Say That Again
Everyone has reading pet peeves. Those things that make your head spin. For example, I want to scream every single time I see the word “sinewy” in a romance novel. Don’t know why. It’s a legitimate word. Just bugs the hell out of me. In this article, the reader issue is repetitive word use. My favorite example is:
Another phrase I’ve noticed popping up in romance novels is the ‘over-stuffed armchair’. To be honest, I’m not even sure what an over-stuffed armchair looks like. Is a chair like this so bad that polyester filling oozes from its insides? Do customers have a right to complain if they have purchased an ‘over-stuffed armchair’?
Some of this may blend into voice. Using the same syntax and same sentence structures sound more like style to me, but the point is the same - the stuff we write over and over again annoys readers. As a reader, I do notice repetitive word use. It tends to break the rhythm and drag me out of the story. Knowing this as a reader, I still make the mistake as a writer. I have a tendency to start sentences with “Problem was…” or something similar. I have the perfect solution for this issue: my cp. Yeah, in the great “Do I Need A Critique Partner” debate, I’d put this in the pro column. Like the readers who will go after her, she notices the stuff I don’t - all the character eye rolling and the shrugging. Not sure about the armchair thing, but now I’ll be looking for it.
November 28th, 2005 at 10:21 am
lol I have an over-stuffed armchair in my living room. It’s just a larger than usual arm chair and very comfy. “Over-stuffed” because it’s padded more than typical chairs.
But yeah, pet peeves. Oh, like having a mid-twenties woman say slacks instead of pants. I’ve NEVER used that word in my life unless I’m describing some elderly woman’s polyester pants. Er, then I use pants too.
And what’s with “tony”? I keep seeing it in books in the past year, but I’d never heard it before. Sadly, I had to look the definition up after I saw it for the third time. Maybe it’s an East Coast thing.
November 28th, 2005 at 10:35 am
I had to look that word up, Nicole. I had no idea what it meant either.
HelenKay, I recently had a discussion with someone about repetitive words and syntax. She said that the repetitive use of certain phrases (like the dialogue tag, murmured or the action ‘fisted his hand in her hair’) went to author voice. But as a reader, it goes to making me want to bang a book against a wall. Phrases like that are distinctive and i think readers will notice if they’re used more than twice. It definitly pulls me out of the story!
November 28th, 2005 at 1:14 pm
I have to agree with you guys that repetitiveness is my pet peeve. Like you HK, it tends to pull me out of the story and when the flow is broken, I have a tendency to put it down and go do something else for a little while. Some things I do chalk up to an author’s voice, but some stuff drives me nuts!
November 28th, 2005 at 2:12 pm
I have an over-stuffed chair, so I knew what they meant. My peeve is the word slurped used in any context during a sex scene. I think people have forgotten what ’slurping’ sounds like. Shudder.
November 29th, 2005 at 1:33 am
I can not abide the word “suckled.” Every time I read it in a love scene, I think of breastfeeding. My heroes lick and suck nipples, but they will never, by God, NEVER, suckle them! Ewww, I think of my two sons whenever I read the word “suckle.” And that can’t be healthy.
Overstuffed armchair - It’s a visual. I like it. An armchair is just a plain armchair. If it’s overstuffed, it’s a fat armchair. Like those pub-style armchairs. So, yes, it does kind of look like it’s popping out at the seams.
Cindy
November 30th, 2005 at 8:43 am
Don’t love tony either, but slurped? Suckled? Not good. Reminds me too much of milking cows - not exactly a topic I find romantic.