I'm skipping the November Insecure Writer's Support Group question and go straight to reading quirks that are also writing quirks. I can only dismiss so many reading/writing quirks but I'm seem to struck on some more than others. But I'm listing just three today.
01 - Sometimes a singular word used often in one book can drive me nuts for no reason other than their repetition. Usually it's the more obvious repetition (such a phrase a character might keep saying) that get noticed but for me, single words getting used repeatedly always kind of annoys me. I don't know why that is or why I see them more often now. But I guess it's one of those reading quirks that some readers have to deal with.
02 - Whenever I read my name or names of people I know, sometimes I feel this certain unease. In a book I previously read, one of the character had the same name as me so I somehow read that name into some other version or else I skim over it. Why should it be weird characters have your name? Unless you have one of those unique names that never gets used in books, which I do not have, you will come across it. But somehow it's just odd reading it.
03 - Fair Enough (or sometimes Fair Point) - this expression (according to the Oxford dictionary) is "used to admit that something is reasonable or acceptable." Something about this sounds like some throwaway or useless phrase people say when they have nothing to say or when they agree to disagree or sometimes it seems it is used as some sarcasm or slight irritations. I don't know why I just get annoyed by this phrase. I don't think there is any good synonym to this other than 'I agree' which is quite simple. I'm wondering if that's why people use such phrases as 'Fair enough' to replaced simpler phrase which might sound bland.
What reading quirks do you think is maybe a bit mad to be mad about?
Number one may be annoying
ReplyDeleteChristine: Some repetition goes getting annoying. Thank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.
DeleteI'm with you on number one. Inconsistencies like auhors misspelling or changing the names of non-main persons or their pets/familiars or changing their habits can drive me positively nuts. Same with illustrators not having read the book and depict a red vase if it's blue in the book.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind persons with my name - Charlotte is common enough for this to happen quite often.
Fair enough seems to fit under number one "buggernig repetitive expressions."
DeleteCharlotte: Sometimes I can ignore the inconsistencies but not a lot. I don't read many illustrated books but I agreed, they should get the details right.
"Buggering repetitive expressions." - sounds right - there are just some phrases just drives me nuts.
Thank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.
So, I have two angel babies, Henry and Greyson right? And then two kids, Finn, and June. I was reading a book once where the MC's were Finn and Greyson (Might've been Grayson, I was listening on audio), and then another side character was Henry. I really felt like my boys were saying hi, but it also kinda made me feel... Idk, odd. I can't explain it. Like you said, kinda uneasy.
ReplyDeleteWishing you cozy chaos and untamed joy — Ash
Check out my October Recap: https://essentiallyash.blogspot.com/2025/11/october-recap-november-plans-tbr.html
Ash @ Essentially Ash
Want to follow me on Bookstagram, booktok, add my snapchat or check out my photography?
Ash: Some coincidence are just oddly fitting and yet, not quite right. It really is hard to explain.
DeleteThank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.
I hardly ever come across my name in a story, which is strange considering it's a very popular name for my generation. Maybe it's not popular among writers? I agree about the repetitive words, but I also am seeing how I do this as a writer. My pet phrases are starting sentences with so and and. I rarely use or hear fair enough. I think "good point" is what I hear more often, but I think it could also mean a similar thing.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post!
Jenni: I suppose all names get used unless they are unique but also, coming across your name is a bit harder because there are so many books and you can read them all. "Good point" - I read this too but not often.
DeleteThank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.
I'm with you on repetetive words/phrases/mannerisms. The rest, I kind of pull off my editor's glasses and just glaze over. Does your name appear often in books? Mine doesn't. My husbands? Yeah. But there are so many Matt's out there that really... Now if someone used one of my daughter's super unique names, I would be started and begin to question who's been stalking our family. LOL!
ReplyDeleteCrystal Collier: So maybe I don't come across my name often but in a book that used it about every few peoples, that's a lot of usage. But yes, unique names are definitely not used often in books. But you don't know if someone might hear the name being called in public and an author decides to use it - so even unique names like your daughter could be found in books even if no one's stalking your family.
DeleteThank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.
I don't remember ever reading a word so many times in the same book that I started to notice and found it annoying. But sometimes I happen to read the same word twice in the span of a page or two, and I wonder how the author, editors etc. could NOT notice.
ReplyDeleteRoberta: I guess you have to have a extra annoying cell in your brain like I do to have repetitive words annoying you. And the use of a particular word on the same page or in the same paragraph, well, I guess this can be bothersome but some of those same repetitions have meanings but I guess it depends on how the author/writer uses them.
DeleteThank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.
Yes, when an oddball word gets used a lot it does drive me crazy. Common words often don't stick out unless every character is constantly nodding or something similar.
ReplyDeleteI just read a book that used my given name and yes, it was disconcerting because its not a name I see often in books.
I've used fair enough now and then in a book, usually when it's attached to one character's personality, like a catch phrase, but not where all the characters are using it.
Jean Davis: Some particular word can be distracting. Fair enough is not a bad phrase, I just don't like it.
DeleteThank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.
In many fantasy novels, as well as some fairy tales and myths, names have power. You can summon a fairy or a demon by their 'true' name. Your can bring harm to someone if you know their name. Maybe when you react to your name in fiction, you're unconsciously channeling the same belief.
ReplyDeleteOlga Godim: I'm not sure if I'm unconsciously channeling such belief but I do know about that.
DeleteThank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.
When I read, I look at how others do the craft. I'm reading Louise Penny and she had me laughing my face off. Her joke was so well executed, I didn't see it coming. :-)
ReplyDeleteAnna from elements of emaginette
emaginette: I haven't read any Louise Penny but it sounds like she's good at jokes.
DeleteThank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.
I didn't think about having a reading quirk, but I can identify with your quirks. I do dislike character names that are difficult to read. I try to sound them out using what I learned in second grade, but some of them, especially in fantasy and sci fi stories, could never be pronounced! I also do not appreciate using the same letter beginning 2 or more characters' names like, Barbara, Bonnie, and Betty. It's difficult to remember who's who. Barbara, Jennifer, and Alice helps me distinguish each character.
ReplyDeleteJ.Q. Rose: Some names are difficult to pronounce so I sometimes give them nicknames instead of trying to painstakingly read them. And yes, similar sounding names or names starting with the same alphabet can be a bit difficult to differentiate if there are a lot of them.
DeleteThank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.
#1- George RR Martin did that in one of his books and I didn't really recall it happening in the other boks of his I read, but in the one it did it drove me nuts lol!
ReplyDeleteFair enough- yes exactly
Greg: I've never read Martin's books but if you can remember it, I guess it really did drive you nuts.
DeleteThank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.