spill (for clarification)

[digitalusrex.livejournal.com]

in incubus dreams, i got about halfway through before i began unofficially counting the number of times miss laurell used the world "spill" (or "spilled," "spilling," etc). unofficially, i counted maybe 8 or 9 "spills" before i started officially counting. 32 after that.

having started re-reading danse macabre, in the first 160 pages or so: 11. [EDIT: 16 at 314 pages. EDIT EDIT: 21 at 383 pages (also, 4 times on one page!)]

i know i have favorite words that i like to use, but this goes above and beyond. now, while reading danse macabre, i've tried to decide if other words could have been substituted and stayed true to the original meaning of the passage. yep.

a LOT of things annoy me about the series, especially the last 4 books, but this "spill" nonsense is what is bugging me this week. if miss laurell had an editor with ballz, perhaps it would have made a difference?

have you all noticed this overusage of the word "spill"?

Comments

[arclights.livejournal.com]

Naked sounds dirtier, and is probably offensive to her sensibilities. It makes sense to me, and I find myself doing the same thing a lot. Of course, I never try to market myself as hardcore and edgy, but ... you know. :P

[skeezix74.livejournal.com]

The "ate" thing pisses me off to no end!

"We kissed and it was like he was trying to eat me from the mouth down."

Um sorry Laurita but in the context of vamps & werewolves, I do not get excited at the idea if being eaten in any way!

*headdesk*

[tsubaki-ny.livejournal.com]

Can you direct me to this publisher conversation?

[vlredreign.livejournal.com]

Considering that the reason she left Richard in the first place was because he "ate at" Marcus' heart.

Maybe it should be "nekkid" . . .

[wonderbink.livejournal.com]

How does that line go? "Naked is when you don't have any clothes on. Nekkid is when you don't have any clothes on, and you're up to something."

[panicqueen.livejournal.com]

Hah! I bow to your wit. *bows*

[panicqueen.livejournal.com]

Brainless fluff? I didn't get a brainless fluff vibe from her, though she is a little more focused on the romance aspect of love rather than the sex, which is...ah...refreshing, after wading through the filth ofreading LKH.

So far, Dead to the World is my favorite, but even so, I have a hard time considering it fluff. Brainless, considering that yeah, you can sort of pick out what's going to happen, but not really fluff.

[panicqueen.livejournal.com]

I don't have any of the books in front of me for reference (I sold them a couple of weeks ago), but she used a couple variations of "double-edged sword" SEVERAL TIMES over the course of five or six of the novels.

Annoying.

[zombiexbunny.livejournal.com]

The "test my understanding" bit REALLY drives me crazy.

Another one I hate, is when they refer to having an orgasm as "going"/"go"

In DM, there was one scene in a car where they kept saying "You go when I go" and "If you don't don't stop I'm going to go."

WTF? Where are they going?

[alex-lebeau.livejournal.com]

I couldn't even read it for brainless fluff. X_X I gave my SFBC copy to Half Price Books, and I so rarely give books away -- it's a cardinal sin, for me.

Somewhere I saw reference to her possibly writing the first books as a sort of sarcastic rebuttal to similar "paranormal chick" books, and it was meant to be read as such, but I honestly never noticed as I thought they sucked on their own. "I'm pretty. I have nice boobs. I also have internal dialogue that manages to be more boring than watching paint dry. Did I mention I also have nice boobs?"

[baeraad.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I agree. That's kind of what annoys me with her overuse of that word - that it sounds so coy and prettified in a story that is so full of explicit sex, graphic violence (well, not so much of that anymore, actually...) and all sorts of bodily fluids constantly spilling (sorry ;) ) all over the place.

[digitalusrex.livejournal.com]

http://community.livejournal.com/lkh_lashouts/263700.html

[tsubaki-ny.livejournal.com]

Oh,THAT one! Thanks!

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I'm joining in the chorus of "let me test my understanding," hate. And I'll raise y'all a, "flat out did it for me/him/them/us." DID WHAT, BITCH? WHAT DID IT DO?!

And my favourite peeve of all: overuse of the word "vamp" (stabbity!).

[kethlenda.livejournal.com]

Oh, I hate the "brought me" business. I grew up around St. Louis and no one ever said that there. They may say it in other areas of the country, but it jars me every time because I'd never even heard anyone refer to orgasm like that until LKH.

"Candy." Especially when referring to someone's pulse.

"I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding."

[kethlenda.livejournal.com]

Any reference to someone's pulse being candy.

Also, the use of the term "his body" to refer to a guy's penis. Often leading to ludicrous constructions like "His body was lying against his body..." or "I took his whole body into my mouth."

[vlredreign.livejournal.com]

"I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding."

Damn. Wish she hadn't. then we wouldn't have to deal with her. *eg*

[kethlenda.livejournal.com]

YES. That sounds like peeing, not orgasm.

[digitalusrex.livejournal.com]

you know. she's a rainmaker.
it just makes me mad.
she has some tender young stripper bf who smell like vanilla, has extreme multiples, a g-spot the size of a fist and squirts. i mean, COME ON!!!!!!!!!!

[digitalusrex.livejournal.com]

i agree on the candy thing. its really bad in ID and DM.

"velvet muscle"

*stands back to let you appreciate the stupidity of that...way back*

[kethlenda.livejournal.com]

And just loves having her cervix pounded all to hell. *winces*

[digitalusrex.livejournal.com]

hey now. maybe laurita has some kind of, i don't know...awake apnea?

[vlredreign.livejournal.com]

Hee!

And don't forget those poor manicurists down in the basement.

BTW, your icon rocks!!

[leggomylegolas.livejournal.com]

She also says things are "a line" a lot. "Like a line of fire" "his body was a line of muscle" wtf does that mean, Laurel.

"Made it a question" makes me want to hurt people. All you have to do is use one of THESE: "?" and we'll know, ok?

Anne Rice does it with "in sum". It's in every book multiple times. So fucking annoying.

[zgirl714.livejournal.com]

Really?