Writing Writing Pet Peeves / Annoyances

Phantomheart

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Feb 13, 2019
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We all have them. I made a forum thread about annoying / harmful comments, now it’s time to put our writing habits on blast. These can be your pet peeves with your own writing, or pet peeves you have when reading other people’s writing. Anything that annoys you really in the writing world. Comment down below :blob_thor:
Some of mine:
  • No indentations (makes my eyes twitch when I read on SH lol)
  • No spaces between paragraphs
  • Too many spaces between paragraphs (you could fit the moon in there I swear).
  • Beating a dead horse (usually an annoying cannon fodder that should have been handled by now)
  • Writers block out of no where, when you are literally typing 100wpm but suddenly stop randomly.
  • Advice from people who don’t know what they are talking about
  • Authors complaining but not getting anything done — usually complains about how they aren’t getting anything done (JUST DO IT)
  • Readers who skim the chapter and comment about a plot hole that doesn’t exist. (only had a few of these so far on SH woooo!)
  • Finding a plot hole on your own that you don’t know how to fix
  • Having an amazing chapter/ story idea but you forget to write it down.
 

LostinMovement

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  • Authors who make literally every single sentence its own paragraph
I have actually seen this way too often on SH. I thought at first it was a webnovel thing, maybe ? But then it just made me confused. I also noticed some writers who make their paragraphs way too short, almost two lines or a little more, like why? A good paragraph in my opinion shouldn't be less than four lines unless the writer has a reason for making it too short, maybe to emphasize on a certain action or feeling. But when it becomes one too many, it irks me for some reason.

Back to the actual topic and this is a personal thing but I can't stand 500 words chapters. Like 500 words isn't a chapter to me. Writers should put at least some effort into what they write and how much they should write. If you don't treat your work with enough care, why should I, the reader, care?
 

AliceShiki

Magical Girl of Love and Justice
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Let's see... Some pet peaves I have with my own writing are...
  • I use elipses and commas way too much. Like, way way waaaaaaaaay too much. I frequently need to start adding more periods and removing those two from my sentences during the editing process because they're excessive... And sometimes I still get comments about how I used them too much, even though I actively worked towards reducing their number! >.<
  • I'm terrible at descriptions. Those are usually the parts I get stuck at, I really dunno how to describe something, so I usually avoid giving descriptions altogether... But sometimes it just feels right to do it, so I try to, and I struggle a lot to get that done. Even then, the final result usually isn't that good...
  • In a similar vein, I'm pretty bad at fighting scenes, though the plus side is that I never feel bad for not writing fighting scenes at all~
    Though it does feel like I'm limiting myself a bit too much by avoiding fights altogether in my novels, but I just need to be creative to handle that problem, it's not a huge issue.
I think those are the main things that annoy me in my own writing, everything else is a lot more manageable and don't bother me too much.

For other people's writings though? I dunno... Bad one dimensional characters I guess? Internal inconsistencies are another thing I hate and uhn... Unappealing plot perhaps?

Basically, my pet peeve with other people's writings is that sometimes you find a bad author.
 

Azrie

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May 16, 2019
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Pet peeve with my writing:

It's way too simplistic and overuses simple words, this is done on purpose to allow even someone that barely knows English to understand the story.

It can lead to a lot of limitations, specially in description. I also have this horrible habit of writing thoughts inside descriptions or simply writing thoughts after dialogue and then dialogue description.

"Wa... That's bad." Of course it's bad! But I couldn't be bothered to tell him that.

People don't seem to have an issue with it so it's fine. I currently like my writing style since it suits my needs and my experience as an author perfectly. Maybe sometimes I feel like I use the words: although, however, though, aside. A bit too much.

Others' writing:

-Please use ellipsis and commas more, exclamation and question marks do not do harm when overused in dialogue and can actually add to the character!

-For the love of God, stop using the "he wasn't like any other person" tropes to introduce your character, make it interesting!

-Do not gloss over things if they are supposed to be something important towards your character, show it instead. Write it out as a scene flashback instead of just saying "oh yeah, that happened." One of my biggest peeves!

-Add more to the dialogue description, it makes characters more likable and seemingly more human.

-Allow yourself some slack with grammar and word flow. What's the point on having the super fluid monologue if it doesn't come off as genuine!

-Give valid reasons for character's emotions if you are writing in third person! First person is justifiable since unreliable narrator, plus word slurring is part of an emotional alteration.

-Sentences are sometimes too long.

-Make your writing more fun and read less like a summary. "James boarded the plane." Unless its something utterly unimportant, develop that. Make it more fun to read, add exaggerations (just make sure that the message doesn't get lost).

-Don't be afraid to reword things if you feel they read awkward, you don't have to follow your original structure for a sentence if it doesn't flow. The sentence is just a means to an end — what you want your reader to experience.

-Show don't tell.

And best for last.

-Talk to me like I am five. If you are uncertain that a kid will be able to understand what you are writing then, I won't be able to completely grasp it either. Not to say my reading comprehension is trash, but to say that for the general reader, the simpler it is the better it is.

Yes... I do have quite a lot.
 

BenJepheneT

Light Up Gold - Parquet Courts
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people who post their stories on the "feedback" subforum but they only have one chapter released... it's such blatant advertising and in my head I'm like I don't know what to say about this, there's literally no substance here to judge. Please can we implement a 5 chapter minimum for story feedback requests or something.
the one pet peeve that matters and it's not even related to the thread's topic
 

kaida

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Dec 22, 2019
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Let's see... Some pet peaves I have with my own writing are...
  • I use elipses and commas way too much. Like, way way waaaaaaaaay too much. I frequently need to start adding more periods and removing those two from my sentences during the editing process because they're excessive... And sometimes I still get comments about how I used them too much, even though I actively worked towards reducing their number! >.<
  • I'm terrible at descriptions. Those are usually the parts I get stuck at, I really dunno how to describe something, so I usually avoid giving descriptions altogether... But sometimes it just feels right to do it, so I try to, and I struggle a lot to get that done. Even then, the final result usually isn't that good...
  • In a similar vein, I'm pretty bad at fighting scenes, though the plus side is that I never feel bad for not writing fighting scenes at all~
    Though it does feel like I'm limiting myself a bit too much by avoiding fights altogether in my novels, but I just need to be creative to handle that problem, it's not a huge issue.
I think those are the main things that annoy me in my own writing, everything else is a lot more manageable and don't bother me too much.

For other people's writings though? I dunno... Bad one dimensional characters I guess? Internal inconsistencies are another thing I hate and uhn... Unappealing plot perhaps?

Basically, my pet peeve with other people's writings is that sometimes you find a bad author.
ughhh me too with the commas and descriptions! it's so hard to try and cut down on the commas!

a pet peeve of mine that affects my writing is that i second-guess myself and double back on almost everything when it comes to descriptions. i'll write one thing, wonder if it was too much, rewrite it, wonder if it was too little, look at how many adjectives or similes i'm using, rinse and repeat. ahhhhhhhh

i also write pretty short paragraphs (and a lot of them) because personally it helps me organize my story and focus on what's at hand, breaking up the words and allowing a sort of cooldown without implementing great blocks of paragraphs at a time.
 
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binarysoap

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No, let me add... it's not a writing pet peeve, but is an "author" pet peeve... people who post their stories on the "feedback" subforum but they only have one chapter released... it's such blatant advertising and in my head I'm like I don't know what to say about this, there's literally no substance here to judge. Please can we implement a 5 chapter minimum for story feedback requests or something.
What happens if the author is just insecure and wants to know if they're doing fine or what to change/improve, before wasting time writing 5 chapters of garbage?
 

AliceShiki

Magical Girl of Love and Justice
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Dec 23, 2018
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Tense switching! Aaaah, I'm so bad for this. I'll find myself switching between past and present tense all the time, because I guess for whatever reason my brain is wired to be hopeless at this, and even when I proof-read things multiple times I completely fail to even notice. I've asked friends to beta read for me just to catch tense switches, but then I get too embarrassed/shy about sharing my writing and baby out, so in the end it is my readers who must suffer.
Oh, I do this one too! I write everything on past tense and before I notice it, I'm already in present tense! >.<

At least I notice it when editing though... *shivers*
ughhh me too with the commas and descriptions! it's so hard to try and cut down on the commas!

a pet peeve of mine that affects my writing is that i second-guess myself and double back on almost everything when it comes to descriptions. i'll write one thing, wonder if it was too much, rewrite it, wonder if it was too little, look at how many adjectives or similes i'm using, rinse and repeat. ahhhhhhhh

i also write pretty short paragraphs (and a lot of them) because personally it helps me organize my story and focus on what's at hand, breaking up the words and allowing a sort of cooldown without implementing great blocks of paragraphs at a time.
Comrade! *hugs*
 
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