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Book Pet Peeves?
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by
allie
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Nov 27, 2021 08:33PM
I've got a mega love-hate relationship with cliffhangers. They have to be UNEXPECTED . I loveee a good plot twist and a cliffhanger. I also hate it when a book is too descriptive or too predictable. (unless it's like supposed to be but I'm picky ok?)
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Mine is incorrect grammar, which doesn't happen very often obviously because books are usually proofread, but it's so annoying when you find a spelling/grammar mistake because for me it drags me out of the story.
the thing that drives me nuts about books is when you get to the end of a really excellent book and it just ends with no book after it or anything to explain the ending better. I also have a pet peeve about Mc's who are really whiny and not alot is told about them
Definitely hate it when a book has a real person in the cover, I still read books like those though I just don't like it
Oh same. I don't like it when exclamation marks are used a lot. It kinda irritates me
T₳R₳ {Hiatus} wrote: "Oh same. I don't like it when exclamation marks are used a lot. It kinda irritates me"Yes, exclamation points get annoying after a while!
I really don't like the to have too much changes in perspective - like there is a two obvious main characters and you get their perspectives and the 6 more of random side characters. Some may contribute to the plot but I personally don't like to be held back from the main plot for a mediocre sidequest...An exception to this rule is Six of Crows - but all of the six characters are main characters and have interesting arcs and personalities. I have yet to see another book that mastered that so well :)
I agree with anne. I can enjoy some POV shifts (Heroes Of Olympus, for example, did it well), but i've definitely been turned off by them before. Heck, they're the main reason why i'm not as big of a Crichton fan as i could be. My other main pet peeve is underdescription. I'm a highly visual person, and it breaks my heart when a fantasy or science fiction world doesn't describe its creatures or landscapes well enough.
Main peeves: -Slow writing.
-When relatives etc. SIGN the inside cover of a book they got as a gift
-fake dating trope. I literally cannot stand it...
-UGLY COVERS. HOW HARD IS IT YOU HAD ONE JOB
typos, unnecesary spacing, books that have a shorter book cover than the rest of the pages, translated books that are wrongly translated and some conversations are impossible to understand so i have to download the original version of it, ugly covers
My book pet peeve is when the main female character is written out as flat and uninteresting as possible, or that she is only the male character’s lover. If she is the main character’s lover, I want to know what he sees in her. Does he just like her for looks, or personality? If she isn’t written out as the lover I want to see depth and emotion to the girl. I want to relate to her. I don’t want to hear about how big her breasts are, I want to hear about her personality.
dual povs that doesnt make up to my expectations gives me the ick,, especially when they aren't uniquely/distinctly written enough
enemies to lovers tropeIF YOU ARE ENEMIES, THEN WOULDN'T YOU WANT EACH OTHER TO DIE? NOT DIE FOR EACH OTHER!
Rivals to lovers is fine for me though
different book sizes, naked people on covers, pick me main characters, a lot of exclamation marks EVERYWHERE, mature scenes in YA, bad endings, huge age jump between the end of the book and the epilog, when a book ends on a cliffhanger and it's a standalone and many more
Recently it's Star Wars and Harry Potter references in books. Only because I'm part of both fandoms and it's never done right. Authors tend to use them as a lazy way to make their characters seem geeky and quirky, but they're also too afraid to stray from what's mainstream in case they alienate unfamiliar readers so they throw in the most generic quotes possible. By trying to make the characters seem like huge fans they always end up with the OCs' fandom knowledge being non-existent.E.g. having your characters say "may the force be with you" as a secret geeky greeting does not make them a hardcore star wars fan. Having your characters say they're a Gryffindor does not tell me anything about them. But having them discuss character motivations and aspects of the story they like? That would actually work, but I've never seen it used sadly.
Cliff hangers! I have to know NOW! But, I also realize that cliff hangers keep readers interested and I'm guilty of leaving chapters on cliff hangers in my wattpad stories.
I hate when there are people on the cover. It just makes me not want to buy it for some reason. Also, when series have like 6 books but really the plot ended after book 3. Then, absolutely nothing interesting happens in the next 3 books.
When a series starts with one characters POV but then the next book switches to like their best friend or siblings POV. So then you have to keep reading because you want to know what happens…but it’s not the same character you grew attached to.
^^^ THIS. ESPECIALLY WHEN THE NEW CHARACTER ONLY HAD A HANDFUL OF LIKEABLE MOMENTS IN THE FIRST BOOKmy other book pet peeve is redemption arcs. I've seen very few done well. Snape's redemption arc was the worst one yet and has definitely lowered my standards though
^^^EXACTLY. Then sometimes the first main character is still alive and part of the story it’s just not their POV. So it’s like the author is dangling what would’ve been an amazing story if the perspectives hadn’t switched, right in front of you.
The main characters of YA books telling how good they themselves are. I hate it when they keep showing how special and different they are.
"I'm not like most girl/boys" "you don't have (this problem), you wouldn't understand", a teenager written by a 60< year old, mostly cringey teenage stereotypes.
When its a standalone book, but doesn't really come to a good conclusion. Really don't mind cliffhangers as long as it is intended to have a follow up book. I also can't stand mature sexual situations that have no point to being there. I don't care if there is mature material in the book, but it has to help propel the story in some way not just be in there because sex sells. Whiny mc with no real substance is also annoying.
oh and heterosexuality, love triangles (you have two hands), pick me's and people on the covers
Major Book Pet Peeves:-Female Best Friends turned Enemies(especially when one friend is now the other friend’s bully)
-Slow Beginnings
-Drawn Out Slow-Burn love
-Mainly Romance Novel (Maybe because I spent 6 years reading nothing but romance books and now I need more to the plot than love)
-Annoying younger siblings
-rape portrayed as love or passion-descriptions of characters as being brave, smart and amazing when they act opposite,telling me so doesn't make it true
-mc being so beautiful everyone falls in love with them for it
-shot rapid events,when there is no break in between
-main character to be a rapist or abuser,some lines should not be crossed if i have to like the character
-too predictable plot and ending
-sloppy writing- wgen it feels like author published their first draft or notes on the plot
-no world building
-no personalities for different characters,like in fantasy difference in abilities and looks should not be the only way to tell them apart
- not building relationships between characters
-dumb mc who makes their decisions with body parts
-insta anything
- grammatical mistakes if its more than a few
- author mixing up what happened and changing an event in past
- characters shouting constantly either by description or capital fonts and exclamation marks used
- mc having no self respect
- plagiarism, changing names and retelling it in your own words does not make it yours
- enemies to lovers done without showing how that hate turned to love.And no- lust is not a good reason.Reader should change feelings slowly alongside mc,from hate to seeing good in other, to acceptance, to wary friendship, to admiration and then to romantic feelings.You skip all that and it doesn't make sense.
I just realised i am a picky reader 😁
-rape portrayed as love or passion-descriptions of characters as being brave, smart and amazing when they act opposite,telling me so doesn't make it true
-mc being so beautiful everyone falls in love with them for it
-shot rapid events,when there is no break in between
-main character to be a rapist or abuser,some lines should not be crossed if i have to like the character
-too predictable plot and ending
-sloppy writing- wgen it feels like author published their first draft or notes on the plot
-no world building
-no personalities for different characters,like in fantasy difference in abilities and looks should not be the only way to tell them apart
- not building relationships between characters
-dumb mc who makes their decisions with body parts
-insta anything
- grammatical mistakes if its more than a few
- author mixing up what happened and changing an event in past
- characters shouting constantly either by description or capital fonts and exclamation marks used
- mc having no self respect
- plagiarism, changing names and retelling it in your own words does not make it yours
- enemies to lovers done without showing how that hate turned to love.And no- lust is not a good reason.Reader should change feelings slowly alongside mc,from hate to seeing good in other, to acceptance, to wary friendship, to admiration and then to romantic feelings.You skip all that and it doesn't make sense.
I just realised i am a picky reader
I hate when you’re like ok I’m going to read this book for 5 minutes, then I have to do homework.1 hour later: AAAAAGH SCHOOL IS IN TEN MINUTES
1. No growth of character. I don't mind if a character starts out all pratty and annoying. As long as there is a journey in which they learn something. At the very least backstory revealed to why they are the way they are. If they stay the same, and no decent plot arc.. yeah I'm out. 2. Assuming the reader knows everything OR Assuming they know nothing. So no detail, or going on forever with set up. There has to be a good balance of explanation or details.
Mine is when an adult tries to write how they think a teenager talks. It ends up being cringey, Disney dialogue and it makes me want to stop reading. If adults don’t know how present day teenagers talk or act, they should stop writing YA and stick to reading adult content.
Footnotes. Am what I mean by that is when the narration takes a turn to stop the plot to basically give us a history lesson. Nevernight is the book that does this none stop. It is emerging breaking. The story of Nevernight is cool but it brought so low because it felt the need to explain everything about the world. Give me a glossary and I’ll check it out for myself but don’t force down my face to read it.
When authors hype up their own books with other authors and themselves . Instead of atleast one major review site. Bias could be ladled in the reviews from authors. Since they may know the book author. It doesn’t happen that much and it’s just my personal opinion.
typos, real people on the covers, too many exclamations but also not enough emotion , uggh
~ mistakes/errors ~ annoying female characters
~ too much world building with no explanations
~ describing character using 1 characteristic more than once
~ rape or abuse
~ bullying
~ characters with no personality (I really hate this one )
~ unnecessary long slow burn
~ Predictable plot
~ awkward endings, like after the two love interests are together, and then you find out that they're getting married like after 4 months of dating haha
~enemies to lovers done wrong
~ romance books that just over do it
~ a slow story but the ending wasn't worth it *hand hitting head*
~ books with some random muscular man on cover ( I'd rather not read the book haha )
when the book just ends randomly but not a cliff hanger more like the writer forgot to actually finish writing and just sent the book in.... lol not sure if anyone will understandalso hen a book is like really short and i finsh it rlly quicly
I have a large variety of pet peeves when it comes to books.
I really hate any lack of description in regards to characters, civilizations, and machines/technologies. Largest of all, I really hate it when someone attempts to write a story that involves any use of magic but remains annoyingly vague (or fails to address) where a magic user acquires their power.
Running gags are also very annoying if they are merely the same joke used again and again.
I really hate any lack of description in regards to characters, civilizations, and machines/technologies. Largest of all, I really hate it when someone attempts to write a story that involves any use of magic but remains annoyingly vague (or fails to address) where a magic user acquires their power.
Running gags are also very annoying if they are merely the same joke used again and again.
Kego ;) wrote: "~ mistakes/errors
~ annoying female characters
~ too much world building with no explanations
~ describing character using 1 characteristic more than once
~ rape or abuse
~ bullying
~ charact..."
kierra :) wrote: "typos, real people on the covers, too many exclamations but also not enough emotion , uggh"
I would have to agree with all of these. Sadly, it's really hard to find large numbers of books that don't fall under at least one of these peeves. For example, I was attempting to read The Vampirates series this week but absolutely hated it due to the author's lack of research into actual pirates, traditions, and motivations. The author tried to place 15th century pirates (who used none of the original English vernacular one would expect) into the 20th century of sports cars and electricity.
The other series I attempted to read, entitled "Septimus Heap" did not even include the main character until many chapters after the beginning! It kept jumping from random person to random person! In fact, it was very difficult to comprehend what the story was about at all.
Of the peeves listed, annoyingly female characters can be a big one, and it's a mistake I try to avoid while tinkering with the little novel I am attempting to write (12 of 25-30 planned chapters written!).
~ annoying female characters
~ too much world building with no explanations
~ describing character using 1 characteristic more than once
~ rape or abuse
~ bullying
~ charact..."
kierra :) wrote: "typos, real people on the covers, too many exclamations but also not enough emotion , uggh"
I would have to agree with all of these. Sadly, it's really hard to find large numbers of books that don't fall under at least one of these peeves. For example, I was attempting to read The Vampirates series this week but absolutely hated it due to the author's lack of research into actual pirates, traditions, and motivations. The author tried to place 15th century pirates (who used none of the original English vernacular one would expect) into the 20th century of sports cars and electricity.
The other series I attempted to read, entitled "Septimus Heap" did not even include the main character until many chapters after the beginning! It kept jumping from random person to random person! In fact, it was very difficult to comprehend what the story was about at all.
Of the peeves listed, annoyingly female characters can be a big one, and it's a mistake I try to avoid while tinkering with the little novel I am attempting to write (12 of 25-30 planned chapters written!).
When the sex scene distracts from the plot
when they don't normalize using miscommunication, cheating and accidental pregnancy trope.
lol I'm going to sound hypocrite here, but sometimes the underage trope, then the guy is like super old.
bully/abuse romance and immature fmc
sex scenes involving characters who are minors
fake dating trope im also really over love triangles being the main love trope
When solutions to a large story arc problem unrealistically come out of nowhere, without any build-up/hint of said possible solution beforehand
when like in a romance book when the main characters kiss and then they're all like no we can't be together we're too different it would never work but then they end up together anyway
Cliffhangers and when there isn’t proper chapters like the lay out feels weird without chapters x
