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

[frabjously.livejournal.com]

In short: HELL YES.

That woman uses the word spill for everything and anything. Hair, power, clothing, and God knows what else. She's ruined the word so much that I can't even write the word spill in a perfectly ordinary context like "I spilled my drink" without going cross-eyed and banging my head against the wall.

The moral is that LKH ruins English vocabulary.

[baeraad.livejournal.com]

(*pained voice*) Yes. Oh yes.

Also "sweetie," "nude"/"nudity" (what's wrong with "naked"?), "metaphysical" and, ye gods, "power."

Though in those cases it might be more the way she uses them that bugs me rather than the frequency...

[frabjously.livejournal.com]

Just to add: I don't think we should blame an editor for an author's own lack of creativity.

[panicqueen.livejournal.com]

She tends to overuse dozens of words, but yes, that's the most overused word of the bunch.

When I was reading the first Charlaine Harris novels, I noticed she liked to use the phrase "pleased as punch." I counted three or four in the first couple of books. I've finished the fourth book (fifth? I can't remember) and I haven't seen it since the second one.

If only Laurell could have done the same, with soooooo many things.

[digitalusrex.livejournal.com]

i just went back and read some past lashouts and came across the convo with the publisher so i guess we can't really blame her editor.

i'm starting to feel that way too.

[digitalusrex.livejournal.com]

yeah, the parts where she tells natty or richard, "i want to see you nude" bug me. i've NEVER said that to any of my boyfriends. usually i say, "strip, b!tch" but you could say i'm a little mean.

[dan-lian.livejournal.com]

God... who's got the icon with: "Erotic? I do not think this word means what you think it means"... I need to yoink it now.

[ellenel13.livejournal.com]

Yes. And, personal pet peeve, why don't you use capital letters?

[no-ron.livejournal.com]

:)))
that's my favorite laurellism! :))
she did use it in the older books, when she was still readable, but it never seemed in excess.
then one day i noticed that suddenly many things were spilling. and when finally hands and weirder stuff started to spill.. that was my wtf moment..

[vlredreign.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, teh spillage goes waaaaaay back.

Along with:

my sweetie (makes me wanna yark)
"Let me test my understanding..." - test THIS, bitch!!
vanilla
kitty-cat eyes
hair as black as mine
"He brought me..." Brought you where? To the loony bin?? Oooh, can we use the pointy thingies?!?!?
"He/I ate/fed at my/his mouth..." What, McDonald's run out of burgers?

You know, among others. :D

[digitalusrex.livejournal.com]

i was born without pinky fingers.
though i do capitalize on official/professional correspondence.

[digitalusrex.livejournal.com]

exactement!
it was a novel descriptor at first...AT FIRST.

[digitalusrex.livejournal.com]

hahahahaha!

vanilla: i mean, really, does she have to rub it in our faces that he smells better than we do on any given day?
hair: she does seems obsessed with the color of her hair. darkity dark?

and yes! yes! yes! with the feeding at the mouth!!!!!!!!!!1

and the ardeur. i got incubus dreams on audio book as something fun to try and i cringed every time the reader said "ardeur."

here's another one that popped up here and there later in the series, but is in full force in DM: "i tried to put into my face what i felt for him." it makes me want to stab myself in the head.

[no-ron.livejournal.com]

:))))))))
while the spill amuses me greatly, i could feed her every single page with "kitty-cat eyes" written on it! that's just so lame! and more so that it mostly concerns the Tripod (Micah)..

[digitalusrex.livejournal.com]

is charlaine harris good?
i've been looking to try other "supernatural mystery/romance" authors to see if i like the genres. i've read some kim harrison and she's alright.

[digitalusrex.livejournal.com]

i've been out of the lashout universe for a while. i assume that he's called the tripod because of his oft-mentioned endowment?

[vlredreign.livejournal.com]

"i tried to put into my face what i felt for him." it makes me want to stab myself in the head.

OMGEYENOES!!!!

*stabbity stab stab*

Here, use this. Hurts less.

Ar-dooey. Oy vey. I will live long and die happy if I never hear that word again.

[vlredreign.livejournal.com]

You would be correct. I remember calling him that. Along with "loser."

DIE, MICAH, DIIIIIIEEEEEE!!!!

[panicqueen.livejournal.com]

I absolute love Charlaine Harris. I liked her first book, really liked her second, and by the fourth I'm just...I can't put them down. They're amazing and they just get better and better.

And her sex scenes are well-written, steamy without being stifling, and incredibly...real and sensual. And she doesn't overuse them. Sookie Stackhouse isn't always on her back just getting sexed up. She's a wonderful protagonist, and she's not a Mary Sue. She's great. I really, really like her and identify with her well.

Plus, Harris' writing is much, much better than Hamilton's.

[vmisery.livejournal.com]

I find that funny, because in earlier books she makes a big point that lycanthropes are never naked, just nude. Cause naked is self-conscious/vulnerable and nude isn't apparently and lycanthropes are so comfortable with lack of clothing.

[shadowbloodwing.livejournal.com]

Spill and nude. Most overused words ever! "Nude" is something a model is when they're posing for an art class, not something you say during foreplay. LKH needs a thesaurus and/or dictionary. Doesn't even have to buy them, there's a vast internet out there for her to utilize if she ever gets that smart. I don't see that happening anytime soon, but a girl can dream right?

Somehow I doubt it's the editor's fault. They're payed to check for spelling and grammar errors, not point out to the author that she's a stupid bitch in need of a bigger vocabulary.

[quizzicalsphinx.livejournal.com]

I'm now recalling a conversation Neil Gaiman's Death had with her always-naked sister Despair: "I always think of you as nude. It's . . . elegant. Babies are naked."

[baeraad.livejournal.com]

Hmm... yes, that's the same definition a friend of mine gave me when I complained about the subject.

Not that it matters. These days, no one is ever naked in those books, they're always nude. I think she just thinks it sounds nicer. =]

[roguetailkinker.livejournal.com]

"fuck buddy" - SLOW PAINFUL DEATH to whomever came up with that bloody phrase.

[roguetailkinker.livejournal.com]

I can actually see using "nude" for just wandering around sans attire the way the lycanthropes do all the time. But when you're stripping for sex, it's not nude. It's naked.