I started writing a book a few months ago, and as I read back on my first draft I'm a bit worried about some of my phrasing.

I've read Wheel of Time so many times and with so much frequency (6 times in 7 years) that I fear my brain might not be able to recognize fiction from reality. Specifically, what are some seemingly innocuous phrases that were spawned in Robert Jordan's head.

I'm particularly concerned right now about "bite off an oath". It doesn't show up in any of the other 200 books on my Kindle, but 6 times in WoT. Is it strictly a WoTism?

Can you think of others that might not be commonly thought of as out-of-the-ordinary but are almost certainly RJ originals?

Smoothing skirts? Sniffing?

While the curse/swear "bloody" isn't an RJ'ism, how he combines it with other words might be. Like "blood and ashes".

If you are worried about WoTism; I would be exceedingly careful with how/if you develop your magic system: weaving flows may not be precisely a WoTism - but it comes pretty close. (there have been other instances in other universes/books where a flow... or tendril of magic has been used probe things).

 

There is nothing wrong with borrowing phrasing or the rythem of writing from another author... that's how they all start - RJ himself did it in EoTW referencing Tolkien in his theme and some of his wording. You'll soon find your own language and style - even if you have to re-edit the whole book half a dozen times to find it.

Edited June 7, 201214 yr by boli

The magic system is significantly different from one that involves weaving, so no worries there. I'm not worried about the style so much... if anybody every said my writings style echoed Robert Jordan's I would hardly see that as a reason to defend myself. A friend of mine called himself a "wool head" the other day, thinking it was in common use, and it got me to wondering if I commonly use any words or phrases like it.

IdealSeek might help in looking up particular phrases that you're concerned about:

 

http://dposey.no-ip.com/IdealSeek/