Cringe and overused words and expressions authors need to stop using in their books

[@TheSylda]

As a white person that is literally allergic to the sun, my skin is only comparible to porcelain when I'm about to faint.

[@shadowmatrx]

Same! I can't go out wo 2 types of sunscreen & burn instead of tan; have had sun poisoning & I have EDS so my skin is like translucent. Someone once asked me if I bleached my skin lol. Still wouldn't say I was "porcelain" or totally white. Most of the time I'm kinda bluish (due to veins) or pinkish (my skins pinks so easily lol).

[@shelleys.corner]

😭😭

[@_punkles]

“A muscle feathered in his jaw.” Straight to jail!

[@shelleys.corner]

And throw away the key 😭

[@salemslunacy]

"Just take the line out and work on your craft" I'm deceased. I just wanna say how much i appreciate your perfect subtitles, they're the best captions ive seen on youtube

[@shelleys.corner]

Aw thank you! And honestly that line came from frustration 😂😂😂 as someone who criticises her own writing insanely, I just need authors to admit when their own words are bad 😂

[@leewalters4813]

Orbs to describe eyes. It makes me just see two floating orbs not human eyes. Not cute not original really weird. Eyes is fine. Shimmering orbs, violet orbs, emerald orbs, ice blue orbs. Just weird.

[@hanasheik]

Ahhh good ole fanfic days

[@BooksToAshes]

The worst for me as a romance reader are the very creative but unnecessary words created for human genitalia like please, some are so bad 😭 “Velvet wrapped steel” or “petals/flower” 😪

[@MinYoon482]

Oh my god, who writes "Velvet wrapped steel"???? 😭😭😭😭 That sounds traumatizing af

[@BooksToAshes]

@@MinYoon482 SJM is the person I saw it from first but sadly it’s more common than I’d like 🥲

[@MinYoon482]

@@BooksToAshes Authors need to come up with better phrases. 😭😭😭 If phrases like these continue, they will haunt us for life

[@shelleys.corner]

I'm crying 😭😭

[@claudias5564]

I never really feel cringy reading those phrases, tbh. If it’s once or twice, it doesn’t bother me. The cringiest thing I read in a book was “big titty Liddy” in Serpent and Dove. In fact, the way the author named the characters in that book was pretty cringe too. Baker = Pan. Black friend = Coco. 😬

[@hanasheik]

I'm reading a romance rn where the hero keeps referring to his 🍆 as 'his soldier' and how 'his soldier is saluting' the heroine 🤢🤮. I just can't. Now I will say I'm guilty of some cringey overused lines, but I try to cut them out as I revise through drafts. 😂 Do I always succeed? Maybe not always lol

[@ms-abominable]

LMAOOOOO there's no way anybody can take that seriously???? was the editor asleep??????

[@amyschmelzer6445]

I am reading The Shining right now. It was published in 1977. Stephen King used “his seed” in there.

[@shelleys.corner]

Ew 😭

[@ronjaj.addams-ramstedt1023]

[Name] looked "like someone had hit them in the back of the head with a board." Dearest, the word is STUNNED! One word, not fifteen!!

[@shelleys.corner]

LOOOOL reminds me of trying to achieve the word count for uni essays

[@juliannagoodwin2875]

Mine is “My/His/Her heart stuttered.” As someone who has a stutter and is very adamant about stuttering rep in all media I saw this phrase to the point where I literally made a whole Instagram post about how harmful it is. I need authors to use stutter as what it is, a disability and nothing else.

[@shelleys.corner]

I've not actually seen this but I hear your concerns and I'm sorry that you've experience this 💓

[@jimsbooksreadingandstuff]

These are definitely cringe, I am reading a contemporary romance (out of my comfort zone) and there are characters eye rolling on almost every page....

[@shelleys.corner]

Ooooo yes the classic eye roll 😂😭 i don't mind eye rolls but every other page is excessive ofc

[@writergrrlxox]

Describing characters as "the brunette" or "the blonde" irks me to no end. It's such a common cliche in fanfics and romance books.

[@shelleys.corner]

Loool I don't think I've seen much of this but I've not read much fanfic so that's probably why

[@kayliemcintosh7841]

“Runs hand through hair.” As a sign of comfort during stress.

[@BooksToAshes]

I actually like that one 😂😭

[@jasminv8653]

On the topic of 'historical' euphemisms, theyre actually far more everyday and funny-dumb than romantasy would lead you to believe. In the mediaeval Icelandic saga of Bósi and Herrauðr (set in earlier viking age Sweden and Karelia), euphemisms the characters use about bed activities include 'fitting a pestle through a slot', 'toughening a young earl' and my absolute favourite 'giving a colt something to drink in the well' to which the woman later jokingly responds 'oh, your colt threw up, he definitely drank too much, now the poor thing is all limp and hung-over' and bósi goes yeah, well, give me a gd minute here, he needs rest if you want to ride again. It's also actually specified that sometimes he's on top and sometimes it's she instead. It's a humour thing, I think, that still translates over centuries... 😂 Though maybe not very sexy to modern readers.

[@shelleys.corner]

See, these ones which you've listed are actually hilarious 😂 and I'd love them if I saw them because they actually show the creativity that's meant to be seen in literature. The ones we see being used nowadays have been overused so much, there is literally no creativity which then leads to them being cringe.

[@banafanafofana6914]

When the author reminds me every other chapter that the villain is a villain and he enjoys doing bad things. It's not enough when he or his minions are narrated hurting others and they laugh evilly, the narrator has to elaborate on how much they enjoy k wording, stealing, etc.

[@shelleys.corner]

Loooool this is hilarious 😂

[@pricelessprebolus]

The thing that makes me cringe the most is sword metaphors for sex, like to the hilt.

[@shelleys.corner]

Loool yes!

[@Heothbremel]

I can't do 'panties' or 'flesh'. They both just give me the ick..... Good for anyone else who's on board but not for me

[@shelleys.corner]

Flesh is ughhh for me as well. Panties is cringe but I can stomach it

[@so_big_hope8694]

Please talk about NaNoWriMo allowing Ai

[@shelleys.corner]

Omds I did not hear about this 😳

[@Yhu4]

This is hilarious. Agreed 😂 Also...I always thought using "seed" is way too much credit given and overly man-centric, fertiliser is simply more apt, right? 😂 Probably not less gross but it makes me laugh a bit more. Also fantasy novels obsessions about menstrual cycles, being 'claimed' and being a virgin, super super icky. I can't in good faith blame men because it's usually women that write this. It's definitely creepy and... niche.

[@shelleys.corner]

If fertiliser was ever used, I'd be deceased 💀🤣🤣

[@projectfangirl]

The one thing that really annoys me is when only one word is used to describe male parts. I read a romance book a while ago where only one word was used for the main male sex organ (won't say it here because I don't want my comment deleted) and it really annoyed me. Don't some authors know how to use a thesaurus or know what a synonym is?

[@shelleys.corner]

I think some use the thesaurus TOO much so maybe that was the opposite end of the spectrum 😂

[@projectfangirl]

@@shelleys.corner The book I was reading was like hitting my head against a brick wall. I was even sitting in a specialist's waiting room reading when I was reading it. So bad!

[@robojesus666]

Great video! I agree with all of the points

[@CatRissaWearsSpectacles]

I don't know if this is an overused one or not, but in Bunny by Mona Awad, a character's eye color is grey. And on two separate pages, that grey color is compared to "liquid smoke". No, no, no. I hated that. It is scientifically impossible, and doesn't make sense. Unless of course one is referring to the grilling marinade to use on food called Liquid Smoke...but that is a dark red/brown color. I don't think that is what Mona Awad was referring to.

[@shelleys.corner]

Looool, I feel like I've seen his one but can't remember. But I do see how it'd grate on people's nerves

[@hanasheik]

Living for your glasses, Shelley!!

[@shelleys.corner]

Thank you 💓

[@LadyJ95]

It’s not a phrase but a concept.. super super tall guy and really tiny tiny girl

[@shelleys.corner]

Looool I know exactly what you mean

[@LonyRagazza]

@@LadyJ95 tbh I like that one, its a good concept when it made sense