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]
I don't mind an unreliable narrator once in awhile, especially if there are clues that s/he is unreliable and the reader can slowly come to the conclusion that all is not as it should be in the narration.
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