Booking Through Thursday
This week's BTT (hosted by BTT) question is:What are your literary “pet peeves”?
One of my pet peeve is definitely when I feel I know what is going to happen and how after reading the description on the back. Why would you make it so obvious? And why would you go for something so stereotypical? I partly blame it on the fact that love-triangles have become so popular that most books focus on it and thereby become predictable.
1) Unbelievable characters
But what annoys me the most if a character isn't lifelike or simply plain stupid. I can deal with it in horror movies because those movies thrive on the fact that their heroes and heroines follow irrational thoughts and willingly enter a house that clearly looks possessed and enjoy running away from crazy people so much they sign up for sequels.
But in books that pretend to be more sophisticated, about true love, people discovering their dark past, I expect something a bit deeper. But no, there are too many books in which women/girls follow a guy blindly, can only think about him fail to make any kind of choice and are whiny and dependent. Perhaps that's why I like reading fantasy, because usually there is some kind of female character that doesn't just want to win over a guy or be admired by others. This might actually be one of the reasons I sort of liked the Hunger Games (I watched the movie, still haven't read the books. Story didn't really convince me that much, srry!). Katniss isn't obsessed with falling in love with either Peeta or Gale. She wants to survive and is willing to do whatever. I respect that. I don't respect Bella (Twilight) who is one fo the blankest and most boring characters I have ever seen on paper.
2) Endless monologues
Some characters seem to have so many thoughts they need pages to tell them about us, whereas no time passes in the book. They talk and talk and this usually doesn't work because most authors haven't mastered the art of monologue. And if it is a character such as the ones I described above then the monologue means I will start to dislike the character. I don't want to stomp on the feelings of Twilight fans, but Bella has an extensive amount of lines/pages dedicated to her inner thoughts that are never truly new or surprising!
How about you? What are your pet peeves and how do you feel about characters and monologues? Leave a link in the comments!
I don't enjoy characters who are whiny and dependent either...thanks for sharing, and for visiting my blog. Thanks for the Twitter follow...and I followed you back.
ReplyDeleteEven though I totally admit to being a Twilight fan, I 100% agree with what you said. Bella's endless inner thoughts were something I did NOT enjoy about that series. It was repetitive and just really irritating after awhile. It needed to be taken down a notch, definitely.
ReplyDeleteInternal monologues are super tricky to get them right. Most of the time, they're just repeating things the reader has already realized.
ReplyDeletehttp://carabosseslibrary.blogspot.com/2012/04/booking-through-thursday_19.html
I agree, if I know the outcome beforehand from the blurb it takes away all my interest in the book. I'm with you on the rest of what you're saying, too. Also, I can't stand pages after pages of long descriptions. Great answer!
ReplyDeleteGreat answers. I don't mind monologues too much, as long as there is a point to them. Thanks for stopping by my blog!
ReplyDeleteCharacters are the most important element of a book for me, so I know EXACTLY what you mean about unbelievable characters. I want the characters to have a tangible presence, to feel like I can really have a conversation with them..
ReplyDeleteI don't mind monologues, but endless and redundant descriptions are a bit much for me to handle..
*New Follower*
~Keely~
oh Juli, I appreciate this pet peeve, haha. stupid characters are the worst, aren't they?? I actually had Katniss in mind when I rambled about whiny inner monologue, though she did grow as a character throughout the series (but the beginning was irritating to read).
ReplyDeletethanks for stopping by! I'm an old follower as well.
as for the epilogues section, I was totally thinking about HP too. :p great minds think alike.
I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week!
I hate stupid characters too.
ReplyDeleteOh, you should read The Hunger Games. I only read it after watching the movie! Am on the third book right now (but so far, I like Book 2 best).
As for the endless monologues, I'll skip them if I can. :)