She bit her bottom lip...

[HeavyLocks]

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

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?

I bite the inside of my bottom lip when I'm unsure of things. But it isn't visible (I have just checked) so I'm not sure anyone would notice.

In korean drama the women all do this ridiculous demure tilting their head down and looking up at the romantic lead thing.

😁

Doesn't Tory spill over her shoes at one point, too? A few glugs of Belladonna and the weight fell off, as I recall! Tabitha also sneers at Tory in Score and suggests that she ought to put Ponds Vanishing Cream on her hips, not her face.

The only excusable way to look at it for me would be if JC is writing it so that we are in the mindset of Tory. If she's been made to feel enormous all her life, she probably thinks it, would describe herself that way and her body language is such.

Apparently Jilly's husband used to weigh her to make sure she'd not gained weight. If true it would explain her funny ideas about what constitutes overweight.

I read, I think, three Martina Cole books. In each one of them she described a pregnant woman as having 'a belly full of arms and legs' a phrase which made me feel quite queasy, to be honest

Yes! She puts that in every single book. I used to love her books but now they're all the same.

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

Yeah - I'd commented to DH some time ago that Reacher never seemed to meet any short fat lasses with greasy hair and a verruca.

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

Oooh! It might have been Dragon - I think it was one of these where there's about fifty sequels. That Cave Bear thing would fit the bill, wouldn't it?

Wasn't Tory 11 stones?

So glad other people have said ‘ padded into the room’
Argh so irritating! I listen to lots of audiobooks and it’s way more noticeable

'She' aka fictional fantasy woman is constantly 'tucking a strand of hair behind her ear'...

I take Jilly Cooper as quite tongue in cheek, but yes I was a bit 🤔 at 'heaving 11 stone bulk about' when talking about Tory, and later Kitty Rannaldini. My bug bear though is something like this -
"She analyzed herself in the mirror, from the severely pinned back hair, neutral makeup and generous breasts encased in a business jacket, teamed with a skirt and endless legs encased in sheer stockings. She didn't realise when she arrived at Mr rich and famous house that the wind had pinked her cheeks in a most becoming way, and that the soft tendrils of hair, escaped from their prison of pins, thay she batted back with annoyance, actually framed and softened her heart shaped face"

So basically, she wasted all morning getting ready, because she looked like she'd been dragged through a hedge backwards when she arrived 'Gloriously dishevelled'.

A great Jilly Cooper moment for me was when Rupert was in awe at how Taggie's breasts erupted from the prison of her bra as white and pure as cream boiling over.
What?! 🙄

The actually filmed the lip biting in 50 Shades? Jesus wept.

A phrase that gives me the screams is “he captured her lips in a passionate kiss” or similar. I imagine these lips in some kind of mini jail cell. Maybe he’s a lip collector.

I tried the biting your lip thing one night to turn my dh on but he just laughed at me. Turns out it's supposed to be the BOTTOM lip.

Most - if not all - sex scenes ever written. Pulsating members. Aching cavities. Throbbing.

Ugh! Just no.

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

Ooh I can do this! Particularly if I have put my clothes in a tumble dryer. I did it to the cat the other day- he was most offended.

Most men tend to go 'OOOOWWW! What the fuck was that?' and look scared

I read something recently where all of a sudden the main character ( male ) is suddenly spouting shite with a different name ... like he was called Phillip first and it was changed to Paul but this paragraph was missed ... if you can’t afford a proof reader at least get a mate who cares to read it ffs.

Turns out it's supposed to be the BOTTOM lip.

LOL that's hilarious.

May I offer up this gem of a parody of fifty shades of shite?
archiveofourown.org/works/14592141/chapters/33723198

(Warning, NSFW, but very funny - not just the deliberately bad sex writing but the deliberately bad everything writing).

I liked the spoof fifty sheds of grey myself. Now it’s a trowel-edgy. www.amazon.co.uk/Fifty-Sheds-Collection-Books-Bundle/dp/654457256X?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Alexandra Brown puts 'she mused' in all her books. It drives me mad. All that musing.

A bugbear of mine is the slightly nervous character saying "Er, er ..." before speaking. Such a cliché, and never hear it in real life. I was watching the 1st Harry Potter film with DD last night.
Dudley to Hagrid: "Er, er... I'm not Harry" Harry: "Er, er... I'm Harry"
Sounded so unrealistic and annoying.

Martina Cole's phrases drive me nuts:

Belly full of arms and legs
Face like a smacked arse
Get that down your gregory
Split arse (horrid phrase for a female baby)
Skullduggery
'he was a bit of a face'

Yes yes to nibbling food and padding about.
As a bored student nurse on nights I started a mills and boon. The phrase “ her denim clad legs” gave me the rage.

@FermatsTheorem I've had a shit day and that made me laugh until I cried.

'she saw him, standing on his feet and legs' 😂

'Split arse' has to be one of the grimmest things I've ever seen.

As for 'belly full of arms and legs'..... (not envy!)