What truly ANNOYS you in books? And not in a good way.

Calliea · Jan 8, 2014

Anna Spargo-Ryan said:
There have been a couple of good threads on this kind of subject lately

Pet peeves as a reader - http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=281460
Book closers - http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=279448

I don't have any specific peeves, other than bad writing, which is pretty vague and unhelpful of me

Thanks. Popcorn in the oven.

Matt Walker said:
It annoys me how in most books, no matter the genre, how if the protagonist meets a new main character of the opposite sex they almost always fall in love. I mean, sheesh.

That's one of my bigger gripes actually

With myself. On one hand, I always get a nose wrinkle when I see something that looks like the obvious romance-to-go, on the other I am dissatisfied with stories that involve no romance. In a perfect world I'd like to have a complex, unpredictable (but well-present) romance, but to have it actually develop it cannot start happening in the last chapters. Which means it should start sooner. Which means it will most likely have to be the predefined and obvious 'it's coming, sis' thing, no? It can go differently in series, but in standalones, I don't see a way the romance can be both ever present and not obvious. Unless the author gives me the finger and kills one of them off by the end. Which I don't necessarily approve of

~~~

I was thinking for a bit and I think what annoys me the most is magical fixing. Bad stuff happened, I get SUPER curious about HOW will it get resolved. I start guessing and making up my own scenarios and then...

- it was just a dream, things are okay
- we can reverse time, no problem
- my buddy in a very, very high place fixed everything, don't worry
- nobody remembers it but you, it's fine
- aliens fixed it
- it wasn't nearly as bad, someone lied to you

Etc, etc, etc. Countless ways to make me cry.

LOTLOF · Jan 8, 2014

Deus Ex Machina endings, can't stand them.

You read three hundred pages of the characters making choices that land them in more and more trouble, until they are in a seemingly hopeless situation. You want to see how it will be resolved and what price the heroes will have to pay. Alternately you want to see some sort of brilliant scheme or solution whereby the heroes can still come out on top.

Instead aliens suddenly show up and kidnap the bad guys just to give them anal probes.

I simply hate that sort of ending, where the heroes have screwed up but still get saved when God / Fate / Random Chance / The IRS / Time Traveling T-Rex / or Would Be World Conquering Lab Mice suddenly appear. It renders everything that happened in the story completely irrelevant. As a reader I always feel cheated.

BethS · Jan 8, 2014

Low tension. Puny, easily resolved conflicts. Nothing happening, or nothing of real interest happening.

Main characters who are overly sexed (like, can't get sex off the brain). Always panting after someone and/or sleeping with someone.

Trite or melodramatic dialogue.

Amateurish writing.

All of the above will encourage me to quit reading the book.

Kolta · Jan 8, 2014

Characters that think on 'a different level' than others or find trouble relating to others because they're such special snowflakes no-one could possibly get them. Yet we're never shown evidence of that. The drivel in their heads is actually pretty boring and far from any genius intellect they seem to think they possess.

The worst part: it is never implied that they overestimate themselves. Instead, all else indicates that they may very well be right. Such as them figuring out the simplest of problems and having others be absolutely gob-smacked at this. Or having the character know something they couldn't possibly, and they hit the nail right on the head, simply because the author knows this information. But there isn't a sufficient walk-through on that thought process, because the writer is clueless as to how to present that.

Layla Nahar · Jan 8, 2014

Wilde_at_heart said:
Clumsiness in an FMC. It hasn't been charming since Julia Roberts rom-coms turned it into a cliché 20 years ago.

Raquel Welch did it really well in The Three Musketeers.

BethS said:
Low tension. Puny, easily resolved conflicts.

Why, just the other day I was looking at my book and thinking that's exactly what was wrong with it...

Kolta said:
... Or having the character know something they couldn't possibly, and they hit the nail right on the head, simply because the author knows this information.

Ha! This is something I struggled with the other day (or several days, actually). My mind was itching to write something but I kept thinking (of my MC) *why* would she draw that conclusion? - nothing that has happened so far would lead her to think it.

I can't think of anything that I've found annoying. Oh - wait - there was one book I read - it *seemed* so interesting, the world, in particular, but the language... Ugh - so overdone, I really wanted to find out what happened but I quit just after halfway through. Usually I can tell by the first paragraph or page or two if I can read to the end. I guess, in a nutshell, the ANNOYing thing for me it authors who have a very affected writing style that say to me that they are somehow very pleased with themselves. I put Salman Rushdie and the above overblown steampunk writer in the same bag.

lianna williamson · Jan 8, 2014

Looking back over the reviews I did in '13, the reasons I stopped reading included:

1) Book had an interesting premise, but was written in an incredibly stiff, stilted way.

2) Book was translated into English by someone with an inadequate grasp of English.

3) Book features 13-year-old characters who talk and behave as if they are 22 and in a Joss Whedon series. (I was a middle school teacher for eight years, and know how even the brightest and coolest kids that age sound)

4) Main character is entirely passive, makes no choices, has no goal.

5) Main character is unlikeable, and has no goal.

6) Bad writing. Telling what could be shown in as few words, head-hopping, unnecessary attributives, clunky sentences...

ArachnePhobia · Jan 8, 2014

Niccolo said:
When the power of friendship is enough to destroy an evil that has lurked, murdered, maimed, and manipulated for literally hundreds or thousands of years. I read mostly horror, and if you give me an antagonist that is almighty and all-powerful, I'll call shenanigans when love and friendship and close personal bonding turns into kryptonite in the final hundred pages.

Plus eight million. If your eldritch abomination can be defeated by friendship, or love, or vaguest of all "believing" (uh, believing what?), a) it's a wimp, and b) it's been around since the dawn of time and never encountered true love before? Really? I hate this so much I actually had one of my villains chew my hero out for trying it on him:

"I have lived for millenia, lined my throne room with the innards of heroes who possess strength, cunning, and integrity to which you do not even have the potential to aspire, and you come in here, hoping to defeat me with a sophomoric tactic like that? Bitch, please."

I normally don't like characters soapboxing, either, but that trope annoys me so much I made an exception for it.

I'm also starting to side-eye ultimate monsters who change their nature depending on what the characters find most terrifying. I have seen it done well, but I've also read far too many medicore books where it's shorthand for "the author doesn't know what it is, either."

Mr Flibble · Jan 8, 2014

ArachnePhobia said:
I'm also starting to side-eye ultimate monsters who change their nature depending on what the characters find most terrifying. I have seen it done well, but I've also read far too many medicore books where it's shorthand for "the author doesn't know what it is, either."

I've seen it done well enough I've refused to go into a shop called Pennywise..*shudders*

But it can be overdone. I just haven't seen it overdone.

Marian Perera · Jan 8, 2014

adm said:
I often wonder how many people really move back home after some life changing event that leaves them broke or heartbroken.

In romance, it's so often the woman who leaves a high-paying yet soulless job in the Big City and moves to a small town that would have made Thomas Kinkade weep with envy.

Charging Boar · Jan 8, 2014

johnhallow said:
Characters who keep doing a-holish things

An a-holish thing to do is not holding the door open for an elderly person or something like that. What you went on to describe is just psychopathic.

Mr Flibble · Jan 8, 2014

adm said:
I often wonder how many people really move back home after some life changing event that leaves them broke or heartbroken. .

Um, me (a while ago admittedly) And a fair few people I know are either living with their folks, or are folsk who have adult kids who came back to live with them

It's really common.

housing/renting is vvv expensive here so...

ArachnePhobia · Jan 8, 2014

Mr Flibble said:
I've seen it done well enough I've refused to go into a shop called Pennywise..*shudders*

But it can be overdone. I just haven't seen it overdone.

LOL, I promise I didn't mean that one. I like IT.

I don't actually remember the title of the book I was thinking of, 'cause I read it in high school; I only remember the further I got, and the more frequently the author described the monster's shenanigans as "defying description," the more I began to suspect he just didn't know.

Buffysquirrel · Jan 9, 2014

BethS said:
Puny, easily resolved conflicts.

Or evading the conflict, as in Temeraire.

My family don't approve of my new profession! oh well, I don't care what my family thinks.

The training's by dragons, not humans? oh well, I think that's great!

Gah. Even if the character had been named Gary Stu, he couldn't have been more of one.

Wilde_at_heart · Jan 9, 2014

Layla Nahar said:
Raquel Welch did it really well in The Three Musketeers.

Which was 40 years ago...

BethS · Jan 9, 2014

Buffysquirrel said:
Or evading the conflict, as in Temeraire.

Omigosh! I thought I was the only one in world who felt that way about those books.

My family don't approve of my new profession! oh well, I don't care what my family thinks.

The training's by dragons, not humans? oh well, I think that's great!

Gah. Even if the character had been named Gary Stu, he couldn't have been more of one.

Oh yes. And they didn't get any better, more's the pity. I wanted to like them. I really did.

Katrina S. Forest · Jan 9, 2014

My pet peeves:

Characters acting as microphones for the author. I read a book recently in which the author halts the action so the character can ponder (and conclude definitively) whether or not God exists. (Not that the topic coming up bothered me, but the fact that it seemed to have no place in the story.)

Stating the same thing over and over, especially when it has no bearing on the plot. Extra especially if it's a female MC talking about how attractive a guy is (which also, btw, has no bearing on the plot).

Using weight or unattractiveness as a shortcut for "bad person." I still remember a YA novel I read a few years ago that I almost threw down. It goes like this: MC needs computer-related help. Speaks to a girl programmer. Goes on for two paragraphs about how the girl she's asking for help is unattractive, overweight, and obnoxious. I don't think the author meant anything by it, but it felt like a double punch -- putting down both plus-size girls and girls who code in one nasty shot.

goddessofgliese · Jan 9, 2014

Mine:

Love at first sight.

A woman is beautiful only because she needs to be the male protagonist's love interest.

Whiny main characters.

ericalynn · Jan 9, 2014

Katrina S. Forest said:
My pet peeves:

Characters acting as microphones for the author. I read a book recently in which the author halts the action so the character can ponder (and conclude definitively) whether or not God exists. (Not that the topic coming up bothered me, but the fact that it seemed to have no place in the story.)

I agree with this, and it's something that I have to be on the lookout for in a lot of my first drafts. I tend to get excited about something, write about it, and, in edits, realize that my character doesn't really have any need to be talking or wondering about that, and it's really more my own exploration of a topic. But at least sometimes one or two great lines worth keeping will come out of it.

Blinkk · Jan 9, 2014

Katrina S. Forest said:
Using weight or unattractiveness as a shortcut for "bad person." I still remember a YA novel I read a few years ago that I almost threw down. It goes like this: MC needs computer-related help. Speaks to a girl programmer. Goes on for two paragraphs about how the girl she's asking for help is unattractive, overweight, and obnoxious. I don't think the author meant anything by it, but it felt like a double punch -- putting down both plus-size girls and girls who code in one nasty shot.

I second this. It's something most authors don't even realize they're doing. The flip side is true too; good characters are beautiful and in shape. You know what I'd love? An overweight hero. And don't make the weight the topic (or tension) main issue of the story, either. Just include it as a fact that we all accept.

I'm including a good looking guy in my novel whose a pyromaniac, almost kills a family by setting their kitchen on fire, murders a dog, then rats out the MC for a chunk of change. His personality is atrocious, too. The reader is not supposed to like him. But he's good looking. :Shrug:

I can't wait for my beta to get to that part. We'll see what she says.

Buffysquirrel · Jan 9, 2014

My sister was really surprised when I suggested Rowling was using 'fat' as code for 'bad'.

goddessofgliese · Jan 9, 2014

Buffysquirrel said:
My sister was really surprised when I suggested Rowling was using 'fat' as code for 'bad'.

I tend to disagree. Aunt Petunia is "bad" and she's skinny. It just happens that one bad character is fat.

Buffysquirrel · Jan 9, 2014

goddessofgliese said:
I tend to disagree. Aunt Petunia is "bad" and she's skinny. It just happens that one bad character is fat.

It's been a long time since I read it, but I remember my discomfort with the emphasis on fat=greedy. I could equally say, wrt Aunt Petunia, that 'it just happens that one bad character is skinny'. Anyway, aren't there two fat Dursleys?

Katrina S. Forest · Jan 9, 2014

Buffysquirrel said:
My sister was really surprised when I suggested Rowling was using 'fat' as code for 'bad'.

I'd probably agree with you, especially in the first book. The incidents of that seem to decrease as the series continues and the characters become more three-dimensional. I get the impression that Dudley would've been a much nicer kid if he hadn't grown up seeing his parents bully Harry all the time.

folclor · Jan 9, 2014

And here I thought it was cliche to make a villain attractive... I guess I've spent too much time watching anime.

folclor · Jan 9, 2014

Buffysquirrel said:
It's been a long time since I read it, but I remember my discomfort with the emphasis on fat=greedy. I could equally say, wrt Aunt Petunia, that 'it just happens that one bad character is skinny'. Anyway, aren't there two fat Dursleys?

Dudley didn't end up being bad, though. If I remember correctly he ended up wanting to make amends and was sad when he and Harry parted ways. Also, isn't Mrs. Weasley supposed to be overweight? or was that just a product of the artists?

What truly ANNOYS you in books? And not in a good way.

Calliea

Hush, hush...

LOTLOF

BethS

Kolta

Layla Nahar

Seashell Seller

lianna williamson

ArachnePhobia

Mr Flibble

They've been very bad, Mr Flibble

Marian Perera

starting over

Charging Boar

Mr Flibble

They've been very bad, Mr Flibble

ArachnePhobia

Buffysquirrel

Wilde_at_heart

υπείκωphobe

BethS

Katrina S. Forest

goddessofgliese

ericalynn

Blinkk

Searching for dragons

Buffysquirrel

goddessofgliese

Buffysquirrel

Katrina S. Forest

folclor

Left-Handed Writing Fairy

folclor

Left-Handed Writing Fairy

What truly ANNOYS you in books? And not in a good way.

Hush, hush...

Seashell Seller

They've been very bad, Mr Flibble

starting over

They've been very bad, Mr Flibble

&#965;&#960;&#949;&#943;&#954;&#969;phobe

Searching for dragons

Left-Handed Writing Fairy

Left-Handed Writing Fairy

υπείκωphobe