forum Things You Want LESS Of In Books

Started January 21, 2019 by @HighPockets group

tune

love triangles that aren't triangles, just two people pining for someone . like that's fuckin primitive op where's my ot3

I love this so much
The phrasing, not the trope
The trope can f off

ckngkbf thank you

I would like to see female characters who aren't super duper skinny. I don't care if they're muscular, chubby, or just have a compact build, I want MCs who break that mold.
Same with male characters, except replace 'skinny' with 'muscular'.

fuck yea

Not to pat myself on the back but I try to have a range of bodytypes in my stories because it's realistic.
In my main story's main cast I have:

• 2 tall and skinny girls
• 1 short and compact/stocky girl
• 1 average height and slim guy
• 1 tall and skinny guy
• 1 tall and muscular guy
• 1 average height and stocky guy
• 1 short-ish and curvy girl
• 1 short-ish and chubby girl

Even my 11-year-old self who was known for creating the infamous So Pretty, It’s A Curse^TM-style Mary Sues knew that people have different body types than just skinny/muscular.

Yes!!! Same!
I have:

• 1 tall and muscular girl
• 1 chubby, short-ish girl
• 1 short, lithe girl with lean muscle
• 1 average height curvy girl
• 1 average height pear-shaped girl
• 1 character who is nonbinary (but biologically female), and is tall and slim
• 1 shorter very thin guy (he’s underweight, but it’s not glorified)
• 1 average height really buff guy
• 1 somewhat tall, muscular guy
• 1 guy who’s tall and has a mixture of fat and muscle- kind of looks like a stereotypical Viking tbh
• 1 very tall, chubby guy
• 1 average height, slim, but muscular guy

I don’t think I did too bad here. And in my defense most of them are at least somewhat muscular because they kind of need it and are all trained fighters to some extent.

And a lot of times it's more of a 'Reality Ensues' type thing for me.
For example, Jackson is tall and fairly athletic, and did sports and stuff in high school, and both of his jobs are pretty physical, so he's going to be in good shape. Henry's kind of chubby but still has a good amount of muscle definition because he's a baseball player.
amy (the most wonderful woman in the world)'s a well-off high school girl who does 1 sport with a short season, so she's going to be more on the chubby side than Erica and Teagan, who play multiple sports in a year.

Also most of the time when I have a character who's skinny it's not so they're 'extra hot', it's to show that yeah, while Jude might just have a good metabolism, Victor is underweight because he doesn't take good care of himself and skips meals and sleep. Same with andrew (Our Supreme Lord and Overseer), he's underweight because he works 2 jobs with horrid pay and doesn't have time to sit at home and eat a big meal with his wife. Geneva just doesn't take good care of herself in general. Joan and Nell (and Nich too, but he naturally has more of a stocky/sturdy build) routinely don't have enough money to afford a ton of food, especially not unhealthy/unnecessary food.

The look has to fit the character.
Most of my characters are warriors and fighters so they tend to be beefy, muscular, fit, etc.

Making a character pretty and skinny just for the sake of being pretty is just wrong.

This goes for other features too. Like scars, facial structure, coloring and such. There should be diversity.

Authors that don't do their research on the simplest things and you get a character with a cat that does a bunch of stuff that most cats don't do, nevermind the fact that it's nearly physically impossible for a cat to do that
Literally just ask a friend that has a cat or get a cat it's one of the easiest things to research and you won't face any risk of being placed on a watchlist for what you're researching. No possibility. At all. So research stuff about cats if you want to write about cats.

Authors that don't do their research on the simplest things and you get a character with a cat that does a bunch of stuff that most cats don't do, nevermind the fact that it's nearly physically impossible for a cat to do that
Literally just ask a friend that has a cat or get a cat it's one of the easiest things to research and you won't face any risk of being placed on a watchlist for what you're researching. No possibility. At all. So research stuff about cats if you want to write about cats.

this seems oddly specific

Authors that don't do their research on the simplest things and you get a character with a cat that does a bunch of stuff that most cats don't do, nevermind the fact that it's nearly physically impossible for a cat to do that
Literally just ask a friend that has a cat or get a cat it's one of the easiest things to research and you won't face any risk of being placed on a watchlist for what you're researching. No possibility. At all. So research stuff about cats if you want to write about cats.

this seems oddly specific

yes no of course not what do you mean

Who hurt you?

it was so long ago I don't even remember what book it was

Yeah I have two chubby kids Anna and Josiah.
Alene and Yarri are short and shorter. (Though many of my girls are rather tall.)
Sarai is my tall girl.
Tano and Toran are my muscly dudes. The rest are not that physically strong.

It is literally called The Lusty Argonian Maid I opened it as a joke.

I'm pretty sure that J.P. Beaubien did a dramatic reading of it……it's super funny!

Authors that don't do their research on the simplest things and you get a character with a cat that does a bunch of stuff that most cats don't do, nevermind the fact that it's nearly physically impossible for a cat to do that
Literally just ask a friend that has a cat or get a cat it's one of the easiest things to research and you won't face any risk of being placed on a watchlist for what you're researching. No possibility. At all. So research stuff about cats if you want to write about cats.

I once read a book that described a horse’s teeth as being as large as a pen dispenser. Like all you have to do is look at horse to know that’s not accurate

I'm almost afraid to ask, but what is a pen dispenser? It sounds vaguely threatening

Authors that don't do their research on the simplest things and you get a character with a cat that does a bunch of stuff that most cats don't do, nevermind the fact that it's nearly physically impossible for a cat to do that
Literally just ask a friend that has a cat or get a cat it's one of the easiest things to research and you won't face any risk of being placed on a watchlist for what you're researching. No possibility. At all. So research stuff about cats if you want to write about cats.

I once read a book that described a horse’s teeth as being as large as a pen dispenser. Like all you have to do is look at horse to know that’s not accurate

Wasn't it a Cassie Clare book?

One fantasy trope I really hate is when a character’s magical powers happen to match their personality. (This is targeted at stories where the characters suddenly receive or discover their powers and don’t grow up with them. I get that someone’s personality can be shaped by growing up with a certain power, and I think that would be a good idea to explore in writing, but too many stories rely on characters getting powers specifically tailored to their personalities Just Because.)

I feel called out Lol.

But wouldn't it make sense for a person to have powers that match with their personality?
Why not?

Wasn't it a Cassie Clare book?

Yup

But wouldn't it make sense for a person to have powers that match with their personality?
Why not?

It depends on how your magic system works. If your story is like most fantasy stories where the characters don’t choose their powers, then their magic is not an expression of their personality; the way they use it is. If we have a kind, nonviolent character, giving them, say, healing powers would be the obvious choice. However, if we were to give them fire powers, they would still use them in a manner befitting their personality, BUT the demands placed on them would be different, their character arc could change; the entire group dynamic could be different, especially if the other main characters had similarly gifted powers. The powers don’t even have to contrast with the character’s personality; I just think it’s much more interesting when the character and their magic aren’t a perfect and predictable match.

I also think it would be interesting to see how a character’s personality changes because of the magic they’ve been given. For example, I have a character who gains the ability to read minds. Her previously low empathy level increases significantly, but so do her manipulative tendencies, and she ends up becoming the main villain.

I also think it would be interesting to see how a character’s personality changes because of the magic they’ve been given. For example, I have a character who gains the ability to read minds. Her previously low empathy level increases significantly, but so do her manipulative tendencies, and she ends up becoming the main villain.

that's very cool