# First time - I left a grumpy review on Amazon



## JennSpot (Feb 13, 2009)

I don't normally write reviews of any sort.  But this time I was compelled...the author used "she spat" or "I spat" fifteen times and "smirked" twenty-three times in this book.  It just really, really irritated me every time I read those two words and I didn't even bother to count the "sauntered's."    I don't even think all of the smirking was appropriate either.

The premise was good...one immortal being torn into two, desperate for the two halves to find one another and rejoin but I guess I just can't stand spitting smirky characters?

I feel a bit bad, but shouldn't authors check these things before publishing?  Is this a by-product of self-publishing on Amazon?


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## Littlejohn (Nov 3, 2010)

JennSpot said:


> I don't normally write reviews of any sort. But this time I was compelled...the author used "she spat" or "I spat" fifteen times and "smirked" twenty-three times in this book. It just really, really irritated me every time I read those two words and I didn't even bother to count the "sauntered's." I don't even think all of the smirking was appropriate either.
> 
> The premise was good...one immortal being torn into two, desperate for the two halves to find one another and rejoin but I guess I just can't stand spitting smirky characters?
> 
> I feel a bit bad, but shouldn't authors check these things before publishing? Is this a by-product of self-publishing on Amazon?


I'm kind of new here, but will offer an answer on this one (my opinion only, of course). I think that yes, it is a by-product of self-publishing on Amazon. If it's free, and anyone can do it, then that leaves out all of the folks like agents and publishers who weed out bad writing so that it never gets published. And yes, the authors should check these things out but some who write don't know how, or won't bother to do so.

I like to think that I, by having my stories read by a number of very qualified and truthful people (including first and foremost, my wife) before self publishing them, have fulfilled a sort of unspoken obligation to those who might buy and read my stories.

I hope so, anyway...

David


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## Anne Victory (Jul 29, 2010)

JennSpot said:


> Is this a by-product of self-publishing on Amazon?


I don't think so. I read a book once about 6 or 7 years ago where the heroine's sister was constantly described as "feckless". Every other page. I didn't count, but it was frequent and often. I smirked as I thought to myself that the author must have been proud of her "word of the day"  Seriously, though - feckless isn't a word you see all the time, so it's going to stand out when you see it. Then when you KEEP seeing it. Today I couldn't tell you the name of the book or the author or anything else about the book except that the heroine had an irresponsible, hare-brained sister.


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## D. Nathan Hilliard (Jun 5, 2010)

JennSpot said:


> Is this a by-product of self-publishing on Amazon?


No, it happens with publishers too. When I was having my novel edited I had to go back in and remove about ten to fifteen "he hissed" and "he growled". That got put in by the editor. I still have a scene where a Watchman hisses that really irks me.


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## LCEvans (Mar 29, 2009)

Sadly, some books are published before they're proofed and edited. A woman I met at a writers' club meeting called me last year and asked me to help her get her book ready to publish. As soon as I started reading the manuscript, I realized the book was a first draft. It was amateurish and riddled with grammatical errors. I pointed out in a nice way that the book wasn't ready and I suggested a number of things she could do to improve the book and also offered to proofread and edit when she was finished revising. This woman refused my help in that department and was very insistent that I not change a single word of her prose other than to correct the spelling. All she wanted from me was that I pick up misspelled words since she was soooo disappointed her spell checker wasn't doing a good job and she wanted me to tell her how to format, since she'd written the book as separate chapters using Notepad. I did as she asked because I'd offered to help and didn't want to back out. When I was finally finished, I ran a quick check of this short book (about 55,000 words) and discovered that she'd used smiled, smile, and smiling 123 times. Example: "Oh, thank you," Sara said and smiled. Or Sara said smiling. Or even worse, "Oh, thank you," Sara smiled. Other offenders were the words slow, slowly, and quickly, also used hundreds of times. Every character moved either quickly or slowly. By the time I was done correcting the spelling, I would have heaved the manuscript across the room if it had been paper instead of a computer file. 
Just because someone can publish a book, doesn't mean they should. To be fair, I have also read trad published books that contained a lot of repetition, though none as bad as the example I used. My college writing instructor used to caution us often not to use "lazy writing."


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## Glenn Bullion (Sep 28, 2010)

Hmm you guys got me wondering now    I hope I don't repeat like crazy.


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## ReeseReed (Dec 5, 2009)

I think we all repeat certain things... I know I certainly do.  What points them out (in a cringe-worthy fashion) is reading the manuscript aloud.  Once you think it's perfectly polished, read the whole thing out loud.  I'm often horrified at how many repeats I find through this.  Thankfully, it's ME finding them and not the reader.


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## tamborine (May 16, 2009)

Years ago I read a book where everyone's arms were always akimbo. Drove me nuts!


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

tamborine said:


> Years ago I read a book where everyone's arms were always akimbo. Drove me nuts!


I did not even know what akimbo was--had to look it up. Who uses that expression? And multiple times even?!?

Well, thanks for the vocabulary lesson.


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## Guest (Nov 6, 2010)

JennSpot said:


> I don't normally write reviews of any sort. But this time I was compelled...the author used "she spat" or "I spat" fifteen times and "smirked" twenty-three times in this book.


How long was the book? If it was 80k plus, it might've gone unnoticed. If it was 30k, I can see it being a problem.

To get at the larger issue here, I'd say indie authors are more susceptible to overused words if they aren't getting any help. It was something my editor really drove home to me. That said, spat or smirked might be better than just using "said" every time. Keeping the writing fresh with an expanded vocabularly is eminently important.


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## Mark_A_Lopez (Oct 24, 2010)

It's not just a self-published phenomenon. Two well known authors drive me crazy: The late David Eddings (the use of the word 'neighbor' on behalf of his protagonist) and Anne Rice (she uses 'preternaturally' as often as possible). Not quite deal breakers, but annoying nevertheless.

That said, you were perfectly justified in posting that review. Self-published authors are responsible for what they write, and as long as it isn't purposefully malicious, you have a right to your opinion.


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## Judi Coltman (Aug 23, 2010)

ReeseReed said:


> I think we all repeat certain things... I know I certainly do. What points them out (in a cringe-worthy fashion) is reading the manuscript aloud. Once you think it's perfectly polished, read the whole thing out loud. I'm often horrified at how many repeats I find through this. Thankfully, it's ME finding them and not the reader.


That is, bar far, the best advice I ever got. My editor told me that a reading out loud would reveal fluency issues, repeats and plain old lazy writing. She was right and I try to do this, even when posting on boards.


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## DavidRM (Sep 21, 2010)

Stephen R. Donaldson used "eldritch" to distraction in "Runes of the Earth". Enough that I refused to read the other books in that new series.

Robert Jordan in Book 10 of the Wheel of Time (I forget the title; probably blocked it out) had quite literally copied-and-pasted the same character descriptions throughout the book. For that reason (and myriad others) that was the last book of that series I read (do *not* get me started).

-David


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## JennSpot (Feb 13, 2009)

Arkali said:


> I read a book once about 6 or 7 years ago where the heroine's sister was constantly described as "feckless". Every other page. I didn't count, but it was frequent and often. I smirked as I thought to myself that the author must have been proud of her "word of the day"  Seriously, though - feckless isn't a word you see all the time, so it's going to stand out when you see it. Then when you KEEP seeing it. Today I couldn't tell you the name of the book or the author or anything else about the book except that the heroine had an irresponsible, hare-brained sister.


That is exactly what happened, it just happened occurred enough to stand out. It is waayyyy too easy with the kindle to actually count 

Really, I don't mean to be unkind to authors...I actually respect all of you very much for your creativity and courage to publish. I think I feel bad for this author who obviously didn't have a support team, as it sounds like many of you do.

Please keep writing and ignore people like me


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

ReeseReed said:


> I think we all repeat certain things... I know I certainly do. What points them out (in a cringe-worthy fashion) is reading the manuscript aloud. Once you think it's perfectly polished, read the whole thing out loud. I'm often horrified at how many repeats I find through this. Thankfully, it's ME finding them and not the reader.


Yes! Reading aloud makes those repeated words leap off the page, along with awkward phrasing and other infelicitous usages. 

As for reading other people's work, self- or traditionally-published, I do find repetitions pull me put of the story. For example, I enjoy Randall Garrett's "Lord Darcy" stories, but I do wish he wouldn't refer to Master Sean as "the tubby little sorcerer" on what feels like every single page.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

I just recently gave up on a sample for a similar reason. It was not just the repetition, but that was one of the more noticeable shortcomings (there were also too many adverbs -- not all adverbs are bad, but these were really "lazy" in my opinion). Within the first few pages of the sample there were three paragraphs that started almost the same:

"S***," said Joe....
"S***," muttered Joe....
"S***," he muttered....

("Joe" was not the character's name, it was actually some fantasy genre name I don't recall now.)

Everyone's tolerance for such things is different, though. In fact, I think my tolerance has decreased quite a bit over the decades I've been reading. I'm much pickier about the actual writing these days, whereas when I was younger I think I let a lot of that go if the story was compelling enough.


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

Does anyone else notice this things much more on an ereader as opposed to paper back?  It's like they throw themselves off the page - unless I wrote them, of course.     *Cannot self edit*


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## Anne Victory (Jul 29, 2010)

farrellclaire said:


> Does anyone else notice this things much more on an ereader as opposed to paper back? It's like they throw themselves off the page - unless I wrote them, of course.   *Cannot self edit*


 " Can anyone self edit?" I smirked. Or would that be snarked? LOL I'm just joshing.

Seriously, I don't really notice repetitions that much. Well - I take that back. It REALLY depends on the repetition. If it's "said" or some such common word, I really don't pay attention. In the case of smirking - why is the character ALWAYS smirking? Smirking isn't something most people do all the time (I don't think). And s/he spat? Eeeewwww!!! Gross!  In my example of "feckless", I noticed it immediately because it's definitely not a word you come across every day. I have no problem with that - I expanded my vocabulary. Yay for reading! But because it was an unusual word, I noticed every subsequent usage AND it drove me more and more nuts each time, until at the end of the book I was grinding my teeth and wishing the feckless sister would just die already.

Akimbo. I've actually seen that one before. I'm trying to remember if it was a fourth grade vocab lesson or a Zane Gray novel. Definitely not a word you see / hear often


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## purplepen79 (May 6, 2010)

We all have our pet peeves with repetition--smirked and spat don't bother me so much, although I bet they would if they're used a whole lot, especially within a page or two of the last usage.  

The last books where repetition drove me nuts were the Harry Potter books.  Don't get me wrong--I love Harry Potter.  I think JK Rowling is a story-telling genius.  However, there is no need to have an adverb every time a character says something.  "I can't pay attention," Hermione said distractedly.  It's an easy mistake to make in the throes of composition, but I wonder why no editor (and I'm sure the Harry Potter books have an editor, if not a whole cadre of editors) didn't notice and take out the unnecessary adverbs.


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## Emily King (Jun 9, 2009)

Twilight has the word "murmured" in it 37 times... drove me nuts, aside from all the adverbs used in every conversation. "... he murmured grimly, ... he murmured darkly" Ugh.

I love that you can search for a word in a kindle book - easy way to discover if you're just being weird about a certain word or if it is definitely used that many times.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

JennSpot said:


> Is this a by-product of self-publishing on Amazon?


I think it's a byproduct of a lack of editorial assistance which is often seen in self-publishing. Every writer not only has words she likes, but words her brain will more readily offer up. One of mine is the word "think" -- note first line of my response. It's a habit based on preferring not to use absolutes or have folks get the impression that I feel I can speak for everyone. That's how it started and now it's a tic. I can police myself, of course, but it won't stand out for me the way it would an editor or beta reader -- or the person who DLs the story on Amazon.

One of the things an editor/beta reader is going to do is say things like, "Did you realize you used the same word 4 times in a page and a half? Also, every time Mary Sue smiles, you mention her laugh lines, and she smiles a lot." They are the safety net and a lot of self-pubbed writers are working without a net, and it shows.


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## tamborine (May 16, 2009)

KarenW.B. said:


> I did not even know what akimbo was--had to look it up. Who uses that expression? And multiple times even?!?
> 
> Well, thanks for the vocabulary lesson.


It's been so long, but I'm pretty sure it was either The Flame and The Flower, or The Wolf and The Dove (or maybe both ) by Kathleen Woodiwiss.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

No, it's not just an indie problem, it's a proofreading issue. If someone is proofing for content and plot only, they may not notice repeated words. I try to notice duplicate (or very similar) words within a paragraph, but won't notice if a word is repeated on multiple pages. Except for "said" or variations. I do notice how dialogue is introduced and if it looks like things are being overused, I'll comment to Mike.


Spoiler



Or if multiple characters are using a similar colloquialism even if from different backgrounds.


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## Anne Victory (Jul 29, 2010)

Heh, T.L. You just cracked me up - thanks


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

Arkali said:


> " Can anyone self edit?" I smirked. Or would that be snarked? LOL I'm just joshing.


She joshed. 



T.L. Haddix said:


> Is it only an Indie phenomenon? Nope. I attempted to read an historical novel a few months back wherein the heroine not only had a bonafide temper tantrum because her intended husband married someone else - not a throwing things because he is a dog, but a stomping feet, screaming, holding breath, don't wanna share, temper tantrum - but she also spoke in exclamation points. Every sentence ended in them! It was so annoying! There just aren't words, you see! This book was published by New York. Makes me wonder if the editor just hated the writer or something, or maybe someone slept with someone. Instead of the casting couch, it's the editing couch. GAHHH!!!!


I absolutely hate exclamation points in a story. I'll put a book down for that, seriously. I'm such a freak, I get enraged by too many of them. On forums and stuff, I don't care - but on my ereader, they jump out and stab me in the eye.

She interjected angrily.



Emily King said:


> Twilight has the word "murmured" in it 37 times... drove me nuts, aside from all the adverbs used in every conversation. "... he murmured grimly, ... he murmured darkly" Ugh.
> 
> I love that you can search for a word in a kindle book - easy way to discover if you're just being weird about a certain word or if it is definitely used that many times.


Lots of repetitive words in Twilight. Anyone ever watch Alex Day's readings of Twilight on Youtube? Too funny. He should be an editor.


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## Anne Victory (Jul 29, 2010)

"Thanks, Claire!  That was hilarious!!" she said, laughingly.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

That was pretty funny! He seemed deliberately nit-picky at a couple points, but he was hilarious.


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

I just watched the last video, he only finished the book the other day.  It took him a year.  

He is nit-picky, he notices things I wouldn't in a million years.  But he makes me laugh out loud.


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## David &#039;Half-Orc&#039; Dalglish (Feb 1, 2010)

Someone linked me to that guy awhile back, and my wife and I watched his Twilight videos for like, an hour. Hysterical stuff.


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## tbrookside (Nov 4, 2009)

I have a personal problem on forums controlling my use of the word "actually".

I find myself using it multiple times in a paragaph, or even in a single sentence.

So I try to make it a rule that I can never use it when I write - not even a single time.


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## Anne Victory (Jul 29, 2010)

I'm watching the subsequent videos in the series right now, and omigod, he's cracking me up.  I actually liked Twilight, but yeah, he's got good points


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## LCEvans (Mar 29, 2009)

That video was hysterical. Now I'm compelled to view the others. 

Arms akimbo--yes, that one always pulls me out of the story because it's not a word I ever hear anyone in real life use. Ever. What's even worse is when an author writes that legs are akimbo. I didn't know they could be, but I looked it up and it means "set in a bent position like a tailor sitting with legs akimbo." The worst thing of all is when the author writes that someone "stood with arms and legs akimbo."


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## Tracy Falbe (Jul 4, 2010)

I don't think that word repition and poor word choice are problems caused by self publishing. I've seen it in many works. Even the venerable and much beloved Lord of the Rings has a fault in this department. My friends and I in high school used to joke about how Gimli the Dwarf always "stomped". And I mean he always stomped.

Many self published works are very good with talented writing. Same can be said of books produced by for-profit publishing companies. Both publishing systems also produce terrible stuff. In many mainstream commercial works I've seen no evidence of an author having bad habits reined in at all by the companies that are supposed to be working hard to produce good products. I've seen plots go to sleep for hundreds of unnecessary pages. I've endured really lame dialogue that seemed like it was written by software. I read a very popular bestseller that I won't name for the sake of being nice that started out fantastic and tumbled into stupid nonsense for the rest of the book. I felt like the publisher and editor never even read what was being published. 

The good and the bad comes from all sources.


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## theraven (Dec 30, 2009)

Like others, I've noticed this is self-published and traditional published books. If the word is 'common' I don't notice it quite as much. Recently, I read a cozy mystery (trad pub) and everyone trundled to get places. It drove me nuts. My husband even caught me asking the book if anyone in the town ever just walked for crying out loud. The heroine trundled. Her friend trundled. The detective trundled. If I took the time to count it might not have been more then 10 times but it was such an unusual replacement word for walked that it stood out.


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## Linda S. Prather Author (Jun 25, 2010)

Jenn, first of all we should never ignore people like you.  Your input on here has already been valuable, as many of us will now start looking at the words we use and how often we use them.  Every time a reader gives honest input it's invaluable to authors.  I personally thank you.  It isn't just an Indie problem.  I started reading a Patricia Cornwell novel and the words wet dog were repeated about 17 times on I think two pages.  Anyway enough to drive me crazy and I stated to myself, "if she says wet dog one more time I'm going to throw this book across the room" .  Well, she did, and I did and Ms. Cornwell lost a fan.  I refuse to buy any of her books now.  

So, yes, please point out what bothers you when reading a novel so that we can all learn from our mistakes and/or the mistakes of others.


Linda


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## Judi Coltman (Aug 23, 2010)

Some may call them pet peeves, I call them opportunities to broaden my scope and hope that I can learn from them.  

My husband goes ballistic over typos, I get agitated when continuity is broken, but what I really hate is when an author writes a character as one way, but the actions are completely opposite.  I don't mean to rip on Twilight, ok, I really do.  I read them all.  I enjoyed them, but, I thought Bella was one of the most annoyingly needy characters I have ever had to buy into.  She was supposed to be all tough, brave and feisty, yet if I had to endure another description of how Bella flees to the safety of Vampire Cullen's strong, stoney arms, or had to be protected etc., I thought I might crack my beloved Kindle screen.

Sorry - just had to weigh in on that.  Clearly my opinion didn't stop me from buying and reading the series.


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## Anne Victory (Jul 29, 2010)

Linda S. Prather Author said:


> I started reading a Patricia Cornwell novel and the words wet dog were repeated about 17 times on I think two pages. Anyway enough to drive me crazy and I stated to myself, "if she says wet dog one more time I'm going to throw this book across the room" . *Well, she did, and I did and Ms. Cornwell lost a fan.* I refuse to buy any of her books now.


Omigod, that was hilarious! Thanks for the laugh  Though I'm sorry you had to endure that. Nothing stinks like wet dog. Well, maybe wet skunk - ick.



> I don't mean to rip on Twilight, ok, I really do. I read them all. I enjoyed them, but, I thought Bella was one of the most annoyingly needy characters I have ever had to buy into. She was supposed to be all tough, brave and feisty, yet if I had to endure another description of how Bella flees to the safety of Vampire Cullen's strong, stoney arms, or had to be protected etc., I thought I might crack my beloved Kindle screen


Wait, what? Twilight fan, here, and I'm trying to remember if anyone billed Bella as tough, brave and feisty. If so, they LIED! Where's the tar and feathers?!?


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

This is classic. From the guy reviewing Twilight in the YouTube clip:


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## Anne Victory (Jul 29, 2010)

LMAO  On a serious note, she's really pretty   On target, though - yeah, I finished watching all his "readings" today and cracked up.  I think it was just much his "bloody hell"s and "effing hell"s and "stupid girl" all in his British accent.  Seriously, though, as much as I loved Twilight, and I did, all of his points were spot on.


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

LOL - bless her little cotton socks, Stephenie gets an awful time - I'm sure she's crying as she counts all her millions.  I read all four books, plus the draft of Midnight Sun so I'm kind of mocking myself when I laugh.

He rips into song lyrics too, my OH hates when I watch the videos because I can't stop giggling.

ETA: She _is _ quite pretty.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

I think my favorite was his chapter 2:





"Why does nothing please you!?!"


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

*Giggles*  Just watched it again.  I should read the book again too, some time.


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## Anne Victory (Jul 29, 2010)

LOL  I just re-watched that.  Perfect 

I think some of the laugh-out-loud moments for me were when he was laughing because the Forks HS "wasn't obviously a high school except for the sign out front that said Forks HS" and he was all   "How much more obvious can it be?!?"  In fairness, I got what she meant, though - some schools look very "institutional" and I took it that she meant that Forks HS did not.  The other Omigod thing that he ripped on was how ALL these guys are asking HER to the frickin' Sadie Hawkins dance.  WTF?


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## VujaDe (Oct 2, 2010)

I'm glad this thread is here.  I rarely speak ill of anyone's writing because I know how hard it is and how personal we take it but I recently read two books on the Kindle that were from indie authors.
I shook my head when, in one book, the author used "LOL" twice in the narrative of the main character.  Yes, she's a teenager and it's from her point of view, but I don't think "LOL" should be included in the narrative!

In the other book, the narrating character said she polished off six tacos and "they were yummy in my tummy".  Which I thought was ridiculous coming from a grown woman.

I'm probably being VERY picky but "yummy in my tummy" is not something I want to read from the heroine of my book.


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

Oh, my God. Thank you for sharing those Twilight videos. Those are priceless.


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## Anne Victory (Jul 29, 2010)

VujaDe said:


> I'm glad this thread is here. I rarely speak ill of anyone's writing because I know how hard it is and how personal we take it but I recently read two books on the Kindle that were from indie authors.
> I shook my head when, in one book, the author used "LOL" twice in the narrative of the main character. Yes, she's a teenager and it's from her point of view, but I don't think "LOL" should be included in the narrative!
> 
> In the other book, the narrating character said she polished off six tacos and "they were yummy in my tummy". Which I thought was ridiculous coming from a grown woman.
> ...


Omigosh. You just cracked me up (in a good way). Sorry you had a bad experience with those two books


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

This is slightly OT, but after I've been online for a long time, I sometimes find myself thinking "LOL".


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## Anne Victory (Jul 29, 2010)

Monique said:


> This is slightly OT, but after I've been online for a long time, I sometimes find myself thinking "LOL".


Me, too. I started to ask if it was internal dialog or if said protagonist actually SAID LOL to someone. I also sometimes think "LMAO". I'm so sad...


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## tbrookside (Nov 4, 2009)

VujaDe said:


> I'm glad this thread is here. I rarely speak ill of anyone's writing because I know how hard it is and how personal we take it but I recently read two books on the Kindle that were from indie authors.
> I shook my head when, in one book, the author used "LOL" twice in the narrative of the main character. Yes, she's a teenager and it's from her point of view, but I don't think "LOL" should be included in the narrative!
> 
> In the other book, the narrating character said she polished off six tacos and "they were yummy in my tummy". Which I thought was ridiculous coming from a grown woman.
> ...


I suppose it depends on the characters.

If I was ever to write something with autobiographical elements, all dialogue between the protag and his spouse would have to be delivered in silly song form. Often songs that in some way refer to one cat or another doing something a cat can't do, like drive a car or cook dinner.

In fact, I think that if rendered realistically, all dialogue or internal monologue in a story featuring me would consist of silly songs, LOLCats-style dialect, in-jokes referring to incidents decades old delivered in an arch tone, profanity, Simpsons and South Park quotes, misquoted classic rock lyrics, and snark.

I don't know if I've ever said "yummy in my tummy", but I would probably say something like "I can haz more tacoz?" And I'm 41.

I guess it's a good thing I stick to historical settings.


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## MaryEllen Redmond (Oct 17, 2010)

My personal favorites (to hate) are "footfalls" and "acrid."

They were the okay the first five thousand times they were used but now it's beyond tiresome. As to why authors still use them, Samuel Johnson probably had the answer: "Ignorance, Madam. Pure ignorance."


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## Anne Victory (Jul 29, 2010)

tbrookside said:


> In fact, I think that if rendered realistically, all dialogue or internal monologue in a story featuring me would consist of silly songs, LOLCats-style dialect, in-jokes referring to incidents decades old delivered in an arch tone, profanity, Simpsons and South Park quotes, misquoted classic rock lyrics, and snark.
> 
> I don't know if I've ever said "yummy in my tummy", but I would probably say something like "I can haz more tacoz?" And I'm 41.


Omigod. We use LOLCats dialect here, too. Simpsons doesn't get quoted all that much, but South Park surely does. I say "I can haz..." when I'm in a silly mood. And I refer to pedicures as "footie-cures". And if I get hungry I've been known to say that "I'm so rumbly in my tumbly." You can't go wrong quoting Pooh, can you?


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## Emily King (Jun 9, 2009)

My niece is 13 and talks with LOL & OMG's all through a conversation... As the letters, not the meaning.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

OMG I understand because it's shorthand for an actual expression people say. LOL though? Wouldn't you just, you know, laugh out loud?


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## Emily King (Jun 9, 2009)

We joke around with her about it, usually with a response along the lines of, (in a valley girl voice) "OMG, can you believe that? LOL."


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## VujaDe (Oct 2, 2010)

I've been known to say "LOL",  "OMG" and "WTF" (a LOT) actually saying the letters but I have done that jokingly.
I would think when you're writing, you wouldn't pigeon-hole your readership by saying "LOL" or "I can haz hotdog?".  
I've been around the 'net since 1996 so I get it but, IMHO, it seems out of place in a novel.

No one over the age of 5 should say "yummy in my tummy"! LOL


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

T.L. Haddix said:


> My own pet peeve repetitive word is milieu. Nora Roberts, I'm growling this at you! I hate that word. She has to use it at least once, and sometimes more than once, in every book. GRRRR.


This is when keeping your entire library on your Kindle comes in handy. I have most of her books on my Kindle (well, 89 of them I think..I'm a NR/Robb addict) I just searched and she's used it 16 times in 14 of her books (Hot Ice and The Hollow she used it twice)

Charlaine Harris seems to use it quite a bit too. I have 4 instances of it and I only have 8 of her books!

Yes, I'm guilty of searching to see how often a person has used a word in a book when I seem to be running across it every time I turn a page. It's quite entertaining sometimes.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

I think a woman who writes about werewolves gets a free pass to use the word "growl."


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## nancylynnjarvis (Jul 27, 2010)

I try to come up with a variety of ways to describe people and their expressions. Tony Hillerman was one of my favorite mystery writers but I started counting "wry smiles" once and was staggered by how many times he used that little phrase. The first time I used wry to describe a character's smile in one of my own books I could hardly type the letters because I was laughing so hard.
Nancy Lynn Jarvis


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

Monique said:


> This is slightly OT, but after I've been online for a long time, I sometimes find myself thinking "LOL".


Same here, I absolutely blame it on a WAP chatroom I frequented in my early 20's.

If I was a narrating character in a book, it would be a ridiculous book. I think (and say, for that matter) the most ridiculous things. Part of it is because I've been mainly socialising with toddlers and babies for the last six years but mostly it's because I'm an idiot. I'm not very good at being a grown up. I've been known to say things like you silly mooey to grownups in real conversations. Then I have to cover up by distracting them fierce quick. 

I definitely overuse wry. I honestly don't know how to adequately describe what a wry smile/look means to me.

And although I do actually write about werewolves, I am way too free with my use of growly type words. They're just too perfect.


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