# Things your favorite authors do that annoy you **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [June 27, 2025, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201 "2025-06-27T17:23:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201/21 "2025-06-27T20:29:59Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > To me, it’s writers who don’t write denouements - Jack Vance and Neal Stephenson come to mind, Jack Vance? Good Lord, he would be the last I’d complain about! He more or less single-handedly invented the modern fantasy spell system, and wrote in many genres. He had a distinctive voice (second only to Cordwainer Smith, perhaps) and his story arcs are usually well resolved in the end… ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201/22 "2025-06-27T20:31:58Z")
The thing that annoys me the most about Stephen King is his tendency to get fixated on some weird word or phrase and use it far too many times throughout the novel. In _Never Flinch_, there were two: “Oough” and "Poopy) (Holly’s ways of saying she doesn’t like something) I can’t think of too many of them off the top of my head, but the most annoying one I can remember even after all this time was “smucking” in _Lisey’s Story_. If he’d used it once or twice it would have been fine, but I got to the point where if I ever saw that darn word again, I was ready to chuck the book across the room. (Edit to add: Oh, yeah, and “Beep Beep, Richie” from _IT_ was another one.) ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201/23 "2025-06-27T20:34:39Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > tendency to get fixated on some weird word or phrase and use it far too many times throughout the novel. D H Lawrence had the same habit. He could have used a better editor. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201/24 "2025-06-27T20:34:42Z")
I’ve posted this somewhere here before. Stephen King does a thing that made me stop reading him. In an apparent effort to be realistic, he over-inserts name brand products into his prose. My (over-cooked) imitation of King’s writing: _Larry slipped into his Nikes and felt for his Zippo and his half-smoked pack of Marlboros in his Carhartt pocket before grasping the Schlage doorknob._ mmm ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201/25 "2025-06-27T20:37:19Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > The thing that annoys me the most about Stephen King is his tendency to get fixated on some weird word or phrase and use it far too many times throughout the novel. In _Never Flinch_, there were two: “Oough” and "Poopy) (Holly’s ways of saying she doesn’t like something) Shades of “Eeh” in Thomas Pynchon’s _Mason and Dixon_. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201/26 "2025-06-27T20:47:15Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > No, it’s not the anachronisms, like the fact that Stout gives Wolfe’s house several different street numbers That’s the reason the floor plans are inconsistent. Wolfe has moved two or ten times over the course of the stories (but always to another place on West 35th Street.) An experience always so traumatic, Archie refuses to acknowledge the event. Here’s a few words from a draftsman who attempted a floor plan of Wolfe’s digs: _“Oh, once in a while, things popped up as they were needed – a fireplace suddenly (and rather inconveniently for the draftsman) appeared in the front parlor: Wolfe was angry at a new dictionary; in a rage, he tore it to pieces and burned it. Oh… where? Uh, in the fireplace in the front parlor. Okay. Hadn’t noticed that before. And a chair pops up across from the coat rack, a pool table is established in the basement, a window is needed for an escape, this and that. Rex Stout maintained a mental image of Archie seated to Wolfe’s right, while his consistent descriptions call for Archie to be at the far end of the room (with a mirror in front of his desk so he can see the room behind him) and the bookshelves and globe at the other end so that if Wolfe’s desk faces the door to the office (as is common), Archie has to be at Wolfe’s left. But Stout calls for the famous waterfall portrait with a peephole to be behind Wolfe, ergo, Wolfe is not seated facing the door, and Archie can be place eight feet away and at right angles as called for in the Master’s text. Small details can also be a problem. Stout has the light switch on the left inside of the door to the office as you enter, but that would have the door hinged on the wrong side, swinging into the room and furniture, rather than as I have drawn it, swinging into a wall. Also, as Stout kept adding needed touches – a cabinet for fingerprint equipment, keys, and rubber gloves, with drawers to hold manuscripts, a safe, filing cabinets, a bathroom (!), and room enough for two rows of chairs in front of Wolfe’s desk plus a large couch – we end up needing a lot of room and Archie ends up where I have placed him. Ain’t no other way. So this is it.”_ > **[Brownstone\_Floor\_Plans\_john\_clayton.pdf](https://www.nerowolfe.org/pdf/tidbits/Brownstone/Brownstone_Floorplans/Brownstone_Floor_Plans_john_clayton.pdf)** > > 296.96 KB ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201/27 "2025-06-27T20:51:01Z")
Another one I just thought of: I won’t say Dan Brown is a “favorite” author, but I’ve been reading his books lately after getting a couple for $1.99 from Bookbub, and I enjoy them. But it really bugs me that he keeps using the word “Felt.” “Langdon felt tired.” “Langdon felt confused.” Etc. As an author, I just find that grating. Writing 101 says to avoid “crutch” words like that. I think Brown missed that day of lessons. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201/28 "2025-06-27T20:58:46Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Stephen King does a thing that made me stop reading him. In an apparent effort to be realistic, he over-inserts name brand products into his prose. Maybe he did that early in his career? I haven’t noticed it in the stuff of his that I’ve read recently. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201/29 "2025-06-27T21:08:49Z")
Very possible. I noticed it used frequently in “11/22/63”. That is the most recent book of his I’ve read (and, despite two attempts, never finished). mmm ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201/30 "2025-06-27T21:09:10Z")
Brain fart. However, the links section on that Nero Wolfe page includes [**Ken Darby’s Floor Plans (most probable) (from _The Brownstone House of Nero Wolfe_ ©1983, Little, Brown & Company)**](https://www.nerowolfe.org/pdf/tidbits/Brownstone/Brownstone_Floorplans/Brownstone_House_of_Nero_wolfe_Ken_Darby.pdf), which manage to insert a window at the back, along with amazingly detailed plans for each floor. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201/31 "2025-06-27T21:39:54Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > The thing that annoys me the most about Stephen King is his tendency to get fixated on some weird word or phrase and use it far too many times throughout the novel. In _Never Flinch_, there were two: “Oough” and "Poopy) (Holly’s ways of saying she doesn’t like something) > > I can’t think of too many of them off the top of my head, but the most annoying one I can remember even after all this time was “smucking” in _Lisey’s Story_. If he’d used it once or twice it would have been fine, but I got to the point where if I ever saw that darn word again, I was ready to chuck the book across the room. > > (Edit to add: Oh, yeah, and “Beep Beep, Richie” from _IT_ was another one.) Not all of his weird phrases annoy me. I was fine with “smucking”. But one particularly annoying one was “sounds Hawaiian”, which he used repeatedly in Dark Tower III and IV. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201/32 "2025-06-27T21:52:58Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > The thing that annoys me the most about Stephen King is his tendency to get fixated on some weird word or phrase and use it far too many times throughout the novel. What baffles me is that these are recent enough works to have been written on a computer. And even if the application you use doesn’t have spell- and grammar-checking built in, there are plenty of programs that’ll tell you that you just referred to a night as “dark and stormy” over twenty times. . I used to love reading Patricia Cornwell’s novels featuring Kay Scarpetta, who uses up-to-date forensic technology. But I had to quit, because in four books in a row I turned the page and said “Oops, here it is! The point where the publisher called and said ‘Patty, you’ve stalled enough. Book goes to the printer tomorrow, with or without an ending!’” Seriously, the last half-chapter would be SO rushed, with some threads left unraveled, or (worse) tied up with an implausible sentence or two. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201/33 "2025-06-27T21:54:02Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > [To.me](http://To.me), it’s writers who don’t write denouements - Jack Vance and Neal Stephenson come to mind, but there are plenty of others. Their stories just… stop. Never, ever read any David Foster Wallace. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201/34 "2025-06-27T21:55:52Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I’ve posted this somewhere here before. Stephen King does a thing that made me stop reading him. In an apparent effort to be realistic, he over-inserts name brand products into his prose. Never, ever read any Ian Fleming. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201/35 "2025-06-27T22:29:25Z")
Isaac Asimov always came across like a toady for Harlan Ellison. Does that count? How about Larry Niven seemingly having to have a mention of frictionless toilets and Baked Alaska in every story (well, it seemed like every story!) Or how his stories seems to always have some random and not necessary for the plot reason to have sex. Wish fulfillment? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201/36 "2025-06-27T22:32:06Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Isaac Asimov always came across like a toady for Harlan Ellison. Does that count? Could you expand on this? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201/37 "2025-06-27T22:42:31Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Could you expand on this? In the introductions for The Hugo Winners collections (of which Mr Ellison is in a lot) Asimov “hosted” the books and wrote introductions. Since he knew a lot of the golden age writers, he could usually find some good story to tell about them. But his intros for Ellison’s stories went (to me) past the point of fan interest and into “Look! aren’t we best buddies? I can say anything about Harlan, no matter how unflattering, because I’m the only one he likes.” Maybe “toady” isn’t the best word, but their relationship as Asimov wrote it was weird. Then later I find out about Asimov’s personality and yeah that explains some things. I still like Asimov’s stories, but not his personal writing. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201/38 "2025-06-27T22:45:35Z")
It’s not like Ellison’s personality was something to write home about, either. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201/39 "2025-06-27T23:32:01Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > It’s not like Ellison’s personality was something to write home about, either. Or in an intro. 🙂 One of Asimov’s intros had him telling a joke at Harlan’s expense at one of the conventions. It involved a fairy that could grant Harlan only one of two things: height or talent. Everybody laughed, except Ellison. If I were there, I would have yelled out, “So, come on, come on, which did he take??” ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201/40 "2025-06-27T23:34:13Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > (We get a Summary button now instead of a blurred spoiler?) You have to scroll down, blur spoiler is at the bottom of the list of extras. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-your-favorite-authors-do-that-annoy-you/1020201.md?page=3)