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Post by HAL 10,000 on Jan 4, 2023 17:12:55 GMT -5
Inspired by the discussion in Feel Free to Post Whatever You Want, like the pet peeves thread but for pet peeves with fiction. I wasn't sure whether to post this here or in Wicked World, so feel free to move it if you see fit. I'll post mine later.
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Post by soufflé on Jan 4, 2023 19:16:27 GMT -5
i’ve read books where the author can’t keep track of characters’ appearances and keep changing eye colors etc
using a million unnecessary stand-ins for “said”
generally being too verbose
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Post by Isadora Is a Door on Jan 5, 2023 2:40:11 GMT -5
I hate when two characters will have an emotional disucssion, normally reconcilling a disagreement, and then one of them will go to leave, stop in the doorway, and turn back to face the other, pause for a moment and say 'Oh [character name]..... thanks.' and then leave. Nobody does this in real life, yet it happens a LOT in fiction, especially on tv.
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Post by Optimism is my Phil-osophy on Jan 5, 2023 6:00:36 GMT -5
Something that bothers me is first-person narration in the present tense. This doesn't make sense to me unless it's an interactive book-game. I've just listened to an audio book "The Girl Next Door", (Phoebe Morgan) which I disliked a lot, although because it's an audio book, I disliked it less than if it were something written. I ended up forgiving this problem due to the narrative. But in the end it was a misguided forgiveness on my part. When narrating in the first person in the present tense, one must understand that what we are reading is the flow of the characters' thoughts. There is no need to think of a narrator who hides truths from the reader on purpose like that, because in the universe of the book there is no reader. The character is just thinking, and by some miracle we in the real universe are reading the characters' thoughts. So when a working plan is devised by a character that we're reading her thoughts, and we don't read her thinking about the plan she's devised... that doesn't make sense. This for me is the worst situation. It's different from Roger Akroid's murder where the narrator is writing something as it happens in a kind of diary. He uses the past tense to describe events. I stopped reading To All The Boys I've Loved Before because of the present tense.
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Post by B. on Jan 5, 2023 8:43:03 GMT -5
Good thread idea
I hate when a character has no flaws
Changing narration if not done very very well is sometimes effing confusing too
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Post by Optimism is my Phil-osophy on Jan 5, 2023 11:07:21 GMT -5
About characters not having flaws, something that bothers me more than that, is when the author inserts unnatural flaws just to be able to fulfill the requirement that the character has no flaws. I think the glitches simply have to happen in the plot, and affect the story in some way. I call artificial flaws those that, if the character did not have them, would not change the plot in any way.
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Post by R. on Jan 5, 2023 11:07:25 GMT -5
‘Bad boy’ love interests Paedophilic/predatory behaviour being brushed off by the story because the culprit is a woman The main character being obnoxious but everyone liking them anyway In murder mysteries set in times/places with execution, the story not acknowledging that the detective(s) has essentially condemned someone to death, especially if they were sympathetic or close to a friend of the detective(s)
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Post by HAL 10,000 on Jan 5, 2023 13:11:07 GMT -5
Characters tripping while running away(ironic, as I'm a massive horror fan) The "glasses are uncool" trope(I've worn them since toddlerhood and I still have waiters/cashiers/baristas flirting with me) Villains being let off the hook because they're attractive Rape as shock value, if you must include it have it advance the plot Sympathetic characters being misogynists and the creator trying to justify it as "historical accuracy" Female villains who's motivation is jealousy over how beautiful the MC is Designating real species as good or evil
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Post by Tiran O'Saurus on Jan 5, 2023 15:59:44 GMT -5
In murder mysteries set in times/places with execution, the story not acknowledging that the detective(s) has essentially condemned someone to death, especially if they were sympathetic or close to a friend of the detective(s) I genuinely do write murder mysteries as a passtime, and this is the first time I've heard that complaint. Would you prefer if the detective never reports that they solved the crime?
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Post by FileneNGottlin on Jan 5, 2023 16:18:39 GMT -5
Extended dream/hallucination sequences (not that the character can't dream, but I object to overly complicated ones. I suppose the intricacies makes it more realistic, but ambling, disconnected images don't tend to make good fiction.) Lack of quotation marks Multiple characters who essentially serve the same purpose in the plot
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Post by Kit's tits kick ticks on Jan 5, 2023 17:32:33 GMT -5
The first two things I can think of are both translation related, which is why I try to only read books in the original language 1. Words like Mr and Mrs not being translated 2. Using the formal version of the pronoun you (like German Sie or French vous) when people are calling each other by their first names, because nobody ever does that. I actually talked about that with my sister recently, sometimes people in films are sleeping together and still sie-ing each other, because the translators missed the point where it would naturally change to du
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Post by R. on Jan 6, 2023 11:28:17 GMT -5
In murder mysteries set in times/places with execution, the story not acknowledging that the detective(s) has essentially condemned someone to death, especially if they were sympathetic or close to a friend of the detective(s) I genuinely do write murder mysteries as a passtime, and this is the first time I've heard that complaint. Would you prefer if the detective never reports that they solved the crime? Well, if it’s the parent of the detective’s best friend or something and they had an at least somewhat good reason for the crime, then yes. Don’t essentially kill someone’s parent just because of your overly narrow views of morality.
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Post by Optimism is my Phil-osophy on Jan 7, 2023 22:07:04 GMT -5
spotlight being used to justify weak script.
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Post by HAL 10,000 on Oct 27, 2023 9:26:01 GMT -5
Love triangles Names like Zharackasia ”It was all a dream” endings Characters describing themselves while looking in the mirror Aliens that are just humans with neon skin(the reason for this in old movies/shows is crappy special effects, but literature doesn't have the restriction)
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Post by Resemblance on Oct 28, 2023 20:54:48 GMT -5
I can't wait to add these all to my next story.
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