Books

John Cowper Powys seemed very fond of the phrase "small and childlike" when I was trying to read Porius. I'll let your imaginations run wild.

Currently working through Covenant Of Steel, and holy moly I couldn’t count how many times they use “consented”

H.P Lovecraft banged on about "eldritch horrors" and "cyclopean architecture" a fair bit. Robert E. Howard couldn't shut up about Conan's "iron thews".

If you notice it, that is the sign of a bad editor.

Quinn's books are particularly bad about this. It's not just acerbic. Whenever a character is annoyed with someone, they "ground out" their answer. It drives me bonkers. With all that grinding of teeth, it's a wonder anyone has any left!

Anne Rice burned the word "preternatural" into my mind forever.

Mark Z Danielewski uses the word “House” a LOT, in House of Leaves.

Sanderson in the Stormlight Archives with strode

The number of times characters arch their eyebrows in The Dresden Files is almost a meme at this point

Terry Brooks couldn’t get enough of “palaver” in the Shannara books.

Welcome to Anne Rice and the word “preternatural”

Joe Abercrombie uses 'frowned' a lot.

I quit reading Lee Child because of a repeated fascination with " I said nothing " . Like not repeated four or five times....it felt like he was several hundred words short of a word goal so he added " I said nothing " into the manuscript to fill the gap.

Jacqueline Carey loves to use “wry” and “wryly”. It drives me crazy because it’s practically meaningless as a word.

Fonda Lee uses the word “nonplussed” in her green bone series what felt like a lot for a less common word.

Stephenie Meyer, the author of the Twilight book series, used the word "murmur" 349 times.

In all the light we cannot see, doerr uses ramparts on every other page

Everything burst "asunder" in The Lord of the Rings :^)

Dean Koontz uses "and half again as much" too often. It bothered me one time. Seeing it in several books bothers me even more.

I'll still strive to read all of his books though.

There were two cases.

In Zafón's books he constantly repeats the word "penumbra".

In a Stephen King book called "Later", the narrator repeats the word Later over and over again.

Usually for me it’s certain descriptors. And simultaneously I am such a big offender. I do love describing an ocean as “glittering/sparkling”

They're called "Echoes" or "Echo words".

It's an editor's job to remove them from the final manuscript. Writers tend not to write many chapters at once, or read through cover to cover so get "tunnel vision" when self editing. They might go back to an unfinished chapter and repeat words or phrases, forgetting they have just used that the day before. It's incredibly common. Just like a musician playing their favourite lick, or drum fill.

Source: wife is an editor

Elizabeth George has Zimmer frames in EVERY book. (For Americans, that's a walker, as in a mobility aid.)

Nora Roberts/JD Robb has many, many characters 'draw in a breath' while thinking before they speak. Many.

Lois Bujold, in her science fiction and fantasy, uses 'suffused' an average of once per book. Which isn't much over all, but it's about once per book more than most authors would use it.

Stephen King went through a taffy stage in IT. Stuff was stretching like taffy waaaay too often.

And so it goes

Lisa Kleypas uses sardonic for almost every expression her male leads have.

I remember having this same experience with Faulkner and the word "inexorable".