forum Things You Want LESS Of In Books
Started by @evastardust groupRRAAAARRL
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@Becfromthedead group

Oof that makes me wonder…
I explain the whole creation story in a book the character is reading. That's technically not info-dumping since it's one topic, right? A little cliche, maybe, but I'm mostly okay with that, since I'm writing for me.

@Kinarymo

If its like a scientific study of how the world was created then id say it should be okay, since theoretically you are not directing this info specifically towards the reader like "hey yo, this is plot info, remember this shit ok?"
It's more like the character is reading about creation because its an interest of theirs. Yea, you should be fine

@Starfast group

Oof that makes me wonder…
I explain the whole creation story in a book the character is reading. That's technically not info-dumping since it's one topic, right? A little cliche, maybe, but I'm mostly okay with that, since I'm writing for me.

I'm talking more about author's who incorporate passages from fictional textbooks and whatnot to explain parts of the world if that makes sense. I feel like it's different with things like creation stories (and other myths/legends that are unique to your story) because it's kind of hard to get that across without someone telling/reading the story. But with things like magic systems, beliefs, traditions, unique species/races, etc. there are more interesting and quite frankly less tedious ways to explain things those kinds of aspects without going "MC needed to learn about [topic]. Here are 10 long winded paragraphs from a fictional textbook about [topic] that MC read; some of which may not even be relevant to the story." Hope that made a little more sense?

Like I said, it's not something I run into often, but for some reason I seem to be encountering it more than I would like as of late.

@Becfromthedead group

Yeah, that makes sense. It’s just a matter of where the line is drawn I guess. I suppose when it’s forced and obvious the author wants to worldbuild is it. Seriously, if you want people to know EVERYTHING about your world, even the trivial stuff, write a separate part in the back that practically is a little world encyclopedia. I honestly really love it when authors have stuff about their world in places where it isn’t a mandatory read.

Deleted user

Titles with fucking flowers and/or fire in the name.
Kill this trope immediately.

@Katastrophic group

token characters. There's a difference between having representation and going for social points. For example, stating a random character is a gay or using 'subtext' but never having any real representation in the media (cough voltron, harry potter, somanyotherthings).

@evastardust groupRRAAAARRL

Titles with fucking flowers and/or fire in the name.
Kill this trope immediately.

Hah, averted!
Barely.
One WIP title has Flame in it, but it's actually relevant.

@ninja_violinist

On an unrelated note, I am so far beyond tired of having rapey side characters whose creepy interest in the main girl serves just to make her look ""desirable"", or so the main guy can come in and "save her" by beating the creeper up
(bonus points if that creeper later gets redemption by jumping in to save the main girl in a time of crisis) (bonus bonus points if she then feels conflicted about rejecting his earlier rapey advances)

it's an odd trope that I wish didn't exist but I just read another YA book where it featured prominently and it made me want to bash my head against a wall

Deleted user

(actually no. I love ACOTAR. I was referring to a book that got recommended to me via amazon that was called Fire Rose or some shit like that.)

@hollow-boned

On an unrelated note, I am so far beyond tired of having rapey side characters whose creepy interest in the main girl serves just to make her look ""desirable"", or so the main guy can come in and "save her" by beating the creeper up
(bonus points if that creeper later gets redemption by jumping in to save the main girl in a time of crisis) (bonus bonus points if she then feels conflicted about rejecting his earlier rapey advances)

it's an odd trope that I wish didn't exist but I just read another YA book where it featured prominently and it made me want to bash my head against a wall

Y E S

@evastardust groupRRAAAARRL

On the topic of titles and symbolism/random words, titles that go A/The Status/Verb/Location of Noun and Noun.
Ex. A Court of Thorns and Roses, House of Sea and Sorrows, Children of Blood and Bone, Girls of Paper and Fire, etc.
I just feel like when ACOTAR got published and sold well that naming style skyrocketed. It worked the first few times, but now it just seems kinda attention-grabby.

@evastardust groupRRAAAARRL

On an unrelated note, I am so far beyond tired of having rapey side characters whose creepy interest in the main girl serves just to make her look ""desirable"", or so the main guy can come in and "save her" by beating the creeper up
(bonus points if that creeper later gets redemption by jumping in to save the main girl in a time of crisis) (bonus bonus points if she then feels conflicted about rejecting his earlier rapey advances)

it's an odd trope that I wish didn't exist but I just read another YA book where it featured prominently and it made me want to bash my head against a wall

Ew ew ewwwwww

Deleted user

On the topic of titles and symbolism/random words, titles that go A/The Status/Verb/Location of Noun and Noun.
Ex. A Court of Thorns and Roses, House of Sea and Sorrows, Children of Blood and Bone, Girls of Paper and Fire, etc.
I just feel like when ACOTAR got published and sold well that naming style skyrocketed. It worked the first few times, but now it just seems kinda attention-grabby.

I noticed that a lot too. It's weird to think that there are book fads.
Like when twilight skyrocketed it felt like all the other books in the world were suddenly about vampires.

@evastardust groupRRAAAARRL

On the topic of titles and symbolism/random words, titles that go A/The Status/Verb/Location of Noun and Noun.
Ex. A Court of Thorns and Roses, House of Sea and Sorrows, Children of Blood and Bone, Girls of Paper and Fire, etc.
I just feel like when ACOTAR got published and sold well that naming style skyrocketed. It worked the first few times, but now it just seems kinda attention-grabby.

I noticed that a lot too. It's weird to think that there are book fads.
Like when twilight skyrocketed it felt like all the other books in the world were suddenly about vampires.

There's actually a super interesting Bookmarked Book Club video that focuses on book covers, and the guest star goes into detail on some different cover fads, it's really interesting. I think it's the one with CommonSpence as a guest star?
I also recommend their Evolution of YA book club video for more about the trends!

@Katastrophic group

yeah that trend is annoying, especially since there are so many decently good books (children of blood and bone, for one) that I ignore cause the name is the cliche YA romance grab

@evastardust groupRRAAAARRL

yeah that trend is annoying, especially since there are so many decently good books (children of blood and bone, for one) that I ignore cause the name is the cliche YA romance grab

Yeah I really enjoyed CoBaB but I'd never have picked it up if I hadn't heard such good things about it first!

@Althalosian-is-the-father book

Oof that makes me wonder…
I explain the whole creation story in a book the character is reading. That's technically not info-dumping since it's one topic, right? A little cliche, maybe, but I'm mostly okay with that, since I'm writing for me.

Can I just point out how pure that last line is?

@Becfromthedead group

Hah, you think so? Idk, it's more dumping my own emotions onto my characters, so it's not like it's worth going through the trouble of publishing.
That said, I don't mind honing my writing skills in the process.

@personfullofplotholes language

It's so random but I get so annoyed when a group of characters goes on an adventure and then ends up with everyone in a relationship with another person in the group, sort of like at the end of Six of Crows/The Crooked Kingdom? Six kids go off on a journey and end up as three pairs of lovebirds on a triple date. It just feels unrealistic to me for some reason and makes the characters' lives only about the group and their quest/adventure. I can forgive it if the relationships were established beforehand, or if they're really, really well written, but in general it just makes me annoyed.

@evastardust groupRRAAAARRL

It's so random but I get so annoyed when a group of characters goes on an adventure and then ends up with everyone in a relationship with another person in the group, sort of like at the end of Six of Crows/The Crooked Kingdom? Six kids go off on a journey and end up as three pairs of lovebirds on a triple date. It just feels unrealistic to me for some reason and makes the characters' lives only about the group and their quest/adventure. I can forgive it if the relationships were established beforehand, or if they're really, really well written, but in general it just makes me annoyed.

Okay, except only 2 couples are together at the end of Crooked Kingdom and one of the two remaining couples goes their own way. There's 1 couple that's together together by the end.

@personfullofplotholes language

@MontJyn hence the "sort of" I put in there- I know it's not the best example, but I couldn't think of the other books I've read that do that, or that would do that if there weren't too many guys in their main cast to keep it all to straight couples. Shoutout to SoC in regards to that, though; Wylan and Jesper really helped me not care so much about the fact that everyone in the group wanted to be romantic with someone else (almost always exactly one other person, almost always requited) in the group.