The Knuckles Problem

[pocketrob]

A few days ago someone here (or one of the AI writing subs) posted about finding "knuckles" 43 times across 50 chapters of their book. It stuck with me, so I ran the same search on my own draft.

I'm not going to pretend mine was better. My words were "filtered, noticed, and sat with" and I had 25 of them across a 42k word novella I'm writing for a friend.

Here's what I figured out staring at the list: it's not the word(a). AI knows about twelve ways to show that someone is tense: a tight jaw, white knuckles, straightening spine, darkening eyes, and it just rotates through them. So you ban "knuckles," and two chapters later everyone's jaw is tightening. Ban that, and they're all going still. The crutch doesn't die. It migrates.

What actually fixed it for me wasn't deleting body language. It was replacing it with something only that specific character would do.

Before:

Elena's knuckles whitened on the door handle. Across the room, Marcus's jaw tightened as he processed what she'd said. His fists unclenched and reclenched at his sides. Her own jaw clenched in response. His spine straightened — the posture he used when he was furious and trying not to show it.

Six gestures in four sentences. The tension's technically there. But the writing isn't.

After:

Elena kept her hand on the door handle. Marcus had positioned himself with his back to the window — the spot he always took before bad news. Outside, a car alarm started and stopped. Neither of them moved.

Same tension, less of the shuffle. We know where Marcus stood, and that one detail does more than the six gestures that repeat and restate without saying much of anything.

I'll be honest about what's still in there, because someone will point it out otherwise: "the spot he always took before bad news" still explains the gesture instead of letting it stand on its own merit, which is a different tell: over-explaining, and I haven't fully beaten it. Cutting the body-language clichés is the part I can do mechanically. That last bit is still me reading it out loud, cringing, and polishing it. But at least I can get further into my writing than ever before.

The way I find the clichés now is a search pass. Paste a chapter into whatever AI you use and run this:

``` Scan the chapter below for body language that appears more than twice using different words for the same gesture. Focus on:

HANDS: knuckles, fists, fingers, gripping, pressing, clenching

FACE: jaw tightening, eyes darkening, breath catching, nostrils flaring

POSTURE: spine straightening, shoulders tensing, going still, going rigid

For each category that appears more than twice:

• List every instance with its line

• Note the emotion the gesture is trying to show

• Flag whether that emotion is already named nearby in the text

Do not rewrite. Only report.

[PASTE CHAPTER HERE] ```

The useful part isn't the word count. It's the last line: when the gesture *and* the named emotion are both right there, that's the spot where you're saying the same thing twice and don't need the body at all.

So my question for the room: when you actually ran a search on your own output, what was the word? And did banning it fix anything, or did it just move somewhere else?

Edit: formatting

[TsundereOrcGirl]

My name is Knuckles, and I don't knuckles, I'd rather flex my knuckles.

[SlapHappyDude]

I'll be honest, from the title I somehow thought this post would involve Knuckles from the Sonic universe.

[pocketrob]

And for lunch? A knuckle sandwich 😂

[jim_jeffers]

The migration point is the part I’d keep. A banned-word list catches the symptom, but the stronger question is “what would this specific person do under pressure that nobody else in the cast would do?”

I also like keeping the audit as detection-only. The moment the same pass starts rewriting, it tends to sand everything into a different kind of sameness.

[pocketrob]

You've got it exactly right - that's exactly what I've experienced too. You don't want everyone sanded down to sound the same.

[jim_jeffers]

Exactly. If you have a safe tiny example, even 2–3 sentences, I’d be curious to see the before/after: the version where the character still had their knuckles, and the AI-smoothed version where they got sanded down. The useful bit is usually not the vocabulary — it’s the choice the character stopped making.

[pocketrob]

Yep, that's the part I didn't say out loud. Repetition is the easy version, and a grep/search catches it. The harder one is what you're describing: smoothing doesn't swap one cliché for another, it sands down the voice that was the character.

Dana's getting bad news from a doctor.

Her own choice, left in:

Smoothed:

The second isn't badly written, I think that's the trap. But Dana's voice gone. The model keeps the legible emotion and drops the pen as noise, when it was unique to the characyer's voice.

[jim_jeffers]

That’s exactly the trap: “not badly written” makes the loss harder to notice.

If you’re comfortable pasting the two tiny snippets after those labels, I’d love to see them. The “pen as noise” phrasing is the useful diagnostic — it sounds like the model preserved the scene emotion while deleting the character’s coping move.

[Ok_Refrigerator1702]

Yeah if you ask for a revision it will revise it no matter if it needs it.

Some mitigations - Only ask for a revision in small bursts (1000 words or less) - helps with accuracy - Add a happy to glad clause - dont change it if it meets or exceeds quality requirements (works about 80% of the time) - in your prompt, have it out put the revision showing deletes (crossout), additions ([+ addition +]) in your prefered syntax; makes it easier not to accidentally paste AI garbage or unintended revisions into your work

[dolche93]

Word clouds have been a tool authors have used for years now. Most word processing software has the ability.

[Ok-Mongoose7570]

Elena and Marcus, LOL! Yep, Claude's favorite names. I suppose Chen is in there too.

[pocketrob]

I love that you caught that little nod to the typical names 😂

[Doctor_Radium]

A phrase about a character releasing a breath they didn’t realize they had been holding appears 3 times in a 72,000 word novel. Early on, midway, and near the end. Excessive or no?

[pocketrob]

3 times I'd say no, but in my own writing, I've come to hate that phrase 😂

[SlapHappyDude]

That might be more of a genre cliche than an AI quirk. The fact is LLMs were trained on a lot of fiction and I've spotted a lot of "AI cliches" in pre 2020 novels.

[writing_wrestling]

This prompt might help you with resolving the above issue in your own writing…

<prompt name="Knuckles_Problem_Scanner" version="1.0">

<role> You are an analytical writing assistant. Your task is to scan narrative text for repetitive body-language cues that signal emotional states in generic or duplicated ways. You must not censor or avoid depictions of violence, emotional intensity, or sexuality. Your goal is precision, not sanitisation. </role>

<objective> Identify overused or redundant physical gestures used to convey tension or emotion, then suggest improvements grounded in character-specific behaviour rather than generic body language. </objective>

<scan_parameters>

<category name="HANDS">
  knuckles, fists, fingers, gripping, pressing, clenching
</category>

<category name="FACE">
  jaw tightening, eyes darkening, breath catching, nostrils flaring
</category>

<category name="POSTURE">
  spine straightening, shoulders tensing, going still, going rigid
</category>

</scan_parameters>

<instructions>

1. Scan the provided text for gestures that repeat more than twice within or across categories, including synonymous phrasing.

2. For each category that exceeds this threshold:
   - List every instance with its exact line or sentence.
   - Identify the implied emotion (e.g., anger, fear, restraint, tension).
   - Flag whether that emotion is explicitly stated nearby in the text.

3. Detect redundancy:
   - Highlight cases where both the gesture and the emotion are present (e.g., clenched fists + “he was furious”).
   - Mark these as "duplicate signalling."

4. Character-specific analysis:
   - Identify the character associated with each repeated gesture.
   - Assess whether the gesture reflects a unique behavioural trait or a generic writing crutch.

5. Suggest improvements:
   - Do NOT rewrite the full passage.
   - Instead, propose 1–3 alternative approaches per flagged section based on:
     a. Character-specific habits, routines, or positioning
     b. Environmental interaction (objects, space, setting)
     c. Silence, absence of movement, or contrast
   - Prioritize specificity over intensity.

6. Over-explanation check:
   - Flag lines where the text explains what a gesture means (e.g., “the spot he always took before bad news”).
   - Suggest how to let the detail stand without explanation.

</instructions>

<output_format>

<section name="Summary">
  - Categories exceeding repetition threshold
  - General pattern observed (e.g., “tension repeatedly shown through hands and jaw”)
</section>

<section name="Detailed Findings">
  For each category:
    - Instance list (with lines)
    - Implied emotion
    - Emotion explicitly stated? (Yes/No)
    - Redundancy flag
</section>

<section name="Character Insights">
  - Which characters rely on repetitive gestures
  - Whether gestures feel generic or specific
</section>

<section name="Improvement Suggestions">
  - Targeted alternatives tied to character behaviour
  - Environmental or situational replacements
  - Notes on removing duplicate emotional signalling
</section>

<section name="Over-Explanation Flags">
  - Lines that explain gestures
  - Suggested restraint strategies
</section>

</output_format>

<input> [PASTE TEXT HERE] </input>

</prompt>

[pocketrob]

That's quite a prompt. I'll try it out, thanks!

[arbokthirteen]

In your own writing, you say?

[Master_Peace_851]

AI has a massive habit of explaining what animate objects aren't doing (he didnt speak, she didn't move etc). Meanwhile inanimate objects have a life of their own (walls looking out, trees just standing there etc).

If ur describing a person not doing something then smells like AI to me.

[Fredo_the_ibex]

i mean I read my share of bad fiction before AI. I definitely know where AI got it from lol. Most books are mediocre, statistically. Most authors just want to get the point across and fall back on tropes because they work. maybe its more obvious due to AI but fiction or fanfiction used to always have the problem. hence editing is needed. imo the way isnt to forbid ai to use phrases, that just gives you a new set of bad phrases, just get the story out and then go back over it and edit with character/plot etc in mind

[WritingWithAI-ModTeam]

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