Photo by 傅甬 华 on Unsplash
Hello SEers, It’s John again. Happy Hump Day. Today I want to talk about things that annoy readers. In doing so, maybe we can all avoid putting things in our books that trouble those who choose to read them. I’m sure you all are readers in addition to being a writer, so I think this post may hit home to you as well. The inspiration for this post was a series of tweets recently where folks could add their gripe about what they find annoying in books they have read. I thought you might be interested in a few of these. So, the question is. “What annoys you when authors do it?”
Here we go.
- When authors plant some kind of clue and never follow up.
- When a character disappears.
- When chapter breaks come at the wrong time and disrupt the flow.
- When a lot of time is spent on history (backstory)
- When it is clear the author is self-indulgent and continually overly describes a scene or character only to find neither had a lot of relevance to the story.
- When the use of brand names reads like a commercial
- When the story finishes with a contrived ending that is out of left field.
- When dialogue becomes confusing as to who is talking
- When characters are killed for no justified reason.
- When children and animals are mistreated.
- When words have been used that need to be looked up to be understood.
- When character traits seem unrealistic, unnatural, or out of synch.
- When profanity has no context.
- When sex is too graphic for the genre.
- When it is obvious the author needs an editor. (Or a better one)
- When the story does not fit the stated genre.
- When the POV changes with no warning or setup.
- When the narrator seems to know more or less than the narrator should.
- When there is a quick and unnatural ending that screams “Buy my next book.”
- When formatting is not consistent.
I venture to say if we could write a story that had none of these irritations, it would be fine work. I know from my point of view, I have had most of these items in my books at one time or another. Lucky for me, these were caught before the book went public. Such is the value of a good editor
How about you? Have you caught these in your writing, and are there others that you feel would annoy readers? Let’s talk about it in the comment section.
Story Empire 
Pingback: Do You Annoy Your Readers? – Women Writing the West Blog
Thank you for sharing my post.
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Ah, I suspect the alliteration on names comes from the old “but suddenly new due to the marvels of film making” (pun intended) Marvel universe. “The Hulk”. Bruce Banner, “Spiderman”, Peter Parker. etc. I grew up with that silliness and cannot help at times repeating it.
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Good point, Ray. Thank you.
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Great list! I agree as a reader and found it a helpful reminder as an author. I recently read a really good book, but when it came to the romance, the scenes were too many and too drawn out for me. Every eye gaze, hug, and kiss… Nothing graphic or inappropriate, but I felt as if the author was reliving (or wanting to) the romance for her sake rather than for the story. I didn’t stop reading because up to that point it was very well-written and an interesting plot, but I did end up skipping over so much – typically, death to an author! Never do something to make your reader stop reading. LOL
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I finished a book like that. The one phrase that was repeated way to much was “He claimed her lips.” I’m still trying to figure out what that means. Thanks, Laura.
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Pingback: 10 Things That Annoy Me in Books – Yass Reads
Thank you for the link.
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Hi John, great article, thank you for this. What little quirks annoy me most? How about writers who use the same first letter for most of their characters and we must go back and remember if this is Stephanie, Samantha, Sally, Sissie, or Sarah? (Or James, Jack, John, or Jessy) – you get the idea. It really “slows the flow.” 🙂
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I have been guilty of that in the past. I think it is some kind of alphabet illness like a dependency on a letter or something. Thanks for your comment, Ellie.
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Naa – you wouldn’t make that mistake – I thought your writing was “practically perfect in every way!” 🙂 (So funny, that’s for your humble answer. It’s nice to know you’re human.)
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Let’s just say I’m my own worst critic. 😁
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Hahaha – God keeps us humble, 🙂
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For sure. 😊
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Even though I love alliteration, I agree about the names!
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Thank you, Laura.
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