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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

She bit her bottom lip...

193 replies

HeavyLocks · 01/04/2019 23:00

Why do authors do this?? I read a lot and I've noticed it more and more. Apparently it's a way of making a woman seem aroused/scared/sexy Hmm

I can honestly say I've never bit my lip when I've wanted to be aroused/scared/sexy.

Aibu? Also what other well used "phrases make you cringe?

OP posts:
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SurgeHopper · 02/04/2019 01:23

I do this.

I also toss my hair.

I am flighty though.

Not sure if it's natural or because I've read too many shit books.

Time40 · 02/04/2019 01:46

I can't stand it when the hot drinks are "steaming", or when characters shake their heads to clear their minds. Who ever, ever, ever shakes his or her head to clear his or her mind? And I agree about the wretched "padding".

gilchrist168 · 02/04/2019 01:54

Having a "far away look in her eyes"
In my case it usually means I'm about to have a seizure. Confused

Livingoncake · 02/04/2019 02:19

“He threw back his head and laughed.” Who does this? And he’s always, always laughing at something that isn’t even particularly funny.

“She shifted from foot to foot.” Why? Does she need a wee?

CosISaid · 02/04/2019 02:22

“She shifted from foot to foot.” Why? Does she need a wee?

Grin
isabellerossignol · 02/04/2019 02:22

My 'favourite' is when the female character looks at herself in the mirror and assesses herself. And it's always something like 'Cassie caught sight of herself in the mirror and was immediately conscious of all her flaws. The breasts that were full but perky, her skin that was too glowing and flawless, her eyelashes that were just a little bit too long, and her waist which was just a bit narrower than in should have been, perched atop her almost concave stomach'.

Yes Cassie, what terrible flaws you have, mother nature certainly dealt you a raw deal didn't she?

Sashkin · 02/04/2019 02:56

“He threw back his head and laughed.” Who does this?

It does depend on how funny something is. I was lying on the floor shaking with laughter with the snapped and farted thread. If I'd been sitting in a chair my head could easily have lolled backwards. Strangely it was far less funny on re-read.

Alicewond · 02/04/2019 03:00

“I bit my bottom lip” normally means I have really chapped and pealing lips. It is weirdly satisfying though

brizzlemint · 02/04/2019 03:04

Not such a sexy look, more Gruffalo.

Grin

especially when, like me somebody I know, you have the wart to go with it.

NewYoiker · 02/04/2019 03:07

Lee Child went through a phase of writing that all the women Reacher was shagging were 'soft, long and lithe' Envy fuck off!

Alicewond · 02/04/2019 03:09

“He pulled the tampon free, wow, now i really need a wee”

NewYoiker · 02/04/2019 03:18

Oh my god just remembered something that made me so annoyed with Jill Mansell!

I don't know what planet she was on, but she described a woman as really fat and dumpy and her husband did love her as she'd had kids and nothing fitted her as she was soooo fat Then she finds out her husband is shagging someone she went to school with and another friend takes her in, and she loses weight miraculously in a week. However, then she said no longer was she 11 stone Hmm thought she was describing someone about 20 stone not 11!!

Ellenborough · 02/04/2019 04:10

I actually had to stop reading 50 Shades about halfway through because of the sheer amount of lip biting going on. I couldn't bear it any longer.

That is still, by a very wide margin, the most shite book I've ever half read.

Dragonlight · 02/04/2019 06:07

SchadenfreudePersonified was it Clan of the Cave Bear? There was a lot of that in it.

angieloumc · 02/04/2019 07:46

Some of my personal favourites include 'padding (up or downstairs)', 'he/she said softly' 'her eyes were framed with long sooty lashes'.
The best is 'my mouth fell open' or 'my jaw dropped'. Who actually does that unless they put too hot food in it?

CanoeDoYouThinkYouAre · 02/04/2019 07:55

New Yoiker Jilly Cooper is terrible for this, characters heaving their ten stone bulk around Confused

Myusernameismud · 02/04/2019 08:05

Ah I also love 'padded across the room' or 'padded softly down the stairs'. I've tried it. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but it's less padding and more of a gallop?!

One of my firm favourites is when a couple in a book are DTD and 'with a gasp' the man 'enters her'. I always think if you were new to planet earth, and didn't know about sex, you would assume the woman was being possessed. Especially when you consider her subsequent behaviours, 'writhing' and 'moaning'.

Bittern11 · 02/04/2019 08:25

Cassandra woke up to the rays of the sun streaming through the slats on her blinds, cascading over her naked chest. She stretched, her breasts lifting with her arms as she greeted the sun. She rolled out of bed and put on a shirt, her nipples prominently showing through the thin fabric. She breasted boobily to the stairs, and titted downwards.

Love this.

I've edited novels where the male author described a woman as having 'medium-sized breasts'. So, all that tell us is she has boobs! Does it tell us about her character, her like and dislikes, her personality??

One of my bugbears is authors spoon-feeding readers everything and not leaving them anything to work out:

'I've already told you that!' Bob said, angry that he had to repeat himself.

Mind you, I'm reading a Patricia Scanlan novel atm, and she has written some American characters. Fine, but she's changed the narrative around the US characters to say things like 'elevator' and 'cell phone', and left Irish idioms in their speech along with some completely unbelievable Texas slang - so, things like 'Hey, y'all, the sun's splitting the stones. Gee, who's minding the babby''? Argh.

Bittern11 · 02/04/2019 08:26

My 'favourite' is when the female character looks at herself in the mirror and assesses herself.

Yes!!! Such a lazy way of doing it. I read a book recently where all three main characters did that!!!! I was ticking them off.
Here we are.
New character.
Yes - the mirror intro! Grin

Orangeday · 02/04/2019 08:58

“I’m Mandy by the way”

Aaargh this is SOOOO annoying. Who speaks like that? I’m reading a book just now about a child who keeps saying “I am an unusual child” - ffs no child in the world goes around telling people how unusual they are. If your character is unusual, readers will determine that from their behaviour. If they have to go round telling people they’re unusual then they are obviously not that unusual at all.

Great thread by the way. So funny.

Orangeday · 02/04/2019 08:59

Oh, I’m Orangeday by the way. I’m very unusual.

Cherylshaw · 02/04/2019 10:01

I hate when the two main characters accidentally touch and it's a big electric shock that makes them pull away....

DSHathawayGivesMeFannyGallops · 02/04/2019 10:29

I love Jilly Cooper but anymore "heaving 10 stone bulks" and I may heave something through a window! Angry

CanoeDoYouThinkYouAre · 02/04/2019 10:56

DsHathaway Poor old Tory, always having to heave herself around. It's a wonder she managed to get through doors what with her being such a massive 10 stone human.

Wavey123 · 02/04/2019 10:58

I remember there being way too many mentions of ‘Her mouth pressed into a hard line’ in 50 shades 😐 so I imagined her looking like this a lot of the time.