Only in fiction

[GryymUmbra]

The thing I hate is when a character in a book clenches his or her fist(s) so tightly their fingernails draw blood from their palms. I've never seen this in real life and I certainly cannot do it myself.

[Black Wizard]

According to J.K. Rowling people murmur an awful lot. In my experience, we just whisper.

[Starkess]

• "She gritted her teeth." Bonus points if the character is speaking at the same time.
• Characters clenching their fists--and I don't mean the instant before punching the living daylights out of someone. I mean when they're moderately pissed off and trying to suppress their anger. How often IRL do you see someone clench his fists unless he's threatening you?
• Reacting to a surprising statement by blinking.
• Somewhat off-topic, but characters "intoning" or "declaring" speech instead of just saying it. A part of me died inside when I saw two characters in The Warrior-Prophet "grate" lines of dialogue on the same page.
• Gulping when nervous.
• Turning into Porky Pig when flustered and stammering e-e-every s-sin...single w-word.
• I know a good amateur writer who has this tic of making her characters purse their lips as beats between dialogue. Pursing my lips is actually a neurotic habit of mine, but I mean, people think it's weird when I do it. All of her characters purse their lips.
• "His stomach clenched." I've used this, and even I'm not sure just what it means.
• "Her eyes narrowed."

I don't mind all of these, because some of these stock phrases are useful shorthand for conveying characters' true emotions. But that doesn't make them any more realistic.

I do several of those things, my husband does several of those things, so between two people we've basically got the list covered. I'll agree that they can be overused, but these ARE real mannerisms.

As far as gulping when nervous, that's perfectly explainable. You get nervous, your mouth gets dry, and you try to swallow to make your voice sound more natural or to generate saliva.

[wolverine]

Possibly usually you can tell. It takes a lot of practice to be able to fake a smile, but much less to learn how to spot it.

Try this test it give you 20 videos of people smiling which you can only watch once. Here's a tip look at the eyes. I got 18 of 20 right. My link

After you finish the test it gives you an explaintion of the differences between fake a real smiles. The eyes are indeed the key.

ETA Not as impressive but the second time I got 20 out of 20 right.

That test was ridiculously easy. I got 20 out of 20 on the first try. The people who were actually smiling were almost laughing the fakers had half smiles.

[Ser_not_appearing_yet]

Do you people understand the purpose of fiction? It's 'what if' not 'what is'.

It should be about imagining possibilities rather than recreating the mundane. :P

I'm so tired of this faux-realism obsession on forums devoted to works of FICTION.

[Guest Raidne]

Funny, I'm reading the same thread and I took it to be utterly about literature, and how authors giving characters unrealistic behavioral attributes can pull you out of the book and how they also repeatedly describe the same mannerisms in the same way until they become cliche. Sort of a "what not to do" for writers.

I mean, sure, if I'm reading about genetically modified characters or fanstastical made up species, than the author can make them do whatever they want since they are something other than the humans I spend time around everyday.

[Shryke]

Funny, I'm reading the same thread and I took it to be utterly about literature, and how authors giving characters unrealistic behavioral attributes can pull you out of the book and how they also repeatedly describe the same mannerisms in the same way until they become cliche. Sort of a "what not to do" for writers.

I mean, sure, if I'm reading about genetically modified characters or fanstastical made up species, than the author can make them do whatever they want since they are something other than the humans I spend time around everyday.

I think the problem is 99% of what's been mentioned are in no way "unrealistic behavioral attributes".

[Ser_not_appearing_yet]

Funny, I'm reading the same thread and I took it to be utterly about literature, and how authors giving characters unrealistic behavioral attributes can pull you out of the book and how they also repeatedly describe the same mannerisms in the same way until they become cliche. Sort of a "what not to do" for writers.

I mean, sure, if I'm reading about genetically modified characters or fanstastical made up species, than the author can make them do whatever they want since they are something other than the humans I spend time around everyday.

Its not like the stuff being mentioned is physically impossible. Just unusual.

Not that I'm defending the incredibly repetitive 'she tugged at her braid' brigade, but there's nothing wrong with unusual mannerisms or accentuations in a character.

[Guest Raidne]

Well, who's the arbiter of truth here? Even though I have a very, very clear idea of what smiliing without it reaching the eyes looks like, I think it's interesting to hear that it's not something that resonates with a lot of people. Plus, it's such a cliche.

You know, if I can dork out for a minute, I have to say that even the artists' renderings of Littlefinger I've seen portray this pretty well.

I honestly don't get the power play, looking out the window stuff either. Nobody does that kind of thing in real life, it would be way too obvious. People use much more subtle cues than that in real life. OTOH, when Tyrion and Varys converse, I buy it.

[Ser_not_appearing_yet]

Oh no, something which doesn't reflect real life. That so defeats the point of FICTION.

Not that I'm referring to cliches here.

[Shryke]

There doesn't need to be an arbiter of truth.

People gulp, people raise one eyebrow, people clench their fists when they are angry, people give fake smiles, etc etc etc.

This shit happens. It's not something that happens "only in fiction".

[Spastic Plastic]

nothing can excuse the perfect single tear, though.

[felice]

Rolling someone's eyes. Unless they're outside someone's head, I've never seen anyone do it.

I do that all the time. Maybe you just hang out with the wrong people (or I do!).

[Liadin]

Evidently I shouldn't have called the thread "only in fiction," because really I was looking for stuff that's more common in fiction than in real life. (That explains all the "but I can raise one eyebrow!" responses at least.)

I thought Mina's list was really good; I accept that some people grit their teeth, clench their fists in anger, or gulp when nervous, but I personally can't recall ever seeing this behavior outside of fiction.

[Shryke]

I don't get the whole thing with the "raise one eyebrow" expression.

It's like the greatest expression ever. It conveys so much with so little. Most of that "so much" being disdain.

[Liadin]

I don't get the whole thing with the "raise one eyebrow" expression.

It's like the greatest expression ever. It conveys so much with so little. Most of that "so much" being disdain.

Nothing wrong with the expression; the problem is when every character in your book uses it. This applies to any mannerisms, of course--if every character in a given book starts petting their dog when nervous, I'd roll my eyes, but that doesn't mean I think real people don't pet their dogs.

[Alexia]

On the eyebrow thing, I had to learn different sets of subtle facial movements for a dance class I take and we learned a set of eyebrow movements...one of which is raising one eyebrow. In the children's classes, some of the children have to be trained how to lift just one although none of the women in my class had any trouble with it. I lift my left more easily than my right but I can do both. I generally use it in a sarcastic way.

Its also not that hard to identify a smile that doesn't reach the eyes, although I'd agree that one gets overused in fiction.

[TrueMetis]

Its also not that hard to identify a smile that doesn't reach the eyes, although I'd agree that one gets overused in fiction.

I think that's because of the overuse of bad people trying to be good. How many pricks do you know that pretend to be good people?

[Mad Monkey]

I think that's because of the overuse of bad people trying to be good. How many pricks do you know that pretend to be good people?

I think it's just lazy shorthand. Sure, you could take the time to have your hero figure out who to trust and who not to trust, but isn't it so much easier to have "EVIL!!!" barcoded on the bad guys' foreheads before they even start speaking? It's almost as lame as when a deceitful character has an "aura" or gives off "vibes"; it reminds me of Dianna Wynne Jones's "reek of wrongness" from The Tough Guide to Fantasyland.

[Kat]

I think it's just lazy shorthand. Sure, you could take the time to have your hero figure out who to trust and who not to trust, but isn't it so much easier to have "EVIL!!!" barcoded on the bad guys' foreheads before they even start speaking? It's almost as lame as when a deceitful character has an "aura" or gives off "vibes"; it reminds me of Dianna Wynne Jones's "reek of wrongness" from The Tough Guide to Fantasyland.

I don't actually mind the aura/vibes thing. It's basically another way of a character subconsciously knowing when something isn't right, which happens all the time. Now, someone's intuition isn't always correct, but that's another story. A lot of intuition, though, is reading the little clues which are less obvious than the ones here without consciously or rationally processing them, and people do that all the time.