forum Things You Want LESS Of In Books
Started by @HighPockets group
tune

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@Pickles group

(*released almost immediately The police got evidence that some other guy did it and for a while it wasn't revealed what the evidence was. The media just referred to it as strong and overwhelming. It's all circumstancial, though)

@CrystalDior

Love interests who serve no purpose other than to be the love interest. I'm all for stories of varying genres featuring romance, but the romance should mesh well with the main themes. So many love interests feel like they purely exist as this dumb placeholder character who does nothing except be an object of affection. They don't get their own characterization to the degree other characters do; theirs usually hinges pretty closely on the main character. It is impossible for me to care about them or like the relationship when they feel like a shell of a person. I think the most popular example would be Ginny from the Harry Potter series. She had a bit more personality in the books than in the movies, but that still wasn't much. Her relevance hinged on Harry and it made me not care about their relationship because she was so underdeveloped.

@vidari-is-tired-in-advance group

Love interests who serve no purpose other than to be the love interest. I'm all for stories of varying genres featuring romance, but the romance should mesh well with the main themes. So many love interests feel like they purely exist as this dumb placeholder character who does nothing except be an object of affection. They don't get their own characterization to the degree other characters do; theirs usually hinges pretty closely on the main character. It is impossible for me to care about them or like the relationship when they feel like a shell of a person. I think the most popular example would be Ginny from the Harry Potter series. She had a bit more personality in the books than in the movies, but that still wasn't much. Her relevance hinged on Harry and it made me not care about their relationship because she was so underdeveloped.

Absolutely! A love interest character needs to be able to stand on their own, apart from the character they are in/going to be in a relationship with. If they can’t be a compelling part of the story in their own right, the love interest should probably be developed more or scrapped altogether.

@HighPockets group

I'm getting kinda sick of the "last minute plot twist to ensure you read the sequel" thing, especially when it leaves the ending super open and everything unresolved.

@HighPockets group

I was thinking of Crier's War (which I really loved) and it

and I honestly don't know if the sequel will be able to tie up all the loose ends.

@Pickles group

I've come across this a few times, particularly in books where the main character is a princess
"[Insert maid's name]'s face was covered in blemishes. Personally, I'd never had one, but they looked painful."
This is a sad attempt at trying to make your character relatable while keeping them on another, inhumanly perfect level and it's just unrealistic. I understand that you're trying to make your character be a sympathetic person but either don't mention it or have them have a pimple. Like… I don't know. It's just not realistic for them to never have had a pimple. Even if they're a princess. Just no. Stop

@ninja_violinist

I'd love it if we could have less characters who are canonically beautiful and are consistently called beautiful by a bunch of other characters but who still constantly whine about their appearance
I recently read a book where almost every time a character mentioned her appearance she'd go "oof I'm such a freak, I look so weird and strange and I hate it and why can't I just be normal" and literally 90% of the world only mentioned her appearance to compliment it.

like I get it. Anyone can be insecure, insecurity is a fine character trait to have, please give me all the insecure characters in the world so I can love them, but can they not beat me over the head with it all the time
because it usually feels like the author screaming at me "yes, she is beautiful but she is also humble she is not vain she does not care because people who care how they look are bad and she is not; her beauty is effortless and I need to make sure everyone knows this at all times" and it's exhausting

@Becfromthedead group

I’m just kidding lol. Although it does apply to me and I feel slightly called out. I love seeing fleshed out cultures, but they’re so hard to create. It’s not that I don’t try at all, it’s just sometimes I have world building planned out and it doesn’t make it into the real story.

@Starfast group

I feel like this is a little similar, and it's not something I see often but it drives me absolutely up the wall when I do see it, but when you have a "fantasy language" that's actually a pre-existing language with a few spelling changes. Like, yeah, I understand that making up a language is a lot of work and can be pretty daunting, but it comes across as really lazy writing to me when characters greet each other with the word "bonzour" or whatever like… that's Bootleg French and you're not fooling anyone.

Like, if you're going to make up a language then really commit to it, and actually make up a language instead of just half-assing it.