Thursday, September 1, 2016

Things In Writing That IRK Me-- Purple Eyes Is A Big One


Okay I'm going to be all-- Sorry, not sorry-- and post something sorta negative.  I mean, well, you say negative, I say constructive criticism??  Okay, I'm a Negative Nelly, what can I say??





I want to talk about things in writing that I see a lot and could really live without. 

Disclaimer: obviously I read a lot of YA and accordingly a lot of these are from YA books.  Also, some are full-on tropes and some of them are tiny nit-picky things, but all annoy me equally-ish.


We all know the dreaded phrase- "I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding" is the big one.  BUT of course, it's not the only one.  Here are a few that when I come across them, I immediately go




  • Blushing-- cannot stand a character that blushes every time a dude looks at her.  Why are all the characters doing this these days?
  • Clumsiness-- It's too Bella Swan for me.  I see clumsiness as a character trait and I automatically feel like it's there to make the female appear weak.  Like they're all just waiting for their Edward to show up and catch them when they trip.  (Maybe this is just a me thing??).
  • Biting their lip-- Can we do something else cause this is played out.
  • Shoulder shrugs-- do people even do this a lot IRL??  Cause I feel like the characters I read about do this every time they don't know something or feel uncomfortable.
  • Whiney characters-- Nothing worse than a whiner.
  • Main character that talks inside his/her head too much-- you know the ones who tell you every single mundane thought and why they had that thought and why they said what they said and couldn't say what they really wanted to say-- BLAH!!
  • Villains who stop and take time to explain exactly why they've done everything they've done and what they're about to do to finish the fight.
  • Random colored eyes-- seriously how many people out there have violet, yellow, and gray eyes??  True violet eyes only happen in people with albinism, gray are one of the most rare, and green represents 2% of the world population, so why are so many YA characters having eyes that are these colors?  Authors-- brown and regular blue (not the bluest blue the world has ever seen) can be beautiful and attractive too I promise!!!
  • Pretentious characters-- the ones that are just "so different" & non-mainstream from everyone else, and that somehow makes them so much better & smarter than everybody else.
  • Rushed endings-- massive build up & then it's like the author got bored and hurries through the all-important reveal.  Feels like a rip-off.  I just read 400 pages of climb!  I want more than 10 pages of reveal.
  • Super Selfish characters-- you know the ones... no one else's problems matter because it's ALL ABOUT THEM.  Don't get me wrong, I think the teenage years can and should be a somewhat selfish time (finding out who you are and all that), but there is a line.
  • Girls that don't know they're pretty.  Just STOP.
  • The overly obvious love interest- when the girl meets the love interest in the first page and it's obv that he loves her instantly.  AND he comes on super strong and she acts like she doesn't know he likes her.  OMG I can't.  I actually read 2 books recently where the guy started telling their friend group that she was his girlfriend without even asking her if that was their status.  He just told her he liked her and BOOM it's just assumed they're together.  HELL NO!!
  • The Oblivious Captain Obvious-- when you can tell a writer THINKS they're being super stealth, but it's SO damn obvious.  Like the girl has sex and the author has her puking/feeling nauseous all the time and then we're supposed to be all OMG when she finds out she's pregnant.  Umm, no.  We're not dumb.
  • Frenemies-- I'm slightly over the best friend being a frenemy.  When the main purpose of the girl M/C's best friend is to do all the "bad" things so the M/C can look "good".  Also, I'm into healthy girl/girl relationships these days.  The boys get a TON of healthy friendships in books!
  • Girl Virgins-- Sighhhh.  It's really hard for this trope to go right for me.  If talking about the girl's virginity adds something to the story or is a natural progression in some way, it won't completely irk me.  But if a girl's virginity is brought up in a way that makes her seem "pure" or if the guy starts getting all talky-talky about her being a virgin and how special that makes her and getting all possessive over her virginity... I'm OUT!!!



So now that I got that out....


But really, we all have those THINGS that make us eye-twitch a little when we read it for the 999th time.  And I'm a lover of books not a hater, I swear.  I just want to not read about another purple-eyed person ever again.






Let's Talk:
Do any of these things irk you??  What did I forget to add here?

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33 comments:

  1. YES! I hate so many of these things. Blushing, clumsiness, random colored eyes, pretentious characters so annoying. I hate the Obvious Captain Obvious too but an offshoot which is the obviously oblivious character. Use your eyeballs DUMMY!

    My dreaded phrase these days is "he was about a year or two older than me." It's always when the male love interest is being introduced. Why do I care how old he looks?!?! Because I don't.

    Great post! I'll be a Negative Nelly with you anytime. We can shrug about it IRL, which I do.

    Cassi @ My Thoughts Literally

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    1. LOL I'll be expecting lots of shoulder shrugs from you from now on!!! And OMG I can't believe I forgot the Obliviously Oblivious Girl!! Gah, I hate those characters!

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  2. OMG yes to all of these!! I'm glad you brought up the weird color eyes. Can't a character just have plain brown/hazel/blue/green eyes?? Another big one for me is the clumsiness thing. I hate that and I agree it's a little too, "oh, save me please" for my taste.

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    1. Glad to know I'm not the only one who hates the clumsiness thing. I wasn't sure about that one because I thought maybe my dislike of Twilight played a role in it. The eyes drive me BONKERS! I can't un-notice it now that I've noticed it, ya know?

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  3. Ha, I'm right there with you on ALL of these. Most especially the pretentious characters, the blushing, Captain Oblivious and the villains that talk too much. I don't need the villain to spell things out for me. I want to be shown the why over the course of the book. The ruined reveal sucks big donkey balls too. Gah.

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    1. Ugh I seriously HATE it when the villain goes all word-vomit. How would this ever happen IRL?

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  4. Great list! I can't think of anything that irks me other than characters wearing Converse and calling them Chuck Taylors. Who says that? No one I have ever met.

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    1. I've wondered that... do people actually call them that?? Or am I just old?

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  5. Ha I love this!! I just hate the girl who thinks she isn't special yet everyone loves her and says how amazing she is and she still can't see it. Get away special snowflake girl!! Great list - totally agree with them!

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    1. UGH the girl who tells the reader she's SO AVERAGE, but everyone everywhere LOVES her at first sight. Please.

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  6. Hahaha love this list! I think rushed endings get to me the most. Like you said, I just spent all that time reading the build up to something big and what do I get? A lousy few pages to wrap everything up. Just arghhh.

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    1. Hate that. I've read a few of them recently and I was not happy. I was LOVING the books and so excited for the reveal and then it was so rushed. BLAH.

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  7. Oh man, pretentious characters are THE WORST. That's basically why I dislike most of John Green's novels hahaha Oh, and the girl who doesn't know she's pretty, or when they put on a dress and suddenly everyone notices them? UGH STOP. hahaha

    Molly @ Molly's Book Nook

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    1. Oh the girl who doesn't like John Green :( LOL. No, it's cool. I get what you're saying. I hate the She's All That staircase moment in books. It was cute in the cheesy teen movie, but in books??? I'll pass.

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  8. Oh my gosh- YES to all of these. The blushing thing is definitely a pet peeve of mine. Same with the biting of the lip. Hope that some of these traits will be taken out of the YA rotation soon.

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    1. The lip biting thing is EVERYWHERE now!! I'm coming across it in every book I read it seems :(

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  9. Yessssss, yes to every single one of those!

    I have green eyes, and I have never in my life met another person with green eyes. However, almost every single book I open has a hero with green eyes! It just does not happen that much!

    I'm always confused by the villain that does not shut up when they finally have the protagonist cornered. I don't need the mastermind's plan spelled out in graphic detail, straight from the horse's mouth!

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    1. I don't think I've ever met someone with green eyes. Blue and brown and maybe 2 hazel and that's it!

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  10. The only time I have ever bit my lip is if I have a piece of brownie on my lips. Its rare for ya girls to be virgins nowadays, thats annoying too. Or if a girl has had sex shes usually 'easy' why cant they just have a normal girl that has had/likes sex?
    The violet and gray eyes, make it stop!

    Nereyda│ Nick & Nereyda’s Infinite Booklist

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    1. Sex is definitely a hot mess in the YA world. Everyone is so weird about it. It's either a "lesson" or it's shown as bad, or it's something only the guys want. I just get really rage-y about the way virginity is written about. I would love to find more books that does teenage sex in the right way. I've heard Cherry by Lindsey Rosin might be one of them?? (not digging that title though).

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  11. Super selfish characters get me. I just read a book where the MC was so self absorbed I started resenting her a little by the end. One of my bookish pet peeves is when someone waggles their eyebrows. I guess its supposed to be suggestive but what is sexy about waggling. NOTHING! This was a fun post. Thanks.

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    1. Eww waggling eyebrows is GROSS!! I never want to read that one again either!

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  12. I agree with literally all of those! I hate it when the MC thinks she's super awkward just because she's clumsy. Like nope, pretty sure that doesn't make you awkward. It'd be fun to talk (more like rant haha) to you more about all this stuff!

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    1. Ughhh you are so right!! I am super awkward and clumsiness has nothing to do with it. I think when unawkward people try to convey awkwardness it comes out as clumsiness and that's just wrong!

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  13. I just started a Rants & Raves feature and I am planning to feature several of these things. The purple/grey eyes really bug me too. And why don't book characters ever have hazel eyes like me? (I alternate between describing them as muddy green or mossy brown.) They are almost as common as blue.

    My first Rant/Rave

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    1. You are SO right!! There is NEVER hazel eyes in books that I read. The purple/grey bug me SO much it hurts.

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  14. Ok thanks to this post I just had an identity crisis and spent the last hour researching eye colors thinking maybe the color I always thought my eyes were was incorrect since apparently it's rare lol. I think my eyes are in fact green though, as are my parents and some other family members, and maybe even a friend or two. But my eyes also look blue-ish sometimes, and they also have amber randomly speckled in them when you take really close up photos? But they never look brown the way hazel is described. They just look, well, green. I feel like I need to have a poll on my blog now just to figure out what color my eyes are. Sorry for rambling about my eyes, that's what happens when you give me an identity crisis :-P But anyway, that is why I thought green was common and have never had a problem with that eye color in books. But I have known VERY few people in my life with blue eyes, so I always thought those were super rare and thought it strange that so many book characters have blue eyes. But ugh, yes, the weird colors, like purple, need to stop.

    And villains explaining all their plans and reasons why they're doing things? No one would ever do that in real life!

    And the girls who are obviously gorgeous and the guys are all into them but they don't know they're pretty? That doesn't happen in real life either lol. Fun post!

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  15. ONE MILLION TIMES yes!! I completely agree with you re: the blushing -- I don't know anyone that blushes so furiously and so often IRL and, yet, it seems to be a requirement in YA now. Rushed endings also bug me so much -- especially if there is a really slow start. I don't need or even want everything to be wrapped up in a nice and neat bow but I do need something more than they kissed, the end. You know what I mean?

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    1. Ugh blushing. SO terrible. And I totally agree... I don't want everything HEA. I want it to feel real to the story.

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  16. Oooh I agree with so many things on your list! I especially hate that 'seeing a stranger across the room and fall in love immediately!' I mean, who experiences that in real life? Not me, that's for sure! Random colored eyes are overrated but different colored eyes are even more irritating for me. It's not relatable :') and ahem, I do shrug, a lot (haha) but that lip biting is so Ana Steele! Girls that don't know they're pretty are just sooo annoying to me! I mean, yes, I know a few people like that in real life but that's so rare! Does she never look in the mirror or something? Lol and this annoys me too : "there's only one bed'. Sure it was cute and adorable AT FIRST but a variation please? Great post! <3

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    1. Well you aren't the first person to say they shrug a lot, so maybe I'm off on that one :) But UGHHH the lip biting.... just no. There are so many overdone tropes-- especially in romance. That's one of the reasons I've taken a break from them.

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  17. Dying at "the bluest blue the world has ever seen" 😂 Because seriously. No one looks like that. And the violet thing is just crazy- not everyone has to look like some kind of special snowflake! Maybe they could have red hair (because of course), Barbie proportions, and violet eyes, the likes of which cannot be comprehended by mortals. And she also doesn't know she's pretty, despite the flock of dudes on her doorstep.

    The pregnancy one is SO TRUE- that happened to me while reading recently and I was like... REALLY? We're doing this? Plus I don't know about you, but the first clue I was pregnant wasn't random vomiting. Just saying.

    As for blushing, I blush a LOT, but it isn't cute. It's embarrassing. UGH. I basically agree with every single one of these. And don't get me started on the virginity being a prize, or we will be here all day ;) LOVE this post!

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  18. All of these are so true! I cracked up laughing at a few.

    I really hate it when the MC has an obvious crush on the main guy but even she doesn't know she has a crush on him until half way through the book. And then the rest of the book is about her trying to get with the guy, obviously and way too strongly... I HATE it. I want a slow burn romance where they start to fall for each other. I don't want lines like 'She found herself searching the room for him' or 'her gaze searched him out' all the time... I don't want her 'gaze' 'searching' for him at all! Blah. No thanks.

    Jordon @ Simply Adrift

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