I don't want to ruin every book you're going to read from now, but have you noticed they all have the word

[Cify]

Detritus.... in therm?

And now I've noticed it I can't stop seeing the word in everything I read.

And yet I've never heard a single friend complaining about the detritus in their kitchen.

Please tell me I'm not alone? Do you notice certain words or phrases (that people don't actually say in real life) being used over and over again in novels?

“His stubble grazed her cheek”, that’s a popular one.

And I know that books don’t have to detail everything, but characters described as having long thick hair can not get out of the shower and throw their clothes on. Not unless they want a sopping wet back for hours.

I think a lot of authors have little quirks though. I love Jilly Cooper, but after reading a few of her books back-to-back you really start to notice her pet phrases

Yes that’s true about individual quirks.

PD James uses ‘exophthalmic’ about people’s eyes in at least half her books . On the plus side, that led me to look it up as a teenager and I learned a new word (which I never use. But still).

Haha you're right about appearances being described. My favourite one is where they're describing their eyes as being slightly too far apart and one lip is plumper than the other or some nonsense.

I remember reading that for the first time and looking at myself wondering how far apart my eyes were.

People who don’t realise they’re crying. Does that ever happen in real life?

I thought I was going to have to give up on my current book - the first three times one of the third person narrators met one of the other characters he would admire some other factor of her appearance and conclude that yes, she was a beautiful woman. Fortunately he stopped doing it and got on with solving the damn crime.

It's been a while since I've read any Sarah Waters' books, but I remember that she often comments on characters' "sour breath" when they wake up.

MrsGrindah, I know the book you mean. What sticks with me was that, when she'd lost all the weight, she was able to cross her legs twice as she was so thin. I can do that and I am NOT thin.

When characters "reach" for something rather than picking it up. Just leave it within bloody arms length, then you wouldn't have to reach for it all the time.

In case we are ever asked to do a reading, is it de-TRY-tuss or DET-ree-tus

De-TRY-tus.

Alistair I remember the book being pretty rubbish but the bacon sarnie bit always stuck in my mind! Don’t these lazy authors have editors?!

Women always apply a slick of lipstick.

Just started a new book. 2 pages in and someone has padded to the kitchen

Whatever you do don't read Atonement. You will all be on the very of a killing spree by the time you are done. The whole damn this is a cliche. A smug cliche.

Oh and the 'sweet' smell of blood/death. Yes it smells sweet but not actually. Find something that actually works.

This thread is great! Hot liquid, padded, grimaced, a slick of lipstick, stepping out of one's clothes, and troubled characters having to listen to opera music, alone, in a carthartic manner.

Has anyone mentioned Jilly Cooper yet?

Coming late to this thread (I was reading it last night but managed to lose it),

And yet I've never heard a single friend complaining about the detritus in their kitchen.

begs the question, surely the OP has heard a married friend making this complaint?

My teenage reading included my brothers' Alistair Macleans, which featured many fists connecting with solar plexuses (plexi?), and my mother's Woman's Weekly romantic fiction, full of sardonic men who smoked cheroots (never cigarettes). Do they still do that?

Asphalt.

How often do you here people say "he walked across the asphalt"? I went through a phase of it being in every book I read.

Gah *hear obviously.

Love this thread and agree about the padding. I get tired of the way Joanna Trollope's characters always have a drink halfway through their sentence. 'The thing is' as she poured the tea, 'no-one seems to have told Archie yet.'
Not written but when I watch Netflix with the subtitles onI am amazed by how often people scoff.

And also have to say that the Joanna Trollope novel would then spend the next 10 chapters with the characters meeting in different combinations over drinks discussing whether or not to tell Archie. This will be the only plot momentum.

3eyedraven

‘rheumy eyes’

Perhaps there’s a cold going round in the book.

Drifted - the clean scent of his body wash drifted across to her nose

In crime books the suspect always does things slowly. 'She blinked, slowly'. 'She swallowed, slowly'. Doing anything slowly pretty much marks you out as a murderer.

Mumsnet has made me realise that I hate a lot of things. But I didn't realise I hated all these phrases.

"a slick of lipstick" and "padding" are the absolute worst.