My top five reasons to fling a book into the wall (or the eternal void) would be:
1. Backstory – it’s supposed to be woven in, not dropped like boulders
into the plot
2. Changing POV – there are no POV cops, it’s true, but if they ever start recruiting, I’ll be first in line.
3. Sloppy Worldbuilding – if the story’s future planet is populated by peace-loving vegetarians, where did the hero get his leather jacket?
4. Lame Dialogue – I dearly love dialogue and I love good dialogue better. If the characters sound like people in the line at the grocery store, I want to dig out my red pen and delete chunks of text.
5. Unredeemed Characters – I will read an unsympathetic protagonist, just out of curiosity, but if there is no sign of a character arc, of that character changing or opening or being redeemed or just becoming worth the trouble of my having plunked down my cash for the book, well, I get cranky.
What about you? What makes you take aim for the wall?
Recently in a couple of books my peeve has been an author beating me over the head with a point or character trait to be sure I know what (s)he is revealing or telling me. Like I didn’t get it the first 10 or so times. Trust the reader will pick up nuance and subtle hints.
Well – that list of 5 covers quite a few of my pet peeves. I’ve read authors lately who are mega-sellers, and the head-hopping is giving me whiplash. That surprises me – and stops me each time while I try to figure out just whose POV I’m in.
I suppose I don’t like women who are too hard or men who are too soft – I’m more of a traditionalist than I realized.
And I really HATE sex for the sake of throwing heat into a book (unless it’s meant to be erotic romance). I listened to an audiobook recently where 3 of the 5 CD’s were foreplay. I drifted off through 90% of that waiting for the story to start again. One gentle touch on the face or a deep gaze can do much more for me. It insults me when publishers/authors cover up weak writing with sex.
What, Claire – have you been reading my mind? Channeling me? Doing a Vulcan Mind Meld? You are so totally saying what I feel!
My BIGGEST reason for throwing a book at a wall (which is a big deal for me since I try to resell as many books as I can on amazon.com) is when an author takes the easy way out and has a character act completely contrary to their personality because it was the easy way out of a sticky plot point. ARGH! NO NO NO NO! Just STEP AWAY FROM THE CRACK PIPE! DON’T DO IT! (not you of course – just the lazy ones)
Lame dialogue is a big one for me as well.
Other things that make me scream: instant soulmates (really prevalent in paranormals), or when we’re told what a tortured, brooding, “bad boy” (this is mostly a male phenomenon) the hero is, but they really don’t seem like that at all. It’s like an author feels like they’ve got to fill some romance requirement, but really doesn’t know how to write it. Stuff like that makes me nuts.
I also heartily agree with Gwen’s biggest reason above.
Women who are weak and expect to be rescued. Endless dialog that goes no where.
Oh, I definitely agree with all your points, Claire. I also hate when an author tells me the same thing over and over again — and doesn’t even use different wording to say it the sixth time around. Uses the same old, tired words used the first time, like I didn’t get it then. And close to that sentiment, when one word is used five times in the same paragraph, like the author doesn’t own a thesaurus! ACK! Talk about overkill. And boring.
Reems and reems of ‘filler’ – where what is written doesn’t move the story forward.
I so agree with the Unredeemed characters point. And if the heroine is dim witted,too, then I just want to set the book on fire! There’s only so much nonsense one can put up with.
Hey Maria – I’m picturing you with little bonfires around you. It’s making me giggle.
Telling instead of showing and characters with no depth.
All five of your points are major peeves. I also agree with Gwen’s comment about people who act out of character. I so totally hate it when people do really, really strange, stupid, nonsensical (insert word of your choice) things just to make a story longer or to advance a plot point. Sometimes I feel sorry for an author’s characters. I envision them pleading with their creator to not make them look so bad. LOL