My Top Ten Fiction Pet Peeves
August 23, 2009 by Allison Boyer
Filed under Jobs
We all have out little pet peeves. For me, topping the list are people not taking the shopping cart back to the grocery store porch or cart return (how lazy are you if you can’t walk 10 feet with your cart?) and people throwing garbage out of the window while driving (seriously…you can’t keep a napkin in your car until you get home?). Both frustrate me like no other. When it comes to fiction, I have pet peeves as well. I think it is important to analyze what you like as a reader in order to make your own fiction stronger. So, without further ado, here are my Top Ten Fiction Pet Peeves:
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10. It was all a dream
The “it was all a dream” way out of a plot has been cliche since the beginning of dream. Yet, authors still use it. Few things annoy me more when it comes to plots. It just seems like a cheap way out of a storyline – like you couldn’t think of anything better and panicked. That’s not to say that dream sequences can’t work at all, but don’t try to dupe your readers with them. It’s just annoying.
9. Large paragraphs on every page
There’s nothing wrong with being long-winded when the subject matter demands it, but there’s something to be said about readability. I’m not suggesting that every paragraph has to be short, but if there’s page after page of writing with no break, it can be intimidating to the reader. Be conscious about how your writing will look on the page.
8. A jumping narrator
Some books can have more than one narrator successfully – my favorite example is the young adult Redwall series. However, some authors take it a little too far, with narrators jumping from page to page. Don’t confuse your readers – they always need to know who is talking. Jumping from first person to third person can be confusing too, as can jumping too quickly between scenes.
7. A plot that’s too complicated to follow
I love a complex plot, but keep in mind that complex doesn’t have to mean complicated. I get frustrated when the plot of a novel is so complicated that I have to go back and reread pages to try to understand it. Your readers shouldn’t have to take notes to understand your story.
6. Too many local references
Ok, so your story is set in a specific place that you happen to know very well. A few nods to this location is cool, but if every other page has a local reference, your non-local readers will start to get frustrated that they aren’t “in the know.” You characters shouldn’t spend every day talking about local businesses, eating at local restaurants, and making other regional references.
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5. Gore and gross out for no reason
If you’re going to gross me out, it better be for good reason. I love horror, but so much fiction relies on shock value. To me, that’s not scary. If you’re going to include a ton of gore or other gross-out methods, you should have a reason for doing so. The same is true for crude language. It disrupts the reader if you use it without reason.
4. Using the same words
When I see the same word within a few paragraphs or even pages, I want to tear out my hair. I don’t mean common words, and you don’t necessarily want to use your thesaurus to find crazy words that sound unnatural to your writing style. Here’s a good example of what I mean, though: Earlier today, I was reading a book where a character made mention of a dog “yelping.” Not a page later, one of his characters “yelped” when he stubbed a toe. Is yelp the only word that could have been used in either case? No. I’m guilty of reusing words, too; I think everyone is. It is just something to keep in mind when you’re revising your work.
3. Characters who never eat
You don’t have to write about every action of your characters, but if you’re following them without any break in time, you have to make sure that they eat. Have them hold a conversation over coffee. Have them meet with
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someone for pizza. It doesn’t matter how, but if your characters never eat, I have a hard time taking your fiction seriously.
2. Boring dialogue
Earlier this month, I talked about writing good dialogue. Please, if you are a fiction writer, read this post. Boring dialogue will make me give up on a book, even if the story is interesting.
1. Authors riding on coattails of others
Lastly, my biggest pet peeve in fiction is authors who see a trend and jump on it. Da Vinci Code was a commercial success, so hundreds of other fiction writers began coming out with religious-based conspiracy stories. After Harry Potter proved to be a sensation, writers around the world tried to cash in with young adult stories about magic of their own. Originality, people. If I pick up a book and it is a piece of crap that is just trying to cash in on someone else’s success, I almost feel like writing to the author and asking for my money back.
Share your own fiction pet peeves with a comment below!
My biggest pet peeve is when authors kill off characters people are familiar with in stupid, trivial ways early in the novel. Or worse, sometimes before the book even starts.
For example, remember the movie Willow? It never had a movie sequel, but there was a series of books that continued the storyline. I loved the movie, and was thrilled when I found out about the books. Until I started reading. The author killed off Madmartigan, Sorsha, and Eric the Red. In the preface. As in, before the first real chapter. It somehow managed to go even further downhill from there. I won’t bother to name the titles or author, because they’re terrible books and not just for the reason I mentioned.
NOT a fan of:
1) Plots that have me flipping back pages, or even chapters, just to figure out where I am.
2) Too many characters at once – especially if their names are similar to each other!
3) Gratuitous ANYthing.
4) Colourless writing. No sense of setting.
5) Dull characters. I guess that’s similar to #4.
ummm That’s all I can think of for now, but I’m sure there will be more as soon as I submit this.
On the last point – the following another author’s success, I completely agree! (Not that I don’t on the others, of course.)
However, it annoys me when people name their books like other ‘famous’ ones.
For example: Michael Cordy – who I think is an excellent writer. He published ‘The Miracle Strain’ in 1997, yet after The Da Vinci Code’s success (it was only published in 2003!) it was renamed to ‘The Messiah Code’.
Things like this really make me want to hit publishers over the head! It’s a perfectly good book (in fact, I preferred it to the Da Vinci Code) and has next to nothing in common with Dan Brown’s book, aside from biblical references.
By renaming the book as such, it makes me want to NOT read it, purely because of what they did.
His other books have also been renamed:
‘Lucifer’ became ‘The Lucifer Code’
‘Crime Zero’ became ‘The Crime Code’
and ‘True’ became ‘The Venus Conspiracy’.
Sorry for the long rant, but I thought it was a good example! :)
My biggest is that most novels are so alike that it’s almost impossible to distinguish between them. Most established publishers have the same narrow perception of what a «good book» is, and the result is quite predictable.
It doesn’t matter what genre it is. Most published works use the same formula, with variations. Names and venues may be changed, but aside from that it is the same book.
In other words: details matter less than the big picture. Very few stories released by established publishers even try to be original.
Thanks for stopping by and adding your pet peeves, everyone!
Joanna, that is a really good example. I mean, I get it from a marketing standpoint, but still…it just seems slimy. It bothers me more, though, when the author makes choices to “copy” someone else’s success, rather than the publishing house making copy-cat marketing choices.