Your writing tics?

[UrsusMinor]

In Carolyn See's wonderful "Making a Literary Life," she says: "Every writer has a set of 'favorite words' that break out in his or her head like a bad case of hives." She mentions one writer who found it hard to write an extended piece without someone "relishing" something, and another whose characters often "espied" things. (In her own case, people "proceeded" to do things--eat hamburgers, wash their hands, etc..)

Nothing wrong with espying or relishing or even proceeding, of course, as long as it doesn't happen too often.

In my case, I have caught "ease" and "heft." Inoffensive enough, but you should only find characters easing into chairs or around corners or up next to someone or into a conversation once, or perhaps twice, per book. Especially if while doing so they feel the comforting heft of the gun in their hand, or heft a suitcase to test its weight...

There must be others I haven't even noticed.

Do you have tics--less-than-common words or phrases (other than Pithecanthropus) that pop up like dandelions in your writing?

[icerose]

It's not the uncommon words that get me into trouble it's the common words that should make themselves scarce that get me into trouble.

[J.S Greer]

I tend to add phrases like

"He supposed" or "It was likely" more than I should.

[Shadow_Ferret]

My characters smile and shrug a lot.

[TheIT]

In my NaNo WIP, everyone had their hands clenched into fists. My characters also smile, nod, and shrug too much.

[MidnightMuse]

My characters smile and shrug a lot.

Ditto that, and add running hands through hair a bit more often than they should.

[Akuma]

I believe I'm prone to "yelped", "gestured", "spun", and "turned".

[MidnightMuse]

I believe I'm prone to "yelped", "gestured", "spun", and "turned".

Sounds like a new dance craze :D

[TheIT]

Sounds like a new dance craze :D

Or he just sat down on a bee hive. :D

[WildScribe]

I know I have tics, but I can't think of them. One book that pissed me off, however, had great writing with the exception of the jarring word that appreared exactly once a chapter. The ubiquitous word, you wonder? It was, ironically, ubiquitous.

[UrsusMinor]

My characters smile and shrug a lot.

In my NaNo WIP, everyone had their hands clenched into fists. My characters also smile, nod, and shrug too much.

Ooooh, now we're off into 'stage business'. Yeah, if people smiled and laughed and chuckled as much in real life as they do in novels, the world would seem like a nuthouse.

[TheIT]

Ooooh, now we're off into 'stage business'. Yeah, if people smiled and laughed and chuckled as much in real life as they do in novels, the world would seem like a nuthouse.

Agreed. When I'm composing the scene I find it easier to reach for a shorthand like "he smiled" rather than stopping the flow of my writing to think of a better phrase. I figure I can trim the stage directions during revision once I have a better idea of how the scene and staging should flow.

[kuatolives]

'some kind of'

-He limped across the field like some kind of zombie.
-He looked like an extra in some kind of B action movie, just waiting to be shot.
-He looked like he'd just been caught answering a rigged question on some kind of early fifties tv game show.

etc
ETC.

[Mr. Funktastic]

My characters narrow their eyes often. They shrug a lot, too, and scratch the backs of their heads.

I also fall victim to using "as if" for comparisons. Thank God for revisions.

[Sean D. Schaffer]

My words include 'Definitely' and 'Proceeded', among others. They're always fun to try to find a substitute for, as for some reason, they seem to be the only suitable words in my mind for certain things.

Oh, and another word that is a problem with me, is 'seem'.

[Inkwell]

Lately, I've been noticing alot of hand descriptions in my writing. I reread the last chapter I wrote last night and noticed that I had described the fingernails of each character.

*eek*

[engmajor2005]

My characters are a sighing and shrugging lot. I also tend to make a good deal of natural comparisons, and my characters like to hug as well.

And I don't care what Master King says; I LOVE ME SOME ADVERBS! That might actually be a good thing; one of my betas described my writing as being "very visual, almost like a graphic novel without picutres." She meant it as a good thing, and I thank the adverbs.

[PeeDee]

And I don't care what Master King says; I LOVE ME SOME ADVERBS! That might actually be a good thing; one of my betas described my writing as being "very visual, almost like a graphic novel without picutres." She meant it as a good thing, and I thank the adverbs.

Noooooo! STay good! STay on the computer, and keep talking to us! Okay? Stay with us. We're going to get you some help, all right? Things will be okay. There IS a light at the end of the tunnel, and you need to head toward it stridently.

[RLB]

Ahh adverbs. For some reason the word "decidedly" keeps popping up in my manuscript.

I also tend to use the phrases "not unlike" and "not a little" instead of just saying "like" or "very." I think I subconsciously do that as a gift to myself for when I have to go back to reduce word count.

[WerenCole]

I just edited a paper of mine and found that I kept on using the word "though."


It was quite annoying. . . I edited all of them out. Not a one survived.


I have other words, that is just the one of the day.

[Scarlett_156]

I used to be so paranoid about repetition that I made a macro that would alphabetically sort all the words of a chapter, essay, or article so that I could see if some descriptor was getting overused... heh... at one point I was even keeping statistics: "Most used descriptor" "words used only once" "longest word" etc. *blush*

My worst habit these days is falling into "manual mode" too much-- meaning that a great deal of my unedited writing tends to read as though it's instructions to something, instead of a story or extrapolation of opinion or ideas. That's why I deleted my main account on Rotteneggs.com, btw-- the quality that was making my eggs so highly rated was killing my creativity. I was spending more time writing articles with such titles as "how I broke into the abandoned warehouse" and "a good prank to play on telemarketers" than I was with my short stories. It was fun while it lasted, though...

[bethannerickson]

What a fun thread!

I dislike "had" and "that." Too many "to be" verbs drive me crazy.

Still, passives sneak in my manuscripts. Can't kill 'em all.

I write like my hair's on fire on the first draft. Next day I re-read all my brilliant prose and find an awful lot of trash.

Dang.

Talk later,

Beth

[J.S Greer]

And I don't care what Master King says; I LOVE ME SOME ADVERBS! That might actually be a good thing; one of my betas described my writing as being "very visual, almost like a graphic novel without picutres." She meant it as a good thing, and I thank the adverbs.

Adverbs are evil. Whenever I see a bad piece of writing, its full of them; adjectives too.

Thats not to say that they cant be used, or that good writing doesnt employ them, because they can and it does. Most people who abuse them though do so because they think it makes for better writing, which over-description absolutely does not.

[seun]

My characters nod far too much...at least until I get to the rewrite and cut 99% of the f**king nods.
I have a feeling I've overdone the looking at in my WIP but I know how to be ruthless when it comes to editing.

[travelgal]

I noticed I tend to use 'even' and 'also' and 'that'.

I'm an 'as if' monkey, too.

CHOP!

[FergieC]

I have 'just' way too often. I'm not technical enought to write a macro, so I do a replace 'just' with 'just1' and see how many replacements Word had to make (usually about 347). 'Though' is another bad one.

It's funny though (arh - done it again) I find that weaknesses in real life transfer onto characters. In real life, I hate to disagree too much, so I always qualify. If I know someone's got something wrong, I'll say something like, 'Oh, no...I mean, I think it's X' or 'I have a feeling it might be X' rather than 'You're wrong. It's X'. My characters tend to do the same thing, qualify. So 'maybe', 'might' and 'perhaps' are in there far too often.

[bsolah]

I tend to add phrases like

"He supposed" or "It was likely" more than I should.

That seems to be a trait of mine too; Phrases that make you seem unsure of things. It's the sign of an unconfident writer, in my opinion.

It should not be, "He supposed he loved her," but "He loved her!" Dammit!

[Zolah]

I tend to use 'great' a lot to refer to something large or awe-inspiring. For instance: 'The great sail sliced through the sky' or 'The great mountain loomed like a shadow of the sun'. I also start alot of sentences with And and But. In early stories I quite often described characters who had met an accident as having some kind of encounter with 'darkness': 'Then there was only darkness' or 'Darkness rose up to embrace him'. I try to stay clear of that one, and have done since my editor pointed out that there were other ways of ending a scene than having the protagonist lapse into unconsciousness!

[farfromfearless]

For me it is "in a moment", "in a moment of", "moment". Arrrrgh!

[Ardellis]

I have a tendency to measure short periods of time in heartbeats, and to let my characters blink and grimace altogether too often.

I've also noticed that I start a lot of sentences with "and." And (see?!) my sentences naturally run to multiple clauses, even when mood and pacing dictates that they shouldn't. I do a lot of recombining and amputating when I edit.

[Allynegirl]

Before reading the LWWUJ thread, I used quite quite a lot. I didn't quite realize it was quite annoying until then.

[Azure Skye]

Yesterday, as I was editing, I noticed my MC rolled her eyes a lot. Oops.

[PeeDee]

I noticed that I use words a lot, but I'm trying to cut down.



:D

[Carrie in PA]

I only write when I'm naked, soaking in a tub of melted chocolate while listening to Mozart and surrounded by...



Oh, sorry, wrong feti... er, tic.




My characters smile, shrug and nod a lot.

[Azure Skye]

I noticed that I use words a lot, but I'm trying to cut down.



:D

I hear they're high in cholesterol and make your face break out.

[PeeDee]

I hear they're high in cholesterol and make your face break out.

My face has broken out twice, but we ran it down and recaptured it both times. It's in solitary at the moment.

[Azure Skye]

My face has broken out twice, but we ran it down and recaptured it both times. It's in solitary at the moment.

LOL *snort*

You can't be too careful with dem pesky faces.

[FloVoyager]

"That" and "just," but I just go through and replace or remove all that stuff in the editing. ;)

[PeeDee]

OR...

I have lots of writing tics, but Haggis has been picking them out when he grooms my fur, and I'm getting better now.


:D

[UrsusMinor]

I have 'just' way too often. I'm not technical enought to write a macro, so I do a replace 'just' with 'just1' and see how many replacements Word had to make (usually about 347).

So when I pick up a book someday and read the sentence "The car had just1 arrived at the gate when..." I'll know who wrote it, right, Fergie? (Unless a bunch of other folks adopt your methodology in the meantime.)

I try to stay clear of that one, and have done since my editor pointed out that there were other ways of ending a scene than having the protagonist lapse into unconsciousness!

There are?

[engmajor2005]

Noooooo! STay good! STay on the computer, and keep talking to us! Okay? Stay with us. We're going to get you some help, all right? Things will be okay. There IS a light at the end of the tunnel, and you need to head toward it stridently.

No! I need my adverbs! They make me feel good! I'm not the same without them! I DON'T WANT TO GO TO REHAB! I LIKE BEING A JUNKIE!

(I say that loudly, as I look at you pleadingly.)

[engmajor2005]

And by the way, I never use more than one adverb a sentence and rarely more than two in a paragraph/five on a page.

[arrowqueen]

My characters keep biting their lips when they're under stress. Must cost them a fortune in chapstick.

[PeeDee]

And by the way, I never use more than one adverb a sentence and rarely more than two in a paragraph/five on a page.

:scared: :e2thud:

[engmajor2005]

I don't know if it's a tic or just a recurring image (I'm sure there's something abstract philosophical way to turn it around into genius) but my stories tend to end with somebody walking away from something. My first novel ended that way and about 9/10 of my shorts end that way.

By the way, I've had a great day writing. About, I don't know, 16-17 pages on the WIP. So I'm going to get up and walk away from my computer to play video games.

[Marlowe]

I've used the word "just" so many times I should be standing outside a courthouse holding a scale. I'm getting over it, but it's just such a lovely- augh! I did it again!

[WildScribe]

I keep giggling when I read this. I'm almost afraid to read over my WIP and see what's going on there.

[BruceJ]

Robert Ludlum introduced me to the word "intrinsic." Over and over again.

I'm not sure what my tics are. Maybe I ought to go back a reread my book. (Great, now you've ruined for me!)

[David McAfee]

In my little universe, everything happens after a "moment" or during a "moment." I had to go back and purge those once I realized how many of the fraggin' things were in there.

[C.bronco]

This thread has made me snort three times so far. (I'd been chuckling, nodding and shrugging previously).
I'm not sure what my bad words are, because I probably block them out of my memory after I edit them. However, I so often wrote at night while tired that I found my MC was perpetually exhausted and falling alseep at the end of each chapter.

[C.bronco]

Thumbs up on the new badge, PeeDee. I didn't realize you were union.

[Cassidy]

Ha. This thread made me laugh too.

My characters are also prone to excess shrugging and nodding, but the one that I always have to edit for is "looking". He looked at her, she looked out the window, he looked away... I sometimes find several "lookings" on a page.

in the first draft of my first kids book (mg), I had a big problem with things happening "suddenly". Suddenly, suddenly, suddenly. Not good.

I think I've got rid of suddenly, but new tics keep appearing. it's a little bizarre.

i'm rather glad to hear others do this too.

-Cassidy

[PeeDee]

Thumbs up on the new badge, PeeDee. I didn't realize you were union.

We have to wear it at all times now, even off-duty. I'd show you where, but there are minors around and you'd owe me five bucks.

[The Lizard]

Have had 3 novels published and what appeals the most is character and connective narrative. Have a folder of both timelines and character bible so that you know all about each one.

Continuity is also a must.

I tend to take a razor to lots of fluff and filler (cause I also write for screen) whilst not destroying the flow. As long as the reader is led into the landscape of the story and kept there you have achived your goal.

It is easy, also, to begin a conversation and break into events within the setting of the narrative before continuing.

My way of writing a novel is less educated and more ...the place and the people are already there, I just have to open my head and let 'em in and follow their reason.

None of my characters are ever sweet or perfect <vomit>

Lizard

[benbradley]

Oh, and another word that is a problem with me, is 'seem'.

I seem to use that word often in my forum posts.

[J. Weiland]

I seem to use that word often in my forum posts.

Have you written a lot of academic papers? :D

[PeeDee]

Have had 3 novels published and what appeals the most is character and connective narrative. Have a folder of both timelines and character bible so that you know all about each one.

I don't think I've had a folder of notes -- timeline and character bible included -- for anything in ten years now. When I did, it was because it was a serial story and I needed something to show other writers if I chanced to bring them in.

(Though usually, I got so puzzled trying to explain the story to them that the only way I could properly get the storyline, mood, character interactions across to them was to....write the story. As a result, I had fifteen guest writers lined up, and I think they wrote a total of two episodes. And even then, just barely.)

[TsukiRyoko]

My characters "suppose" and furrow their brow too often.