As an editor, I read...a lot. I get five to six unsolicited submissions a week, not to mention submissions for our writing contest currently running. There are certain phrases that just scream amateur at me.
Raven haired---unless the woman has black feathers coming out of her head, don't use this descriptive phrase. Same goes for flame haired. Unless her head is on fire, she does not have flamed haired. In either case, there have to be better ways to describe a woman with black hair or red hair.
"What he/she/it didn't know..." normally followed by four paragraphs of dull, lifeless backstory that has little or no bearing on the story.
Variant spellings of "Cain." Yeah, yeah. I get it. Trying to play off the biblical name and all that. But it's been done a thousand and forty-seven times, and changing the spelling to Kain, Kaine, Caine, Kane, Kayn, or any other variant doesn't make it any more original.
So, what phrases do you think are overused in fiction?
2007-06-07
06:46:57
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18 answers
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asked by
bardsandsages
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Books & Authors