What turns You off??

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wolfshead

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Dec 27, 2000
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192
There are so many books to choose from out there...what makes you decide NOT to buy or finish reading a certain book? I know there are certain things I look for--sometimes I know i'm probably being unfair, but hey...that's jaded old age for you! I'd be curious to find out what other readers find are 'turn off's' when choosing or reading fantasy. My list is:
Most books with Elves--usually they are either tolkien-clones or merely humanoids with pointy ears with nothing else to distinguish them.
Dragons and unicorns, unless they are portrayed in a unique and credible way. Too many times they are merely 'stock footage'
Too many cutesy references to animals, particularly cats or horses (found occasionally among US female authors in particular)
Modern day fantasy where the author gives a 'plug' to some other well-known writer/artist (presumably a friend) by having the main character like their work.
Modern slang when the setting is obviously 'old world'; alternately also using 'ye olde English'--esp. when it's not done correctly!
Most barbarians--esp. if described as having 'bulging thews'!!
Fluffy bunny new agey junk masquerading as the 'true' \Celtic/prehistoric religion.
And here's total triviality for you: my best friend (also an avid reader of fantasy) and I both agreed, with some puzzlement, that we found that books who have lots of characters with names that begin with 'J' or 'Z' tend to be bad!
I must admit also to judging a book by its cover occasionally. I detest the art of Darryl K. Sweet and find it a real turn off. His characters all remind me of Barney Rubble!
 
(FF glances at his Wheel of Time books) HA HA, good one. DKS and Barney Rubble.

What I don't like in a book and what can halt my reading of a book:
Uninteresting Characters
A plot that goes nowhere.

I haven't read many books with unicorns, don't know if it is a subconscious thing or not.
 
* lack of combat or conflict
* like you said above, the language-if it is not coehesive or accurate it bothers me
* characters whose motivations seem weak
* same old, same old; when I see the typical "rich, bustling marketplaces, palaces, castles, elemental magic, wise mentor, strong and noble knight, rehibilitated assasin, whatever"...just make it different-you can even use this stereotypes if you know they are stereotypes and make them your own somehow
* poor dialogue...you can usually tell an author you will like right away by the way the characters interact (I like some cleverness myself)
* not too goody-goody. I don't like when the good guys are all good or saying the right things all the time
 
Everthing that you people wrote above applies to me as well...but I have to add this: Stupid characters.

In the Sword of Truth series, Richard Rahl is consistantly idiotic. He constantly fails to see the friggin obvious, and this is the only reason there are any books to read at all. I actually enjoyed the first three books in said series, but Dicks immense, constant stupidity turned me off.

To tell you the truth, I'm drawing a blank on other books with characters that are as moronic as Richard Rahl for the lead, but I'm sure they're out there.

Cardboard cut out characters are another pet peeve.
 
I don't mind romantic scenes and interactions, but yes if the story focuses too much on that it can be a "turn-off".

Richard Rahl is pretty dumb, but that just falls under "Wizard's First Rule" Read the first SOT book and will probably read the 2nd, it usually ranks pretty high on the Internet top 100 list.
 
What I don't like in a book... Hmm...
Well, I don't like too virtuous characters, simplistic plots (e.g., Eddings), sexism (e.g., Jordan), all-powerfull characters (most of the time, but not if they are used correctly), I hate it when I read too many pages and nothinghappens. What else?...
Oh, yes! I like romance -also, if it is used correctly (not relistic, recesary).

[This message has been edited by Bardos (edited January 18, 2001).]
 
What I dont like? Well.. This may sound really really bad, but, I do NOT like gay overtones, or gay characters. Be it male or female..

Why? Couple of reasons..

1) I tend to find authors who use it really really stress it. Now, dont get me wrong, I dont mind characters being gay...providing that is NOT over blown. I read the Videssos cycle sometime ago, and they Doctor of the Legion was gay.. and, he by far was my favorite character.. Now, the NIght runner series by Lynn Flewwing (Sp) characters are either Gay or bi-sexual.. I dont like that..

2) When it is emphasis'd, I'll admit it makes me feel a little uncomfortable.. It just does..

Now, it isnt saying all this because most folks just assume I'm homophobic.. Well, I'm not.. I could rattle on, but, I am hoping you folks I understand. =)

Keyoke
 
I didn't like the nightrunner series too, but because it was boring, not because of the gay characters.. gay characters are so rare that although i find it harder to relate to them, it is interesting to read about them sometimes, makes the story a little different than the usual.
 
The thing that drives me crazy about almost all fantasy is that the characters rarely have any kind of freewill. A gods or assortment of gods are always manipulating the mortal characters to some degree. I'm not religious, so that probably has something to do with this pet peeve, but I think that great fantasy can be written that leaves the whole destiny and deity factors out of it. So, if anyone can think of any such books, please let me know! I'm sure that I've read some, I just can't think of any off hand.
 
Cygnus, I agree with you. And I advise you to read Feist. He has gods in his books, bot they (almost) never appear, and they certainly don't control people's lives.

Btw, I'm writing a series lately in which all gods are vanished from the world
wink.gif


[This message has been edited by Bardos (edited January 19, 2001).]
 
I've remembered another pet peeve--this one applies to writing in general, not just fantasy. I hate it when authors try to be 'creative' with dialogue tags!!!! What is wrong with good old 'said'!! You're not supposed to have your attention drawn to this tag by its cleverness--it's only a tool to let you know who is speaking. Worst 'tags' I've seen are 'injected' (presumably the author meant interjected!) and, ahem, ejaculated.
I also don't like when sounds are described, it comes of as kind of juvenile--ie. 'THUUNNKK! The arrow whacked into the wall by his ear.' That sort of thing.
 
Wolfhead... you must really hate L.E. Modesitt Jr, open any one of his Recluse books at a random page, and there is a shedload of italic text, thuuunnnk, creeeeeak, craaaaaast. Very annoying.

[This message has been edited by dennizm (edited January 19, 2001).]
 
Wolfhead, when someone writes "said, said, said", its monotonus, repetive, and childish. A write must use many words, not constantly the same!
The is Feist's only flaw -he writes too much "said, said".
And, btw, I like writers being creative.
 
I don't know for sure what does it for me, but I know I lose interest when Authors get WAY to into detail, and get caught up in too many side stories.

Also, the only time I remember it is in Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman books, (Dragonlance & The Death Gate Cycle) if I remember correctly, the Wizard in DL was Fizban, and the Wizzie in DGC was Zifnab. (I may be confused with a different series) I'm sorry, but that's irritating.
 
A lot of good points here - I'll go with the lack of conflict/combat and plot that goes nowhere as two of my biggies. Maybe my biggest turnoff after slogging through WOT is the repeated and unnecessary repetitive description of character abilities or traits, i.e. "He had the look of a wolf about to pounce..." repeated again and again and again.
 
In a book I really hate stupid characters... And I don't mean stupid characters like Richard Rahl (who by all means is pretty dumb, but well...).
I mean character that are really stupid and author also make fun of them...When i start to read a book like that I usually don't go farther than first 20 pages.

Well, I also agree with most of the other points that were given there and especially bad use of language. My thought is that if you decide to write you should first learn to do it well and only then publish.

There also some other things i get annoyed at in books, but they usually don't make me to leave the book at the middle...
 
About using "said" versus other more awkward tags in dialogue: A truly good author doesn't have to use ANY tag. The dialogue should just fit into the action, without the need for "said" except once in a while, when the author puts an action in place of "said." Example(if a clumsy one): He drew his sword. "I'd really hate to do this."
You know who's talking without needing to use a tag. Older books tend to use obnoxious tags more. Yeah, 'ejaculated' always makes me titter a bit when I come upon it used as a tag.

What else turns me off? Being overly PC, having things be too saccharine. The "perfect hero, perfect herione" is used too much. Some people like that theme, but I'm sick of it.

[This message has been edited by wynnyelle (edited January 19, 2001).]
 
I agree with Wynyella (I hope I wrote that right) about the said bussiness. But I have also to point out that you cannot always use [action] + [dialogue}. Sometimes (and these are many, even for an experienced author), you just have to use "said", and insted of using it all the time, its better to use e.g. asked, quoted, answered, demanded etc.
Thought ejaculated I agree its a bit too much
wink.gif
 
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