forum Things You Want MORE Of In Books

Started January 21, 2019 by @HighPockets group

tune

She was trained because it's her kingdom, and that's what her parents wanted. They are engaged, and he's distraught because he thinks he's marrying someone he's never met before, and the reason he doesn't know is because she's always been training. To him, not seeing her for a week is normal.

So how would he be OP?

I'm not that far yet. I'm about 80 pages in, of my goal 200. So far, I've made it full of twists and turns, and secrets, but I'm not even halfway done…..

Better than myself.

I'm sure you have more than me, and you obviously have a great thing for plots and details.

Lol. In my head maybe. On paper…

That's not too different.

• Characters with mental illnesses, as part of their PERSONALITY. They aren't 'the disabled person', they're 'the fun-loving one!' Or so on.
• Characters, with common M.I. (like ADHD, etc.) that aren't stereotyped. ADHD is usually portrayed as impulsive. Yeah, it can be, but where's the difficulty in talking? Anxiety as a side note? Etc. Which not every person with ADHD has, but it's common, and not often portrayed. And ADHD, inattentive- I've never read that in a book. Where's that portrayal?
• In a modern world, characters with M.I. taking, or not taking, medication. Or it comes up during lunch, etc. I take medication and I talk about it a LOT with my friends!
• Portrayal of uncommon M.I.s in a non-stereotyped way- Non-Verbal Learning Disorder, dyscalculia (both types), cereal palsy, autism, the list goes on and on!
• MORE DIVERSITY! IN EVERYTHING!!!! Race, skin color, body size, mental illnesses, backstories, locations, the list goes on and on!!
• Platonic. Friendships. I was complaining about this just yesterday with some friends. In a YA novel, if the girl protagonist has a boy as a friend, she will fall in love with him. And it's always the 'childhood friend/crush from school/suddenly comes out of nowhere smoking hot/etc.' No! No! Redone and reused, I hate it!! Give me a friendship between a boy and a girl that never, EVER ends up with them in love!
• More struggling. A character can't grow without obstacles!
• Non-cliche personality/backstories. '3 siblings: the oldest is the leader, the second-eldest is the troublemaker, and the youngest is the clown'. Yes, that can happen in real life (my siblings for example), but it isn't this way for everyone!
  All of these things, are what I worked with in diverting with my characters!! :D

MORE DIVERSITY! IN EVERYTHING!!!! Race, skin color, body size, mental illnesses, backstories.
(Just saying once more that Diversity™ is worse than none.)

Characters, with common M.I. (like ADHD, etc.) that aren't stereotyped. ADHD is usually portrayed as impulsive. Yeah, it can be, but where's the difficulty in talking? Anxiety as a side note? Etc. Which not every person with ADHD has, but it's common, and not often portrayed. And ADHD, inattentive.
Yesss! (Coming from a probably inattentive.)

Non-cliche personality/backstories. '3 siblings: the oldest is the leader, the second-eldest is the troublemaker, and the youngest is the clown'. Yes, that can happen in real life (my siblings for example), but it isn't this way for everyone!
I was thinking about that the other day. I came up with this for the three brothers band.
1 Skill
2 Leader
3 Strength

I was thinking about this earlier, but I'd like to see more cancer stories that don't end in tragedy. Seems like in every book (and movies and tv shows as well) when someone has cancer it's always to add a little bit of extra tragedy and they inevitably end up dying. As someone who's had to watch through someone really close to me go through cancer treatments (and actually survive) I think that some more cancer success stories would be a breath of fresh air, and would probably be really encouraging for a lot of people.

I was thinking about this earlier, but I'd like to see more cancer stories that don't end in tragedy. Seems like in every book (and movies and tv shows as well) when someone has cancer it's always to add a little bit of extra tragedy and they inevitably end up dying. As someone who's had to watch through someone really close to me go through cancer treatments (and actually survive), I think that some more cancer success stories would be a breath of fresh air, and would probably be really encouraging for a lot of people.

I really like that idea

Yeah but cancer = death. (Pretty much.)

Characters who are already in a relationship when introduced!

Yeah but cancer = death. (Pretty much.)

Not always.

I was thinking about this earlier, but I'd like to see more cancer stories that don't end in tragedy. Seems like in every book (and movies and tv shows as well) when someone has cancer it's always to add a little bit of extra tragedy and they inevitably end up dying. As someone who's had to watch through someone really close to me go through cancer treatments (and actually survive) I think that some more cancer success stories would be a breath of fresh air, and would probably be really encouraging for a lot of people.

And mental illness stories that don't end in suicide.

Characters who are already in a relationship when introduced!

Yes!

^^!!!!!!!!!!!

SLOW BURN RELATIONSHIPS!

SLOW BURN!!!! I live for those.

HELL YES!!!

Percabeth is a really good one from before Rick went ship-crazy and had everyone end up coupled up.
They met in book 1 and became friends, and there were signs throughout that they'd end up together. They didn't kiss until book 4, and didn't become seriously in a relationship until they were older and more mature than when they met.

I hate (with a loathing passion) Instalove™.

And teens in love… It's one thing to have a single couple that lasts and goes on to get married, but we can't have all of the couples stay together… I'm 19, and most of my closest friends have never even dated before, so…

I don't mind it that much? I mean, if I'm reading a romance I do because I'm reading it to WATCH THEM FALL IN LOVE SLOWLY but in a sci-fi/fantasy/any other story, it doesn't bug me because I'd rather that it focuses on the plot than the romance anyways.
That being said, I hate it when a couple meets and weeks/months later they're engaged and/or married. YOU! SHOULD! NOT! MARRY! A! PERSON! YOU! JUST! MET! Hell, I have a cousin who dated a guy for 10 years before they got married, why do something as permanent as marriage without KNOWING THE PERSON!

I think the general rule is if you have to make them kiss for readers to realize there's something there, you should not include the relationship or need to rework it.