know. I'll delete the post along with my other items. :)
WRITE ON PEOPLE!
