thoughtfulBy page two, I was ready to fling the book across the room. Why? Because the author had chosen to scramble the spelling of a common-to-the-genre word in a way that made it look not only pretentious, but difficult to read. This is a personal bug-a-boo of mine, since I really do feel that spelling was standardized for a reason, and while I managed to soldier through, it colored my ability to sink into the text for several chapters.
(As an aside, seriously: not all words become more interesting and mysterious when spelled with a vestigial "y." The worst example I've ever seen was in a YA series full of "mermyds," and the fact that I made it through all three volumes is a testament to the power of raw stubborn.)
One reader of Rosemary and Rue posted a lengthy, positive review, more than half of which was taken up by complaints about the pronunciation guide. Specifically, I didn't write down the correct pronunciation of "Kitsune." It's a fair cop—if you pronounce the word as written in the pronunciation guide, you'll be saying it wrong—and it's been corrected for A Local Habitation, but it was, for this person, as bad as if I'd spelled Toby's name "Aughtcober" and then claimed it was pronounced just like the month. Bug-a-boos for all!
Kate recently delivered a long and eloquent diatribe on "back cover buzz-word bingo," which I really wish I'd had a video camera running for, because it was awesome. The summation is that she watches the back covers of books for certain "buzz-words," and, if the book works up to a magical bingo score, she doesn't read it. I do something similar with bad horror movies, since there are specific buzz-words that mean "soft core porn" and "gratuitous torture," and those really aren't what I'm watching the movie to see.
So what are your bug-a-boos? Terribly twisted spelling? Pronunciations that you don't agree with? Buzz-words oozing off the back cover and getting all over your shoes? How about heroines with ruby hair and emerald eyes who aren't appearing in an Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld fanfic epic? Inquiring blondes want to know!
November 3 2009, 17:15:01 UTC 7 years ago
Really grievous unintentional spelling/grammar errors. I don't give up on an author for a typo now and then, but when the book is just FULL of errors, it takes me right out of the story. (More so since I joined the proofing pool, because now it's *habit* for me to look for those.) "How the hell did this get published without any editing?"
Making otherwise intelligent characters do something completely stupid solely for plot purposes. I suppose it's realistic enough (we *all* do stupid things now and then) but y'know, fiction has to make more sense than truth, I feel. Have a reason-- she was distracted by her brother's recent death, he was exhausted from not sleeping for two days, something. When there's no reason other than "so that we could have this other thing happen in the plot," then it just seems like cheating.
Plots, or major sections of plots, based SOLELY on misunderstanding. This is probably my biggest bug-a-boo; this is the one that will make me scream at the book or television, and raises my pulse just thinking about it. Entire lengthy strings of action leading to disastrous consequences that would all have been avoided if person A had imparted A SINGLE FACT to person B. Particularly when, in character, there's really no reason why person A *wouldn't* do so-- other than to have the Plot Points happen.
It's bad enough in romantic plots-- either the comical Three's Company "we thought they were having sex when really they were feeding the puppy!" type of plot, or the more tragic Jean M. Auel "he thought she was mad at him and she thought he didn't want her anymore when actually they both loved each other desperately but they went on to be miserably apart for forty-nine chapters because nobody would actually TALK TO EACH OTHER" type of plot. It's even worse in non-romantic plots; I can't think of a specific example, but the TV show Lost, though I love it dearly, is guilty of it a LOT. (I have found myself yelling "JUST TELL HIM ALREADY" at the TV screen more than once.)
November 3 2009, 18:51:20 UTC 7 years ago