Amuse-gueule or very short stories

It's not you, there are heaps of good ideas that are underused or haven't been used at all.

zersergathant wrote:

Wonderful work as always, French! I really like the set-up you've got at the end there; I'd love to see more from these characters.
And the Rosic tribe, like so many other of my favorite Felaryan ideas, are sadly underused, I find. Maybe I'm just finnicky

Thanks. The Rosics have been used by several people, but for such an inspiring idea, they could probably do with a little more prominence, yes.

French snack wrote:

The test

Oh, that was just wonderful! I am quite impressed by your ability to portray music so well in writing, it's one of the hardest things I have ever personally attempted. The whole story was very vividly described, and the whole thing went by in a flash. It also felt rather touching somehow, despite the fact I knew next to nothing about the characters in question, and I'm not quite sure how you pulled that off to be honest. I was in a good bit of suspense up until very nearly the end.

Kudos to you, sir. Beautifully done.

Thank you very much! I'm particularly glad if I was able to make you care for what happened to newly introduced characters.

I know the thread hasn't had any important movement for quite a while, but I'm here to share the first short story I've ever written. You guys know how much I love being detailed and writing for long... and so it shows here, with something not as good, but not as bad either. I just wanted to limit myself up to 1,000 words and see what happened.

Anyway, it's an interesting exercise and I might go further with this odd couple in the future.

And yes, I know French Snack has already made a story with a Rosic neko and an antagonistic race (his a neera, mine an inu), and he's done way better than me, but anyway...

(EDIT: I'm thinking of remaking the story into something longer and better written, leaving this one here... consider this the resumed version of a soon-to-be story xD)

---

Rythm of Rosic

Like many other inus, Cassandra loved discovering new things. That's why she had been traveling around, wlaking the safest roads – though 'safe' is kind of relative in Felarya – and now she had made a stop in Negav. And its lower tier was as busy as usual.

“Hello, inu lady. Wanna hear something good?”

She turned to discover a man at the corner of one of the many taverns in the district. And his smell gave his race way before Cassandra put her eyes on him: a neko. She didn't believe in those dogs versus cats stereotypes, and this guy looked nowhere like a walking problem. Also, he had some little bongos with him. How could that be dangerous?

“Are you a musician?”

“Yup. The name is Shaun, of the Rosic tribe. I've been on the road with my little fellas” he pulled his bongos “for years until I installed myself in Negav. But I'm planning to move again with my tunes, here some gray guys don't appreciate the good beats... mainly the police... now, you wanna hear what I got, lady?”

Cassandra looked at him with curiosity. She heard of the Rosic tribe, but never thought she would meet one of them far from his village. But it was also said that many worked as musicians for hire. It seemed Shaun preferred a more independent life.

“Sure, why not? And although I appreciate you calling me lady, you can also call me Cassandra.”

“Well, Miss Cassandra, then prepare yourself for a good story. With some good” he quickly beat his bongos “beats.”

“Are you a singer then?”

“Nope, my rhymes suck big time. But I love narrating while playing my bongos. Makes you feel what the characters of my tales feel... and lady, you'll know my tale.”

Musician and storyteller, that sounded like a good combination. Cassandra had met some musicians and some storytellers, but she wanted to see what happened if you mixed both.

And then, the beats began.

“We the Rosic are known for our music, and also are known for being tough. Specially with the younger artists to be, those have a test of survival: beat a predator just with the sound music.”

His beats grew in intensity as he was saying this. Cassandra could imagine the young nekos of the tribe, armed with just their voices and their instruments, facing a giant naga or a harpy or even a centaur.

“Some friends and me went to the beach, as we spotted a beautiful mermaid taking a break. We walked up to her, some afraid, some brave, but all of us ready to pass our test.”

Now the beats changed, as they simulated heartbeats. First they were calm, but as he was talking, they went faster and faster. Cassandra could see in her mind the nekos approaching a relaxed mermaid in the Torpaline coast and also felt a tad nervous, like some of those nekos would be at that time.

“She looked at us, thinking of a hundred ways to swallow every single one. We offered her a song, one we had been practicing for long. She knew we were Rosic and told us that if our tune made her sing along, we would get a proof of our success. Else, we would get death by digestion.”

There, he stopped talking and the beats became more harmonic, more like a real song, emulating the actual tune he and his friends played. And then, Cassandra could see it again: the nekos, playing their instruments – including Shaun and his bongos – while many started to sing. There she could also see the mermaid, at first not impressed and rubbing her stomach, but then getting more and more interested, until she broke in her own singing, wonderful voice.

“A promise is a promise, she said, and an little tiny notch of her fin was our trophy. She looked forward to more, and we made an encore.”

His beats were now quieter, as he was approaching the end.

“And so our initiation ended, the village celebrating our triumph, as we proved that we truly were Rosic musicians.”

The finally beat echoed and put an end to the vivid imagination in Cassandra's mind. She shook her head, surprised at this. In any other situation, her short attention span would have made her turn her face to whatever new thing that caught her attention, but here, there was nothing but Shaun's music and the tale he was narrating.

And Cassandra applauded.

“I'm glad that you not only have a good smell, but also a good ear and taste,” Shaun said with a smile.

He extended his hand towards Cassandra. The inu looked at it and then at Shaun's smile. Cassandra frowned, a bit clueless.

“I do this for a living, my lady. One or two skevols would do fine.”

Shaun could see that Cassandra began to look annoyed, as if she realized he had tricked her – when she was to blame for not thinking of this before. Then, his eyes spotted something. He quickly stepped closer to Cassandra, showing her what he had found: a Pileuda's Fried Glouteux establishment.

“Or maybe you cold invite me to some fried glouteux,” he said. “Do that and I'll guide you through the Negavian low tier while you're in the city. I know it like the palm of my paw and you're a newcomer, Miss Cassandra... Deal?”

Well, he was right about her being new to the city, although she was beginning to dislike Shaun's smart commentaries. Anyway, she should really need someone to guide her: Negav was big enough to get lost, even in just one of its tiers.

“Sigh... fine.”

“You know, Miss Cassandra? I think this is the beginning of an unlike yet beautiful friendship.”

And Cassandra sighed again.

Quote :

Shaun could see that Cassandra began to look annoyed, as if she realized he had tricked her

haha! silly artists! ;P

dont limit yourself to 1000 words! it was really good! the developement could have had so much in it! but lik you said, you will write a bigger story bout it, so I,ll just wait for it, i guess

Krisexy26 wrote:

Quote :

Shaun could see that Cassandra began to look annoyed, as if she realized he had tricked her

haha! silly artists! ;P

Not Shaun's fault this time. xD

Krisexy26 wrote:

dont limit yourself to 1000 words! it was really good! the developement could have had so much in it! but lik you said, you will write a bigger story bout it, so I,ll just wait for it, i guess

Since these are short stories, I thought I should give myself a limit, like a challenge. But as I said and you remarked, I want to expand this. I'd like to give more details on what they look like - in fact, you read this and have no clue how Cassandra and Shaun look like - and how detailed is the inu's imagination as she listens to the narration and the bongos.

I hope the long, good version will be out soon.

Nice story indeed Short but really enjoyable and intriguing too. I get the feeling Cassandra will have some feisty days to come XP

Feadraug wrote:

Rythm of Rosic

Ohh, a very nice one! Well described, and solid characterization. Cassandra is quite the vivid character.



Anyway, here's one I forgot to put up a while ago. Credit to Stabs for largely inspiring this with his Survival Lessons series (sorry for the plagiarism-tastic title; I'm terrible with titles ), Randomdude for the Kensha reference, and of course Karbo for Felarya itself.


Lessons in Survival

The rooftop was dark and deserted except for the solitary pair of females who stood there. The lights of Negav stretched out below in every direction like stars in some reversed sky, but it was not an unusual sight for Sheena, so she focused her attention on the woman who had brought there. She was tall and sleek, with her dark hair, and black getup, only her face stood out in the darkness. "Okay, so what is this all about?"

"I'm teaching you something." Naora's voice and expression were neutral, unreadable.

"Oh come on, not this again Naora! I did all the crazy drills with you, and we got away fine, so what's wrong . . . ?"

"Do you think you can outrun a kensha?"

"Of course not. They're much too fast."

"That's funny, because it sure looked like that was what you were trying to do yesterday."

"Of course I was <i>trying!</i> You were doing the-"

"No I wasn't," Naora interrupted. "See this?" She held out a small, spherical object, with little wheels on the bottom, for Sheena to observe.

"That's . . . that's a toy for neko children. What the hell are you on about?"

"Think you can outrun it?" Naora asked, deadpan.

"Of course . . . it's just a toy."

"Exactly." Noara placed the toy on the ground, switching it on. "Now catch it."

"Have you gone crazy . . . ?" After a moment of incredulous staring, Sheena relented. "Alright, fine." She walked over to the toy, stooping down, but the little fuzzy ball scooted away from her hand at the last second. She made an annoyed sound, and tried again, this time more aggressively. The toy once again eluded her, zipping between her legs and out of range. It took better than a minute and no less than eleven grabs, before she finally had the toy in hand, a very irritated expression painted on her face.

"So?" Naora asked, still giving nothing away.

"So what? That toy is really fast!"

"No, it's not. Even a child could outrun it. What it is, is light and agile."

"Is this some kind of-"

"We went over this before Sheena, but apparently it didn't stick, so I'm moving to visual aids. The toy doesn't need to be <i>faster</i> than you, to evade you. Compared to the toy, you're very heavy, which means you have more inertia when you move. The toy can change direction quicker than you, but if it were going in a straight line, it would be <i>easy</i> to catch. Remind you of anyone?"

At this point, Sheena knew exactly what Naora was trying to say. It was a fundamental lesson; be agile, not fast. Use the predator's size against them. And a hundred more of the same little sayings that were probably good advice. But Sheena was frustrated and annoyed at being treated like a child. "Oh, well thanks for pointing that out! I'll be sure to mind my zigzags the next time we're running through the forest in blind panic from a freaking kesha beast! Wouldn't want to get my priorities mixed up or anything!"

"No, you wouldn't. Doing that could get you killed." Noara was angry too, now, it was apparent. She didn't let it show in her voice, but the set of her jaw, and her eyes made it abundantly clear. Then she seemed to deflate, looking more sad than anything, and Sheena felt an irrational surge of guilt. "Sheena . . . I think maybe you're not cut out for this after all. You've got the talent, but . . . look, maybe it would be best if you found something else to devote your time to. Or at least took some time off to give it some thought."

"Oh don't you dare! I worked my ass off for this, and now you're just-"

"When I was just starting out, on some level I thought it was a game, too. And if I hadn't been really lucky, I would never have lived long enough to learn otherwise. It's thrilling and amazing and you get to see and do things most people only dream about; I've never felt half as alive in here as I do out there . . . but it's not a game. And people do die."

"I know it's not a game, damnit! The stuff you've taught me is amazing, but I was doing this even before that, and I've kept up with you fine so far. We even got away from that Sphinx, and that was about the worst situation imaginable!"

"Sheena-"

"No. You need me for that caravan-raiding job next month you've got set up; none of your other usual allies are suited for it, and it's not a solo job. Not even for you." Sheena set her jaw, unwilling to back down. She knew if she didn't force other chance to prove herself, Naora would probably never take her out again.

Naora closed her eyes for a long series of moments, considering. ". . . Fine. But afterwards, you're not setting foot outside Negav until I'm 100% sure you're up to it."

Sheena couldn't help but grin at her victory. "Just you wait; I'll be so pro out there you'll be begging me to come along on the next one!"

Not a short story really but I thought I'd share this. It's a bit of chatlog from the dryad network.

[08:34:45]Liana of the Tower joined the chat
[08:34:48]Thorn in your side: And they just stopped right there and started putting them up. I couldn't believe my luck.
[08:34:57]Liana of the Tower: Morning girls
[08:35:04]Thorn in your side: sup
[08:35:09]@Drayla: How's the weather up there Liana?
[08:35:12]Liana of the Tower: Well
[08:35:19]Liana of the Tower: It's raining
[08:35:23]Liana of the Tower: Because I live in Chidokai
[08:35:28]Liana of the Tower: So what are you talking about?
[08:35:35]Maplesweet: Humans, delicious humans
[08:35:44]Maplesweet: And their red lunchwraps aka “tents”
[08:35:56]Thorn in your side: I thought they were just some myth until yesterday
[08:36:01]@Drayla: Told you so.
[08:36:10]Maplesweet: Those didn't count. You live in the forest of perils. Sure the humans would use red tents.
[08:36:17]Maplesweet: Red tent humans are the dumb ones that practically invite you to eat them
[08:36:23]Thorn in your side: But these didn't wear red
[08:36:30]Thorn in your side: Only the tents were, plus they didn't notice me
[08:36:38]Thorn in your side: They were honest-to-Fel red tent humans
[08:36:42]Liana of the Tower: So did you catch them?
[08:36:50]Thorn in your side: What do you take me for, a glouteux?
[08:36:57]Thorn in your side: Made me a skirt out of those wraps
[08:37:02]@Drayla: Wish I had thought of that.
[08:37:11]Thorn in your side: I think those humans got rid of my gutworm
[08:37:17]Thorn in your side: Been making me like twice as hungry lately
[08:37:25]Maplesweet: Eww why do you have to talk about parasites?
[08:37:33]Thorn in your side: You might have one right now maple :3
[08:37:38]Maplesweet: I hate you.
[08:37:45]Liana of the Tower: It's been so long since I've had a human.
[08:37:52]Maplesweet: What are you, a cactus dryad?
[08:38:00]Maplesweet: When food gets slim, you just gotta uproot and bear with it.
[08:38:05]Maplesweet: Human is worth the effort imo
[08:38:10]Liana of the Tower: Like I wish I could
[08:38:14]Liana of the Tower: But my roots are all in this thing
[08:38:15] Jaykay1 joined the chat
[08:38:18]Jaykay1: RAAWWWK
[08:38:20]Thorn in your side: wtf
[08:38:23]Jaykay1: MAYDAY MAYDAY RAWK
[08:38:24]Liana of the Tower: :X
[08:38:28]Liana of the Tower: I'm so sorry
[08:38:31]Jaykay1: SORRY SORRY SORRY
[08:38:34]Maplesweet: Who let the bird in the chat?
[08:38:37]Liana of the Tower: It's my fault
[08:38:38]Jaykay1: SORRY GOTCHA
[08:38:42]Liana of the Tower: I sorta linked with it
[08:38:45]Maplesweet: You WHAT?
[08:38:53]Maplesweet: I know some girls who link with saurotaurans, and that's weird enough
[08:38:54]Jaykay1: GOTCHA GOTCHA
[08:38:58]Maplesweet: But jaykay birds really
[08:39:00]Jaykay1: GOTCHA
[08:39:09]Liana of the Tower: I was bored, okay? I didn't know it would just show up in here.
[08:39:12]Jaykay2 joined the chat
[08:39:13]Jaykay2: NICE ASS
[08:39:14]Jaykay1: GOTCHA RARK
[08:39:15]Jaykay1: GOTCHA
[08:39:16]Jaykay1: GOTCHA
[08:39:18]Thorn in your side: oh jeez
[08:39:20]Jaykay3 joined the chat
[08:39:22]Jaykay3: GONNA CATCH YOU
[08:39:24]Jaykay1: GOTCHA
[08:39:26]Jaykay3: GONNA CATCH YOU
[08:39:30]@Drayla: ugh spammers
Jaykay1 was banned
Jaykay2 was banned
Jaykay3 was banned
[08:39:41]@Drayla: Liana please don't link with jaykay birds while you're in the chat
[08:39:46]Liana of the Tower: kk sry

hahaha

oh god this one made me laugh out loud. The dryad's reactions when the Jaykays enter the chat were priceless XD

It's even funnier when you realise what the birds are parroting.

Anime-Junkie wrote:

It's even funnier when you realise what the birds are parroting.

Yes, the background adds to it.

And that was... unexpected.

I think I recognize one of them heh....

That was a fun little session of randomness- I grinned at their chat room names too. The birds busting in like that was definitely amusing XD.

That was hilarious!
Pure genius.

/Fish/ wrote:

A Hilarious Dryad Chat

Oh jeez. Freaking genius! Great idea, wish I'd though of it

Just an interesting idea for a story I had.

------------

Unexpected Challenge

A 19 year old man and a succubus meet in the jungle. He offers to play a game, and if he wins, he lives. To be fair, he lets her choose. She accepts. And so it begins...
"Now, I get to move 31 spaces, split between my four pieces."
"Hold it. You didn't do a flip first."
"I don't have to. I did a cartwheel 28 minutes ago, a double spin clockwise 48 minutes ago, and my d20 rolled a 19 while landing on a blue square with the 2 facing me. Also, since my d4 rolled a 2 on an aquamarine with a 1 pointing at you, you move your two farthest pieces back 68 spaces, then put three cards back on the green pile."
"But you have to answer my question. Miss it and I get to draw five blue cards."
"Except that I put a chance card face-down on a black dodecagon space, so you have to dance and sing a song about how much you love angels."
"...Kid, are you sure you aren't related to a succubus? You picked up Frost Gate far too quickly."
" I don't think I am. Now start dancing. You just got the double effect, and I'm changing it to the seventh set. I remember seeing something about knocking over your house of cards and punishment in the rules, so hand me the book..."

Finally, I've done an ultra short-short - I specifically limited myself to under 1000 words and only just managed it. Now I've got less free time, I might end up doing more of these, since they can be done quite fast.

This one is actually a "deleted scene," of sorts, which was in my head back then but never made it into the final couple of stories. It probably won't make sense to those who haven't read the stories with these characters, just a heads up.

----------------------------------

Horse Sense

Of all the bad things to happen to him in Felarya, Evan decided, being stuck in a tree because there was an extremely upset, angry, and although it couldn’t possibly swallow him whole, probably hungry creature that couldn’t really be described as anything except a large unicorn made which appeared to be made mostly out of leaves stamping around at the bottom, and several very conveniently located podmaws hanging around him, blocking every possible exit route, was the last thing he would have expected.

He shifted on his aching legs, crouched in an uncomfortable position, and gazed blearily down at the snorting, stomping, thoroughly green equine.

Why was everything here so dammed aggressive? He wouldn’t have minded so much if the creature had at least been humanoid, attractive, and clothing-deficient. Or perhaps some completely inhuman, hideous beast with claws and fangs and rolling bloodshot eyes, ready to tear his heart out of his chest and play ping-pong with it. That wouldn’t be so bad either. But this was just getting ridiculous.

He’d decided that he’d just sit it out, and wait until the enraged animal-plant thing had simmered down and gone away. He was now considering the unhappy prospect of being forced to stay there all night.

Then Andrew decided to call and check up on him. This made everything worse, but at least it broke the monotony.

“Evan? Are you alright?”

“Of course I’m alright! Why are you asking?”

The glade unicorn, which had been grazing (cannibalism?) peacefully below, raised its head at the noise and flared its nostrils at him, just so he would remember that he was still stuck and that it was still annoyed and he still wasn’t going anywhere.

“You’ve not moved from that spot for like four hours. What the hell are you doing?”

“Waiting,” Evan said, which was true.

“For what? Fairies? Not sure if waiting for them to come to you is a good idea – “

“No, I’m not. I’m just er.”

There was a highly suspicious pause.

Evan hesitated, wondering whether he should own up. Playing statues was not his game. “Alright, I’m stuck.”

He almost heard the deep satisfaction at the other end even before Andrew spoke.

“Go on?”

“I’m eh. In a tree. Surrounded by podmaws.”

“Riiight.”

“And uh. Can’t go down because there’s a great huge hostile horse made of leaves which seems to want me dead. As you’ve observed, I’ve been waiting for it to go away for a long time and it hasn’t.”

There was a short silence. Then;

“Made of leaves, you said?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you have a flamethrower on you?”

“Andrew.”

“Well, not a flamethrower, but haven’t you tried attacking it? With your paralysis spells?”

Evan sighed.

“Andrew, this thing is a bunch of leaves walking around by themselves. I don’t think my magic will work on it. There’s nothing to paralyze. Anything could happen. I’m not going to risk it.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“…Await rescue?”

“Jesus Christ. Alright. On my way. And in the meantime talk to Ko and see if you can find out what in God’s name the thing is and how we’re supposed to deal with it.”

***

The answer turned out to be quite simple, really. The elemental, upon meeting Andrew, decided that it was going to prove that it was, in fact, a pony, rather than some kind of disembodied tree-spirit. It followed him around, nuzzling his shoulder and chewing his hair, and proceeded to get very obviously in the way whenever he attempted to approach the tree with Evan in it.

“I’ve no idea what you were making a fuss about,” Andrew cooed, busy making a fuss of the thing Evan had been making a fuss about.

“Shut up,” Evan said. “I’m talking to Ko.”

Still in the tree, he was frozen, listening intently. His expression was growing gradually more and more annoyed, and incredulous.

“What?” Andrew asked, craning his neck past the elemental, which was trying to push him in the opposite direction with its snout. “What is it?”

“Nothing. I just need to get out of this damned tree.” He flapped at Andrew to go away. “If you’d be so kind as to lead your new friend somewhere else…?”

Amazingly, it actually worked. The elemental seemed only too happy to usher a not-entirely-satisfied-with-that-explanation Andrew away into the forest. Evan waited, holding his breath. Then he scooted down the tree as fast as he could go, making sure not to step directly beneath any of the podmaws along the way.

“We,” he said, with an irate stretch of relief at being back on the ground; “Are here for exactly the same purpose, Ko! Yet I get gored, and he gets fawned over. Explain.”

“You expect me to understand the exact intricate workings of an elemental’s mind?”

Ko's retort sounded half-exasperated, half-amused as usual. “I just told you what I know. It’s similar to the unicorn myths back from our world. Immorality issues. They destroy what they perceive as evil, and – “

“Yes, yes, I know," Evan interrupted, running one hand agitatedly back through his pale blonde hair. "But what qualifies them to make that judgement, is what I’m asking? We’re all fairy hunters, here to do exactly the same thing, and yet it treats me and him differently? What about the damned fairies, for Christ’s sake? Do they get labelled as evil?“

“I don’t know, Evan – “

“ – Why do I have this sneaking suspicion that they don’t?”

“Will you be quiet? Thank you. Now listen. There’s no point trying to make sense of it. I doubt that the glade unicorn’s behaviour is founded on logic that would stand up in court – perhaps it just doesn’t like the smell of your shampoo. Anyway, more importantly, are you ok?”

Good question, Evan thought. But out loud he said, “I’m fine. Thanks, Ko.”

“Take care, then. And don’t let it worry you.”

Well done on that one Globfish. I haven't read your stories, but this is still good on it's own.

GlobFish wrote:

Horse Sense

Oh, a shorty from Globfish! Delightful!

I'm pleased to see more of good old crazy Evan, and this little story was quite entertaining. The behavior of the elemental through his eyes was amusing as hell, and all the descriptions were excellent, as always with your writing.

Aren't these fun to write though? I should really whip up one myself, it's been entirely too long.

It's difficult not to smile when something like that happens to Evan. The others shouldn't be quite so quick to dismiss the "elemental unicorn"'s judgment, of course... Nice little twist or retro-foreshadowing there. And it's good to see Ko again, too. A light-hearted moment before everything fell apart...

Thanks all.

Prinny, there were virtually no descriptions in that story. XD

It was fun! A bit difficult, as I was tempted to go over the word limit and into more detail and depth, but that isn't the point of these. Short and sweet is the idea methinks. I've got an idea for another one, actually, but I need to borrow a badass for it. (Could I briefly nick Naora?)

In your case, I think whatever you don't write in "full length," stories you more than make up for with the number of ultra shorts you've written so far. Not that it wouldn't be great to see another one.

GlobFish wrote:

Prinny, there were virtually no descriptions in that story. XD

What?! *Checks* Well, I suppose I'll have to revise my statement to: 'you painted such a vivid picture with the dialogue and lively narration that I was legitimately fooled into thinking the descriptions were more meaty.'

GlobFish wrote:

I've got an idea for another one, actually, but I need to borrow a badass for it. (Could I briefly nick Naora?)

Feel free!

GlobFish wrote:

Thanks all.

Prinny, there were virtually no descriptions in that story.

On this note of descriptions, I feel that people are handing out compliments on descriptions independent of the actual content of the story. While the above is one example, I'm talking more overall.

What I'm saying is, "good description" is being used as a stock compliment. It's losing meaning because it's used without thought.

You can all go back to having fun now.

Anime-Junkie wrote:

On this note of descriptions, I feel that people are handing out compliments on descriptions independent of the actual content of the story. While the above is one example, I'm talking more overall.

What I'm saying is, "good description" is being used as a stock compliment. It's losing meaning because it's used without thought.

Somehow, over time I'm rather getting the impression you don't like me very much. Not that you'd be alone in that, I suppose . . .

But in my defense, as someone who's actually read all of Globfish's stories, the descriptions in said stories are usually quite outstanding. So it was not, in this case, a habit of using a 'stock compliment' (oh the horror!) in general, but using one that almost always applies to the author in question.