What bugs you, as a reader, in books?

[Shannon]

OK, what better way to get to know people than to find out what annoys you in the pages of a book that you are reading? (Hope this is an OK topic, I will let the moderators decide).

I just had this experience again so it was fresh in my mind and I wonder if I am the only one that finds the following things off-putting:

Incorrect use of a word.
For example, I am currently reading The Story of Edgar Sawtelle and early in the book there is a lengthy section about making a "casket" then putting the body in the "casket" and then how upsetting it is to nail closed the "casket". By this point I was so surprised because you don't nail a casket closed you nail a coffin closed and so I had totally painted the wrong image in my mind. I lsot the flow of the story and now I find as I read I wonder what else the author/editor has gotten wrong. I will eventually get back in the flow but it sure throws me. (Another pet peeve is using careening instead of careering)

Presenting fiction as truth: Case in point,

Modoc The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived even his introduction comments on how he has tried to keep everything as true as possible but it is a complete work of fiction. I would have enjoyed this book if I hadn't felt hoodwinked because in fact the best bits of writing are the most fictitious (the first 2/3s of the book).

And this is the only example coming from a Canadian author, but, when an author either thinks we are too dim to get anything subtle or doesn't know how to foreshadow so tells us straight up. Here is my example and perhaps it is the best way to express myself. (And I apologize but I do not have the book in front of me so I am going from memory). From Late Nights on Air, if they had only known that (incident that just happened) meant that three terrible things were going to happen. The incident was enough to let readers know something was probably going to happen (and then it would have been foreshadowing) but by continuing on it felt insulting.

Do any of you, readers or authors, get annoyed by these things or others? Am I alone in this? Do I sound just peevish and petty? I am not an author becuase I do not write particularly well so I understand that I expect authors to write at a good standard higher than I do. Is that unfair?

Look forward to your comments (I suspect Andrew will have something to say and I am very curious).

[Phyllis]

I hate it when an author dangles the answer right in front of me. My particular grievance was with 'Murder On The Orient Express.' "They couldn't all be guilty..."

[Renee]

Great idea Shannon.

I get irritated with the 'easy ending'. Rather than think about it the author goes for the neat and tidy happy ending. Why? Because it's easy. Everything wrapped up in a nice little package. I hate that. Sometimes the better ending is not the happy one or the easy one, it's more complex than that.
That will ruin a book for me.

I also hate crappy dialogue. It really bothers me.

[A.J.]

I'd expect I'd have something to say, too. ;)

But I'm actually very tolerant, as a reader. Usually. The only thing that really bugs me, drives me nuts, is just plain bad writing.

Clichés, especially those of young writers who think their generation is all that, with no apparent understanding that people have been coming of age since Thag first tired of his family and left the cave to take his first McJob in the smoke signal call center. It's been said before.

Badly structured stories that demonstrate the author's inability to dramatize his themes.

Poorly motivated or tone-deaf dialogue.

Writing that relies on abstract, pseudo-literary lyricism rather than the concrete and specific.

Pop psychology in characters.

Fortunately, all this is rare (except abstract, pseudo-literary lyricism), so I rarely get annoyed, except by the biggest crime of all:

The rampant use of magic realism or structural games to create instant, just-add-water interest in a short story, in place of earning your pay through narrative.

This is everywhere these days, and it drives me nuts.

[Phyllis]

So, tell us more about this Thag character... He already sounds more interesting than a lot of current pop culture. ;-)

[Sooz]

"The rampant use of magic realism or structural games to create instant, just-add-water interest in a short story, in place of earning your pay through narrative."

better known as deus-ex machina

DAY-uhs-eks-MAH-kuh-nuh; -nah; -MAK-uh-nuh\ , noun:
1.In ancient Greek and Roman drama, a god introduced by means of a crane to unravel and resolve the plot.
2.Any active agent who appears unexpectedly to solve an apparently insoluble difficulty

[Renee]

The quick fix, or the easy way out. Yes, that is annoying.

[A.J.]

No, not the same thing as deus ex machina. That's merely a plot device of sloppy writers.

What I'm referring to is the use of magic realism -- including fantastical or illogical events in an otherwise realistic narrative -- or unconventional structures to make a story seem original, while covering up the fact that under the flash, there's really not much there.

[Sooz]

okay i can't really say this bugs me exactly, cause i usually find it amusing rather than annoying, but it always surprises me that after who knows how many edits and proofreads, things like this slip through. it's when sentences aren't structured properly. the reader knows what is meant, but literally the meaning is something else. here is a sentence, from a novel that illustrates what i mean:

'i was five years old the first time i saw my mother cry; she was standing by the kitchen window pretending she wasn't.' the reader knows the mom was pretending not to cry, but the way the sentence is structured, it reads as if she's pretending not to stand by the kitchen window.

definitely more amusing than annoying.

[Renee]

Wow, we Canadians are quiet. Or perhaps very busy, industrious even. I've had little time to read this past year, although I do, I just have to cram it in at the end of my day. But I've noticed a few things that really have begun to irk me, possibly because as a writer I'm learning what you're not supposed to do. Dialogue is something I've become very picky about. Does this bother anyone else? When it's awkward, or the characters keep calling each other by name, like: "Hello, Jim. Nice to meet you." Or "That's not what I said, Mary. Why don't you listen." "Because you've got nothing to say, Brad. That's why." Annoys the heck out of me. Tags bug me too. What is wrong with said? I see 'groaned, wailed, whined, shouted, shot back, giggled' and said is just not used anymore. I miss said. I miss it a lot.

[Shannon]

Hi Renee:

So funny that you mention the use of people's names during dialogue. I just finished a book where I really noticed that this happened quite a bit and it made me laugh because my husband hates it when I use his name when we are talking (I do it to make sure he is listening to me - the age old issue eh?). Anyway, I hadn't really noticed it much before this last book and it definitely leapt out at me from the page.

Do you also hate run on sentences like the one in my above paragraph! ;) LOL

[Renee]

I am the queen of run-ons, so I can't complain. I don't like the ones that make me pass out from lack of oxygen though, they suck.

[Cheryl]

I have three major pet peeves when reading a novel:

1. excessive typos and glaring errors - I can ignore the first couple, but after that I want to take a red marker through the book and recommend a good editor to the author. Sometimes I won't finish a book if it's badly (or not at all) edited.

2. excessive characters - I hate character overloads. Give me enough characters to tell your story. That's it. Don't give me so many that I have to flip five pages back to remind myself who this person is and why you haven't killed him off yet.

3. head-hopping - if an author head-hops (aka shifts POV (aka point of view) too many times) it can get very confusing. If I have to flip back a page to determine who is speaking, you've lost me. If you think you're good enough to write multiple POVs, chances are you're not. Only a few big name authors can really get away with this--because their writing is extremely polished and familiar. I prefer POVs to be separated by chapter or by a scene break (space).

I used to edit books. These were my pet peeves back then too. :-)

Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
bestselling Canadian author (Whale Song, The River and more)
http://www.cherylktardif.com

[A.F.]

A couple of my pet peeves are passive female characters that do stupid things just for the sake of the plot or to "be rescued" and modern dialogue in historic (and some fantasy) settings.

[Dre]

I am generally really tolerant, and if there is a good plot and it is well written, I can generally put up with this, however, helpless main characters who always need saving annoy me.

[Renee]

*Like* Same here, Dre.

[Shannon]

Me too (And I keep looking for the like button too!)

[Renee]

I think we've given enough hints, but perhaps we've been too subtle. Goodreads, we needs a like button asap.

[Jeff]

Reliance on plot and realism as if those are cardinal virtues, when they're only devices like foreshadowing.

[Julie]

Well, some kind of plot is nice. It doesn't always have to be realistic of course.

[Renee]

You can't rely on plot alone, and realism doesn't always play a key role either. But a plot is necessary to have a story, so I'd say it ranks as one of the most important devices.

[Julie]

Repetition of details, like the reader is too dumb to remember anything or to go back and re-read a section.