Verbal annoyances

[easol.livejournal.com]

Y'know, people often talk about LKH's unbelievable metaphors ("evil chocolate in your ice cream" or whatever the hell that was), her smells, her silly "gawth" names, or her tendency to describe in detail what every character is wearing. But I find that there are a lot of verbal tics that bother me just as much.

Edit -- Similes: It feels like LKH cannot go through a paragraph without at least one terrible and/or vague simile, even when a simile is not needed. "... the fire burned us both like a force of nature"? Yeah, way to kill the drama.

Shading: Note to LKH -- I do not care how many shades lighter X's eyes are than Y's, or how many shades darker their shirt is. What are you using, paint chips?

"... Across My Skin": Words cannot express how sick I am of this phrase.

"White Bread": I hate this with a passion. What the hell is wrong with just saying "Hispanic" or "black"?

Rude conversations: If you are going to have people talking about the heroine like she isn't even there, then write books in the third person. It's just annoying to have people dissecting Whorenita's emotions while she sits there and drools.

Well, that's all I can think of off the top of my head. Does anyone else have 'em?

Comments

[electra310.livejournal.com]

I think in the Harry case, the people who had known his parents were specifically looking for family resemblances. When you really look at the child of someone you know, you can usually pick out a couple of features that remind you of the parents, even if it's more a creative re-envisioning.

But the "tri-colored rings of smoke and ice and smoke-covered ice with little sparkly lightning bolts in them and big long eyelashes and just a touch of pretty, pretty eyeshadow" thing that LKH does makes me wanna hurl.

[easol.livejournal.com]

You forgot the dancing unicorns in her pupils and gold-plated tear ducts.

Seriously, "tri-coloured"? Did she see someone who has a darker ring in their iris (I have one, so do lots of people) and decide that she could do better?