One word is ruining my book

[Lifenov86]

I’m reading the new cj Tudor book “serenity falls”. Really enjoying the story. My problem! No one walks anywhere they “pad”. It’s so jarring once you notice it

Yes, I find it distracting when one word or phrase is disproportionate. I can't remember the book now, but I remember one which kept mentioning people's scalps for no apparent reason and it was notable.

Or meeting handy billionaires to save them from their bad decisions

"On accident" is an americanism, it's quite startling.

However, I've enthusiastically adopted "gotten", I think it sounds much nicer than "got". It was originally an English word but it fell out of use, which is true of quite a few americanisms.

I'm about half way through - so no spoilers please anyone.

It is If We Were Villains, M L Rio, "When friends become enemies - there's no limit to the damage they can do."

I'm enjoying it as it is different to my usual kind of read but you are definitely right - that scene was dominance on steroids.

Oh, thats not fun 😕

I HATE the word scran. Makes me think of people eating scraps of leftover food.

I read a 1930s book recently where characters never 'exclaimed' they always 'ejaculated' instead.
It really detracted from the otherwise lovely, gentle story.

Oh sorry, I see I'm rather behind mentioning that one.

I hate this one too.
It always makes me think of a blowjob for some reason.

I am an editor, and I'd like to defend my fellow editors.

Writers have quirks that are part of their voice. And while they might be irritating once you've noticed them, there will be others that don't bother you, too. An editor's job isn't to impose their own preferences on the text. Obviously, we might point things like this out that we noticed, and we will often reduce overuse, smooth out some more jarring linguistic quirks, etc., but ultimately those are the author's artistic choices. You wouldn't want us to flatten it to the
point where everything you read sounded the same. And yes, sometimes the author overrules the editor. It's a collaborative relationship, and ideally there would be give and take on both sides. But some things aren't worth the fight!

Every time you read and wonder why the editor or Proofreader didn't correct or change something, try to beat in mind that you have no idea of the hundreds and thousands of changes they did make. And that they are only human. Sometimes, things do slip through, unfortunately. Often a couple of stray errors suggest a book that wasn't in great shape to begin with, so just be thankful that some poor, underpaid soul fixed most of it for you!

Trumpery means attractive or showy objects that are completely useless, or foolish talk and worthless nonsense

An adjective for our time, surely?

I’m with you on ‘pad’. Hate it.
My current annoyance is people who hear something or something happens and they are ‘reeling’ at the news or the event. GGRRRRRR!!

Great book and great film

I really noticed people 'padding' about in Mick Herron's 'Bad Actors' and was v surprised. That's Slough House book 8, I've never noticed it before, and he's a great writer, so I wonder if he's doing it on purpose as a joke?!

Either that or he does it all the time and I've failed to notice it in the previous 7 books.

Agree on padding and the overuse of "for" instead of because.

My pet hate is "his lip curled". Once you see it it's bloody everywhere and I have no idea what facial expression it even means

Thanks. I’m an editor too. I wasn’t attacking editors, just pointing out that authors may overrule them.

Freida McFadden uses it all the time in her books and it drives me mad.

I say it like that...and I'm not vair vair posh😯

So what's your excuse...

I wonder how mistakes get past so many people.

The book I’ve just read had someone called by the wrong name, a couple of spelling mistakes and things like she ran up the stairs, her feet pounding on the stairs and he sat at one of the tables, his elbows on the table.

It was set in “an otel” and a woman who didn’t go down to dinner said she had returned to her room before her husband after dinner.

There was a really clunky explanation about someone’s jacket because the author obviously realised a puffa jacket would pull someone under if they went in the sea so had her being thankful she had changed into a windcheater.

I had to DNF an otherwise rather good time travel book because the protagonist had a dog. The blessed dog had to be mentioned on every page in case the reader had forgotten.

Again sort of off my original point but I hate when ages don’t make sense! I got so angry one book (I think it’s a Graham Norton one). In the opening page they give you the main character life story, she went to university and trained to be a teacher, when she started work she met her husband (another teacher) they dated for a while and got married and had a son, then they got divorced. The main plot starts as her son leaves home for university- the character is 36!!! Just impossible and ridiculous as they story would have worked just as well if she had been 46

I’ve read a fair few Stephen King books over the years, and his most annoying word - and not one I’d come across before - is “freshets”. Freshets of tears in emotional scenes, freshets of blood in the gory bits…
I looked up the definition and it fits, but it doesn’t sit right with me somehow.

Yes. Much hilarity in Year 8 when Holmes ejaculates. It was a common usage.

Can't stand it when characters 'pad'.