Things Writers do That I Hate as a Reader
Hello everyone! Welcome back to Cover to Cover! A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about “Things Writers do That I Love” so obviously we have to do the opposite. I only had three points in my other blog post, but I think I might have more things that I don’t like. I don’t consider myself to be a picky reader. I have gotten better over the years, meaning, the odds of me not finishing a book are slim. But there are a few things that I don’t like as a reader. Let’s get into it.
1. Cliffhangers
This is obvious. I hate being left out on the line and having to wait at least a year to get the next book. If the book is already out, fine, but I still have to go out and buy it. And I totally understand why, writers want their readers to continue the series and buy the next book. It works, trust me. It’s still an aggravating process sometimes.
2. Not Ending the Series
This piggybacks off one of the things I love which is knowing when the series has to end. I don’t think you should keep writing the same thing over and over just to make money off one series. WRITE A NEW ONE. Continuing a series that needed to end 1-2 books ago is so painful as a reader. Most of the time I just drop the series. I want plot development not let’s continue the same plot line over and over again in various ways. No thanks. I’d rather have a new series.
3. Slow moving beginnings
Personally, when I first pick up a book, I try to read to at least 50 pages in the first sitting. If it doesn’t have my attention by then, I usually find it really hard to pick it up. It doesn’t have to be action-packed, but it needs to gain my interest. Usually, writers try to do so very early on in the book which makes sense. Why start all the action and drama at page 200? Sometime though, I do try to push through to page 80 or 100 it just kind of depends on how big the book is. But I’m sorry, if you have a 350-400 page book and its not interesting by page 100, what are you doing?
4. Pointless scenes/scenes that are too long
When you write a book, everything you have in the book needs to matter. Every word, every sentence, every setting, every character, every scene, etc. I hate when I’m reading a book and there’s a pointless scene that doesn’t really add much. Yes, maybe the conversation during that scene is important but move it somewhere else. When I read Covet by Tracey Wolff, I felt like some of the scenes (especially the those during the dragon party) were not necessary. I felt like the conversations that happened and the events that happened there could’ve been better somewhere else, or didn't even add anything new to the story. The whole staying in New York with the dragons took way too long. Honestly, that whole book was pretty drawn out. The dragon party and the prison parts were too long. As a reader, I was getting bored. And from the beginning the main characters were on a quest to find something (I don’t even remember), but it was taking forever because then they had to do this, and go here, and talk to this person, run from these people. It was too much.
5. When an author overuses a phrase or word
I don’t want any confusion with this one. I love when a book has (for lack of a better word) a catchphrase, for example, ACOTAR is “To the stars who listen, and the dreams that are answered” or Crescent City is “Light it Up.” Those are fine. I mean like common phrases or words that the writer uses again and again. For instance, a lot of fantasy authors use the phrase, “the apex of her thighs” which sure it’s better than some alternatives, but that phrase is EXTREMELY overused. We need to find something else. It's so annoying having to read the same line over and over again in various books. How is there not more creative ways to go about this?
Well, that’s all I have today folks! Thank you for reading if you made it this far, and come back next week for another blog post!