I finished reading a novel that was pretty good, but it would have been better had it not annoyed me so many times. The problem? This appears multiple times:
"Don't worry," he smiled.
First, let me stress to you that I do not claim to be an expert in any field, grammar in particular. However, I do know that people cannot smile words. You can try, but nothing will come out. You can smile while saying words, but you cannot smile words. At least, as far as I know.
There are so many other ways to write this. 'He smiled. "Don't worry." "Don't worry," he said, smiling.' The list goes on.
I'm not sure why this bothered me so much when there are so many other things to focus on. I think that was the problem, though- little things like this make it much harder to enjoy the story.
Just my two cents. :)
Alex
