Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Bookish Turn-offs

With thanks to The Broke and the Bookish.

Oh boy, I have some serious business book turn offs and then some weirdly specific bookish pet peeves:

1. Stereotyped characters - Racial or ethnic stereotypes. Stereotyped depiction of homosexuals. Write well-rounded characters. Be better than this.

2. Slut shaming - Once again, be better than this.

3. Poor depiction of a mental illness - I hate this, if you're writing about a mental illness, do the research. See also: mental illness = evil, no matter the illness.

4. Magically Healing Disability - I can't think of an example for this off the top of my head, which is a good thing.

The Sillier Ones Or Writing Pitfalls to Avoid

5. Contrived Suspense or Nyah Nyah Nyah Syndrome - A character has vital information that they are withholding from the protagonist for no real reason other than to build suspense. See Meridian, where the grandmother who could die at any moment chose to have the heroine rest, bake cookies, wander around etc. before telling her what her death powers are about and providing training that could save her life. See also the beginning of The Maze Runner. Also known as "I want the truth/You can't handle the truth".

6. Willful Ignorance or But Why Can't I Make Out With You, Zombie Infected Boyfriend? - A character that should know better makes choices that are clearly terrible and is infuriatingly TSTL. I have a particular example in mind and this book will forever fill me with rage. (The Dead Tossed Waves)

7. Redeemed by Hotness - Good-looking character (always a guy) commits atrocities such as stalking, assault, perhaps some mind control, even as far as murder, shows absolutely no remorse, and never faces any consequences. Heroine still loves him. His hotness burns away all misdeeds. He has been Redeemed By Hotness.

8. Nothing Compares To You - Protagonist is completely obsessed with love interest to the exclusion of all else. I like characters that care about other things aside from their potential significant other: friends, family members, leading the rebellion, saving the world, basketball, their fanfiction, they have to have something. (I'm not putting an example, think of a terrible Twilight ripoff)

9. Deus Ex Machina - It's lazy and it bugs me. Mainly the kind that is completely out of left field, at least have some set up or foreshadowing.

I was reminded of my distaste by a recent example:

10. Angels or Mermaids - I tend to steer clear of books that feature these particular beings and I stand by this decision. Not for a specific reason, more lack of interest. There are always exceptions though.

They all will negatively affect my opinion, even if there are other aspects of a book I liked.

Luckily I've gotten better at guessing when a book will feature one of the above, in order to avoid them. I want to like every book I read. Still, sometimes I get an unpleasant surprise. I can never tell when Nyah Nyah Nyah Syndrome will strike.

Edited to remove examples and prevent endless scrolling.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013