I can be a squeamish reader. And a picky one. I’ll give anything a whirl (particularly if it’s a book recommendation from someone I respect.) But sometimes I don’t stick with a book; there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to plow through novels that don’t suit me. I’ve compiled a list of things that bother me in novels and find that they’re things that I also avoid like the plague when I’m writing.
Topics I personally avoid:
Brutality towards children: This is a big deal-breaker for me when I’m reading. Before I had children, I was able to easily read books like Stephen King’s It and other books that portray children in dire straits. As a parent, it’s become too nightmarish for me.
Brutality towards animals: Same concept.
Anything overwhelmingly depressing for most of the novel. Maybe it’s today’s tough economic times and my need for an escape, but if I feel more unhappy reading a book than I was before I picked it up, then I can’t usually slog through it. Give me a ray of hope, a light at the end of the tunnel. A ‘this too shall pass.’ I can read 200 pages of depressing text if I know there’ll be a pleasing payoff, a redemption at some point.
Techniques I personally avoid:
Too many characters. Or too many characters without enough tags to remind me who the heck they are. Because of my busy lifestyle, I’m picking up and putting down a book sporadically. If a book has thirty characters and no context to remind me of their identity, I’m irritated. Do I need to leaf back through the book and figure out who this bit-part person is? Why not just say something like: “Carol sighed. ‘What a day! I must have permed a dozen heads of hair today.’?”
Too many cliffhanging chapter endings. Don’t get me wrong—I love being forced to read a book past my bedtime. But don’t have cliffhangers at the end of every chapter, for Pete’s sake. Makes it more like an episode of Dynasty or something.
A meandering plot. Is it a mystery? Where’s the dead body? Give me a body pretty soon, if it’s a mystery. General fiction? Then what’s the plot conflict? What’s the internal/external conflict for the book? What’s the point? Lovely descriptions of setting are all well and good, but I don’t have time for the book to rhapsodize prettily on the locale.
Too much internal dialogue. Sort of like reading a self-obsessed teenager’s diary entry.
These are just my pet peeves. And there are exceptions to the rules, of course. Lord of the Flies, for instance. Breaks many of my tenets and I enjoyed the book immensely. What are some of your pet peeves as a reader? Do your peeves influence your writing?
Hi, Elizabeth, Your post falls in line with a topic I discussed with my wife just last night. Do readers require a happy ending? That is, no matter what you want to do as the author, are you compelled to make the ending come out so everyone lives, “happily ever after.”
If word gets around that your book has a sad ending, will readers avoid it? Seems to me readers might avoid an author who consistently kills off the hero at the end. Cold Mountain is an example of this. Reader invests lots of time and emotional energy in the protagonist, only to see him shot off his horse at the end.
Best Regards, Galen
http://www.GalenKindley.com
Hi Elizabeth,
This is a fantastic post, both in the sharing of your pet peeves, and in asking the question of us as readers and writers. I have the same pet peeves you do, I just had never thought to articulate them. This gives me something juicy to think about. Thanks.
Karen
http://www.karenfollowingthewhispers.blogspot.com
Great post! I think one of my biggest pet peeves is overly complicated writing that’s not done well.
If I have to WORK to get through the prose, I won’t keep on with it. I much prefer clean writing, personally.
Elle Parker
http://elleparkerbooks.blogspot.com/
Helpful post — Made me reflect on my own writing critiques. I’m struggling now to make sure I don’t have too many characters in the middle of my travel memoir. The part I’m working on now has kind of an odd plot: I’m writing about a polygamous family, so I want to show just how many members there are, but without confusing the reader. You just reminded me how important that is! Thanks.
And I’m a picky reader, too. You give good hints here to help us keep our readers on board.
Before I even got to the second paragraph, my first answer was violence against children. This is not entertainment for me and I’ve reshelved many promising books that started with a kidnapping or a murder of a child.
I’d agree with most of this list. I’m not quite as squeamish as you, but still no big fan of blood and guts horror novels. Stephen King is my KING of writing style, but I’ve only read a few of his books because I don’t much care for the genre. His book, “On Writing,” however, is a bible in my library.
I linked here from another blog (Marvin, I think?) and took a quick read. You have some very good, practical suggestions for writers. I don’t write mystery, but many of your ideas apply to other genres, too. Good job.
I’m another one who no longer reads about crimes against children, and I also can’t stomach stories about serial killers or rapists. A certain amount of violence in a crime novel is acceptable, but I’m turned off if the descriptions are disgusting as opposed to clinical.
Sad endings are okay. Happy endings are better. Humor is always good.
Patricia
http://patriciastoltey.blogspot.com
I really think it depends on the genre and the circumstance. Beth dying in Little Women moved me greatly. I hated the deaths of the boys in Pet Sematery and Cujo and stopped reading Stephen King at that point – I couldn’t trust him around the kids.
Black Beauty exposed the abuse of animals – death was horrible but a necessary part of the storytelling. The Last of the Mohicans is brutal, and heartbreaking at the end, but I enjoyed the story. Same thing for All Quiet on the Western Front, and Mystic River.
So I guess I do read things that have topics which would normally turn me off, and I don’t know why this one is worth reading and that one is not. Good writing, the way subject matter is handled, it all makes the difference between brilliance and gratuitous.
Gayle
http://gaylecarline.blogspot.com
I agree with most of your list as well. Also certain genres also leave me cold.
I don’t like violence for the sake of violence – not in writing, movies or life itself. Obviously my heart is tenderest towards those most innocent who can’t stand up for themselves. Children, the elderly, animals…
Vey good thought provoking post.
NA Sharpe
http://nasharpe.blogspot.com
I can’t read depressing stories too. But when I write, I tend to have cliffe for every chapter. Guilty as charged!
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