Are there unusual words that you notice certain authors using in all their books, as though they’re contractually bound to do so?
Two that instantly spring to mind are:
Piers Anthony: “balk”. It’s as though he were afraid to overuse the word “stop” so instead he overuses “balk”.
William Gibson: “lozenge”. It’s a strange word, and when it’s used, it stands out. It stands out often for him.
H.P. Lovecraft and “eldritch”.
Diana Wynne Jones: ‘attending’ as in “she was not attending” (paying attention/listening).
David Eddings: ‘really’ ‘sort of’ ‘more or less’ ‘actually’ and other words that mean ‘maybe’.
J.R.R. Tolkien and “Leagues.” :rolleyes:
Clark Coolidge: “vug”
JH Prynne: “sugar” (& related words: “honey”, “saccharine”…)
OK, no-one else will know those guys. Nevermind.
Dean Koontz---------------chitinous, and arroyo (typically the setting for the chase scene).
Michael Crichton always seems to have someone in his books with the last name Levine.
Stephen King always seems to have his characters’ bowels turn “liquid” when they’re mortally afraid.
I know I’ll think of more as soon as I submit this…
Ann Rice: “preternatural”
Rex Stout: certainly. People say “certainly” instead of “of course” or “yes” or “sure” or any other positive. Over and over and over and over.
Not to mention:
**Batrachian
Noisome
Fungoid
**
Another Stephen King (pet image, rather than word): when someone is hit by something (train/monster/bullet/bad news/whatever) they always seem to get knocked out of their shoes.
Dave Barry is known for his “booger” journalism.
In Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant, nothing is green, it is always “verdant”.
You forgot Squamous and Rugose.
[sidebar]
I was putting together a collection of Lovecraft’s short stories recently, and I was mightily tempted to name it Partly Squamous, Partly Rugose. But I didn’t.
[/sidebar]
Others:
Peter David over-uses “happenstance.” And it’s not a word you forget seeing.
For a really silly example of this, see Todd McFarlane’s first Spider-Man issue of about a decade ago and stand in awe at the train-wreck that is ADVANTAGEOUS!
Not quite on-topic, but let me also mention Covenant’s “gaunt, compulsory visage.” I think Donaldson only uses that once, but that’s no respite for those of us whose faces are merely optional…
H. Beam Piper (of “Little Fuzzy” fame): Niffleheim.
In honor of this, I have been referring to the overuse of pet words in fiction as “Niffleheim Syndrome” since sometime in the mid '80s.
Oh, Hornswoggler, did your parents decide not to pay extra for the ‘face option’? I always wondered what happened to those kids - did you have to wear a paper bag, or did they give you some kind of leatherette factory-made face, or what?
Another one, only slightly different: E. L. Konigsberg and epiphany. That makes regular appearances in her later books - there are schools named Epiphany, towns named Epiphany, and then there’s also people having epiphanies - and it isn’t like ‘epiphany’ is an every-day, all-day kinda word.
How could you forget cyclopean and charnel!
I loved those books, and I noticed that too :). But remember, it was their word for hell :). Except… how was it pronounced? I always said it 'Niff-ul-hime".
Anyway, to be on topic…
Me: However