forum Things You Want MORE Of In Books

Started January 21, 2019 by @evastardust groupRRAAAARRL

tune

Characters that are hard-core procrastinators

Don't come after my son Hamlet like that lol

I want more MCs who escape the Plain Jane trope, but also aren't obnoxious as fuck. It's possible to acknowledge "Hey, I'm kinda pretty" without going "OMG I'M THE HOTTEST PERSON IN THE UNIVERSE!"

Characters that are hard-core procrastinators like…

Didn't Harry Potter wait until like the night before the 2nd challenge to figure out the clue in the 4th book? But yeah I never thought about it, but having more characters who procrastinate a lot would actually be nice? That's such a universal problem.

Here's a (kind of silly) theory though: The reason why we don't see many procrastinators is because the people who write them are also hard core procrastinators, who "haven't gotten around to writing the story yet" but they'll "start working on it soon."

I mean, you're not wrong with that theory.

Well it wasn't quite that bad. But he worked on it like the week before, but couldn't find what he needed.

Well it wasn't quite that bad. But he worked on it like the week before, but couldn't find what he needed.

Yeah iirc he started when he got it, but then the Yule Ball and stuff happened and he put it off and forgot to pick it back up.

I was on pinterest and I saw a post about how people always have the 'kid hero' trope without acknowledging the trauma that it would have on a kid, and suggested a story about the villain being horrified at having to fight a kid, and then teaming up to take down whoever sent a kid to do their dirty work and?? I want??

YES! I am up for that.

But who would have the POV?

Good question, maybe a split perspective?
The hero could be making excuses in their head the whole time, maybe the villain is a defector from the hero's side?

Weirdly enough, in my original outline for a story I'm working on rn, the main character did join the villain. Now he doesn't because he's no longer a Textbook Fantasy Marty Stu because he's now a side character who's unfortunate enough to be dragged into a conspiracy by his mentor while he's training to be in the royal guard.

Good question, maybe a split perspective?
The hero could be making excuses in their head the whole time, maybe the villain is a defector from the hero's side?

Or you could have an anti villain who is not an evil person. Or you could have someone who is actually evil, but has a moral code they follow rigidly. To make it hard to see it could be a relationship between the hero and the villain. So the hero would have the POV, but the focus would be on the villain because they have such a strange connection that the villain is impossible to ignore for a moment. That in my opinion would be swell.
(Why 'swell'? No idea! But why not.)

Weirdly enough, in my original outline for a story I'm working on rn, the main character did join the villain. Now he doesn't because he's no longer a Textbook Fantasy Marty Stu because he's now a side character who's unfortunate enough to be dragged into a conspiracy by his mentor while he's training to be in the royal guard.

Jeez, poor dude. Do you play it as a 'fish out of water' or something else entirely?

Weirdly enough, in my original outline for a story I'm working on rn, the main character did join the villain. Now he doesn't because he's no longer a Textbook Fantasy Marty Stu because he's now a side character who's unfortunate enough to be dragged into a conspiracy by his mentor while he's training to be in the royal guard.

Jeez, poor dude. Do you play it as a 'fish out of water' or something else entirely?

He's very much the 'overeager kinda dorky but sweet student' where he follows along to impress his mentor. He's kind of a fish out of water because he grew up in the northern part of his country and now lives in the southern part, and so it takes adjusting for him.

Good question, maybe a split perspective?
The hero could be making excuses in their head the whole time, maybe the villain is a defector from the hero's side?

Or you could have an anti villain who is not an evil person. Or you could have someone who is actually evil, but has a moral code they follow rigidly. To make it hard to see it could be a relationship between the hero and the villain. So the hero would have the POV, but the focus would be on the villain because they have such a strange connection that the villain is impossible to ignore for a moment. That in my opinion would be swell.
(Why 'swell'? No idea! But why not.)

Oooh, good idea!
I think you meant to say 'groovy', not 'swell'

Swanky

More villainy villains

I want more people that are Evil because they want to be evil not because they 'turned evil because something tragic happened to them.'

I want a bad guy like Frank N Furter

I want a bad guy like Frank N Furter

Isn't that a hot dog?

My villain is evil because he's used to getting his way and doesn't know how to handle people telling him no. So when his court is disbanded (because there was shady shit going on), he freaks out and resolves to get revenge instead of doing the logical thing.
And since he's a prick, no one wants to marry him. He was in a political marriage, but neither he nor his wife like each other. Also they're both fae so they don't really view marriage the way we do, so it's not a big deal to either of them. He wants an heir so his court can always rule, but since fae women don't get The Big Pregnant easily, he kidnaps mortal women and turns them immortal because Immortal's genes are basically a blank slate and the kid will still have powers.

I want a bad guy like Frank N Furter

Isn't that a hot dog?

……………………………………………………………………………………. Your generation is doomed.

I want a bad guy like Frank N Furter

Isn't that a hot dog?

……………………………………………………………………………………. Your generation is doomed.

Tell me about it fake ditzy giggle and eye roll

I want a bad guy like Frank N Furter

Isn't that a hot dog?

……………………………………………………………………………………. Your generation is doomed.

I haven't even seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show and I understood that reference.

I think that New Adult needs to come back, but not as the sex-heavy-romance-only genre it was before. We need New Adult books about being in college, New Adult fantasy, New Adult sci-fi. So many books I've read blur between YA, be it the content or the age of the characters, and I think it would be really good!

I want a bad guy like Frank N Furter

Isn't that a hot dog?

……………………………………………………………………………………. Your generation is doomed.

I haven't even seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show and I understood that reference.

Darwinism will not come for you.

I think that New Adult needs to come back, but not as the sex-heavy-romance-only genre it was before. We need New Adult books about being in college, New Adult fantasy, New Adult sci-fi. So many books I've read blur between YA, be it the content or the age of the characters, and I think it would be really good!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

YA is too broad now.

There's such a big difference between something written for 13 year olds and 18 year olds, and books don't have content warnings. Unless I'm familiar with an author's writing from other books, I have no clue what content will be in it, and even then it's iffy as to if there will be the same stuff as in other books. A 13 year old could pick up ACOMAF or After and think it's just a fantasy or romance and not be prepared for the smut, especially since most books published as New Adult got mushed in with YA after NA flopped.
Also I just hate how YA is shelved as just YA, not YA Fantasy or YA Historical Fiction. Like, why are Matched and Code Name Verity on the same shelf?

Yeah, and a lot of times you can't even really tell based on other books by the same author. Like, so many authors are known for their YA but they write stuff for adults too

Actually, SJM said something similar at one of her events that I went to. As much as she loved being a YA writer, she felt her books should have been redefined as Adult Fiction. So it's not just readers that are upset by the classification, authors are too. It would just make more sense to properly code books. It would help for schools as well. There would be less banning, I feel like.

Its weird too, for adults to pick up YA novels that are recommended by amazon or whatever and then barely being able to get through the first chapter because it's written for really young teens.

So if someone did an NA catagory at a library and moved Maas's books there, along with some books with 18/19 year old protags, that would be a good start. Maybe put ADSOM there too?