I will not write:
Women who, when
they are a weeny bit stressed about something, will be unable to eat, (and will fortuitously lose that stubborn pound/kilo or two.) My characters will probably
definitely eat more.
Someone who orders a meal but does not eat it. Unless the restaurant has to be evacuated for some dramatic reason. Or as a statement. My main character in my almost-certainly-never-to-be-published comedy novel took such action. When a date commented that she was overweight and ‘should do something about it,’ she did. She ordered an expensive meal then walked out leaving him with the bill. As you do. She then went home and finished of a tub of Ben & Jerry’s, but still, she took action.
A character who will have a lengthy conversation with someone who is about to get in a train that is ready to leave the station. (How do directors in film and TV dramas get away with this nonsense?)
I will not use the word ‘thrum’ which as writer, editor and reviewer, Bec Blakeney pointed out on Twitter, is now ubiquitous. She wondered whether every Australian editor was secretly adding it as an in-joke but it’s been in the last three UK novels I’ve read too. I think it's been in every book I've read that was published in the past couple of years so it's definitely in some of the books mentioned below.
Mark Brandi:
Wimmera
Mark Brandi: The
Rip
Sue Williams:
Elizabeth and Elizabeth
Kate Grenville: A
Room Made of Leaves
Pamela Hart: Digging
Up Dirt
Craig Silvey:
Honeybee
Tony Birch: The
White Girl
Liz Byrski: The
Woman Next Door
Gary Disher: Peace
Allie Reynolds:
Shiver
Helen Garner: The
Spare Room
Chris Hammer:
Scrublands
Molly Murn: Heart
of the Grass Tree