Just a quick one, because I actually laughed out loud at the headline. Article on io9 (again!) here.
The first comment has a brilliant Amazon review:
“Thanks to the many other perturbed readers who have shared their own choices of the most annoyingly overused phrases in this masterpiece. Following up on their suggestions with my ever-useful Kindle search function, I have discovered that Ana says “Jeez” 81 times and “oh my” 72 times. She “blushes” or “flushes” 125 times, including 13 that are “scarlet,” 6 that are “crimson,” and one that is “stars and stripes red.” (I can’t even imagine.) Ana “peeks up” at Christian 13 times, and there are 9 references to Christian’s “hooded eyes” and 7 to his “long index finger.” Characters “murmur” a whopping 199 times (doesn’t anyone just talk?), “clamber” on/in/out of things 21 times, and “smirk” 34 times. Finally, in a remarkable bit of symmetry, our hero and heroine exchange 124 “grins” and 124 “frowns”… which, by the way, seems an awful lot of frowning for a woman who experiences “intense,” “body-shattering,” “delicious,” “violent,” “all-consuming,” “turbulent,” “agonizing” and “exhausting” orgasms on just about every page.”
Pity the author. Without critical acclaim, all E. L. James has are her 250,000+ e-book sales and seven-figure print deal.
DAN HARRIS: 10% SCI, 90% FI 
I’d be curious to know what literary circles consider acceptable words to use to describe an orgasm. Because it’s amazingly hard to describe. I mean, it is its own description (orgasmic).
Very true. Curious, I just Googled ‘literarily acceptable words to describe orgasm’. The first result was the Wikipedia entry for ‘La petite mort’, which says it all.
I’m pretty sure I’ll steer clear of ever writing sex scenes – they’re so often cringe-inducing, it’s just not worth the hassle.
Thanks for commenting!
Monster prefer “gonad thunder”. It succinkt yet elegent.
Indeed – a little male-centric, though? I’ve not read the book, but I’d put money on Ana not having any gonads to thunder.
😀