And the editor says...

[alanajoli]

From correspondence with my editor:

"I will look for the 'eyes' issue. I have trained myself to be on the lookout for that sort of thing: a writer I worked with once called it 'the echo.' All writers do it, and often it is not noticeable to the reader, but sometimes it gets a little distracting. I did call you out on it in my first read of what I have so far."

Figures that Shawn would catch it before I noticed it myself. (Of course, he is amazing and awesome, so I shouldn't be surprised!)

Also, props to slwhitman for not letting me off easy in her response to my post. From everything I've heard, she, too, is an amazing and awesome editor--and I appreciate the free advice!

Comments

[slwhitman.livejournal.com]

Heh. Just helping the world, one word at a time. :D I didn't mean to be hard on you--I was trying to be more neutral, as in, *if* you've found this to be a repetitive device you rely on, now that you recognize it you can vary it.

I still haven't gotten to reading Into the Reach yet--you know how it is, trying to balance all the reading I have to do--so I don't know from your writing whether it's overused or not. Just that it's a general trend I see that sometimes writers can rely heavily on a particular phrase or device so much it starts to stand out.

I think the easiest example of that is Robert Jordan and breasts. And tugging braids. And eyes flashing. And women snorting. After 4 or 5 books of that (I made halfway through 10 before giving up on him, but that's another story), I started looking at the people around me wondering just how often a person might snort or pull a braid when they're angry.