forum Things You Want LESS Of In Books

Started January 21, 2019 by @HighPockets group

tune

(Please, call me Kylee) A soul is basically your brain, your intire being, it makes you, well you.

That’s as simple as I can discribe it

Within the romantic plots, I really really hate it when a romance is made out to be "the best and the only and the one and all other romantic relationships are trash which justifies anything this couple does"
when in reality it's just two hormonal teenagers who can barely have a civil conversation without groping each other
_{the mortal instruments}

You make me even happier I dropped that series. gag

I read through the entire series and was scared for life.

"What they had wasn't ordinary, or subject to the ordinary rules of relationships and breakups. They belonged to each other totally, and always would, and that was that."

An actual quote from the series
This was when I started questioning the decisions that had led me up to ever considering opening the first book

arent the main pair cousins or some shit

Within the romantic plots, I really really hate it when a romance is made out to be "the best and the only and the one and all other romantic relationships are trash which justifies anything this couple does"
when in reality it's just two hormonal teenagers who can barely have a civil conversation without groping each other
_{the mortal instruments}

You make me even happier I dropped that series. gag

I read through the entire series and was scared for life.

"What they had wasn't ordinary, or subject to the ordinary rules of relationships and breakups. They belonged to each other totally, and always would, and that was that."

An actual quote from the series
This was when I started questioning the decisions that had led me up to ever considering opening the first book

…Even my 6-year-old self could write better than that

arent the main pair cousins or some shit

They get together, then are told that they're siblings and still lust after each other even after that reveal but it turns out they aren't but the MC is related to another guy and their interactions have some nasty incestous undertones.

thats so fucking gross. i got like half a page into the first book and i was like haha fuck this

0.0 What the panke-ki

This was when I started questioning the decisions that had led me up to ever considering opening the first book

I think for me that moment was when Clary and Jace found out that they were brother and sister they were so weirdly ok with being in a relationship. I stopped reading the series after I finished the third book, and I think at that point it came to light that they weren't siblings but still… They were waaay too ok with incest for my liking.

Characters who die and get resurrected after being dead for 5 minutes

I kind of don't like resurrection, regardless of how long they've been dead. It kinda just desensitizes the reader to character deaths. The tv show Supernatural is guilty as hell for this. Every time a character died, I was just like "well, they're just gonna come back so…"

The only times I have been ok with this was in Scythe and Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman (actual spoilers below)

Plus it's kind of established that they have the technology to resurrect early on in the series so it wasn't like any of this came out of nowhere.

I thought the premise for mortal instruments was interesting, so I started reading the first book.

So much regret. The romance was creepy (even before it was maybe incest), the character just seemed … flimsy? Like, they would do anything if the plot asked for it - even things that seem completely out of character. That really annoys me in books, when characters aren’t consistent (unless it’s for a good reason, which it usually isn’t).

I thought the premise for mortal instruments was interesting, so I started reading the first book.

So much regret. The romance was creepy (even before it was maybe incest), the characters just seemed … flimsy? Like, they would do anything if the plot asked for it - even things that seem completely out of character. That really annoys me in books, when characters aren’t consistent (unless it’s for a good reason, which it usually isn’t).

Well I read the mortal instruments and liked it the first time but that was before i realized how very creepy it was and i dropped it very quickly
I still kinda like the infernal devices tho

The Infernal Devices was wonderful!!

Yeah I really liked the story, but Cassandra Clare? Not so much

This was when I started questioning the decisions that had led me up to ever considering opening the first book

I think for me that moment was when Clary and Jace found out that they were brother and sister they were so weirdly ok with being in a relationship. I stopped reading the series after I finished the third book, and I think at that point it came to light that they weren't siblings but still… They were waaay too ok with incest for my liking.

Characters who die and get resurrected after being dead for 5 minutes

I kind of don't like resurrection, regardless of how long they've been dead. It kinda just desensitizes the reader to character deaths. The tv show Supernatural is guilty as hell for this. Every time a character died, I was just like "well, they're just gonna come back so…"

The only times I have been ok with this was in Scythe and Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman (actual spoilers below)

Spoiler - click to show.

Because in Scythe, Faraday wasn't actually dead to begin with, and I guess you could say the same thing about Rand. And as much and all as I dislike Goddard, he is a really good villain. I wasn't happy per se when he came back, but the story wouldn't have been what it was if he had stayed dead.

Plus it's kind of established that they have the technology to resurrect early on in the series so it wasn't like any of this came out of nowhere.

Yeah I liked how they used it in Scythe and how not everyone who died came back. I also wasn't totally happy about

(Please, call me Kylee) A soul is basically your brain, your intire being, it makes you, well you.

Well then Kylee, wouldn't that mean their essence was destroyed, so they would cease to exist and therefore, not be able to do revenge?

This isn't necessarily common in regular books, but comic books, webtoons, and TV shows tend to have it and it drives me nuts.

• Less armor = More power

Don't get me started on how much I hate this trope. I can't pinpoint the exact reason why I despise it so much, but I just want to see a character try to use this in a battle and suffer a severe injury because of it. That would be so satisfying…

Yes! Or whenever female knights/warriors have on super sexy armor that would get them killed in a real fight!?

The "I'm wearing a bikini made out of metal I'm unstoppable." + "I have only a small slit in my armor- Oh no! an arrow!"

How people can get shot in like the leg or the shoulder and just walk it off. No! If you get a bullet lodged in your shoulder YOU CAN'T HECKING USE IT BY THE NEXT SCENE!

Yes! Real wounds can take months before you can attempt to use the injured limb properly again!

Just in general, a lot of books have an issue with having lasting consequences or impacts on their world. This causes - among other things - badly timed resurrections, people blowing off fatal injuries, and pacing issues where it feels like the story is moving too fast. A lot of authors have a bajillion ideas for their story at once, which is fine, as long as the author doesn’t try to rush the story to get out all of their ideas at once.

• Villains leaving the hero to die instead of just finishing them off
• Characters who do stupid things solely for the drama
• “This plan never should have worked, but I’m the protagonist and I’m special”
• Trying to force tension by waiting until the last possible moment for the person/Important Thing to be saved
• Vital information being learned by eavesdropping on a convenient conversation or reading conveniently placed papers
• The plot being moved forward by coincidence in general
• The protagonist having a Fatal Flaw that is rarely if ever shown and no other flaws
• The good vs. evil trope

i will say that i have a character who does stupid things just for drama, but thats like literally a key part of her personality, is causing drama and pretending to be stupider than she is

i will say that i have a character who does stupid things just for drama, but thats like literally a key part of her personality, is causing drama and pretending to be stupider than she is

Understandable. What I meant was stupid and out of character; for example: "Villain A is really smart and sensible, but she decided to monologue to Hero B instead of killing him so that he could make a daring escape."

oooooohh that makes sense

Yeah, sorry if that wasn't clear.

well i kinda understood, but i didnt think about the villain aspect

I enjoy villainous monologues a bit, but mine are always delivered while the villain is beating the hell out of the hero.
They enjoy mocking people.

I likey.