Wattpad Pet Peeves

Overusing the Same Lines

Hey, party people. Happy President's Day to everyone in the U.S. 

Throughout my time on Wattpad, and reading books in general, I've noticed there's this bank of lines that writers love to choose from, and this figurative bank has some of the most cliche lines you've ever heard. The following are some of my (least) favorite examples:

1. "Everything went black."

Look, I know you want to say that your character passed out without really saying that they passed out, but does absolutely EVERYONE have to use this same line? How about something like this:

"I felt dizzy and my vision blurred. Next thing I knew, I was in a hospital room surrounded by doctors and family members leaning over me."

Passing out comes with so many different symptoms (talking from both first and secondhand experience, here. I know people who've passed out, and I've come pretty close myself). You get dizzy, you feel nauseous, your eyes start to roll back and you start seeing spots. I feel like when writers say that "everything turned black", it just means they have no experience of passing out, and have no idea what it's really like. 

2. "The silence was deafening."

This is an example of a literary device called an "oxymoron". What it does, is it creates emphasis by making a contradiction. Some other common examples of oxymorons that you may hear in everyday life are "pretty ugly", "same difference", and "small crowd". 

The issue with the silence being "deafening" is that the first two times you read this line, you think "Oh! That was really creative! Maybe I'll use that in my writing!" However, literally everyone else is thinking that exact same thing, and that's why so many writers end up using this freaking line. After you read it in ten different stories, it really starts to lose its effect. 

3. "Her voice broke me out of my thoughts."

Why are your characters zoning out so much? Oftentimes, I see this line as an excuse for the writer going off on a tangent and explaining some background information while a scene is actually in progress. When the writer wants to jump back into the scene, they'll have some other character talk and the main character will just get removed from their "trance". But authors will do this even when the story is written in third person, so the character isn't even the one thinking! It's just the nonexistent narrator explaining something! There are other ways to integrate background information, ya know. 

(TW: gross mouth stuff ahead!)

4. "He licked his lips."

Ugh. I'd equate this one to authors writing about their characters going to the bathroom. It's unnecessary. I know you might be using it to emphasize that your character is nervous or unsure, but it just brings up this image of someone's tongue slobbering all over their own lips. It's disgusting! We lick our lips all the time without realizing, so why do you have to write about it?

The thing I hate the most about this one is that the authors who use it literally use it ALL THE TIME. Like, every other line in the book is about a character licking their lips. Just stop! I don't want to think about that!

5. (two characters are making out) "Our tongues danced together."

Just no. Stop, please! If you want to create a sensual mood, don't include this line! It brings up that same image from before of people just slobbering all over their faces. It's gross! You're trying to make a sexy scene and you're making me think about that? Ew! If making out is a sensual experience for the characters, then write it in a sensual way! Make the readers feel the same thing as the characters! Don't try to gross us out!

Yeah, so if you're writing your story, and you're worried your line is cliche, you can google cliche lines and make sure it's not in there, or you can have a friend read the story and give some input.  It's amazing how powerful a little peer-proofreading can be. 

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and I hope you enjoyed it too!