Writing pet peeves is the topic for this week. What annoys us? What makes us want to tear our hair out?
Where do I start?
There are so many things, big and small.
This is a weirdly specific one, but I absolutely hate it when people use the phrase, “It’s like deja vu all over again.” That phrase just doesn’t even make sense to me. What is the point of it?
Difficult to pronounce names for places, or people. There’s a series I really like and in it is a prep school with a name that I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how to pronounce. I stumble over it in my head every time I come across it and it instantly pulls me out of the story. Someone has even told me how to say it a couple of times and I still can’t get it right. I get wanting to use things that are unique and different, but you can do that and still make them something that a reader can pronounce.
I have another pet peeves with names, certain names in general just annoy the ever-living hell out of me. As soon as I see them, I just want to stop reading. Names like Cash, or Tristan. For some reason, all bad boys are named Tristan. And on the subject of bad boys, why do authors (often YA) always put bad boys in black jeans? I don’t ever actually see anyone in real life wearing black jeans, but in books, all the bad boys wear them. I’m sure they all shop at the only store that sells them, too.
“There are simply too many notes!” In other words, trying to stuff everything imaginable into one story. Let’s put in werewolves, vampires, witches, ghosts, psychics, and time travel all into one book! There is such a thing as too many elements in one story.
Insta-love. I know sometimes it’s the norm for certain genres, but unless it’s done REALLY well, just no.
And on the subject of love, love triangles. Are they ever necessary? There are so many more interesting ways to create conflict, either within the romance or not.
I could go on and on, but I think those are the important ones.
What pet peeves do the other bloggers have? Click the links below to find out:
Bronwyn
Jessica
Kris
Kellie
Gwen
Jess
Writing is Hard 
They all shop at Bad Boys Outfitters: Clothing for all your stalky emo needs.
I could have put all these on my list, too. So irksome! All the elements crammed into one story makes me especially stabby. And I know the prep school of which you speak, and I can’t pronounce it, either.
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My boys actually wear black jeans. Though I think Syd wears them more often, lol. So is she a ‘bad Girl, now? Woot, she’ll love that. And I don’t like Tristan for a boy, either, lol. But for a girl… 🙂
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You have to have a “bad boy” card to shop at Bad Boys Outfitters. They don’t let just anyone in. Thanks for the smile.
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Oh – unpronounceable words! Good one! It’s one thing for proper nouns, I can usually skim past it, but when the author wants to flex their large vocabulary in a simple romance by using words that I not only cannot pronounce but have no clue what they mean . . . that just ruins the story for me. Especially since I pride myself on having a decent vocabulary. I like learning new words, but not in the middle of a good story. Having to stop and look up a word . . . I loose the momentum of the story. It can be frustrating.
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