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by jimmygrapes 2032 days ago
While I and many others have issues with King's apparent inability to end a story and his editors' not saying "no" enough, one thing I have actively noticed in his writing is that I never get hung up on overuse specific words or phrases. For a counter example, Frank Herbert's earlier works had the phrase "shoots a glance" so many times that I ended up being focused on counting those rather than the story. I also tend to notice when an author uses a specific term more than their peers, such as Dan Simmons and his use of) "lapiz lazuli" rather than just saying "blue". It's fine to use, but it stands out to me in ways that cause me to pause my reading and acknowledge the term consciously, rather than keep the narrative flow in my head.