Novel Pet Peeves and Turn Offs

Kura 2019-02-20 02:50:23 UTC #31

This...

I like to think my standards for grammar are typically very low. I can enjoy a story with less then idea grammar and spelling as long as I am enjoying the characters or plot. (I got no right to judge honestly, I'm horrible at grammar and spelling)

But the not starting a paragraph when someone else is talking... I just can't do it x.x

nostalgicroxas 2019-02-20 03:43:10 UTC #32

I now feel the uncontrollable desire to write a "journeyed to the kitchen" short where my character pretends the floor is lava or some shit and jumps around furniture and has to climb on window sills to get to the kitchen threshold. Dammit, that sounds fun.

First person, I Me My. And then the person has no thoughts or very few to what's going on around them. It's either in their head or it isn't.
Second person. This style just bugs me. Why's it a thing?
Any of the old tropes from FF.net writing including but not limited to: A/N, large author comments at the top or bottom, author apologizing for something, Song Fics, another Earth language dropped into a story that doesn't take place on earth (unless there's no other word for it; I dare you to think of an acceptable replacement for petite'for).
Narration commenting breaking the fourth wall. Such as in one of R. Riordan's series: two kids are narrating to the reader about stuff that's happened. The kids will interact with each other, like "sorry Sadie's just kicked me and told me I'm wrong but she can tell you her version later." Like, that's "charming" in how it sounds, but in the way it's executed by Riordan was piss poor and just a total "nope" for me.

joannekwan 2019-02-20 04:35:00 UTC #33

The only time I think this really works are character x reader fics. xD
I think there's also a sub-genre of asmr where the narrator tells you a story that involves you in it.

ratscout 2019-02-20 04:40:46 UTC #34

People vainly over describing their main characters--especially when they're beautiful. The character already loses relatability points with me for being unrealistically beautiful, but then the writer themself has to fawn over how damned beautiful their own character is.

Of course, there is a way to do this well, and a way not to do this well like anything else in art, however.

spicy_sweets 2019-02-20 04:45:56 UTC #35

Ahh yes! I never knew that was a thing until I recently (・へ・)

Kura 2019-02-20 04:58:07 UTC #36

I remember when my younger sis was really young and first started writing stories, and I tried to explain to her that she needed to stop describing all her characters starting with the sentence "he/she was steamingly hot-" cause it was just a weird way to introduce someone... and everyone was being introduced as 'steaming hot' as their description with just... no other information in the description as to why (or even physical description of what they generally looked like)

She got mad at me at first cause 'who asked you????' but she figured it out and now it's something we like to laugh about now.

QueenofBabyLoon 2019-02-20 06:00:48 UTC #37

Urgh. Don't get me started.

1) Using first tense in a freakin' novel. Seeing this makes me wonder what people were taught (or not) in high school.

2) Not knowing how to use first-person point of view. Go read "The Catcher in the Rye", "To Kill a Mockingbird", "Jane Eyre". Read. And learn.

3) Describing the appearance of a character in one big paragraph. "She had this color of hair, this hairdo, this eye color. She chose to wear these ugly, old SpongeBob panties and matched them with her dumb, moth-eaten pyjama that she has since she is like nine or sh*t." It makes any writing look so immature. When you are over 15 and still write like that, it is time to change your personal library. While there still is time.

And now you wonder, looking at what seems like very stringent requirements to the mainstream, contemporary writer, what the hell do I read on a daily basis. Well, let me tell you I've been reading and rereading the same books for the last 10 years. And I plan to continue doing so.

charliesackett 2019-02-20 19:01:16 UTC #38

Typos and clunky grammar. Cliches. Talking down to the reader. Too much padding. Basically anything I see people do that I did in my first manuscript makes me immediately stop reading out of deep, deep shame. XD

demthorshie 2019-02-20 21:03:28 UTC #39

I don't think I have too many story pet peeves but:

1.) Bland characters. You create a character with super cool abilities, they're the center of attention at all times in the story, but their personality just falls flat. The person created what could have been a half way decent character but spent almost no time developing and growing them, it's impossible to be relate to a poorly written character.

2.) Having a gold child in your story. Gold child is the equivalent of the Mary Sue. I can't stand this sort of character.

3.) Characters without flaws. Characters that can do no wrong and are morally righteous at all times.

JeanGuillet 2019-02-20 21:12:51 UTC #40

the word 'and'

don't believe me? do a ctrl-f and search 'and" in your writing to highlight every time it appears on the page. Yeah. I thought so.

AllynCrowe 2019-02-20 21:35:30 UTC #41

Oh that's a fun game!
134/4180 words are 'and' in my current story. Or 3.2%

joannekwan 2019-02-20 21:42:47 UTC #42

I'm clocking 429 'and's out of 23920 words for my current document, so a bit under 2%. xD

AllynCrowe 2019-02-20 21:43:56 UTC #43

I did another one: 400/17816, which is 2,25% ^^

QueenofBabyLoon 2019-02-20 22:03:23 UTC #44

"And" is my personal obsession. I love to "and" things up so bad just to make myself go insane when editing time rears its ugly head. "And" is a three-letter word that can make you or break you at 2 am with too much caffeine in the system and sixteen straight hours in front of the computer.

Pan 2019-02-20 22:12:17 UTC #45

I actually have somewhat of a soft spot for second person, but so rarely do I find one that's well-done and by an exceptional author that it may as well crawl into a hole and never be seen again

That said, I've written a few second person stories that I've been proud of. It's the old adage, if you want something done right, do it yourself lol

But I agree, I tend to not enjoy first person no matter the circumstances. It has to be VERY well done, and again, few authors can achieve that.

spicy_sweets 2019-02-20 22:15:47 UTC #46

Yessss, someone who likes second person. I was introduced to it by Half Bad, but afterwards I ended up writing shorttt stories in second pov that have been a blast.

Pan 2019-02-20 22:18:19 UTC #47

They can be kinda fun!

My very first second person attempt at writing was a Rurouni Kenshin fanfic, featuring a couple that had exactly

drumroll

ZERO FICS written about them! I was the first lol and for some reason I developed a, small but sizable, readership. Second person has a special place in my heart! And now I have an idea for a second-person novel I want to write...

I'll be back!

JeanGuillet 2019-02-21 07:07:04 UTC #48

yes! especially the caffeine part. turns all those short little words into actual hammers. little stabby little 'ands' stabbing you like....uh....ants with swords or something.

RandomWebComicFan 2019-02-21 22:44:55 UTC #49

Hit the nail on the head for pretty much all of this. Read a lot of Fanfiction instead of novels on here; but God so much can still be applied to that medium too. I loathe the trope of using random Japanese words out of nowhere. That and the descriptive wording for eyes are two of the worst tropes I've ever seen.

NickRowler 2019-02-22 00:30:51 UTC #50

Something I hate in fantasy novels is when a lot of common words are replaced with fake ones. I feel word replacement should make sense to the world, like animals not knowing the names of human inventions. But when your humanoid character is calling a torch a "glowy" or a "zohpor", than it just becomes confusing.

Also don't tell me your character is "not like other girls" then continue to describe her like an ordinary/basic girl.