Kevin J. Anderson's Writing and a Fun New Game!

[Freakzilla]

Just as a palate clenser, i'd like to share a favorite of mine by Douglas Adams.

The ugly yellow bulk of the Vogon Constructor ship hung in the air much in the same way a brick doesn't.

Quoted from memory,I apologize if it's incorrect.
What a beautiful way to say it right? I've no doubt the KJH is proud of their similie, maybe if one warrents a gold star they'll get to display it on the fridge!?!

I love the way Adams writes.

[Superdog]

Try doing a search in the Legend of Dune series for the word patrician. I remember there being about a zillion references to Venport having "patrician" features.

[D Pope]

I do too! Have you ever tried to read his stuff out loud? I did, sounded like a child struggling with see spot run.

[Freakzilla]

Dune read aloud sounds like an epic poem.

[aethereon]

All of these words are to be avoided as a rule because they tend to be devices to skirt interaction and development of characters, environment, and plot. For the writer such words also create a vacuum to fill in terms of fleshing out even simple notions, especially in dialogue and thought processes.

Though certain instances are legit, the hit counts alone can negate overall justifiability.


Searching "whole words only" in all KJA Dune books except Winds:

really - 198 hits

you - 10773 hits

feel / felt - 409 / 1269 hits

think / thought - 829 / 1056 hits

as - 11377 hits

a lot - 58 hits

sort of / kind of - 150 / 95 hits

like - 3665 hits

just - 1950 hits

used to - 99 hits

Some entries have comparitively low hits, but you do just sort of feel as like it really is a lot.

*** and now the math ***

That's a grand total of 31928 potentially wasted words/phrases in 9 novels. I'll round up to 32000 and divide by 2 to comfortably grant concessions well beyond the legitimate margin. That is still SIXTEEN THOUSAND.

If the average word count per page in a novel is 250 (10 words per line * 25 lines):

31928 / 250 = 128 pages (raw)
16000 / 250 = 64 pages (generous concessions granted)

Spread across 9 books (and ignoring total page count), thats 14 pages (raw) and 7 pages (concessions) per book, respectively.

Now, I'd like to add just ONE more word to the list ---- "very." We have seen that the word has been replaced with "extreme" or "ultimate" or "just die " at this point... and curiosity beckons me to make a final comparison.

very - 748 hits

extreme - 91 hits

ultimate - 68 hits

just die - 3 hits (HA, HH, BoC)

Add a couple more pages to the charmin roll.

[aethereon]

"Patrician" in Legends - 8 total hits.

Venport and son in context to all 8.

[SandChigger]

(I actually got 9 hits. )

[merkin muffley]

"Patrician" in Legends - 8 total hits.

He watched a History channel documentary. Rome: Engineering an Empire, perhaps?

This game rules.