Is This Considered A Cliché?

[Matchu]

99.9% of any UK audience would misunderstand 'spanner-eyed' as some reference to eye shape.

If, god forbid, they had the misfortune to learn your term was an allusion to 'balls tightening' ...it is very offensive, and gross...suggesting 'cliche' is gross also, unless I miss, and I am happy to miss this joke.

St John Tee, vicar.

[luckyscars]

Isn't spanner also a UK kid's slang for somebody with mental retardation?

I swear I heard it in a TV show at some point? "OI REF WHAT THE FOOK YOU DOING!?! THAT WAS A PENALTY, YOU FOOKIN SPANNER!"

[bdcharles]

Isn't spanner also a UK kid's slang for somebody with mental retardation?

I swear I heard it in a TV show at some point? "OI REF WHAT THE FOOK YOU DOING!?! THAT WAS A PENALTY, YOU FOOKIN SPANNER!"

It's just a name that you call someone. "Dave? Great bloke. Total spanner."

[luckyscars]

It's just a name that you call someone. "Dave? Great bloke. Total spanner."

...for literally no reason?

[TheMightyAz]

Show and tell is a balancing act. I don't know how women readers would react. But depicting women horribly has turned off some readers that are women. To talk about her sexiness imo might be something a female reader might object to doing. That is they might want if it has a reality (as in her personality as well) since they are the real readership to have good female characters. Most women are the readers of fiction works. Not to mention while it depends on the genre it seems that love and sex novels are devoured by female readers. So I don't know other statistics, but that is how I would depict her. Be sensitive to what other people think. If a romance develops in the story, even better for female readers. Given the fact that I don't know how writers handle women really well. It seems to vary greatly since the opinion is so divided. Men can get it wrong a lot of the time. I do think sexiness is something an audience can handle with maturity if toned down. You don't necessarily need examples but a sex scene in a story I don't think sells a lot of books. The only examples belong to the love genre in the first place or romance.

One thing I will never do is be sensitive to what others think. I write what entertains me. If some people like it, that's great, if they don't, so what? In real life, of course, because you are meeting people. In fiction, no, because you are seeking an audience.

But I have to point out, this is ONE sentence that may or may not appear in a story, a story I haven't even thought up yet. LOL. I was just curious and wondered if it's considered a cliche.

[Matchu]

'Spanner' is a cuss word like twit, fool, jerk.

[bdcharles]

...for literally no reason?

For the very good reason that Dave is, objectively, a total spanner, and that you love him despite it. In fact you love him because of it.

It's about as close as us English get to actual emot**ns...

[Matchu]

Put into context...in a story...in the words of an evil overlord...'his balls tightening' etc...might save 1000 words of character description, at least.

Saving grace.

[Theglasshouse]

One thing I will never do is be sensitive to what others think.

I will agree to disagree just because if your sensitive in some ways you can gain an audience. This science fiction author's work attracted attention from controversy (not sure if it is the same person who wrote the atrocity exhibition and I read some criticism to balance this of Lovecraft who was doing some good things creatively but seemed to anger critics). There are no rules. I just disagree bv reasoning it. The best-selling entertainment seems to be for the general audience such as harry potter maybe.

[luckyscars]

Put into context...in a story...in the words of an evil overlord...'his balls tightening' etc...might save 1000 words of character description, at least.

Would it be inappropriate to also point out that no man in history's balls have ever tightened in response to an attractive woman other than one made of actual snow? This is on a par with 'When Dave smiled at her, Dawn felt her nipples immediately harden like bullets'. It's not an actual thing.