IWSG Nov 2024: Writing Pet Peeves

I'm skipping this month's Insecure Writer's Support Group question and list some writing pet peeves.
    Reading is a preference so what I like, other people might not and what I dislike, other people might so feel free to disagree with me. Here are some writings that I dislike.

01 - End a book by reverting everything back to its beginning or make whatever happened in the first 90% of the book invalid — What is the point of this? If the real story is a different one, then why not tell that one instead? I don't encounter this a lot but when I do, I wish I hadn't read the book.

02 - Dumb makeup words for non-magical people — It works in Harry Potter but somehow it doesn't work in other books and mostly because the terms they use are so ridiculous and maybe insulting to human kind. I guess I prefer a little more creativity and less insulting. Normies (which I read in a book), for instance, is particularly annoying to me.

03 - Cliffhangers in a first book in a series — I now expect every book to be a series but I also expect it to finish a certain plot other than the larger plot. It makes no sense to force readers to get the next book to complete a story that should have been completed in the first book.

04 - Book series with different content ratings — Is it wrong to have a whole series in the same general rating content-wise? So for children's book, the audience does change as the characters grow up but I just don't think it is necessary to write more mature content with details that changes the audience. An example: in a young adult book, the first book is considered g-rated but then the second book had explicit sex scenes and probably would be rated R and then the third book is back to being g-rated. Maybe this didn't matter if the reader is an adult but for children's book, the details are probably not necessary.

05 - When a main character finally gets an answer to a secret that they wanted to know but is stopped by something stupid — I'm not saying you can't delay the answer, I'm saying if you want to delay the answer, don't tease the reader and make us think we're getting it when we're not. One tease, fine, two, maybe, but if the delay gets a delay, then it's the most annoying thing in the world.

06 - First person narrative — Somehow I never got to like this all that much. Who exactly is this person (the narrator that is) talking to? I'm especially curious who they were talking to when they have an attitude. An example of this: 'Yep, I love eating donuts with cheese, do you have a problem with that?'  I guess my issue with this is when I'm reading, it's directed at me because I'm reading it. I never assume things about any character other than if they are the murderer in a murder mystery.

07 - Unreliable narrator - I read one book with an unreliable narrator (although told in third-person) once and I didn't like it. If we can't trust the text we are reading about these characters and their actions to be true, then how are we to believe what is going on is actually going on? This is a preference but I just don't get how people can like a story told in this way.

What are some of your writing pet peeves?

[More about the group over at the Insecure Writer’s Support Group blog here]

Book Rants - October 2024

I have gotten to like reading contemporary mysteries these days. I really like to read more of Mary Higgins Clark's books but they are not available as ebooks at my library. I also gotten to really like K-9 crime mysteries so I looked for them but strangely, there aren't K-9 mysteries without romances or rather, they are romances with half of it being mysteries. I read some of these and got annoyed by the romances as they are written like romances and it's a shame because the mystery part was really good. I didn't list them below because I'm annoyed by them. But it has been a good reading month. Here are the books I had finished reading in October:

01 - Timber Creek K-9 Mystery series by Margaret Mizushima
What's it about: K-9, handlers, animals, murder, crimes, small town, light romance
So far, I read 8 of the 9 books. I really like the series but I don't love it. It's like reading two types of stories (told in two perspectives) - one is the K-9/crime/mystery side with Deputy Mattie Cobb and her K-9 Robo and the other is the life of a vet extraordinaire, Cole Walker.
    I love Robo and I liked his handler, Mattie, but I really think they didn't have to give her so many tragic history. I like her perspective more than Cole's. Cole's side is a bit boring but he does get involved in the mysteries in later books. Even with one assistant and sometimes his two daughters' help, it seems impossible for him to be working this much. He's like the most hard working vet in the entire country. For a small town, there are sure a lot of animals. I don't think he even sleeps although they do mention him taking a rest here and there. The guy have no time but he squeeze in a romance with Mattie because being busy with his vet work, his daughters, his ex-wife, volunteering for the police, is not enough for this guy. But then again, they also stressed how much work Mattie and everyone in the police station does - these are most hard working folks in the country.
    The mysteries are good and the various descriptions of the landscapes are plenty. The romance with Mattie and Cole is just okay. I don't read this series for the romance so thankfully, there aren't too many romance-like writings. I would recommend this series if you like K-9 dogs and mysteries with bits of romance.

02 - Vanishing Edge (A National Parks Mystery Book 1) by Claire Kells
What's it about: murder, camping, hiking, some investigating, more hiking
Lots of outdoor scenery details as the female lead (Felicity Harland) and male lead (Hux) did a lot of hiking. Harland is so poor physically (she had a broken back that had healed but still not in full physical form) that she kept popping pills. As an FBI agent with experience, she seems to judge rather too easily and quickly. And she walked off a job because she was offended by a male cop who may be a jerk but as a professional, you shouldn't let your feeling rule you. Forget she had any kind of experience because her behaviors clearly speaks rookie. And she brings her dog along with her to work even though he's not a working dog - I don't know why she even have a dog though he was useful once or twice. Her opinion about people who hated dogs: "...any park ranger that hated dogs was probably a sociopath," - is a bit extreme. It's not a nice opinion for a character. I don't hate or like her but when I read this, it unbalanced my opinion which mostly lean on the unlikable side.
    The way Harland's backstory is told (through her memories and thoughts) is a bit much. Frankly, they could have a prologue so that readers aren't bombarded by constant memories of her dead husband. Maybe this should have been a prequel because with all the backstory, the current mystery is minor in comparison and besides that, it's Harland's first case since her injury.
    I really wish the book isn't in Harland's point of view as it is no fun at all to be in her head. Hux is the better, more clear-headed character who did most of the work while Harland seemed to be there maybe to be some decision maker (she is supposed to solve crimes that involves national parks), I don't know, it just seemed like if she wasn't there, Hux would have solve the crime. And the twist at the end about who the murderer was not a twist and the reason for the crime is rather dumb. Harland is mostly unavailable for the final end so we only get a summary which is too bad because that bit (Hux chasing the criminal and catching them) seems to be the only exciting thing in the entire book.

03 - I've got my eyes on you by Mary Higgins Clark
What's it about: murder, witless witness, lots of depressed people
Halfway, I predicted who the murderer might be and I was right. Toward the end, it was a bit predictable but still good. Although it did seem like it took too long to get there.

04 - Two Little Girls in Blue by Mary Higgins Clark
What's it about: kidnapping, murder, twins
The thing with twin talks (which was never speficied) and twins experiencing pain for each other is a bit unbelievable and they keep repeating how no one believes this about a million times, as if to assure the reader, we shouldn't believe it either. This was an okay read.

Have you read any good books lately?

Fiction: Miss Never & The Mortician's Craving

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by Sean Jeating and is hosted at Elephant's Child's blog over here. Last week's prompts: funeral, moon, splendiferously, sun, coffin, and/or afraid, biased, crows, nutrition, worms. This week's prompts: art, awe, love, moonlit, sleeping and/or beauty, breathless, dreamscape, face, oxygen.

Fiction: Miss Never & The Mortician's Craving
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01
"You're hired!" was something Liberty Elizabeth Never had heard many times before which often was followed a little later by "You're fired!" When she was fired from Piller and Small Fine Dinning, she shrugged away the slight rejection and simply added the name to a long list of places she was employed. Only through her splendiferously strong will did she survive each letdown, at least, that was what her father used to say.
    It's a been one month since Libby started working as an an assistant to a mortician at Eternal Glory Funeral Parlor. She wouldn't have chose to work there but she didn't want to be homeless and broke.
    Tonight, as Libby opened the back door to the basement of Eternal Glory, came sounds of caw caw from the crows that resided in the tall trees that framed the entrance of the five-story building. She paused and looked up at the sky. The full moon never looked more brilliant. Cold wind swept over her. She shivered in her coat and stepped inside. She hoped it wasn't a bad sign. It was the last week of October and nearing Halloween so it was natural to feel a trickle of disquiet.
    Usually Libby kept the same hour of 7 pm to 11 pm but this week, her employer had asked Libby to work longer hours citing a backlog of bodies to prepare. If she didn't get overtime pay, Libby wouldn't even agree.
    Before coming to work Libby had two sandwiches and a glass of milk. Her father had always said milk was full of nutrition and that Libby should drink more of it. Birds fed their young worms but her father fed Libby words. He had a great love for words and he studied them like art. In all of his fifty-four years, he had never spoke a useless word. She was always in awe of his ability to make you feel you are completely understood with just words.
     Libby yawned as she walked down the hallway toward the workroom. She wished she was sleeping. During the day with the sun out, it was hard to get to sleep. Not that she was much of a beauty but lack of sleep sure made her looked worst than usual. She had good skin and her features were perfectly symmetrical. Her father said symmetry is beauty. He had said Libby's mother was a breathless beauty with perfect symmetry. Libby had no memory of her mother. Some twenty-six years back, she left Libby at a gas station. If she hadn't called Libby's father to come and get her, Libby would have ended up a missing baby.