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?
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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.
ReplyDeleteDebra: The way you put it, it makes sense but I guess I just prefer to know what's true right away. The one book with an unreliable character I read didn't do that and only reveal that person to be a liar until the very end.
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Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteChristine: I hope to keep sharing. Thank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.
DeleteCliffhangers irritate me. And as a rule I do not buy/read the next in the series.
ReplyDeleteLike Debra I don't mind the occasional unreliable narrator but it is not a favourite.
Elephant's Child: Cliffhangers aren't always bad but they irritate me too if it's a story that really intrigue me.
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I can idnetify with many of your pet peeves, but the most infuriating is the first book in the series ending in a cliffhanger. GRRRR...I don't buy the next book, for sure!
ReplyDeleteJ.Q. Rose: I also wouldn't buy the next either if the cliffhanger is especially annoying.
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Like you, I dislike cliffhangers. In fact, if a book ends on a cliffhanger, I often get so upset, I wouldn't read the next book in the series on principle. Writers should respect their readers enough to finish their stories, so the readers don't have to guess what happens next.
ReplyDeleteAlso I dislike long series with the same protagonists. As a rule, they start deteriorating after 3 - 5 books. I prefer series united by a place or a group of people, where every single book is about someone else.
Olga Godim: I don't mind a long series with the same protagonists but yes, sometimes they really do just drag along and telling the same story. But I do like the idea of a series with a different protagonist united by something or a place.
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Yuck..."normies" is not a good word choice.
ReplyDelete"I now expect every book to be a series but I also expect it to finish a certain plot other than the larger plot"
I agree, there should be closure, at least up to a point...
"The delay gets a delay" made me chuckle. Yep, annoying. Also, the trope is old as the hills, for goodness' sake.
I do love first-person narratives, and I don't mind unreliable narrators - half the fun for me is trying to fathom what is really going on...but I understand it can be frustrating for some readers.
Roberta: Yeah, normies, right?
DeleteBook series have cliffhangers and we expect them, sad some books aren't even finished being written so maybe that's worst.
There's a series I read where a secret of a character should have been revealed but it was delayed three times and I guess I get it, the series needs something to carry on but it annoyed me.
I don't mind first person narratives, as long they don't talk directly to the reader.
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I couldn't agree with you more. I don't like uneven characterization, unfinished or abruptly changed plotlines or POV head hopping. I used to finish every book I started but now, especially with ebooks, I'm quicker to pull the plug.
ReplyDeleteNancy Gideon: Like you, I read ebooks and often quit on books more than I normally do. There are so many books out there so not finishing a book is prefectly fine.
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Aonymously Esther O Neill, East of the Sun, live in a UK dead zone, no signal can't get Google/geros texts, or any other kind.
ReplyDeleteStruggled with grammar, at school, especially Latin, but I flinch from historic present. Unreliable narrator ? More than enough everyday unreliable, .One page chapters ? Time to stop ranting.
Esther: I'm not sure this is real comment or not but I do know there is an Esther with East of the Sun blog so I'm going to assume this is real comment.
DeleteNot sure how to respond as some of it didn't make sense to me. But thanks for stopping by.
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Cliff hangers is GRRR! I do not like it at all.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that really gets me is if the ending is something quite unexpected, out of kind to the rest of the book. Eg. a rural, medieval-like community, but in the end the problem is solved by someone coming in from the nearest space port ... we could at the very least have had a rocket overhead now and then! (Real example, actually - children's trilogy, well told, but so infuriating, I even forgot name and author, and sowore never ever to touch these books again).
Charlotte: I had read a few books with unexpected and maybe odd and out of place endings. Some book endings are harder to digest. I also don't re-read those books with those endings I disliked or simply didn't fit with the rest of the story.
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