Writing Pet Peeve #2

I haven’t shared a writing pet peeve with you for a very long time. That’s a good thing. It means I don’t actually run into very many of them.

But I’ve recently come across a new one that’s bugging me. That’s because it’s been popping up so frequently in a string of novels I’ve been reading, all written by different authors, so I’m somewhat at a loss to account for it. Last time, my peeve was an overabundance of characters rolling their eyes.

The characters in these books have hardly rolled their eyes at all. But they cross their arms. A lot. Mostly women, but not always. In the most recent book, after the woman crossed her arms every few pages, one of the men suddenly crossed his arms. Now, if he had been mocking (gently or otherwise) the woman by this action, it would have glided by me without a glitch. In fact, it would have considerably lessened my annoyance factor with the woman in this book, because then it would have come across as a character trait in the woman that the other people around her noticed (and that possibly she noticed in herself), and it would have become part of the narrative of characterization. But this wasn’t the case. The man was both miles and pages away from the woman and appeared to do the arm cross quite independently of the woman’s earlier actions.

I don’t often give writing advice here, because I read so many “this is the correct way to write” advice given on the internet, then pick up successfully published books that break those “rules” left and right. But this is one piece of writing advice that I feel VERY STRONGLY ABOUT! (You can tell, because I’m actually posting about it.) Using repetitive phrases OF ANY KIND is a BIG MISTAKE FOR A WRITER. Unless, as I said, it’s part of a character’s characterization. In which case, you MUST make that clear to the reader, either by the character recognizing the repetitive action in herself or himself, or by having another character point it out at some point. Otherwise, some readers (like me!) are going to begin to think the writing is just plain lazy. And just trust me on this, you do NOT want readers to think your writing is lazy.

So, if other authors, no matter how famous, are having their characters roll their eyes every few pages, you be creative and think of something else for your characters to do. If another author, no matter how many awards she’s won, has her character constantly crossing her arms, have your character do something else. Anything else! Just don’t have her copy what the award winning author’s character is doing, because then you look like a copycat, and yes, you also look like you were too lazy to think up something on your own.

Let me be clear. I’m not saying your character can’t ever roll her eyes or cross her arms. But limit her to once, maybe twice in the book, and then I promise it won’t jump out at anyone and annoy them. I promise! Remember: Moderation is a virtue. Exercise it in your writing!

(NOTE: I'm deliberately posting this after a considerable time gap between when I read the books referred to and this post, so there's no use looking at my "What am I reading now?" posts and trying to guess which specific books fell into this trap. I don't want to embarrass anyone, just encourage authors to be a little more careful.)

So, do you have a writing pet peeve? Share it here in the comment section! (I'd better be careful. I'm sure I do something that annoys some readers as much as other authors write things that annoy me!)

As the Eyes Go Rolling Along

What’s up with the “rolling of eyes” phenomenon in practically every other work of fiction I read these days?

I first noticed it in a medieval romance. The book started out well enough. A likable heroine I was happy to follow along on her quest to find “true love”. But then, half-way through, she rolled her eyes. No problem. Everyone rolls their eyes sometimes. But then she did it again. And again. And again. Until I found myself groaning with each repeated “roll” and a hair’s breadth away from throwing the book against the wall in frustration. But I hung on tight and kept reading and otherwise enjoyed the story through to the end.

A few fiction and non-fiction books filled my reading interim, and I forgot about this “flaw” in an otherwise well written and enjoyable book.

Then I picked up the first of a young adult vampire series which shall remain nameless in this blog. I enjoyed the first volume without complaint. But to my dismay, in volume two of the series, the eye rolling began again. Only this time it was worse than the medieval heroine’s romance. Instead of the heroine rolling her eyes every dozen pages or so, almost all the characters in this nameless vampire book rolled their eyes on what felt like every other page, until I wanted to scream, “Stop, already! Can’t you think of some other facial expression to use, for variety’s sake?” This book was much too hefty to be tempted to fling against the wall. I was afraid I’d sprain my wrist and have to pay to fill in the inevitable hole so large a volume would undoubtedly leave in its wake. (I hoped the eye rolling might be toned down in the series’ subsequent volumes, but alas, that hope was in vain.)

Another fiction book or two, completely lacking in eye rolling, restored my equilibrium at the end of the vampire series. But then, a few weeks ago, I picked up a Regency romance, and what did I discover? A hero who rolled his eyes again…and again…and again…reviving the barely smothered scream described in the paragraph above. (This time the wall was only saved by the fact that I read it in my sister’s apartment and didn’t want to stick her with the bill for repairs.)

So, what’s up with all the eye rolling in novels these days? Is it a reflection of authors who watch too many smart-alecky kids on TV who constantly roll their eyes at their TV-parents? Is it living with kids of their own who constantly roll their eyes at their author-parent? I don’t have any children of my own, and I don’t currently watch TV shows with smart-alecky kids, so it’s truly a mystery to me.

Regardless of the answer, to me the bottom line is, any action repeated ad infinitum in a novel—eye rolling or any other gesture—is a sign of sloppy, or at least, careless writing. The characters in my books aren’t much for eye rolling, but it’s possible I have my own too-frequently-repeated mannerisms of one sort or another. If any of my critique partners catch me falling into this trap, I pray that they’ll stop me in my tracks and say (nicely, of course), “You’ve used this expression twenty times. Can’t you think of something else?” Trust me, I would count such a critique partner as worth her weight in gold!

But back to my original question. I’m not writing this to throw stones. I wouldn’t be so annoyed or baffled if each of the authors above had chosen a completely different mannerism to repeat (over and over and over). But the fact that all of them chose eye rolling begs the question I began with…what’s going on with the “eye rolling phenomenon” in fiction these days?

Can anyone fill me in?