Warning rant ahead.
Smirk: http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/smirk#smirk_4: to smile in an unpleasant way because something bad has happened to someone else, or because you think you have achieved an advantage over them
Now if you don’t believe me, please feel free to go to: http://onelook.com/?w=smirk&ls=a where 36 other dictionaries will all tell you a smirk is a cruel, unkind, nasty kind of smile.
Yet in every second romance novel I read, the hero smirks at the heroine. Often he smirks at her in almost every chapter of the book.
Ladies, read that definition of smirk.
Now, would any self respecting heroine want a hero like that?
I think not.
A true hero smiles.
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/smile#smile_4: to raise the corners of your mouth when you are happy, pleased, or being friendly, or when you think something is funny
If you need a synonym try grin, laugh, or even beam, or look amused. But please, save all that smirking for the villain.
Helen Woodall
Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.
6 comments:
Yes! Yes! This is one of my pet peeves. Totally throws me out of the story when I read something like that!
Sometimes I think an author reads a word in someone else's book, thinks, "Oh that'll do" and doesn't check the actual meaning. Which trashes the hero's character for anyone who does know the meaning.
Helen
*wipes brow* just searched my WiP and found zero instances of my hero smirking.
Good to know!
Helen
OMG! No self-respecting hero would ever "smirk" at his lady. I think when a writer uses the word in his or her manuscript that there is a misunderstanding of the meaning, as you say. Thanks for letting authors have a heads-up about looking words up before using them.
Hi Fran,
Thanks for dropping by,
Helen
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