Your verbal ticks.

Ludicrum · Apr 17, 2011

While editing my novel it suddenly occurred to me that I have a strange habit of suddenly throwing the word "suddenly" into my narrative. The word makes a sudden appearance, halts the flow of the sentence, then suddenly vanishes.

"But how can this be?" I exclaimed. "Surely I would have noticed this sooner!"

"Not necessarily," my inner critic pointed out. "You do have quite the love affair with that word."

"I do not!" I protested.

"You also use 'said bookisms' a little too often," he observed. "You particularly enjoy using the word 'protested' in your dialogue tags whenever a character disagrees with something."

"That's not true!" I protested.

"There! You just did it again!" he laughed.

"I suddenly wish you would shut the hell up," I protested.

Williebee · Apr 17, 2011

It seems a bit obvious that mine is "seems".

KellyAssauer · Apr 17, 2011

Ludicrum said:
While editing my novel it ~~suddenly~~ occurred to me that I have a strange habit of ~~suddenly~~ throwing the word "~~suddenly~~" into my narrative. The word makes a sudden appearance, halts the flow of the sentence, then ~~suddenly~~ vanishes.

"But how can this be?" I exclaimed. "~~Surely~~ I would have noticed this sooner!"

"Not ~~necessarily~~," my inner critic pointed out. "You do have quite the love affair with that word."

"I do not!" I protested.

"You also use 'said bookisms' a little too often," he observed. "You ~~particularly~~ enjoy using the word 'protested' in your dialogue tags whenever a character disagrees with something."

"That's not true!" I protested.

"There! You just did it again!" he laughed.

"I ~~suddenly~~ wish you would shut the hell up," I protested.

.
My first edit would eliminate all "ly" adverbs. After awhile, you learn to just stop writing with them.

My strangest habit is constructing sentences backwards. What I mean is that for strange reasons that even I haven't come to grips with, I'll construct lengthy adverb phrases long before the predicate.

=)

Linda Adams · Apr 17, 2011

I leave stuff out. I'm not good with details (which means anything that's not the big picture, not hair color and eye color). So I end up with characters exiting the stage without actually doing so or forgetting that the character is holding a piece of driftwood. I'm thinking so much about the big picture, I'm hopping over these things to get to the next part of the big picture.

Maryn · Apr 17, 2011

For me, it's just. Isn't that just peachy?

Maryn, who probably says it too much, too

sheadakota · Apr 17, 2011

Okay everybody just clam down!

Why do I do that every stinking time- why??

Oh and I use just way to often-and I tend to repeat names in dialogue- a lot-

Manuel Royal · Apr 17, 2011

Tics.

With me, it might be split infinitives. I don't think they should be forbidden, but I do tend to unnecessarily abuse the privilege.

Xelebes · Apr 17, 2011

Grunts, clearing my throat, and some coprolalia. . . oh wait, you're not talking about tic disorders.

DreamWeaver · Apr 17, 2011

Exclamation points! If you ever catch one of my posts before the third time I've edited it, you'll see what I mean. I spend more time going back weeding out those little suckers!

ETA: Of course, the exclamation points aren't verbal tics! But you know what I mean!

Soccer Mom · Apr 17, 2011

Just and seems. Plus I have certainly pet constucts that I have to hunt down and terminate with extreme prejudice.

also...

Nick Blaze · Apr 17, 2011

I have an atrociously bad habit of writing this sentence in the most emotional part of a novel, "Tears began to flow for her ears as she..." I catch myself now, but my friends read to those scenes and, where they said they got teary-eyed, they also burst out laughing. -_-

I think my other "verbal ticks" would be depending on the scene or character. I think most people would find it a nuisance to try to write about a spy without every once using the word "sneak".

AlwaysJuly · Apr 17, 2011

My verbal ticks when I'm writing a draft are a lot of "pretty" and "just", which I edit out the next time around.

When I'm speaking, I tend to say "Makes sense" and "Good deal" all the time when agreeing to things. But my characters do not mimic this annoying tendency.

Ludicrum · Apr 17, 2011

Manuel Royal said:
Tics.

I could say that the spelling was intentional, as these writing habits are like ticks infesting our manuscripts, but no ... I messed up. It works either way, though, so I'm not sweating it.

mccardey · Apr 17, 2011

I repeat things. I repeat things a lot. A lot of things, repeated, a lot.

And I had utterly no idea until Old Book came back from copy edit. No idea. At all.

Utterly.

Thank god for copyeditors*

Gravity's Rainbow · Apr 17, 2011

I use "..." more then is healthy

My first story draft had twelve uses in four pages

blacbird · Apr 17, 2011

Variations of the word/prefix "some".

Well, sometimes, in some places in some works. Somehow they always sneak in.

fourlittlebees · Apr 17, 2011

Gravity's Rainbow said:
I use "..." more then is healthy

My first story draft had twelve uses in four pages

I once met someone on another forum who thought that was completely appropriate in writing... and it was more like 12 uses in a single page.

I'm a "head to" person. She headed upstairs... he headed to the kitchen...

I also skip like an old vinyl record. You'll see the same word repeated over and over again for a few pages, then disappear, only to be replaced with a new verbal skip.

I did cure myself of the constant name repetition after a beta told me my dialogue read like Titanic: Jack! Rose! Jack! Rose!

AdriRaven · Apr 17, 2011

I am entirely too prone to use ellipses. I know how they're used, and I like to have the feel of my characters sort of drifting off in their speech patterns, but on balance, I still think I use them more than necessary.

cooeedownunder · Apr 18, 2011

telford · Apr 18, 2011

For me the eyes have it. His eyes shifted. His eyes rolled. His eyes squinted. And one of my favorites, he couldn't believe his eyes, Blah, blah, blah. I'm working on it though.

Stellan · Apr 18, 2011

Half-things...like "the half-light of morning" or "he was half-angry at her".

I find I have to cut out about half of them. :tongue

gilesth · Apr 18, 2011

Apparently my characters are all in a melodrama because they all raise their eyebrows, purse their lips, make dismissive gestures, shrug, gesticulate, etc. with nearly every line of dialogue I write. That's fun to weed out, I can tell you.

I'm tempted to use "suddenly" quite regularly, but that's on word I pulled out of my vocabulary early on because I knew I would overuse it if I didn't.

jdm · Apr 18, 2011

Among others, "almost" appears to be one I am partial to. As in "he almost sounded impressed." The gentleman editing for me was sometimes confused by my inclusion of it in certain sentences. It is hard to stop using it because I like the hint of indecisiveness it almost adds to some actions.

Phaeal · Apr 18, 2011

Once again, I find myself using the verb "to jerk" too much. Makes my characters seem like quite the palsied bunch.

"Just," "almost," and the like, meh. I enjoy cutting them in the second draft and watching my word count plummet.

Victoria · Apr 18, 2011

AdriRaven said:
I am entirely too prone to use ellipses. I know how they're used, and I like to have the feel of my characters sort of drifting off in their speech patterns, but on balance, I still think I use them more than necessary.

Yarp, me too. I'm also a just, seems, that, and as abuser. My characters tend to 'feel' a lot, too. It's seems that as I'm writing, these tics just feel so...natural to me.

Your verbal ticks.

Capeless, wingless, & yet I fly.

The Anti-Magdalene

Soldier, Storyteller

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part of the human equation

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slugging through

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Grateful for the day

We learn by doing

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Whatever I did, I didn't do it.

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