TMST: Bookish No-No's

TW: This post briefly discusses assault/violence in point 2. 

Whoops, I'm a little late getting this post out, but it was one I was definitely interested in doing, so I figured better late than never!

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by the lovely Rainy Day Ramblings, and currently assisted by a team of bloggers, Roberta @ Offbeat YA, Karen @ For What It's Worth, Berls @ Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life, Jen @ That's What I'm Talking About, and Linda @ Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell.

6/21/2022 What are book no-nos that make you figuratively want to toss a book across the room?

1) When everyone (or the two leads, in the case of a romance) has a quirky name. Nicknames, sure, that's fine (ex. The Divergent series - Tris and Four don't bother me only because they are nicknames, but they drove me insane before I read the books and learned that). Or, if for some reason it is part of the plot, I am okay with it, but otherwise? Please stop.

2) Characters experiencing sexual assault/violence that is described within the book. I know that these types of situations are real, and I don't think we should cover up their existence to make people comfortable, but I find it far too upsetting to read these situations described in full detail, and often cannot handle books that do this. If it is mentioned for a moment without description really, I can manage...but my imagination is far too vivid to handle much more than that.

3) Short, choppy dialogue that is formatted oddly. You know those books that don't use quotation marks, and poorly define their characters' speech? And then they also try to mimic conversation, but it ends up being extremely choppy? Yep, this is one of my largest pet peeves. 

4) Very short chapters of no purpose. A short chapter can be an extremely useful and effective writing tool. It can be used to briefly peek into the mind and eyes of a character who is otherwise "off-screen" in the book. But here's the thing: it has to be for a purpose. Some writers just do this for dramatic effect, and it often feels just like a space filler to me. Or, if you write a short chapter that is only about a page without any revelation...this just feels like something you refused to let your editor get rid of.