"We offered the world order, eh?"
"Do you know the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish that is best served cold? It is very cold... in Winnipeg."
Last edited:
Author Habits That Annoy You
- Thread starter Captain Dax
- Start date
"We offered the world order, eh?"
"Do you know the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish that is best served cold? It is very cold... in Winnipeg."
Ah, but does it keep rising from the grave like Sonia?It's like the myth that Ricardo Montalban was wearing a prosthetic chest in KHAN. Doesn't matter how many times it's debunked, it keeps rising from the grave like Dracula.
...I'm sorry, I had to...I'll show myself out!
"You lie. On Cape Breton Island there was life, a fair chance-"
"THIS IS CAPE BRETON ISLAND!"
Oh, right. Honestly, I've pretty much stopped correcting folks who insist that Gary Seven is based on Doctor Who because it's just too Sissyphean a task and takes too long to rebut, over and over and over again. I don't have the patience to rehash it one more time.
It's like the myth that Ricardo Montalban was wearing a prosthetic chest in KHAN. Doesn't matter how many times it's debunked, it keeps rising from the grave like Dracula.
While that is correct - some people think, that Gary Seven is similar to the doctor - and I like the theory, I was more thinking about a certain doctor. One of the best ones: the Seventh Doctor, a.k.a. "the Chessmaster". So, I was just thinking, that you, the author, named her "Doctor Annika Seven" is a) because it's an amalgamation of Sevens name before she was assimilated and her time after she was assimilated and b) it was a little in-joke, since for some of us, the seventh Doctor was one of the best and maybe you'd share this idea, too.
That being said: @Christopher, @Greg Cox, I'm toying with the idea since - ooof - several years of writing a Star Trek / Doctor Who / Assignment Earth / The Avengers fanfiction, of course taking place in the late sixties using the characters of the time period - Kirk and Spock meet Gary, the second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe, as well as Emma Peel and John Steed. Plus, my own creations, Cal and Agatha are there and Emma teaches Agatha how to do Karate. However I shy away from it, since a) right now I'm still writing and correcting another story (no, not Spiegelungen, I'm working on another project) and b) this is a huge cast and I doubt, that I could do them justice.
Last edited:
There is one line that i hate to see written over and over. "They blew out their breath". When i was reading the Coda series i was getting annoyed that they kept saying that.
Ah, The Seventh Doctor. Never occured to me. I confess I'm only a casual DOCTOR WHO fan.
That's another good one!And if not that, The Bronze.
FWIW, that phrase does not appear anywhere in CODA Book III, Oblivion’s Gate.
Thank you for letting me know! I was putting off reading book 3 because book 1 had it so many time i almost didn't buy book two but did anyway cause it was a different author so i though he wouldn't use it but he did. Now i know you didn't use it i will read it very soon.FWIW, that phrase does not appear anywhere in CODA Book III, Oblivion’s Gate.
5 times in book 1 and 3 in book 2. Have to say I hadn't noticed.
There's a phenomenon where if you see something once and it annoys you/catches your interest, you keep taking particular note of it wherever it is.
Is that all variations of it? Cause i groaned every time i read it and it felt like way more.
I missed one. 4 'blew out his' and 2 'blew out her' in book 1. Didn't see any variations but I just searched for a sec on the kindle online site.
Well, some authors have their favourite sentences. In the Mummy-Books from Max Allen Collins I read several times "rannte wie der Teufel". Or the "kühle Gebirgsbach", that the translator of @Greg Cox 's underworld books kept using, when it was described, how cool Sonjas blood would be to Lucian.
Some Authors, Peter David e.g., have their favourite character-types, they write about - and some fanfic-authors have their favourite Pairing. Sam/Jack in Stargate for example. And little love for my favourite Pairing: Sam/Daniel. ^^ Or Julian/Jadzia, Harry/Seven or Harry/B'elanna.
I can't write that, because if I'd do, it wouldn't be Harry/ B'elanna, it would end up Harry/B'elanna, but it's actually Cal/Agatha. Yeah, I have my favourite pairing and favourite character-type, too. And that's why I look at all of this tropes, the other authors use and shrug, thinking "Eh... jedem Tierchen sein Pläsierchen" (Different strokes for different folks).
Probably, because some of these sentences are pretty memorable.
It can be tricky to describe how characters deliver their dialogue, to convey their emotions and reactions. I realized some years back that my characters sigh way too often. These days, when my impulse is to say "S/he sighed," I try to think of an alternative, although lately I seem to fall back on "fidgeted" or "shifted his/her weight" a lot. I've also been told that I tend to use "smirked" inappropriately, but I can't think of another verb to describe a wry half-smile.
It would be easier if current writing fashion didn't discourage adverbs. "She said wryly" or "he observed wearily" would avoid the need to come up with physical descriptions of the body language conveying those emotions. On the other hand, given the abundance of audiobooks these days (with even print novels usually having audio editions), it can be a good idea to try to avoid "said" tags altogether, since they can sound awkward when read aloud. So instead of:
"We've got to risk it, Spock," Kirk said intensely.
You'd get:
Kirk clenched his jaw. "We've got to risk it, Spock."
That writing-for-audio practice makes it necessary to come up with still more physical descriptions, making it harder to avoid repeating ourselves.
It would be easier if current writing fashion didn't discourage adverbs. "She said wryly" or "he observed wearily" would avoid the need to come up with physical descriptions of the body language conveying those emotions. On the other hand, given the abundance of audiobooks these days (with even print novels usually having audio editions), it can be a good idea to try to avoid "said" tags altogether, since they can sound awkward when read aloud. So instead of:
"We've got to risk it, Spock," Kirk said intensely.
You'd get:
Kirk clenched his jaw. "We've got to risk it, Spock."
That writing-for-audio practice makes it necessary to come up with still more physical descriptions, making it harder to avoid repeating ourselves.
Huh. The idea that writing advice has changed to accommodate (potential) audiobooks makes a lot of sense, but isn't something I'd really considered before.
"S/he"? I don't recall your having written any Sulamid or Hermat characters.
Similar threads
