tell me your tics

badducky · Oct 31, 2006

every writer has their tics.

what is that annoying thing you do in the first draft (that you whiff right over) which you subsequently must edit away in subsequent drafts?

i tend to fall into present tense when i'm writing past tense, and vice versa. can't seem to help it.

sammyig · Oct 31, 2006

My worst tic is that I use "unfortunately" so often that I make myself ill. I end up going back and deleting the oodles of "unfortunatelys."

ChaosTitan · Oct 31, 2006

Too many dialogue tags that aren't simply "said."

At least once I'll start calling someone by the wrong name, and be absolutely convinced that it's the right one. Sometimes I catch it before I finish the scene, sometimes I catch it while editing.

blackbird · Oct 31, 2006

I attach about every other clause with a semi-colon. It's a device that works when used judiciously, but for every semi-colon-joined clause I keep, I usually have to go back and edit about twenty others.

I'm still not sure how I fell into the habit, or why I do it so subconsciously. I think it's partly because I like the style when other writers do it, and I like the overall flow and pacing it gives the prose as I write. But when you've overkilled a device to the point where it's actively calling attention to itself, and distracting from the story, that's not so good. The problem is that I usually don't realize how much of a distraction it's created until I go back and revise.

seun · Oct 31, 2006

Far too many nods and shrugs. Also too much back story especially at the start.

Serenity · Oct 31, 2006

'almost'. I use it a lot. She almost said, he almost stopped, it almost felt like... etc. You get the point.

aadams73 · Oct 31, 2006

"As" is the bane of my existence.

Saundra Julian · Oct 31, 2006

I use "just" excessively...it's a Southern thing!

Serenity · Oct 31, 2006

seun said:
Far too many nods and shrugs. Also too much back story especially at the start.

Oh my God, my characters 'shrug' too much as well. I think, for me, it's because I am a person that does this a lot. :e2shrug:

ChaosTitan · Oct 31, 2006

Serenity said:
Oh my God, my characters 'shrug' too much as well. I think, for me, it's because I am a person that does this a lot.

Don't forget your habit of *adding* asterisks for *emphasis* on words. :ROFL:

icerose · Oct 31, 2006

I do just about every single one of these except the *.

Southern_girl29 · Oct 31, 2006

Mine is saying the character ran her hands through her hair. I do that a lot. I'm going to have to take a lot of them out.

Amiton · Oct 31, 2006

More than any other issue in my writing, I think my present-past tense shifts (in both directions) are more pervasive and infuriating than any other issue in my writing. Other issues that arise commonly are being too wordy, excessive use of adverbs, adding extra "to be" verbs, excessive passive voice, and use of uncommon big words. By golly, though, that tense thing *kills* me.

Amiton.

nevada · Oct 31, 2006

I fall in love with a word and then repeat it. Several times. In one paragraph. It's a bad, bad thing. I also like sentence fragments. I'm not convinced that is the worst thing if it's within the character's voice. Some characters never talk in sentence fragments so I don't use them in their POV. But still, someone usually takes me to task for the fragments.

badducky · Oct 31, 2006

I also do a lot of grins and laughs.

When I'm editing, it's like I'm killing all the joy.

Serenity · Oct 31, 2006

chaostitan said:
Don't forget your habit of *adding* asterisks for *emphasis* on words.

Hey! I promised that I would try not to do that anymore! :tongue

Remember, it takes something like 28 days to break a habit. LOL

icerose- the habit (for me) comes from posting to on-line RPG's on Yahoo Groups before they had their 'beta' edition where you could bold, italicize, etc. It's just a bad habit that I am trying to break to save poor Chaos' sanity while we write. :Ssh:

Azure Skye · Oct 31, 2006

I start sentences with 'well' a lot. arrgghh

DeborahM · Oct 31, 2006

chaostitan said:
Too many dialogue tags that aren't simply "said."

No replied, answered, confessed? Just said? I'm doomed! :e2thud:

Oh, the tense thing is my albatross.

Nevada brought up fragment sentences. It's amazing how many conversations you hear in public have fragmented sentences in them.

Siddow · Oct 31, 2006

I fall in love with gestures. Before I know what's going on, everyone in the room has the same facial tic, or they're all patting their thigh, or leaning forward in their seats. Simon says...adjust your glasses! Yeah, you! I know you don't wear glasses, but play along!

Simon Woodhouse · Oct 31, 2006

Mine is 'for a moment'. And in dialogue I use 'well' and 'then' too much, as in 'well, on your own head be it' and 'then we'd better get going'. When I'm editing, these things stand out by a mile, so I'm always baffled as to why I let them sneak in to start with.

Rivana · Oct 31, 2006

Fragmented sentences are the bane of my existence (at least according to some readers, I actually tend to like the poor dears) and my characters have a tendency to look, gaze, stare etc ad infinitum.

Tracy · Oct 31, 2006

Azura Skye said:
I start sentences with 'well' a lot. arrgghh

So do I! And I have to go back and trim them strictly. I have watched myself and I talk like that too, but it is okay in speech I guess.

Also, all my characters say "Actually" way too much.

But at least if we are aware of it all, we can go back and change these things, no?

janetbellinger · Oct 31, 2006

On the other hand, in a world flooded with manuscripts and full of literary rules to follow, could tics end up being the one thing that defined the writer, made him/her identifiable from the masses? At least that person would have a voice. Or am I just being hopelessly, impossibly optimistic?

wordmonkey · Oct 31, 2006

THAT

Half of my first serious edit through the mss is removing "that" where it seems to have nested and begun breeding.

janetbellinger · Oct 31, 2006

Yeah, I am doing that now too, in my own writing.

wordmonkey said:
THAT

Half of my first serious edit through the mss is removing "that" where it seems to have nested and begun breeding.

tell me your tics

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