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I'm working on a new story, tentatively titled Misleading Truth. It's a mystery in the heart of the Canadian Rocky Mountains amid the preparation of a wedding.
As I was browsing the Internet for original Pet Peeves, I stumbled on Readers' Pet Peeves. What annoys a reader the most when reading a book?
The list isn't in any particular order, but these are the pet peeves that appear the most often:
- Two dimensional characters, like perfect men with no flaws who always make the right decision and save the day, or gorgeous women with no personalities.
- Same description repeated multiple times throughout the book.
- Long scenic descriptions that add nothing to story.
- Cliché or predictable storylines.
- Characters with similar names, or names that are hard to pronounce or remember.
- Long paragraphs or substantial difference in length of paragraphs, like three very short paragraphs followed by an extra long one.
- Cliffhanger at the end of a book. The annoyance intensifies if the next book isn't readily available.
- Series in which books are not numbered.
- Books of different sizes, especially if part of a series.
- Misleading blurbs or blurbs with spoilers.
- Bad editing, bad formatting, bad translation.
- Small or uneven font size.
- Poor book cover design.
- Stickers on books.
- And last but not least, readers don't like to be bothered when they read.
Personally, I cannot stand excessive and pointless profanity in books. I was once asked to review a book with a supposedly "strong" heroine. In the first chapter, she used the f*** word in almost every sentence that came out of her mouth. I don't know if it was the author's way to make her sound like a strong woman, but to me, she just sounded vulgar and rude. I stopped reading right there.
J. S.
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