So in no particular order ;
1)When authors have a whole load of grammar and spelling mistakes.
I don't mind a few small mistakes because we are all human and we all make mistakes. I make mistakes too and I know that sometimes we get over excited and type really fast and we may miss out words or misspell words and we might not catch it. I'm okay with that really I am. But huge chunks of grammar mistake, Nah uh. I can't take it. I don't want to have to correct your grammar every few sentences when I'm reading your story. It's annoying and takes away from the plot. And people who don't spell check, you are annoying. There is a reason why we have a red dotted line under the words. And if you are using websites like Wattpad that does not spell check then copy and paste your story from word. Spelling is important and if I can make an effort so can you.
2)The authors who have seven million characters in their story
It's annoying when you have so many characters because I have to keep track of them and it's hard when you have a bazillion of them and it gets irritating when you name them Hailey,Bailey, Daily and all those similar looking names. It's difficult for me to remember which one is which and what irritates me further is when the author is also confused. The other thing is because you have so many characters you can't possibly describe all of them and it can make the characters seem one sided and we won't really get to know them on a personal level unlike if you just have two or three characters.
3)Authors who have good story lines but can't write to save their lives.
You know what I mean, those stories where you read the summary and go interesting and you read the story and it looks something like this :" She loved him. Really she did. But he was gone. She saw him in Amber, their creation. From her smile, to her laugh even down to how she talks. She don't know if she can continue without him. She missed him" Right? The story could have been about how a woman learns to cope with her husbands death and live without him while trying to raise her daughter who is a carbon copy of her father. The story is so poorly written though, that you cringe and try your best to read it but eventually you just stop. Yeah, I've read a good few of them. It's so frustrating because I want to read your story really I do, but every time I try, I end up pulling my hair out and getting confused due to either your inability to convey your thoughts or your poor writing skills. It kills me when I see such good ideas executed so poorly.
4) Authors who keep changing tenses
Okay, I'll be honest, I also tend to change tenses throughout my story but the thing is, I read thru it and make sure I stay in one tense. It's frustrating and it can also confuse readers as they are unsure of if you are talking about the past or the present.
5) Authors who say *flashback* before writing a flashback.
Okay, so I know incorporating a flashback into your story can be hard but there really is no point if you just type *flashback* before writing it. Flashbacks are literary devices use to make your story more interesting and usually they give us a glimpse of the past and show us what motivates the character to do what he/she is doing which in turn heightens the plot of the story and can be used to build towards a climax. But if you say *flashback* you ruin the whole effect . The fun part of a flashback is having people figure it out for themselves and here's where tenses are important.
5) Authors who say I'm not updating until I have XYZ amount of reviews.
First up, this is so NOT okay. Like what you mean you ain't gonna update till you get that many reviews that ain't cool. You don't hear a singer saying I'm not releasing a new single till this many people buy it do you. Exactly, shut your face it's the same thing. Grrr. I get that you write on your own time and you're not getting paid and just like you don't owe us anything, we don't either.
6) Authors who blackmail and use guilt to get more reviews.
Okay this sickens me. Like woah, I'm sorry I did know I owe it to you to review. Like enough with the guilt trip. We don't owe you reviews and if there are people out there like me, chances are you don't review cause you have nothing to say. Yes I enjoyed the story but I have nothing to say or you thought it sucked and the review you are gonna give will not look pretty so you say nothing. Disclaimer, I am ALL for reviewing and telling the author how much you loved the story even if you basically keep saying the same things over and over again, but what gets me is when the author acts all holier than thou.
7) Authors who have too much drama and things going on.
So there is this story I'm reading and it's about a couple that I ship and it's allegedly a love story. The problem with the story is though, every other chapter they are arguing about something or rather and the other characters are always affected by it and if it's not that it's some conflict between the main character and the other characters which will somewhere down the line lead to an argument between the main couple. I mean give me a break. Your tension graph has no resolution. Something keeps happening and I know you may think that that is a way to keep it interesting but it's not. Too much is going on and it gets exhausting to keep up and read it all and most of the time it's unnecessary drama.
8) Stories that have things that contradict each other or don't make sense or is not fitting.
I am very picky and unfortunately observant about a story especially if your writing is not particularly good or it's my second time reading it. I notice when you say she has blue nails then say her nails were unpolished further down the line (bad example). But I notice these things. I notice when you say things than contradict something else later or have a chapter that does not make sense any more. I know people will ignore these details but I can't. It' s more of a pet peeve but yeah. Plan your story out carefully down to the last detail.
9) Fake perfect ending stories.
You know what I mean, like guy likes girl but girl is in a relationship but then suddenly she falls in love with the other guy and they live happily ever after. NO! That is number one totally unrealistic and number two being lazy. You can't just have a perfect story line like that, it's fake and annoying. I read this story about my ship and how the guy cheated on the girl and the girl is upset but still loves him and serves him the divorce papers. Th author does not make it all go away and have her forgive him just like that. Nope, 35 chapters later and she still can't trust him or forgive him. She does not make the girl have a disease or get pregnant like so many authors do and have them fix everything and make it work. Nah, she has them fight and almost divorce all the way till like chapter 20 something before the guy has a change of heart and wants to win his wife back. She makes it real by having the wife not trust him and having her doubts and not making her instantaneously forgive him. It moves you and it was also very well written which was a bonus but those stories are way better than the cop out ones.
10) When authors write tweets in their stories and it's as long as a paragraph.
Um, hi, hello, you're obviously new here but twitter only allows you 140 characters so why you be writing paragraphs as tweets? And yes I know you can extend your tweet with that app thing but who tweets long paragraphs all the time? Girl you clearly don't know how twitter works.
11) When authors use songs in their stories and it's unnecessary
I'm not interested in the song you are quoting UNLESS it has something to do with the story. Don't be writing the entire lyrics for a song you decided to sing it's pointless, just say I sang XYZ by XYZ. Half the time people just scroll down without actually reading the lyrics. If we wanted to read lyrics I'm sure we would have googled them and read that, but I came here for your story so you best be writing it and not wasting my time with pointless lyrics that you don't even own.
12) When authors do not indicate who is saying what.
Okay, so this is especially confusing when you have like ten characters in the room and you you do not indicate who said what. It's confusing and I know it starts out fine but by the end the readers are just sitting there going shmurr (what up superwoman reference). We can't see what you're thinking and I know in your mind you know who is saying what but we are our here and clueless. So give us a clue and tell us whose line is that anyway. :P
13) Short forms.
More than anything I loathe it when people use short hand and short forms to write. Is this a text message? Are you texting me? No, than why are you writing like that. I'm sure your English teacher taught you the right way to write and spell so why are you not doing that?
14) When the point of view changes every other paragraph
I don't mind if you change POV every chapter or something like that but every paragraph come on. Gahh, it's hard to keep up with and annoying, please stop. Oh and when you change your writing style (is that what you call it) You know when the story is in first person then suddenly it changes to third. No way man. You can't just change it like that and don't you dare say *authors POV* because that is bullshit. However, sometimes and I mean sometimes with proper execution you can pull off changing POVs after a particularly long paragraph.
Okay, so I'm pretty sure I got most of my frustrations out. But here's the thing. I am a very picky and particular reader. I nit pick at every flaw and it takes A LOT to impress me so don't be offended. I nit pick at my works too and you guys will never see the first draft where I cancel out stuff, have spelling errors, jump tenses and grammar issues cause I am particular about these things. But at the end of the day, it's your work and you should be proud of it but don't be cocky and learn to take criticism. We're all human and we make mistakes. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment