Last night my husband and I clashed over the particularly hot issue of CDs. Not which one to buy, nor which one to play. No, this clash was about putting a CD back in its correct case.See, I have a habit of removing a CD and popping it back in the first available empty case. I don't mean to; usually my mind is elsewhere and I'm just not paying attention. My non-detail-oriented self doesn't really see this as a big deal, but for my order-loving husband it's a travesty of the highest order.
On the other hand, I detest my husband's obsessive toe-cracking, something he can't understand.
Ah, pet peeves!
Everyone has something that irks them in real life, and I think the same can be said for writing. For example, I hate when writers kill off main characters with little or no warning, or when loose ends are tied up all neatly and conveniently by something that came about by luck. I also hate when there are just too many twists and turns (as in the movie 2012) -- I just lose interest!
What are your writing pet peeves?
Sounds like we have similar pet peeves, except for the toe cracking. Your husband's toe cracking doesn't bother me at all.
ReplyDeleteI don't like reading a list of a character's characteristics (e.g. hair color, weight, eye color, etc.) on the first page. I like them written into the story gradually, if at all. Leave something for my imagination! :-)
ReplyDeleteKaren - What, you can't hear it in Utah? *crack!*
ReplyDeleteLiz - Ooh, that's a good one! I don't like that either.
I hate overly aggressive female MCs. Nothing will make me put a book down faster.
ReplyDeleteLoL, Karen.
ReplyDelete-
I hate it when Dickens write a WHOLE CHAPTER introducing characters which he concludes by "Let us set them aside for we won't be talking about them". ; j
Ha! yeah, well, my pet peeves are seeing bestselling authors do exactly what we are told NOT to do - such as overload the beginning with back story.
ReplyDeleteDoes it have to be book related?
ReplyDeleteI need to drink coke out of a can and can't stand when someone else drinks from my can.
As for books, I don't like it when they kill characters off when it could have a perfectly happy ending. I find it was done to simply shock the reader. And believe me, it does shock me.
Oh dear, I think I'm with your husband on the CD thing ...
ReplyDeleteI hate it when the plot of a story hinges on some comnpletely illogical and ridiculous notion/cliche. For example, stories where some computer records are wiped/deleted thus resulting in the loss of vital information. In the real world, of course, you'd just restore from backup. Or shooting a lock with a gun to escape from somewhere. Could that ever work?
Writing pet peeves? Too much description, especially of scenes and characters who don't matter.
ReplyDeleteAnd sorry, I'd be upset if the CDs were in the wrong case, too.
OH, you GUYS! How about a bit of support here?! :) It's not all the CDs, all the time. Just a few errant ones that slip through my attention loopholes...
ReplyDeleteSummer - You might have some issues with my MC in The Hating Game! She's pretty agressive!
Sarah - I hear you on the can thing. I hate when other people drink from mine.
Thanks for sharing your pet peeves, writing or otherwise, everyone!
For everyday pet peeves I can't stand people cracking their knuckles or licking their fingers, gives me the heebie jeebies.
ReplyDeleteFor writing pet peeves it would be way too many characters that I can't keep track of, and those who really don't further along the story, and neatly tied up little bow'd stories unless I know it's coming. Susan Elizabeth Phillips is one of my fav authors and she loves the neatly tied endings and she's brilliant at them but not every story that I read should be like that... give me one to really think about!
Happy Monday :)
I hate it when the writer makes it so obvious what's going to happen and the main character can't see it for chapters. Or when the writers ignores an obvious and easy solution and comes up with something completely off the wall - something the character would never do. Not that I'm against off-the-wall events taking place but it should be within limits.
ReplyDeleteThank you for letting me get this off my chest.
CD
I'm glad to find someone else who put the CD in the first available case. But I do hate it when I go to get a CD and the wrong one is in the case. LOL.
ReplyDeleteMason
Thoughts in Progress
This really made me laugh, cus me and hubby had a very similar conversation over the weekend. However, I am afriad I am like your husband, I am so ridiculous over order, and funny that my hubby also puts CD's in first available case which drive me nuts!! ha ha! we're all odd really xx
ReplyDeleteTalli, I just wanted to leave a little more support for a fellow first-cd-case-available-er. :)
ReplyDelete(Of course, I do get annoyed with myself when I pull out a case and the wrong CD is in it! Perhaps a certain degree of self-loathing is an essential part of being a writer?)
My husband was the same way about CDs! lol. Now we each have our own mp3 players, so problem solved. lol.
ReplyDeleteMy pet peeve is loud chewing. Hate it!
Oooh fight fight!!! :-)
ReplyDeleteBut putting CDs in wrong cases... dear oh dear!! LOL! Toe cracking is a hang-able offence somewhere I'm sure..!!!
Pet writing peeves - not being able to get into a story until chapter 3!! Mind you that could be just me though!!
Take care
x
You know my opinion on the CD thing ;).
ReplyDeletePet peeves in writing? How long have you got? Characters all being introduced on first page, inconsistent psychological behaviour, characters only existing as sequel-bait, cutesy child-characters (especially hate this one)that behave much older than their years, heroines whose problems are solved by the rich man they marry...should I stop now?
I agree with your husband!!! CDs must be in their correct cases! I'm obsessively neat and organized. And yes, I do realize it drives others nuts, but it can't be helped, haha!
ReplyDeleteI was just writing this on someone else's blog: I get really annoyed when an author uses too much telling dialogue. Like when there's a terrific action scene, and the chapter ends during the action, you eagerly turn the page, right? But then in the next chapter it's the characters talking about what happened afterwards. AARRGGHH! Don't tell me about, show me what had happened!
My husband leaves the cabinet doors OPEN! Drives me off the freakin' wall.
ReplyDeletePet peeves in fiction would be when all the loose ends are tied up in the space of a couple of paragraphs or when the book gallops to a conclusion after pages and pages of build-up or when the murderer is not one of the characters we've met throughout the book but someone completely random the author didn't tell us about. Grr.
ReplyDeletePet peeves in writing and in movies are those action plotlines where a useless girl gets dragged around with the hero, creating problems and needing to be saved all the time! Give the girl a gun and let her be more like Trinity from the Matrix! :-P
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way about conflicts in a book being resolved too conveniently. The story becomes too contrived then, and the author's hand becomes way too visible. To me, a story done right leaves the reader completely immersed in the story and its authenticity.
ReplyDeleteI'm fine with twist and turns as long as they're justifiable.
ReplyDeleteI hate pretentious writing, i.e. The Dress Lodger. When authors include certain facts just to say to the reader, "look. see, how smart I am?" I will most likely never read anything by them again if that's the case.
Ohhhhhhh...the one about tying up loose ends based upon a stroke of luck...that one really singes my short-hairs!!! To me that's lazy writing and it really irrittes me!
ReplyDeleteBTW...I'd have a problem with your CD etiquette also. I'm a stickler that way. :)
Pet peeves in writing: backstory in the front instead of in the back. Long, languid description with lots of adjectives and adverbs. Crappy dialogue. Cliffhanger endings. Oh. MY. God. that is the absolute worst. I just sank four hours into a book only to find, it wasn't over. I have to wait for the next one. I really hate that.
ReplyDeleteI am one who loses interest in stories where nothing much happens. And I think most readers are looking for suspense, for something meaningful to happen to take them out of their ordinary day by day humdrum. Now, if somehow these little irksome details you mention here were tied in to some suspenseful plot, well....I'd definitely keep reading!!
ReplyDeleteOver description of anything, anyone or the setting.
ReplyDeleteWhen the end is just one overgrown coincidence.
I agree with hubby on the cd thing and definitely agree with you on the toe issue. YUK!
Over description of anything, anyone or the setting.
ReplyDeleteWhen the end is just one overgrown coincidence.
I agree with hubby on the cd thing and definitely agree with you on the toe issue. YUK!
I could make a long list of peeves. I'm probably guilty of some of the ones that would be high on my list - LOL. At the top of my list is an unsatisfying ending of the type where I'm reading along and there's still much story left when all of a sudden the author basically says ... oh, and then this happened and he did this and they went there and the bad guy is dead and now I don't know what to do. The End.
ReplyDeleteEw! Toe cracking or toe picking FREAK me out!
ReplyDeleteUm, I do the same with CD's...and dvd's. Especially in the car. It makes my husband and kid crazy. :)
The list of things I hate in books could go on too long for your comments section.
Happy Monday!
Love,
Lola
I hate everything you hate and love everything you love...seriously :)
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I'm soooooo with you on the toe cracking thing. *BIG GIANT SHIVER* and I'm soooo with your husband on the CD thing, that drives me crazy!! Sorry Talli, I still wuv you :)
ReplyDeleteMy biggest writing pet peeve (and I've only ever read it in one book, but oh my gosh, the author said it a bajillion times) is this
"And her eyelids fell to half mast." Meaning she is oh so seduced right now right? BLEGH!!! HATE IT!!
Over-description drives me batty!
ReplyDeleteMy hubby would go batty if I put his CDs in the wrong cases too! :)
If you woke my husband in the middle of the night & asked 'where's your P60 from 2001?', he would be able to find it half-asleep & blindfolded - he's that organised. A trait that attracted me to him initially, but now one that often is the cause of me imagining myself hitting him! Perhaps that's because I have the same cd cover etiquette that you do!
ReplyDeletePet hates in books - had to agree with most comments - too much dialogue and info on meaningless things and characters and I really don't care too much for detail on every room the character enters!
By the way - cracking toes I could probably handle, but I know someone who cracks their neck! It's awful! Maybe I should just break it and put him out of his misery!
I've just shown my OH your post, and he laughed. I do the same with CDs. What does it matter, I say? You'll find it in the end! In return he has the annoying habit of never closing a cupboard door. Why? Is he letting all the cupboard monsters out to play?
ReplyDeleteWith writing my peeves are: too many words in italics, character flaws forgotten about to make neat endings, and writers sticking to the same formula for every book.
I don't like deux ex machina endings. I find them disappointing and a cop-out.
ReplyDeleteThat's my pet peeve!
I hate it when the same word appears twice in the same sentence, or when an unusual word appears twice on the same page. It's so bothersome to me that I wish I could smack both the author and the editor!
ReplyDeleteHaha, my boyfriend is just like you, only with DVDs! Really annoying:) My biggest pet peeve is people walking slowly in the middle of the street...
ReplyDeleteI hate it when a strong MC falls for the guy only to become a princess who needs to be rescued.
ReplyDeleteWhatever happened to the girl saving the guy?
Sorry, rant over. lol.
I don't mind killing characters off without warning - except when it's done in such a totally stupid or unnecessary way. I.e. 'Cold Mountain'. Sorry about spoilers, but the death of a Major Character at the end? Good grief, how unnecessary and pointless was that???
ReplyDeleteI also hate ridiculous twists of fate. I mean, I think some luck and chance is fair enough - someone happens to spot the character getting stabbed, etc etc. But when it's all just too lucky and convenient, I get fed up. Like the battle scenes in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - I wanted to shout because it was all just so ridiculously convenient!
Okay. Rant over. :-)
Also, I fear I'm like your order-loving husband, so the wrong CD in the wrong cases would just tick me right off, ha! Sorry.
I think I prefer when there's too many twists and turns to when the plot is predictable. There's just nothing I hate more than when somewhere around chapter 5 I already know how a book is going to end. This is the reason I love Haruki Murakami so much - his books are completely unpredictable. What I also don't like is what I call "Stephenie Meyer's kind of happy ending" - it's such a happy ending in which every single character in the book winds up happily ever after. I mean, sometimes it's too much, you know? :)
ReplyDeleteOkay, I like CDs back in their correct cases...but toe cracking is much worse!
ReplyDeleteI do the same thing as you with the cds, but then I get annoyed with myself. My husband's cds are all burned copies, so no cases to put them back into!
ReplyDeleteMy writing pet peeve would have to be when authors fall into a "formula" trap with their writing. You can predict how their stories will go after reading just a few of his/her books (for example, someone like Stephen King. I love him, but his stories are starting to all seem the same to me).
LOL! I'm still trying to find Monsters vs. Aliens. Been a week and I'm going bonkers. I also do not like when the kids eat the marshmellows from the Lucky Charms box. Arrgghh!.
ReplyDeleteStephen Tremp
I'm glad I've met your husband or I'd be wondering if we were married to the same man! Have you read Chopski's last post? http://fullofbullshite.blogspot.com/2010/07/d-d.html
ReplyDeleteWriting pet peeves: I hate it when characters are writers, it almost always seems lazy and makes me think OH FOR GOODNESS' SAKE GO AND DO SOME RESEARCH. I'm with some of your other commenters on endings, too: I don't like the coincidence/deus ex machina ones, and I also can't stand getting to the end of a book to find I haven't reached the end of the story.
ReplyDeleteReal-life pet peeves: nothing much, just when people don't do things my way. That's not unreasonable, is it? ;-)
I sometimes add my pet peeves and my family's pet peeves to a character. And I hate when I figure out whodunit in the first three chapters.
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel about cracking toes, fingers, shoulders, knees--I've heard symphonies of those noises from various people!
ReplyDeleteAs for the CDs, well, I kinda have to side w/ your hubby. Put it back in the correct case or else you'll open it up 1 day to find the wrong CD in there...
Ah, the loose ends that come about just by luck. Actually, the thing that bothers me most is sudden discovery of a twin! Tho' I can't recall reading it recently I've seen it on TV. Does that count?
Cracking toes? Shiver, shiver.
ReplyDeleteWriting peeves? I hate it when an author is trying to be too clever and writing multiple POVs and I have to keep going back to work out whose POV we are currently exploring. This technique also spoils the pace of the story, as you want to find out what happens to the character you find most interesting, then back to someone else's POV. Noooooo>>:)
First of all, the pet peeve icon is fantastic! LOL. So cute.
ReplyDeleteI think my biggest writing pet peeve is too flowery language. But really, it all depends on the story. But most of the time, if it's too flowery then I can't read it. Period. I'm sure there are others too, but my brain has wandered away today. :)
I hate it when there's too much drama. Puh-lease.Even in fiction we have to draw the line somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI WISH I could crack my toes!
ReplyDeleteno comment on the other one! LOL
I'm sorry but I'm going to have to take your husband's side in the CD issue. My daughter leaves DVDs out and so when I want to watch that one, I have to hunt around all the TVs and figure out where she left it - annoying! Okay, sorry to vent, I guess that's a pet peeve of mine, too. :)
ReplyDeleteMy writing pet peeve is one of yours - I hate when endings are resolved by something/someone never mentioned or eluded to in the book. It's a total cop-out and it irks me to no end.
ReplyDeleteI do the same thing with DVDs and Wii games! I live alone so the only person I annoy is me ... and friends who come over and want to borrow a movie. (You can have it if you can find it! lol)
ReplyDeleteWriting pet peeves? I have to agree with everyone who mentioned the 'out-of-the-blue' endings. No offense to Jodi Picoult, but when I finished 'My Sisters Keeper,' I threw the book across the room in frustration. (The book was unharmed, btw.)
I occasionally mix up the CD's but it's usually because CD A is in the player and I can't find CD B's case, so it goes into A's case so it doesn't get scratched.
ReplyDeleteWriting pet peeves? It drives me crazy when I find typos in books. I'm not the greatest proofer in the world so if I'm spotting it a copy editor damn well should have. Or when I spot an inconsistency. My sister had a copy of Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land where the MC was Valentine Michael Smith on the back cover and I think first few pages, but then they switched it to Michael Valentine Smith. (I was a Smith at the time and my brother's name was Michael so this one stuck with me).
I'm sure there are others, but they're silly things, really.
I think my main writing pet peeves have already been said: info dumps about characters at the beginning, and long paragraphs of boring description.
ReplyDeleteAlso, predictability irritates me, especially when it comes to characters. Real people aren't cliches, but so many characters are.
One of my pet peeves is tense. Please, PLEASE don't switch tenses in the middle of a scene. It's one thing to have an entire section in a different tense, and entirely something else to have ONLY A PARAGRAPH switch to another tense. And yes, this is in published writing. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteNice post, Talli. :)
OMG - it bugs me no end when the MC ends up with the wrong bloke! Or when authors start to get too preachy. I can't finish those books. Hehe, naughty I know but I do try. ;)
ReplyDeleteTalli, I'm horrible with putting cds back in their cases, so don't feel bad.
ReplyDeleteOne of my writing pet peeves is overly cute writing, like, "She had a great hiney," basically someone using words my mother would. Just say she has a great ASS and be done with it. Men don't use the world hiney!
Too many characters in the first chapter makes me go insane. That's why I have trouble reading Dickens and Shakespeare.
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ReplyDeleteI have to say though my household is filled with people like your husband! Always drives me crazy
ReplyDeleteHa! I put CDs back in the wrong cases too. I think I'm just lazy.
ReplyDeleteI hate overwriting. If I have to wade through 6 adverbs in one paragraph, I'll probably put the book down. It's too much work to wade through the language and get to the story.
Ooohhh I hate having CDs in the wrong cases...I use music as part of my inspiration for drawing and I can't stand it when I want to listen to a particular piece of music and have to spend ages trying to find it!!
ReplyDeleteWriting peeves....the writer treating the reader as if they are stupid and spelling everything out for them!! Hate that!!
C x
My husband hates my 'stacks' (I pile things I intend to get to later). I don't however, put things in the wrong case, as that would be grounds for divorce.
ReplyDeleteI am totally with you about loose ends though--drives me nuts when things are too tidy. I also hate overly attractive characters unless bad things happen to them *shifty*
I don't like when we learn all about a character in the first page, or even the first chapter. That's what the entire book is for!
ReplyDeleteCD's have cases? No wonder DH is always tut tutting. ;0
ReplyDeleteTupperware boxes, why can't he put the lids with the right ones when he puts them away?