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

[bludflower.livejournal.com]

I really can't stand all the "Yipee!"s, very much overused in the earlier books. Way to kill any chance of your character ever being taken seriously as an adult.

Also, in just about every book she's got to "relearn how to breathe" for some reason or another.

I really REEAALLY hate this one: "I could taste fear at the back of my throat". Wow, that's so deep and dramatic... *eyeroll* Can't she come up with a new one. This one's experation date was like book three.

I agree with the "flat-out does it" posts. They flat-out make my eye twitch.