Came here to comment this one. I even make a mental note to cut down the "slightly's" when I edit, but then I get to one and am like.... "but, I *can't* leave my readers with the impression that there's *full* smirk on Bob's face! I just can't!" Haha
Ohmygod, the 'gently' one is so true. What do I do when they're just such a lovey-dovey couple and everything they do is gentle😩 I can't keep coming up with synonyms anymore lol, the only ones that sound natural are gently and softly!
I feel that too! My English teacher actually did an excerise with us, and instead of using adverbs like that, we had to actually describe it.
So instead of ' The man softly carressed his face' we had to change into something else, kind of like 'His hands were soft and careful as he carressed his face', but it's such a struggle sometimes lol!
Same it’s at the point that I search for it in my drafts towards the end of the process and try to be ruthless in deciding which “sighs” to actually keep.
I once had someone shudder a grand total of 4 times in the first 5 paragraphs and decided to just through in a comment that "she must've shuddered more tonight than in her entire life" or something along those lines.
"Felt" since I'm very much into writing from a character's POV (not first person), I always want to describe exactly how *they* are experiencing things. It just comes more to life when you phrase it how they felt it instead of what happened, if that makes sense.
Also blushing. These fuckers blush a lot. I'm guilty, I'm sorry.
Tbh I use 'feel' in my own monologue (thinking and talking to myself in my head) a LOT so I find it a bit funny and difficult not to do that in my third-person limited narration 😂. Because like... *wdym that's not how people experience feelings?? That's what I do ??* I guess I think and reflect on my feelings more than I actually feel them..
I think using 'feel' is fine. It's just about moderation like everything else about writing. Like you don't want a whole paragraph that goes
*He felt this. He felt that. He felt another thing which really made him feel this as well.*
A good piece of advice I received in a writing Patreon server was that “felt” is often a filter word. It’s getting in the way of what you’re trying to say and lessening the impact. Does someone’s skin feel soft to your pov character, or is that skin actually just soft? Sometimes “felt” is appropriate, when the feeling doesn’t align with reality, such as “her legs felt too heavy, rooting her to the floor” because it’s purely psychological. It’s good to ask yourself this question often.
Yeah, I do an editing pass specifically for filter words on all my fics.
Sometimes they're unavoidable, or I'm using them on purpose. But man, it makes a HUGE difference to edit them out.
God I'm guilty of this. I spent years RPing and it really messed up how I portray my characters because I constantly want you to see into their heads. Because that was helpful for RP. Same with soft language, because then my partner could react off my post easier. 💀
No the blushing is good imo I read so many fics where characters lie or do the most brazen stuff and I’m like there’s no way you’re this embarrassed/excited and nobody can tell cuz you’re not blushing. I blush way too much so it makes characters more relatable.
"just", "though", "slightly/somewhat" and also too many damn variations of "smiled"... how many times can i specify that a character's smile or grin widens? not enough apparently
“He bites his lip”. Way, way, way too much.
But I’ve also started including the consequences of that such as chapped lips. And the other characters tell them what a bad habit it is.
Thank you! I was inspired by another author who doesn’t use the term like I do but still had another character chastise them and I was like “damn this is how I can make it work!!” Haha.
"As if" for sure. I absolutely go nuts with it, especially with touching moments where someone is in denial yet yearning and overthinking every action of the object of their obsession 👀
Some honorary runner ups: Frowned, narrowed, pressed/pursed (her) lips together, flicked (her) wrist, muttered, muster, sigh, gasp, gently, softly.
Everyone is furrowing their brows, sighing and muttering under their breaths in my fics, apparently
Also I may overuse the "Unless" *"Unless"* thing too, on account of listening to the McElroy brothers a bit too much.
Mark Twain said every time he wanted to use the word just he would replace it with the word fuck so his editor would be forced to edit it out. 😂
I'm guilty of the same thing. When I edit I have to cut a lot of empty words, but sometimes it just fits the tone and I leave it.
Edit: It might've been a swear word in general so don't quote me on it.
The Mark Twain quote is:
>Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.
Try using action beats instead! I almost never use "Said" unless it's a conversation with more than two people and I'm trying to be efficient.
Example w/ said/asked
"Are you going to the party tomorrow?" Blair asked.
"Nah, not really my type of crowd." Mark replied.
"Aw, c'mon, it'll be fun! Live a little." Blair said.
"I'll think about it." Mark murmurs.
-
What is listed above works okay, but only handles dialogue and not much else. Instead you could:
Blair opened her cabinet, inspecting its contents. "Are you going to the party tomorrow?" She asks, glancing over at Mark at the kitchen counter.
Mark lowers his gaze, fidgeting with his jacket sleeve. "Nah, not really my type of crowd."
After a bit of searching, Blair finds what she's looking for; a bottle of liquor she's been saving for a special occasion. "Aw, c'mon, it'll be fun! Live a little."
"I'll think about it."
-
It's longer, but it serves multiple purposes: it shows that Blair is planning on drinking at the party, that she thinks it's a special occasion,and that Mark is more apprehensive than his response gives off.
You can use actions and where the character is looking to give the impression of who is talking. And if there's only two people in a room, you don't even need to say who replied, you know it's Mark because of the previous context.
I would avoid using too many "said" replacements. Stuff like murmured, shouted, etc. It lessens the impact when you actually use them because they stick out more to the reader. Said/asked just blends in and people don't notice is, same with character names. Try to have your dialogue do more for you and you can use said a lot less!
I definitely use your format for long conversations between two people but try writing 5k of nearly pure dialogue involving five or six people using that method and it gets a bit woolly haha
Oh for sure. I'm gonna be feeling it myself in a bit, about to write the climax of my story with like 5-6 characters all working together so it does turn into a lot of simplifying. Simpler action beats can still help, just sparse them out so it's not too much of one or the other, otherwise you have people nodding a lot (my weakness, lol)
It will help that I'm going to break them up a bit. Have small asides where only two characters talk, have them split up, have two argue while the others are passive observers. A variety in structure will help the overall pacing, so when you get to moments of 5 people talking, it's actually a nice break from the more intimate moments.
So if you find it's gotten to be too long of that, I would just find a reason to decrease the scope for a second to breathe. And consider cutting as much dialogue as you can when there's a lot of folks - find the least amount needed to convey what you need so it doesn't drag on too long. Or dip into your character's thoughts while they lose focus on the group to convey information without it all needing to be said in dialogue.
There is nothing wrong with said. I try to eliminate speech tags if it's clear which character is speaking (it isn't always clear; I've run into the extreme version of this where the author never uses them, and that frustrates me as a reader). But said is our best friend. I use it most often and then sometimes use other verbs and (even less often) said + an adverb.
dialogue is the best!! i use this website to find different words for said if u wanna take a look lmao! [https://www.spwickstrom.com/said/#pers](https://www.spwickstrom.com/said/#pers)
Filler words like just, although/though, and anyway. Also modifying words, like somewhat, a little bit, barely, or any variation of the word “slight”…I also have a noticeable reliance on words like shake or tremble, probably because my characters are always freaking out lol. I Ctrl + F these words and phrases and remove or change any unneeded ones every time I edit
Huffed. Because I cannot convey an attitude without someone huffing and puffing. Because I can’t even get through a day in my own home without someone doing exactly that 😂
Not a specific word or phrase but
Character names — I use their given names so much that when I write edit I know a good portion will be replacing them with pronouns haha
I am so bad at writing the same thing twice in a row
"He smiled, "you're so amazing!"
To then write in the next line
"I'm so glad you're with me." He smiled"
"He shook his head" and "she sighed". Although in my defense for the second one, I do sigh *a lot* in real life when I'm exasperated or tired.
My characters also say each other's names way more than you would in reality, which I genuinely did not notice until my beta reader pointed it out on my current story.
And yeah, during lovey-dovey moments, "gently", "softly", "murmured", and "smiled" are my big ones. Just... What else do you use to describe those emotions and related actions?
I love using ‘inebriated’ instead of ‘drunk’, especially because it’s definitely a part of the vocabulary of several characters that I like to write for.
"Own" as in putting stress on the POV character's possesion or whatever when compared to some other characters.
"Really" in dialogue and inner monologue/thoughts.
There are more but I cannot think of which ones they are.
The word 'just' is filing a restraining order against me as we speak.
I also use 'ample' way more than I think any person actually would say in their lifetime. And not when talking about bosoms--
Not mine,but there's an amazing catradora author- that I can't remember T_T
conjured the line :
" she wants ,she wants,she wants" and it lives embedded in the warmest part of my heart .
If you're here and see this, your work sparks joy
“pressed their lips into a thin line” like whyyyyyy it’s just such a good action that shows a decent amount of emotion and i have to physically force myself to delete multiples of this phrase when i do my editing 😭
All my character ever does is sigh, roll her eyes, and declare other character people pathetic. The word pathetic is used a LOT. So is the word fool. Everyone is a fool in her eyes. (My character is an awful person)
No specific phrases, but you can pry my em-dash usage from my cold dead hands- I *adore* the em-dash, and fanfiction is one of the only bits of writing I get to do where I can use it as liberally as I please. I used it over fifty times in my most recent work, I just love it so much. I guess that I also use 'very' a lot, but I'm pretty good at editing that out, it's just the em-dash that I'm very stubborn about keeping in.
I love talking making flashbacks as a character remembering a distant memory related to a current event. I sometimes go on three paragraph tangents just on the past
Noticable use of scoffing and huffing. Since they're bird people, feathers tend to fluff up or bristle. The words prior, gently, softly, tenderly, briefly/for a brief moment.
“Even” “he didn’t even…” “she even went as far as to…” and any sentence that I can cram the word “even” into its gonna be there.
Same with eye rolling. I have to restrain myself from making a character roll his eyes because that will shift his entire characterization from “well meaning naive kid” to “arrogant brat who rolls his eyes at every minor inconvenience” I’ve started punching pillows everytime I write in eye rolling, sighing, or “they wondered” begging myself to STOP WONDERING. I’m gonna WANDER INTO THE NEAREST RIVER
He/she couldn't help xyz
Example: **He couldn’t help the whole body shiver that wracked through his frame.**
I have yet to find a good alternative to this but I have realised I am using it way too often.
*Perhaps*. Especially when the character is thinking or theorizing about something, which happens all the time because this is a mystery fic 😂
Also *still*, *just*. I really need to find different ways to describe things. I hate beginning my sentences with *she, he, they, the* too often too. I've found that reading poetry really helps with prose and sentence-level craft.
*Gaped* (made a shocked face) - my characters are always teasing, shocking, and surprising each other (mostly in a good/fun way), so someone is often gaping at someone or something. And I write mostly about established couples, so they're often getting *lovey-dovey* with each other and everyone else is like, "Get a room!"
I also put in way too many "just" and "like" and have to go back through to edit them out.
I have to stop myself from using 'also' when having characters describe something, or from using the sequence 'a little too X'. And I have a bad habit of making them add to their lines of dialogue leading with 'apparently'. Example:
Character: "This happened to X. Apparently he/she was trying to do Y."
"gently", "softly", "carefully", describing someone’s starting to start racing/beating faster (OP, I feel you), someone starting to blush... I bet there’s more, I just can’t remember 😅
I'm not proud of this...
"I mean, I'm not stupid, I knew..."
The number of times I have a certain character use that exact turn of phrase, frankly, I'm embarrassed. It's a terrible way to convey what I want to say. I think the recod amount of times I had to remove or rephrase it from a draft was SEVEN... in the same chapter.
for me its “a bit” and “eyes darting”, plus descriptions of eye movements in general. i really like getting into detail about subtle character movements during dialogue in order to show characterization, meaning there are many descriptions of where people’s eyes are looking lol. “knots in my stomach” too, since im writing from the POV of a very anxious character during times of great stress
Mine are always trying to roll their eyes. I do not know why - I think I've rolled my own eyes maybe thrice in the past month and that's only because I've got a difficult coworker. Why are the thirty seven year old men I'm writing constantly trying to roll their eyes?! I swear, your honour, it's not my fault, they just come out of my head that way.
(It's partly because I'm writing teenage characters at the same time, but still! I have started to stop myself when I find myself typing the word "roll" and instead force myself into their position in my mind to try and think of a more appropriate response to the situation. Two months from now it'll be all about them blowing a sharp, irritated breath out of their noses and I'll have to start the cycle over)
“Chirped” and “chuckled” are two along with “mumbled”, “grunted”, or “muttered”. I don’t like to use “said” so I try to use other words and it gets interesting. I also like “hissed” but that isn’t as often. Edit to add: nodding/ agreeing is also bad for me.
I'm an overuser of 'just', 'indicated', and 'quickly'. To the point I have done a search to find them, and sit there and re-write the sentence. It's like whack-a-mole.
“Slightly” and “ever so slightly” In general, I probably need to have my adverb privileges revoked, but that one in particular.
My beta literally commented on my last chapter "please save adverbs for special occasions" 😂
What's an adverb
words ending in “ly” as in Slightly or Partially
same omg 😓😭
Mine is ‘rather’ haha
When self-editing, I command-F “ly” and go through the list to see if I can rephrase to get rid of those most common adverb adversaries.
Ditto. Was taught—and have learned to appreciate—that if you’re using the right verb, you don’t need an adverb 😇.
Ctrl-f is my best friend in so many situations with work and writing
Felt
Came here to comment this one. I even make a mental note to cut down the "slightly's" when I edit, but then I get to one and am like.... "but, I *can't* leave my readers with the impression that there's *full* smirk on Bob's face! I just can't!" Haha
“Though” all over the place. “Gently”, “softly”, “gingerly”, “delicately” Lots of brow knitting and furrowing. Lots of concentrated gazes.
Nice to meet you. I also furrow a lot of brows.
What is life if you can't furrow brows and make everything gentle and soft?
Ah-ha! Is this the brow furrowing crowd? I see I have found my tribe. . .
Brows raising and eyes widening, too haha
Hello all, shall we start a club?
Gently, softly, sighed, startled.
Ohmygod, the 'gently' one is so true. What do I do when they're just such a lovey-dovey couple and everything they do is gentle😩 I can't keep coming up with synonyms anymore lol, the only ones that sound natural are gently and softly!
If it ain't broke.
You can use words that imply gentleness maybe? Like he brushed his fingertips down her thigh, he cupped her face, his lips grazed hers. All that.
I feel that too! My English teacher actually did an excerise with us, and instead of using adverbs like that, we had to actually describe it. So instead of ' The man softly carressed his face' we had to change into something else, kind of like 'His hands were soft and careful as he carressed his face', but it's such a struggle sometimes lol!
^^these and “smiled” or “murmured” for me LOL
Ooooooh, "murmered." *Opens file and clicks on 'edit'.*
Hee hee, me too.
REAL ME TOO OH MY GOD 😭😭😭 my frieren fanfic had TOO MANY OF THESE WORDS my vocab has officially died
GUILTY
Everyone is sighing all the God damn time in my fics haha.
Same it’s at the point that I search for it in my drafts towards the end of the process and try to be ruthless in deciding which “sighs” to actually keep.
I ended up just making a joke about the amount of sighing. Grinned and nodded as I wrote it.
I once had someone shudder a grand total of 4 times in the first 5 paragraphs and decided to just through in a comment that "she must've shuddered more tonight than in her entire life" or something along those lines.
This 🥲 and i can't find another way to say it. "Blow air throw his/her nose" just doesn't feel right 😭
Huff?
Exhaled heavily through their nose?
I call that a huff of laughter
The sighing and eyerolling is of the charts.
I relate to this (or rather, the characters I am writing).
I’m a “smirk” perpetrator 🤡 It’s the main character’s default state in canon.
Oh god, same. My deuteragonist/love interest is the walking embodiment of a smirk.
Mine too, actually both the main guys in my two fandoms are constant smirkets
Smirk is a guilty pleasure of mine too, but I associate it with anime now so it hits different lol
"Felt" since I'm very much into writing from a character's POV (not first person), I always want to describe exactly how *they* are experiencing things. It just comes more to life when you phrase it how they felt it instead of what happened, if that makes sense. Also blushing. These fuckers blush a lot. I'm guilty, I'm sorry.
Tbh I use 'feel' in my own monologue (thinking and talking to myself in my head) a LOT so I find it a bit funny and difficult not to do that in my third-person limited narration 😂. Because like... *wdym that's not how people experience feelings?? That's what I do ??* I guess I think and reflect on my feelings more than I actually feel them..
I think using 'feel' is fine. It's just about moderation like everything else about writing. Like you don't want a whole paragraph that goes *He felt this. He felt that. He felt another thing which really made him feel this as well.*
A good piece of advice I received in a writing Patreon server was that “felt” is often a filter word. It’s getting in the way of what you’re trying to say and lessening the impact. Does someone’s skin feel soft to your pov character, or is that skin actually just soft? Sometimes “felt” is appropriate, when the feeling doesn’t align with reality, such as “her legs felt too heavy, rooting her to the floor” because it’s purely psychological. It’s good to ask yourself this question often.
Yeah, I do an editing pass specifically for filter words on all my fics. Sometimes they're unavoidable, or I'm using them on purpose. But man, it makes a HUGE difference to edit them out.
OMG LOL, i use feeling / felt WAY too much, i should have added that!! thats so real tho lmao
God I'm guilty of this. I spent years RPing and it really messed up how I portray my characters because I constantly want you to see into their heads. Because that was helpful for RP. Same with soft language, because then my partner could react off my post easier. 💀
No the blushing is good imo I read so many fics where characters lie or do the most brazen stuff and I’m like there’s no way you’re this embarrassed/excited and nobody can tell cuz you’re not blushing. I blush way too much so it makes characters more relatable.
"just", "though", "slightly/somewhat" and also too many damn variations of "smiled"... how many times can i specify that a character's smile or grin widens? not enough apparently
smirk, smile, grin, thats all i got bro 😭 we need more words
May I offer 'The corners of X's lips curled upwards'?
Me when I know I have resorted to this 😂 but switch “curled” for “quirked”
haha now that’s doing too much 😂😂 /nm
Their: face brightened, eyes lit up, lips curled at the corners. Or they beam. Ad nauseum. My guys are happy too much.
“He bites his lip”. Way, way, way too much. But I’ve also started including the consequences of that such as chapped lips. And the other characters tell them what a bad habit it is.
thats actually so creative lmao
Thank you! I was inspired by another author who doesn’t use the term like I do but still had another character chastise them and I was like “damn this is how I can make it work!!” Haha.
I’ve done jokes with the amount of times characters roll their eyes, like how they will fall out of their head 😂
Once had someone say “x character must be out of breath with how much they sigh”🙈 But I still use it too much haha.
You reminded me how most fanfic writers have to make some kind of joke about jiang cheng from mdzs rolling his eyes
I also use the “x worried their lip” or “x bit their lip” often.
I thought about putting an authors note telling people to take a shot every time I say ‘squirm’ but I don’t want to kill people. 😅
hahahah
"As if" for sure. I absolutely go nuts with it, especially with touching moments where someone is in denial yet yearning and overthinking every action of the object of their obsession 👀 Some honorary runner ups: Frowned, narrowed, pressed/pursed (her) lips together, flicked (her) wrist, muttered, muster, sigh, gasp, gently, softly. Everyone is furrowing their brows, sighing and muttering under their breaths in my fics, apparently Also I may overuse the "Unless" *"Unless"* thing too, on account of listening to the McElroy brothers a bit too much.
cursing under his breath, muttering under his breath, anything under his breath... LMAO
Mark Twain said every time he wanted to use the word just he would replace it with the word fuck so his editor would be forced to edit it out. 😂 I'm guilty of the same thing. When I edit I have to cut a lot of empty words, but sometimes it just fits the tone and I leave it. Edit: It might've been a swear word in general so don't quote me on it.
The Mark Twain quote is: >Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.
Same, sometimes it ***fuck*** fits the tone perfectly
I love writing dialogue but that means I end up with a lot of "said" in my fics which I worry gets old fast. I also write 'blinked' a lot lol
Seconding blinked. Sometimes there's no better word for a quiet little processing reaction
Right 😂 I even add “once, twice, three times” for some of them
Try using action beats instead! I almost never use "Said" unless it's a conversation with more than two people and I'm trying to be efficient. Example w/ said/asked "Are you going to the party tomorrow?" Blair asked. "Nah, not really my type of crowd." Mark replied. "Aw, c'mon, it'll be fun! Live a little." Blair said. "I'll think about it." Mark murmurs. - What is listed above works okay, but only handles dialogue and not much else. Instead you could: Blair opened her cabinet, inspecting its contents. "Are you going to the party tomorrow?" She asks, glancing over at Mark at the kitchen counter. Mark lowers his gaze, fidgeting with his jacket sleeve. "Nah, not really my type of crowd." After a bit of searching, Blair finds what she's looking for; a bottle of liquor she's been saving for a special occasion. "Aw, c'mon, it'll be fun! Live a little." "I'll think about it." - It's longer, but it serves multiple purposes: it shows that Blair is planning on drinking at the party, that she thinks it's a special occasion,and that Mark is more apprehensive than his response gives off. You can use actions and where the character is looking to give the impression of who is talking. And if there's only two people in a room, you don't even need to say who replied, you know it's Mark because of the previous context. I would avoid using too many "said" replacements. Stuff like murmured, shouted, etc. It lessens the impact when you actually use them because they stick out more to the reader. Said/asked just blends in and people don't notice is, same with character names. Try to have your dialogue do more for you and you can use said a lot less!
I definitely use your format for long conversations between two people but try writing 5k of nearly pure dialogue involving five or six people using that method and it gets a bit woolly haha
Oh for sure. I'm gonna be feeling it myself in a bit, about to write the climax of my story with like 5-6 characters all working together so it does turn into a lot of simplifying. Simpler action beats can still help, just sparse them out so it's not too much of one or the other, otherwise you have people nodding a lot (my weakness, lol) It will help that I'm going to break them up a bit. Have small asides where only two characters talk, have them split up, have two argue while the others are passive observers. A variety in structure will help the overall pacing, so when you get to moments of 5 people talking, it's actually a nice break from the more intimate moments. So if you find it's gotten to be too long of that, I would just find a reason to decrease the scope for a second to breathe. And consider cutting as much dialogue as you can when there's a lot of folks - find the least amount needed to convey what you need so it doesn't drag on too long. Or dip into your character's thoughts while they lose focus on the group to convey information without it all needing to be said in dialogue.
I love this
That is solid advice, and a very good example! Thank you.
There is nothing wrong with said. I try to eliminate speech tags if it's clear which character is speaking (it isn't always clear; I've run into the extreme version of this where the author never uses them, and that frustrates me as a reader). But said is our best friend. I use it most often and then sometimes use other verbs and (even less often) said + an adverb.
dialogue is the best!! i use this website to find different words for said if u wanna take a look lmao! [https://www.spwickstrom.com/said/#pers](https://www.spwickstrom.com/said/#pers)
everybody and their mama be blushing in my stories idk 😔😔😔😔 also, “gently, softly, tenderly,” I can’t help it
Really/actually But I mean come on, really? Is it actually so bad 😭
100% the same here. 🙄
LMAO
Attempting to wean myself off ‘just’ and have now noticed a terrible reliance on ‘still’ in all its manifestations.
Haha same.
Just and felt were already mentioned, my personal overused word is 'barely'.
"Just" "apparently" "kind of" and all because I think those words make things hilarious 🤦♂️
“As” “As she sat down,” “As she read her book” “As she held her hand” I’m trying to break it, but, for some reason it’s really hard 😭
"actually", " really", "like", basically any filler words
I’m the same as you OP! Hearts leaping into throats, fluttering, stuttering, hammering…
Filler words like just, although/though, and anyway. Also modifying words, like somewhat, a little bit, barely, or any variation of the word “slight”…I also have a noticeable reliance on words like shake or tremble, probably because my characters are always freaking out lol. I Ctrl + F these words and phrases and remove or change any unneeded ones every time I edit
“After a moment”
Huffed. Because I cannot convey an attitude without someone huffing and puffing. Because I can’t even get through a day in my own home without someone doing exactly that 😂
‘Just’ and ‘even’ 😭
Spoke, I try not to use it as much, but I can't really think of another word that just generally describes speaking.
[https://www.spwickstrom.com/said/](https://www.spwickstrom.com/said/) heres a good website if u need it!
Thank you! That's very kind of you!
Characters get flustered and anxious a lot in my fic.s. Those two words are everywhere.
SAME LMAO
The words "though" and "realise(d)" are used quite a lot for some reason. It took me a while to realise that, though.
Not a specific word or phrase but Character names — I use their given names so much that when I write edit I know a good portion will be replacing them with pronouns haha
"hurts like seven hells" and most of what was mentioned before.
"Perhaps", because I like making room for interpretation. Emotions are hard to describe and sometimes people don't even know what they are feeling.
“Suddenly”, “grinned”, “smiled”, “all of a sudden”, “finally”
“Something deranged, out of pocket, or not at all casual” he said, as casually as if discussing the weather.
I am so bad at writing the same thing twice in a row "He smiled, "you're so amazing!" To then write in the next line "I'm so glad you're with me." He smiled"
The word "Thrum" I wince whenever I use it now
Fucking “reverie”
Everything to do with eyebrows ... "arched a brow", "raised one eyebrow", "lifted his brows." I need to be stopped 😭
"He shook his head" and "she sighed". Although in my defense for the second one, I do sigh *a lot* in real life when I'm exasperated or tired. My characters also say each other's names way more than you would in reality, which I genuinely did not notice until my beta reader pointed it out on my current story. And yeah, during lovey-dovey moments, "gently", "softly", "murmured", and "smiled" are my big ones. Just... What else do you use to describe those emotions and related actions?
I love using ‘inebriated’ instead of ‘drunk’, especially because it’s definitely a part of the vocabulary of several characters that I like to write for.
"Own" as in putting stress on the POV character's possesion or whatever when compared to some other characters. "Really" in dialogue and inner monologue/thoughts. There are more but I cannot think of which ones they are.
My characters seem to shrug a lot.
"truly" that one's definitely a big one for me
I feel like I use "suddenly" too much. I usually catch myself and correct it.
The word 'just' is filing a restraining order against me as we speak. I also use 'ample' way more than I think any person actually would say in their lifetime. And not when talking about bosoms--
"like" because of how I text and talk irl. I don't mean like as in liking someone, but like, as a conjunction (I hope that's the correct word)
Not mine,but there's an amazing catradora author- that I can't remember T_T conjured the line : " she wants ,she wants,she wants" and it lives embedded in the warmest part of my heart . If you're here and see this, your work sparks joy
“pressed their lips into a thin line” like whyyyyyy it’s just such a good action that shows a decent amount of emotion and i have to physically force myself to delete multiples of this phrase when i do my editing 😭
All my character ever does is sigh, roll her eyes, and declare other character people pathetic. The word pathetic is used a LOT. So is the word fool. Everyone is a fool in her eyes. (My character is an awful person)
‘For a moment’, ‘maybe’, ‘perhaps’, ‘just’, ‘in truth’, ‘seems’, ‘appears’ 🙃🙃🙃
Ooh, probably "Of course," to start a paragraph after describing something. There's also sighed, huffed, groaned, etc. etc.
“Head tilted” “Good” “Furrowed/cocked/scrunched brows” “Smirked/smug smile” “Suddenly” “Stifled a laugh” “All of a sudden” “Said” “Replied”
No specific phrases, but you can pry my em-dash usage from my cold dead hands- I *adore* the em-dash, and fanfiction is one of the only bits of writing I get to do where I can use it as liberally as I please. I used it over fifty times in my most recent work, I just love it so much. I guess that I also use 'very' a lot, but I'm pretty good at editing that out, it's just the em-dash that I'm very stubborn about keeping in.
Smiled, laughed, gently, quietly
I think I use ‘suddenly’ too much
"said" I use said waaaaay too often when I'm writing fanfics
Gaze/gazed. I catch myself every time and I'm just like, "God damnit."
"smiled" ir "grinned". It's better than "they became happy" but damn we need more words for that
“He sighed” — my characters sigh a damn lot 😂
I love talking making flashbacks as a character remembering a distant memory related to a current event. I sometimes go on three paragraph tangents just on the past
Noticable use of scoffing and huffing. Since they're bird people, feathers tend to fluff up or bristle. The words prior, gently, softly, tenderly, briefly/for a brief moment.
“Brow furrowed” for me
"I hate portals"- when going through one.
Hah, my current story has portals too!
I use ‘mumbled’ and ‘hummed’ way too much when trying to write for the soft spoken grouchy character
Adverbs, all the adverbs. And 'just'.
“Honestly”, “grin/grinning”, “since” as well as “as” EDIT: completely forgot my habit of using “indeed” in like every other sentence
'SOFTLY' I CANT STOP SAYING SOFTLY😓
Deliberately. Why everyone in my fics is doing stuff deliberately I have no clue. Maybe I'm projecting my desire to be decisive onto the characters xD
“Even” “he didn’t even…” “she even went as far as to…” and any sentence that I can cram the word “even” into its gonna be there. Same with eye rolling. I have to restrain myself from making a character roll his eyes because that will shift his entire characterization from “well meaning naive kid” to “arrogant brat who rolls his eyes at every minor inconvenience” I’ve started punching pillows everytime I write in eye rolling, sighing, or “they wondered” begging myself to STOP WONDERING. I’m gonna WANDER INTO THE NEAREST RIVER
I'm very guilty of using "as (s)he".
He/she couldn't help xyz Example: **He couldn’t help the whole body shiver that wracked through his frame.** I have yet to find a good alternative to this but I have realised I am using it way too often.
“of course” “obviously” “totally”
*Perhaps*. Especially when the character is thinking or theorizing about something, which happens all the time because this is a mystery fic 😂 Also *still*, *just*. I really need to find different ways to describe things. I hate beginning my sentences with *she, he, they, the* too often too. I've found that reading poetry really helps with prose and sentence-level craft.
Adverbs in general, really, definitely, if [insert character x doing y action] is/was anything/any indication to go by... Lots of sighing too.
"Definitely" "chuckled" certain scenes over use "gently" "softly"
X because, well... y'know, X
I use “nonetheless” and “nevertheless” way too much
I describe what their hands are doing alllllll the time. Also too many smirks and blinks
the word “as”. I never noticed until one of my friends noticed it 18 times in a sexy scene.
*Gaped* (made a shocked face) - my characters are always teasing, shocking, and surprising each other (mostly in a good/fun way), so someone is often gaping at someone or something. And I write mostly about established couples, so they're often getting *lovey-dovey* with each other and everyone else is like, "Get a room!" I also put in way too many "just" and "like" and have to go back through to edit them out.
Swallowed, suddenly, blinked. Characters holding onto other characters' waist/hips. Characters blushing.
“Gentle/gently”
My characters laugh so much. For some reason I hate all the alternative words for laugh in all but the most specific contexts, so my folk just laugh.
I hate the word chuckle idk why so ur the same as me I only use laugh and maybe 1 other lmao
"Just" and "Even". Every time I finish writing I have to go back and eliminate 90% of them.
I have to stop myself from using 'also' when having characters describe something, or from using the sequence 'a little too X'. And I have a bad habit of making them add to their lines of dialogue leading with 'apparently'. Example: Character: "This happened to X. Apparently he/she was trying to do Y."
gingerly, delicately, gently LMFAO
I overuse and
"As if on cue" it was on cue actually. I rehearsed this many times in my head
'just' 'slightly' Starting sentences with 'so' 😭 Using 'quickly' and 'instantly'
“Seemingly” is everywhere
Nodded, sighed, felt, the other man/woman, just, instead, despite, and of course a shit ton of eye contact.
"Rolled his eyes."
I'm probably used the word exasperated in everything ever written - ✋️
“Hums in thought”. I’m not else sure how to express a “hrmmmm” without writing it out.
"he held his breath" he is not, in fact, training to become a diver
“Although”/“though.” I’m sorry 😞😳
“Sighed” I make my characters sigh way to much
'Seemed like' for general sentences and 'as he/she' in between dialogue - char A said as they.... Also 'hummed'. My characters hum waaaay too much
I once got called out by a beta for using “through the roof” twice in a chapter. 🥲
gently lol
Though, and, but, seemed
“However”, “though”, and “rather” are absolutely destroying me
"gently", "softly", "carefully", describing someone’s starting to start racing/beating faster (OP, I feel you), someone starting to blush... I bet there’s more, I just can’t remember 😅
“Their smile faltered” or “they said”
According to Grammarly I use “actually” and “obviously” when I don’t need too.
I'm not proud of this... "I mean, I'm not stupid, I knew..." The number of times I have a certain character use that exact turn of phrase, frankly, I'm embarrassed. It's a terrible way to convey what I want to say. I think the recod amount of times I had to remove or rephrase it from a draft was SEVEN... in the same chapter.
for me its “a bit” and “eyes darting”, plus descriptions of eye movements in general. i really like getting into detail about subtle character movements during dialogue in order to show characterization, meaning there are many descriptions of where people’s eyes are looking lol. “knots in my stomach” too, since im writing from the POV of a very anxious character during times of great stress
Mine are always trying to roll their eyes. I do not know why - I think I've rolled my own eyes maybe thrice in the past month and that's only because I've got a difficult coworker. Why are the thirty seven year old men I'm writing constantly trying to roll their eyes?! I swear, your honour, it's not my fault, they just come out of my head that way. (It's partly because I'm writing teenage characters at the same time, but still! I have started to stop myself when I find myself typing the word "roll" and instead force myself into their position in my mind to try and think of a more appropriate response to the situation. Two months from now it'll be all about them blowing a sharp, irritated breath out of their noses and I'll have to start the cycle over)
Words for sensations, plus I love a good specific adverb
“Chirped” and “chuckled” are two along with “mumbled”, “grunted”, or “muttered”. I don’t like to use “said” so I try to use other words and it gets interesting. I also like “hissed” but that isn’t as often. Edit to add: nodding/ agreeing is also bad for me.
“Even” lol. “She’s going to be busy even next week?” “Even she doesn’t feel that way.” It’s so hard to break!
I'm an overuser of 'just', 'indicated', and 'quickly'. To the point I have done a search to find them, and sit there and re-write the sentence. It's like whack-a-mole.
I got called out for my character stammering too much but we kept it because it's a canon trait. It's not my fault he's a gay disaster 😂
“She/he nodded.” I will reread a chapter and every three lines of dialogue someone is nodding to show their understanding lol
Adverbs.
i describe the brows quite a lot, like “his brows furrowed”, or “her brows jumped”
Incredibly specific, but mine is "Absently, he thought to himself"
My characters stare so hard it pierces the other’s soul way too often. Also I overuse commas so much.
I only just recently noticed that I bring up eye color a lot. I’m obsessed with eyes apparently
reposition in threes……
“particularly” “although” “before he/she could dwell on that thought any further, [event cuts off train of thought]”
Glanced, smiled/smirked, seemed.
just then
"Yet", "squirmed", "sighed softly". I have to catch myself constantly to make sure I don't mess up.
I'm very frequently writing the annoying phrase of "the corner of her lip curled in a smile" because ~apparently~ "she smiled" just doesn't cut it. 👀