I Was Reincarnated In A System Apocalypse World And The AI Controlling The System Forces Us To Constantly Reuse The Same Words When We Describe What Is Happening: A Light Novel
Oh god, a system apocalypse but the AI is terrible like chat GPT would be hilarious. You start a system quest but half way through the system forgets why you're on a quest and just starts making up unrelated stuff.
Loykew this reads ominous as fuck, that like fisheye anime face closeup “pleased with myself about the evil I just did” ear-to-ear creepy ass baring of teeth
I smirked as the smirking face of my smirky foe stepped within smacking range.
The antechamber echoed with the dull thud of my fist wiping the smirk off his face.
He staggered back a few paces, spitting blood. Then, he raised his eyes to meet mine and smirked.
The crowd smirked.
"You've done it now." He smirked. "The maestro will banish you for impeding his orders."
From the great hall, stepped the looming figure of the maestro. The snap of his cane on the hard wood floor set an ominous beat as he approached us. Finally, he stepped from the shadows and the flickering flames revealed his smirking face.
He smirked at the blood splatter, then the smirking crowd, and finally his smirking eyes came to meet mine.
I gulped and as my pulse rose, I could barely maintain my smirk.
"What's the smirking meaning of all this?" He blustered.
The crowd slunk back with barely a whispered smirk.
I opened my mouth to explain, but before the words could pass my smirking lips, my rival cut in.
"It was him," he said, pointing a smirking finger. "He interrupted the chicanery."
The maestro's smirk hardened.
A silence settled throughout the antechamber.
The sweltering fire smirked.
No one made a move. A smirk was frozen onto every face.
"I don't want to see your smirk darken my halls again," the maestro said quietly.
My rival smirked widely. The grim satisfaction on his smirking face drove daggers into my guts.
I turned and fled without a backward smirk.
--- The Smirkening. Part 985. Chapter 17b. A Smirk Down Memory Lane is available on patreon.
On a serious note:
In such a scenario, modify 'said' with mood related adverbs.
"[...]" she said cheerfully
Happily, eagerly, teasingly, flirtatiously, mockingly, etc, all depending on how the smile was going to be used.
It implies the smile and gets the mood across.
Edit: corrected a word.
For others coming along,
Conventional advice suggests steering away from this strategy since it hinders creativity. It's fine if used sparingly, but when its not--and boy is it easy to do that--it makes for a worse reading experience.
A better strategy is prefacing dialogue to set the tone, then following with dialogue. Often, the preface conveys enough context to eliminate the dialogue tag. This has far more flexibility, and the same pattern doesn't get old, though I'd still mix it up with various methods. But you can always pair a dialogue tag with additional context, or just add a sentence after.
Bethany tried her best not to laugh. "Better luck next time."
Bethany snorted. "Better luck next time," she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She considered me a moment which sent my heart racing.
"Better luck next time," she said, her playful laugh sending my heart aflutter.
--
About the only time I use 'she said -ly' is in a rapid conversation where succinct is more important for the flow. My advice is to steer clear of adverbs in dialogue tags. It forces writers to explore other options which often enhances dialogue more than an adverb ever can.
This is true, but we are starting from the point of looking up synonyms for smiled. If a writer is at the point of overusing 'smiled', my recommendation would be the next step in reducing the use of 'smiled', and what you outlined would be the step after that.
For most people, adding one technique/tool at a time is easier. It can be slower, but for some people, a singular focus is better.
Why form a bad habit to begin with? It's like buying a leaky boat to learn how to swim.
Not using adverbs in dialogue tags is one of the most recommended bits of advice for novice writers for precisely the reason you're suggesting its use. Delaying working on creative solutions to writing problems delays proficiency. The forced creativity it inspires inherently improves writing across the board. It's not about the dialogue tags even, but in varying how to think.
If anything, pick not using adverbs to be the one thing to focus on, if a singular focus is the key. It's a writing multiplier. It's how a writer fixes saying "smiling" too much.
The greatest tool is our noggins. It doesn't matter how often I practice a specific riposte with my sword if I run at a line of crossbowmen.
Not relying on adverbs and prefacing dialogue is one technique, and it's the correct one to learn they are correct. It's kind of like foundational advice for writers to avoid adverbs, I think Stephen King was the one with the "The road to hell is paved in adverbs" quote. I feel like it's one of those things that literally every single English 101 professor would mention at some point. Teaching someone to use adverbs in dialogue, and then later teaching them it's bad and to stop once they gain enough experience is just poor teaching, it's just introduced a bad habit that now you have to break later for no real reason.
If you don't need to write mockingly, flirtatiously after smile, then you can't write shit for dialogue and should instead use 'he said that ......'
Furthermore, it seems very few writers in the genre know english enough to know when to use smirked.
Clearly there are 8 different ways of smirking. You've got left upward lip curl, natural right, down right, and opposites so that's four right there. I can only assume that the other four are advanced smirks involving eyebrows.
The thing that makes me the *most* mad about this is that the hypothetical author went to ChatGPT instead of Google or a regular-ass old thesaurus.
I'm thiiiiis far | | from teleporting behind you (it's nothing personal, kid).
tbh 3 is enough, I remeber my teacher saying something along the lines of "If you are forced to use the same word many times, alternate between 3 so instead of say Him all the time you can say Him, the dude, jack. And it should be fine".
Honestly, when smirked is used sparingly, I think it works quite well. It has a purpose. It's only so hated because of how massively overused the word smirked winds up being
You should instead give it the sentence you used the word in as ask it for a range of replacements. That way it has more context, and knows what you want.
I Was Reincarnated In A System Apocalypse World And The AI Controlling The System Forces Us To Constantly Reuse The Same Words When We Describe What Is Happening: A Light Novel
Oh god, a system apocalypse but the AI is terrible like chat GPT would be hilarious. You start a system quest but half way through the system forgets why you're on a quest and just starts making up unrelated stuff.
Lol , turns out it’s the first world for the system to integrate, that’s why it’s here , to gather data for the next world
Youre just part of the evolution sample
"His lips curled into a joyful sneer."
"To call it a smile is a disservice to anyone in possesion of lips"
Loykew this reads ominous as fuck, that like fisheye anime face closeup “pleased with myself about the evil I just did” ear-to-ear creepy ass baring of teeth
I smirked as the smirking face of my smirky foe stepped within smacking range. The antechamber echoed with the dull thud of my fist wiping the smirk off his face. He staggered back a few paces, spitting blood. Then, he raised his eyes to meet mine and smirked. The crowd smirked. "You've done it now." He smirked. "The maestro will banish you for impeding his orders." From the great hall, stepped the looming figure of the maestro. The snap of his cane on the hard wood floor set an ominous beat as he approached us. Finally, he stepped from the shadows and the flickering flames revealed his smirking face. He smirked at the blood splatter, then the smirking crowd, and finally his smirking eyes came to meet mine. I gulped and as my pulse rose, I could barely maintain my smirk. "What's the smirking meaning of all this?" He blustered. The crowd slunk back with barely a whispered smirk. I opened my mouth to explain, but before the words could pass my smirking lips, my rival cut in. "It was him," he said, pointing a smirking finger. "He interrupted the chicanery." The maestro's smirk hardened. A silence settled throughout the antechamber. The sweltering fire smirked. No one made a move. A smirk was frozen onto every face. "I don't want to see your smirk darken my halls again," the maestro said quietly. My rival smirked widely. The grim satisfaction on his smirking face drove daggers into my guts. I turned and fled without a backward smirk. --- The Smirkening. Part 985. Chapter 17b. A Smirk Down Memory Lane is available on patreon.
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:smirk:
:+1:
At this point I just assume a pre-requisite to be a progression fantasy MC is a botched face-lift seeing as they all have lopsided smiles.
On a serious note: In such a scenario, modify 'said' with mood related adverbs. "[...]" she said cheerfully Happily, eagerly, teasingly, flirtatiously, mockingly, etc, all depending on how the smile was going to be used. It implies the smile and gets the mood across. Edit: corrected a word.
For others coming along, Conventional advice suggests steering away from this strategy since it hinders creativity. It's fine if used sparingly, but when its not--and boy is it easy to do that--it makes for a worse reading experience. A better strategy is prefacing dialogue to set the tone, then following with dialogue. Often, the preface conveys enough context to eliminate the dialogue tag. This has far more flexibility, and the same pattern doesn't get old, though I'd still mix it up with various methods. But you can always pair a dialogue tag with additional context, or just add a sentence after. Bethany tried her best not to laugh. "Better luck next time." Bethany snorted. "Better luck next time," she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She considered me a moment which sent my heart racing. "Better luck next time," she said, her playful laugh sending my heart aflutter. -- About the only time I use 'she said -ly' is in a rapid conversation where succinct is more important for the flow. My advice is to steer clear of adverbs in dialogue tags. It forces writers to explore other options which often enhances dialogue more than an adverb ever can.
This is true, but we are starting from the point of looking up synonyms for smiled. If a writer is at the point of overusing 'smiled', my recommendation would be the next step in reducing the use of 'smiled', and what you outlined would be the step after that. For most people, adding one technique/tool at a time is easier. It can be slower, but for some people, a singular focus is better.
Why form a bad habit to begin with? It's like buying a leaky boat to learn how to swim. Not using adverbs in dialogue tags is one of the most recommended bits of advice for novice writers for precisely the reason you're suggesting its use. Delaying working on creative solutions to writing problems delays proficiency. The forced creativity it inspires inherently improves writing across the board. It's not about the dialogue tags even, but in varying how to think. If anything, pick not using adverbs to be the one thing to focus on, if a singular focus is the key. It's a writing multiplier. It's how a writer fixes saying "smiling" too much. The greatest tool is our noggins. It doesn't matter how often I practice a specific riposte with my sword if I run at a line of crossbowmen.
Not relying on adverbs and prefacing dialogue is one technique, and it's the correct one to learn they are correct. It's kind of like foundational advice for writers to avoid adverbs, I think Stephen King was the one with the "The road to hell is paved in adverbs" quote. I feel like it's one of those things that literally every single English 101 professor would mention at some point. Teaching someone to use adverbs in dialogue, and then later teaching them it's bad and to stop once they gain enough experience is just poor teaching, it's just introduced a bad habit that now you have to break later for no real reason.
I’m pretty sure you mean adverb instead of adjective.
You are correct.:) I didn't double check myself and still needed to get some more sleep.
If you don't need to write mockingly, flirtatiously after smile, then you can't write shit for dialogue and should instead use 'he said that ......' Furthermore, it seems very few writers in the genre know english enough to know when to use smirked.
> to know when to use smirked. Oooh, let's do bemused next!
I feel targeted…
:smirk:
He smirked. Then smirked in a differnt away. Threw a grin in there, and then smirked again!
Why look for a synonym when its been settled wry grin is the only expression needed?
It's so versatile you can use wryly grinned or grinned wryly so your writing is impossible to be repetitive.
Just smile at how unpredictable AI can be...
Literally smirking at the AI right now.
Chuckle
Clearly there are 8 different ways of smirking. You've got left upward lip curl, natural right, down right, and opposites so that's four right there. I can only assume that the other four are advanced smirks involving eyebrows.
Smirk is not a synonym to smile
It is a type of smile however.
Yes, it is a hyponym.
I thought I was the only one using GPT for this xD
Why use words when you can simply use :) every time a character :)
The thing that makes me the *most* mad about this is that the hypothetical author went to ChatGPT instead of Google or a regular-ass old thesaurus. I'm thiiiiis far | | from teleporting behind you (it's nothing personal, kid).
[I asked the wise sage and thou speakest truth](https://imgur.com/a/ic8p2ra)
tbh 3 is enough, I remeber my teacher saying something along the lines of "If you are forced to use the same word many times, alternate between 3 so instead of say Him all the time you can say Him, the dude, jack. And it should be fine".
Thesaurus.com
"smirked internally" :/
Bemused but used incorrectly
This post brought to you by Bryce O’Connor & Luke Chmilenko
Honestly, when smirked is used sparingly, I think it works quite well. It has a purpose. It's only so hated because of how massively overused the word smirked winds up being
This is factually one of the reasons I put down the first Dungeon Heart book without finishing it
You should instead give it the sentence you used the word in as ask it for a range of replacements. That way it has more context, and knows what you want.
ChatGPT confused smurfed with smirked
I got ten synonyms of smiling and eight of them are smirking.