What are things that annoy you in reading fictions?

[Special Agent York]

jamilee-nicole

As I am tragically an avid reader of fanfiction, there are all too many things that piss me off and turn me away from stories.

But there is one little bit I see in all forms of writing that drives me up the wall.

"A single tear rolls down her cheek" , and other lines to that affect.

It's usually used to provoke this romantic image of some pure maiden with a single tear rolling down her cheek to show her gentle innocence and sense of empathy, and for that reason I want to drop kick the author for using such a saccharine, cliched line. It's so sickly-sweet and overdone it should be banned from writing unless it's used in parody.

The very idea makes me shudder. Also, who the hell cries a single tear? I know when I cry I effin' commit to it and cry up a goddamn ocean. A single tear, my a**.

I'm not bothered by it, but since lines like that are often associated with Mary Sue's, I can see why you are annoyed by it.

[thelaughingfool]

Something I hate in any form of fiction is the "Passionate Princess" model. I suppose it doesn't need to be a princess per say. But when you have someone in the upper echelons of society who simply can't stand the suffering of their people, it makes me want to close the book, turn off the TV, and walk out of the movie theater. A friend of mine says this is a reaction, especially by American writers, to make their character's more relatable and to justify their royal status with the reader. But it's so passé and so boring to me.
If I sometimes catch myself creating such a character, I try to spice up their personality a bit. My favorite method is to make them do good things for all the wrong reasons. "I'll stop this horde of monsters that seek to destroy my kingdom because I don't want to lose my position and do honest work for a change." That sounds so much more interesting than being self-righteous and preachy.

[Brodie Asturias]

thelaughingfool

Something I hate in any form of fiction is the "Passionate Princess" model. I suppose it doesn't need to be a princess per say. But when you have someone in the upper echelons of society who simply can't stand the suffering of their people, it makes me want to close the book, turn off the TV, and walk out of the movie theater. A friend of mine says this is a reaction, especially by American writers, to make their character's more relatable and to justify their royal status with the reader. But it's so passé and so boring to me.
If I sometimes catch myself creating such a character, I try to spice up their personality a bit. My favorite method is to make them do good things for all the wrong reasons. "I'll stop this horde of monsters that seek to destroy my kingdom because I don't want to lose my position and do honest work for a change." That sounds so much more interesting than being self-righteous and preachy.

The truly great thing about being autistic and writing is that I have no ability to actually imagine someone who "cannot stand the suffering of their people." I can relate to the idea of being unable to stand the suffering of specific individuals even if all the character did was see them in passing, but I cannot do it for everyone, for all the people. I have therefore never been able to write the "Passionate Princess." Closest I came was a young healer working near the front line who had to personally treat a lot of pretty gruesome wounds. He got to chatting with his patients, learning about them as individuals, about their wives and children and farms back home, and eventually decided to take up the sword to help fight against the invaders.

Anyway, I have a lot of hates. One of mine are self-published works of fiction THAT HAVEN'T BEEN EDITED. I bought one the other day from my local bookstore and started reading it. For fun I went through one chapter with a highlighter, picking out all the typos, grammatical errors, running sentences (I'm guilty of these myself but in this book they were ridiculous), and oddly structured sentences that just didn't make sense without being reread 3 or 4 times. When I was done every single page had highlighted sections, some of them anywhere up to ten of them. I paid $20 for this book being sold at a chain book store. WHY HASN'T IT BEEN EDITED, THEN?

[Brodie Asturias]

- The Grim Reality -

Oh, God. Constant sex. I just...no. Can't stand it. If it's one scene, I easily can skip it, but if it's scattered throughout the whole book...ugh. It's been so degraded, overused, and twisted to a point that I can't even take the whole "get over it because sex is a beautiful, natural act that's a part of life" argument. The constant use makes it disgusting and cheap.

Also, I can't take 'strong female lead' crap. I'm not saying what a strong female lead should be. I'm saying what people think it means. Y'know, super strong, super intelligent, kicks male a**, and considers all men to be sexist pigs? She leaves men looking stupid no matter what they've said? Essentially, 'unrealistic female lead'.
Luckily, this isn't so much of a problem in books. However, a lot of scripted things get away with it, which is why we have so many 'perfect female role models' who are unrealistic movie characters.

Earth's Children series by Jean Auel, this whole post. Strangely, I still like the series, but my God, you're absolutely correct. I actually cannot stand the things you're talking about.

Equally as bad, however, is the female lead who is completely and utterly useless. All she does is whine about things (bugs, the monsters, etc.) to the male lead, flail helplessly in dangerous situations and ultimately get captured by the enemy. But the male lead is for some reason hopelessly in love with the irritating cow who seems to be utterly incapable of even tying her own shoelaces, and MUST save her at all costs, when the human race would be overall better off if she perished. Give me a country girl who can shoot coyotes, deliver calves, muck out stalls and ride as well as a man but ISN'T a feminist lesbian b***h any day. Just so long as she isn't relegated to the kitchen, either.

[Lastodious Crowe]

Brodie Asturias

- The Grim Reality -

Oh, God. Constant sex. I just...no. Can't stand it. If it's one scene, I easily can skip it, but if it's scattered throughout the whole book...ugh. It's been so degraded, overused, and twisted to a point that I can't even take the whole "get over it because sex is a beautiful, natural act that's a part of life" argument. The constant use makes it disgusting and cheap.

Also, I can't take 'strong female lead' crap. I'm not saying what a strong female lead should be. I'm saying what people think it means. Y'know, super strong, super intelligent, kicks male a**, and considers all men to be sexist pigs? She leaves men looking stupid no matter what they've said? Essentially, 'unrealistic female lead'.
Luckily, this isn't so much of a problem in books. However, a lot of scripted things get away with it, which is why we have so many 'perfect female role models' who are unrealistic movie characters.

Earth's Children series by Jean Auel, this whole post. Strangely, I still like the series, but my God, you're absolutely correct. I actually cannot stand the things you're talking about.

Equally as bad, however, is the female lead who is completely and utterly useless. All she does is whine about things (bugs, the monsters, etc.) to the male lead, flail helplessly in dangerous situations and ultimately get captured by the enemy. But the male lead is for some reason hopelessly in love with the irritating cow who seems to be utterly incapable of even tying her own shoelaces, and MUST save her at all costs, when the human race would be overall better off if she perished. Give me a country girl who can shoot coyotes, deliver calves, muck out stalls and ride as well as a man but ISN'T a feminist lesbian b***h any day. Just so long as she isn't relegated to the kitchen, either.

First of all, thank you for telling me this. Because I seriously, no joke, was thinking of reading this book. It sounded interesting. I probably wouldn't be able to take it. (I mean, if I can rant for hours on end about Harry Potter and the Hunger Games, no doubt that series would drive me insane)

Secondly, I agree that those characters are annoying, although I'd rather have that than 'omgI'mperfectIdon'tneedyou,yousexistpig'. I think that if they get captured by the enemy, that's FINE. If they can't escape, that's FINE. If they need help, that's FINE. But if it happens more than once, and it starts to become a whine fest about how her boyfriend needs to save her, then I'll be annoyed. (Also, if her being captured doesn't make sense, like villain doesn't have a reason to have chosen her) I actually would like to see some male characters get captured by the enemy, though. Maybe being saved by either a female OR another male (without it needing to become a relationship, for EITHER folk.) Hm... maybe I should stick one of those into my next novel, actually. (Also, I'd rather 'whiny girl needs to be saved after being captured' as opposed to unrealistic 'girl gets captured because she's really spying on the enemy, and then when she gets the information, breaks free of the bonds and totally kicks the male villain's a**.' Actually, this is the reason why I hated the Black Widow so much in the Avengers. It's not creative, it's not being a good role model - it's just stupid.)
'Feminist lesbian b***h" - Actually, that's a fairly accurate description. Ha-ha.

(Oh, pardon my messy writing tonight. It's late and I'm having trouble wording things. I've been stumbling over my words all day to begin with.)

[Brodie Asturias]

- The Grim Reality -

Brodie Asturias

- The Grim Reality -

Oh, God. Constant sex. I just...no. Can't stand it. If it's one scene, I easily can skip it, but if it's scattered throughout the whole book...ugh. It's been so degraded, overused, and twisted to a point that I can't even take the whole "get over it because sex is a beautiful, natural act that's a part of life" argument. The constant use makes it disgusting and cheap.

Also, I can't take 'strong female lead' crap. I'm not saying what a strong female lead should be. I'm saying what people think it means. Y'know, super strong, super intelligent, kicks male a**, and considers all men to be sexist pigs? She leaves men looking stupid no matter what they've said? Essentially, 'unrealistic female lead'.
Luckily, this isn't so much of a problem in books. However, a lot of scripted things get away with it, which is why we have so many 'perfect female role models' who are unrealistic movie characters.

Earth's Children series by Jean Auel, this whole post. Strangely, I still like the series, but my God, you're absolutely correct. I actually cannot stand the things you're talking about.

Equally as bad, however, is the female lead who is completely and utterly useless. All she does is whine about things (bugs, the monsters, etc.) to the male lead, flail helplessly in dangerous situations and ultimately get captured by the enemy. But the male lead is for some reason hopelessly in love with the irritating cow who seems to be utterly incapable of even tying her own shoelaces, and MUST save her at all costs, when the human race would be overall better off if she perished. Give me a country girl who can shoot coyotes, deliver calves, muck out stalls and ride as well as a man but ISN'T a feminist lesbian b***h any day. Just so long as she isn't relegated to the kitchen, either.

First of all, thank you for telling me this. Because I seriously, no joke, was thinking of reading this book. It sounded interesting. I probably wouldn't be able to take it. (I mean, if I can rant for hours on end about Harry Potter and the Hunger Games, no doubt that series would drive me insane)

Secondly, I agree that those characters are annoying, although I'd rather have that than 'omgI'mperfectIdon'tneedyou,yousexistpig'. I think that if they get captured by the enemy, that's FINE. If they can't escape, that's FINE. If they need help, that's FINE. But if it happens more than once, and it starts to become a whine fest about how her boyfriend needs to save her, then I'll be annoyed. (Also, if her being captured doesn't make sense, like villain doesn't have a reason to have chosen her) I actually would like to see some male characters get captured by the enemy, though. Maybe being saved by either a female OR another male (without it needing to become a relationship, for EITHER folk.) Hm... maybe I should stick one of those into my next novel, actually. (Also, I'd rather 'whiny girl needs to be saved after being captured' as opposed to unrealistic 'girl gets captured because she's really spying on the enemy, and then when she gets the information, breaks free of the bonds and totally kicks the male villain's a**.' Actually, this is the reason why I hated the Black Widow so much in the Avengers. It's not creative, it's not being a good role model - it's just stupid.)
'Feminist lesbian b***h" - Actually, that's a fairly accurate description. Ha-ha.

(Oh, pardon my messy writing tonight. It's late and I'm having trouble wording things. I've been stumbling over my words all day to begin with.)

Actually, go ahead and read the first of the series. You should be fine with that one. Feminism doesn't start getting particularly noticeable until The Mammoth Hunters (Book 3). There starts to be a lot of sex in Book 2. Book 4 is a bit dodgy for feminism, Book 5 is bad for feminism and too much sex and Book 6 is boring as ******** and I can't remember if there's even any feminism or sex at all because it was just infodumping about caves. And some more caves. AND MORE CAVES.

[Lastodious Crowe]

Brodie Asturias

- The Grim Reality -

Brodie Asturias

- The Grim Reality -

Oh, God. Constant sex. I just...no. Can't stand it. If it's one scene, I easily can skip it, but if it's scattered throughout the whole book...ugh. It's been so degraded, overused, and twisted to a point that I can't even take the whole "get over it because sex is a beautiful, natural act that's a part of life" argument. The constant use makes it disgusting and cheap.

Also, I can't take 'strong female lead' crap. I'm not saying what a strong female lead should be. I'm saying what people think it means. Y'know, super strong, super intelligent, kicks male a**, and considers all men to be sexist pigs? She leaves men looking stupid no matter what they've said? Essentially, 'unrealistic female lead'.
Luckily, this isn't so much of a problem in books. However, a lot of scripted things get away with it, which is why we have so many 'perfect female role models' who are unrealistic movie characters.

Earth's Children series by Jean Auel, this whole post. Strangely, I still like the series, but my God, you're absolutely correct. I actually cannot stand the things you're talking about.

Equally as bad, however, is the female lead who is completely and utterly useless. All she does is whine about things (bugs, the monsters, etc.) to the male lead, flail helplessly in dangerous situations and ultimately get captured by the enemy. But the male lead is for some reason hopelessly in love with the irritating cow who seems to be utterly incapable of even tying her own shoelaces, and MUST save her at all costs, when the human race would be overall better off if she perished. Give me a country girl who can shoot coyotes, deliver calves, muck out stalls and ride as well as a man but ISN'T a feminist lesbian b***h any day. Just so long as she isn't relegated to the kitchen, either.

First of all, thank you for telling me this. Because I seriously, no joke, was thinking of reading this book. It sounded interesting. I probably wouldn't be able to take it. (I mean, if I can rant for hours on end about Harry Potter and the Hunger Games, no doubt that series would drive me insane)

Secondly, I agree that those characters are annoying, although I'd rather have that than 'omgI'mperfectIdon'tneedyou,yousexistpig'. I think that if they get captured by the enemy, that's FINE. If they can't escape, that's FINE. If they need help, that's FINE. But if it happens more than once, and it starts to become a whine fest about how her boyfriend needs to save her, then I'll be annoyed. (Also, if her being captured doesn't make sense, like villain doesn't have a reason to have chosen her) I actually would like to see some male characters get captured by the enemy, though. Maybe being saved by either a female OR another male (without it needing to become a relationship, for EITHER folk.) Hm... maybe I should stick one of those into my next novel, actually. (Also, I'd rather 'whiny girl needs to be saved after being captured' as opposed to unrealistic 'girl gets captured because she's really spying on the enemy, and then when she gets the information, breaks free of the bonds and totally kicks the male villain's a**.' Actually, this is the reason why I hated the Black Widow so much in the Avengers. It's not creative, it's not being a good role model - it's just stupid.)
'Feminist lesbian b***h" - Actually, that's a fairly accurate description. Ha-ha.

(Oh, pardon my messy writing tonight. It's late and I'm having trouble wording things. I've been stumbling over my words all day to begin with.)

Actually, go ahead and read the first of the series. You should be fine with that one. Feminism doesn't start getting particularly noticeable until The Mammoth Hunters (Book 3). There starts to be a lot of sex in Book 2. Book 4 is a bit dodgy for feminism, Book 5 is bad for feminism and too much sex and Book 6 is boring as ******** and I can't remember if there's even any feminism or sex at all because it was just infodumping about caves. And some more caves. AND MORE CAVES.

I don't know, if I read the first, I usually have to read the rest (unless it's particularly bad). Ha-ha!
I do appreciate you letting me know. It's good to have information on which books to avoid and what they contain specifically.
Book six, by the way, certainly sounds boring. Oh, dear. Caves...

[Brodie Asturias]

- The Grim Reality -

I don't know, if I read the first, I usually have to read the rest (unless it's particularly bad). Ha-ha!
I do appreciate you letting me know. It's good to have information on which books to avoid and what they contain specifically.
Book six, by the way, certainly sounds boring. Oh, dear. Caves...

It was all the ancient painted caves of Europe, you know? Those famous ones. Except the author was trying to describe what we've all seen in the photos of them, and she wasn't doing a great job.

At the end of Book 6 she threw in the male lead cheating on the female lead (just after she'd had a miscarriage, for goodness' sake) and then left it hanging in the air about whether or not they stayed together. And decided Book 6 would be the last one in the series so we'll never find out, ever.

I mean, who does that?

[Lastodious Crowe]

Brodie Asturias

- The Grim Reality -

I don't know, if I read the first, I usually have to read the rest (unless it's particularly bad). Ha-ha!
I do appreciate you letting me know. It's good to have information on which books to avoid and what they contain specifically.
Book six, by the way, certainly sounds boring. Oh, dear. Caves...

It was all the ancient painted caves of Europe, you know? Those famous ones. Except the author was trying to describe what we've all seen in the photos of them, and she wasn't doing a great job.

At the end of Book 6 she threw in the male lead cheating on the female lead (just after she'd had a miscarriage, for goodness' sake) and then left it hanging in the air about whether or not they stayed together. And decided Book 6 would be the last one in the series so we'll never find out, ever.

I mean, who does that?

Ugh. That's awful. I would hate reading a book series like that. What a dreadful way to end it.

[Unexpected Chaos]

i dislike when an author uses a character's sexuality for the main plot-line or focus of the book. i understand in many areas that some sexual orientations are controversial, and it's nice to see a change from the typical boy x girl love-story, but that's not a freaking plot-line. it's so annoying when writers fall for this or throw in a very pathetic plot to try and compensate. i love character development and "mixing it up" from traditional books, but seriously, this drives me up a wall.

[TheHedgehog52]

Love triangles. The formula in and of itself wouldn't be so bad--but it's the same, damn thing over and over and over! The sweet and naive every girl torn between the immature yet passionate rebel and the sophisticated but cold socialite. In a high school setting, the former will always be the "Bad boy outcast," the latter the most popular guy in school. Both will be insanely hot (or, so we're told) and will never give a clear cut reason why they're madly in love with our plain Jane protagonist other then she's "different" *coughMarySuecough* stare At least Hunger Games tried to mix it up.

So, I don't know if this one has an actual name or not, but I've seen it in a lot of YA fiction. The best I can describe it is when a character (usually female for some reason) is constantly built up as the kindest, humblest, most selfless person on the plant but if you examine their actions s/he's nothing more then a huge a** hat and nobody ever calls them out on it.

Anything that tries to be dark and edgier just for a sake of being dark and edgier. No, authors, an abundance of swearing, sex, violence, drugs, and gore doesn't make your story "Mature."

[thelaughingfool]

Roseflower52

Love triangles. The formula in and of itself wouldn't be so bad--but it's the same, damn thing over and over and over! The sweet and naive every girl torn between the immature yet passionate rebel and the sophisticated but cold socialite. In a high school setting, the former will always be the "Bad boy outcast," the latter the most popular guy in school. Both will be insanely hot (or, so we're told) and will never give a clear cut reason why they're madly in love with our plain Jane protagonist other then she's "different" *coughMarySuecough* stare At least Hunger Games tried to mix it up.

So, I don't know if this one has an actual name or not, but I've seen it in a lot of YA fiction. The best I can describe it is when a character (usually female for some reason) is constantly built up as the kindest, humblest, most selfless person on the plant but if you examine their actions s/he's nothing more then a huge a** hat and nobody ever calls them out on it.

Anything that tries to be dark and edgier just for a sake of being dark and edgier. No, authors, an abundance of swearing, sex, violence, drugs, and gore doesn't make your story "Mature."

Ha ha, I scream that at Mark Millar comics all the time.
And since there isn't a name for Twilight-esque love triangles, other than Twilight-esque, how about Mary Ob-Sue Triangles. sweatdrop

[TheHedgehog52]

thelaughingfool

Roseflower52

Love triangles. The formula in and of itself wouldn't be so bad--but it's the same, damn thing over and over and over! The sweet and naive every girl torn between the immature yet passionate rebel and the sophisticated but cold socialite. In a high school setting, the former will always be the "Bad boy outcast," the latter the most popular guy in school. Both will be insanely hot (or, so we're told) and will never give a clear cut reason why they're madly in love with our plain Jane protagonist other then she's "different" *coughMarySuecough* stare At least Hunger Games tried to mix it up.

So, I don't know if this one has an actual name or not, but I've seen it in a lot of YA fiction. The best I can describe it is when a character (usually female for some reason) is constantly built up as the kindest, humblest, most selfless person on the plant but if you examine their actions s/he's nothing more then a huge a** hat and nobody ever calls them out on it.

Anything that tries to be dark and edgier just for a sake of being dark and edgier. No, authors, an abundance of swearing, sex, violence, drugs, and gore doesn't make your story "Mature."

Ha ha, I scream that at Mark Millar comics all the time.
And since there isn't a name for Twilight-esque love triangles, other than Twilight-esque, how about Mary Ob-Sue Triangles. sweatdrop

I just call it bad writing.Twilight might've made it popular, but the formula's been around a long time. But I do like "Mary Ob-Sue" rofl

[French Mannequin]

Overused archetypes are common because the author is going for what sells and what the readers can relate to, but it's definitely annoying as hell when heroine has the same characteristics in ten different books.