To you, what is boring?

Lack of drama, whatever form it takes.

And what is drama? It's like Art--I know it when I see it.

Sometimes I skip the descriptive parts to find out what happens next.

When tone and pace never change. I don't mind drama as long as it is punctuated with comedy, and comedy so long as it is punctuated with pathos. Some books are very lyrical, every sentence is the same length, you almost feel like you are listening to waves or something. And when I listen to waves . . . I start to get drowsy. Some books are too fast paced, where things stop being exciting, and instead just become a list.

Levels, contrasts, light and dark. This is interesting to me.

Too much "thinking" on the part of characters. This flaw is nearly always accompanied by too little "doing".

caw

Stories about real life.

C.bronco said:

Sometimes I skip the descriptive parts to find out what happens next.

Click to expand...

Same here. Unless the character is learning something from what he's observing that is important to the story, too much description gets me to stop reading and start scanning for the place the story picks back up.

Repetitive or irritating prose.

I realized that when an author is too enamoured of certain devices, it makes a given piece longer than it needs to be.

In one novel, there were several instances in which various good guys (6'3 and 220 lbs; 5'11 and build like a tank... etc.) got into a several weasels' faces and forced them to back down. Several instances. I had the feeling that the author had been beat up a lot in school.

In another novel, every single chapter began with a simple sentence. "So-and-so opened his eyes," "The moon was full," "Jimmy was hungry."

That's my experience. I find it exhausting.

In order: Bad prose. Characters that I don't care about. Lack of anything like a plot. One of my big problems with finishing, say, Kundera is that I love the book while I'm reading it, but once I put it down I can never make myself pick it back up again. This is also true of Proust.

A plot that doesn't move. I want something to happen. Getting inside a character's head is interesting but dwelling too long on their thoughts and emotions is telling, not showing; it's preachy and melodramatic. When authors have characters experience something - and we get to observe the reactions - that's interesting. Keep the story moving and I'll keep turning the page.

Info-dumps.

I'm seconding the info-dumps ("Well, as you might recall, Miss Johnson, the third Baron Brocklestone was married to a mysterious German woman, and it was she who caused the Black Battlements of Brocklestone to be erected in the late 1780s. However, the fourth Baron Brocklestone was morbidly afraid of cows...") and the "too many of this thing happening in one book" (Iris Murdoch is the worst for that--there are just too many people in each of her books who are secretly in love with each other. Once per book would be bad enough, but two or three secret loves in a book are way too many!)

I like visual description and detail, but I hate when people bundle it into historical novels just to show they did their research. Or even in contemporary novels.

There is a wonderful parody of Theodore Dreiser (20th century bestselling US author, best known for Sister Carrie and An American Tragedy) which goes something like:

Chapter One.

Jim McDermott, a young clerk in the offices of the Armour Packing Company, was walking to work. He walked along Lower Wacker Drive to Upper Wacker Drive, then turned right onto Lake Street. He proceeded down Lake Street, stopping for a cup of coffee at Harry's Coffee Shop, then continued along Lake Street until he reached North Clark Street, where he turned right... {Note to publisher: Reproduce Chicago guidebook here.}

Jim was a strong man, aged just 27. He was six feet in height, and had blue eyes and blond hair... {Note to publisher: Reproduce Jim McDermott's Draft Board description and medical records here.}


Hate that.

"As you know, Bob," dialogue, although that's probably under the heading of infodumpery as well.

Uninteresting characters doing uninteresting things in an uninteresting setting.

Stories about mundane aspects of real life, but written with dazzling prose to make up for the lack of story arc. Basically, "performance writing."

Hummmm...
I have a list:
1. Middle age women/men vacillating whether they are going to cheat on their partners or not.
2. Chick-lit that mentions shoes ANYWHERE in the story.
3. Literary fiction recommended by Oprah.
4. Techno-thrillers that insist on informing you how sonic detonators/(insert doomsday gadget here) work.
5. Sci-fi tomes more than 600pp long.
6. Thinly veiled political manifestos.
7. Novels about glitteratti who overcame something.
8. Poorly written Tolkein fan fics.
9. the sequel of the sequel of the sequel about angsty vampires.

I think that about covers it.

Amy

1. Uninteresting prose that tries to be invisible
2. Writing too concerned with plot and not concerned enough with story
3. Neurotypical characters, cliche characters, flat characters, uninteresting characters, characters that are trying too hard to be interesting but still aren't, and just generally "bad" or "boring" characters
4. 3rd person past tense that doesn't have anything else interesting going for it
5. Annoying voice/style or lack of voice/style
6. Lack of variation in length/structure of sentences, paragraphs, etc.
7. Overly described characters
8. Too many characters with too little substance
9. Dumb, illogical characters
10. Writing that doesn't break any of the "rules"

That's all I can think of for now. Maybe I'll have more later...

Long descriptive passages. Recently I've been reading a lot of John Barnes (sci fi), and his worlds are really well developed. I like him a lot. But then sometimes he goes overboard. Like describing in elaborate detail: pseudo-Mayan temples, city block layouts, smart snowshelter functions, futuristic technology, etc. etc. Frankly, I can imagine what a Mayan temple looks like, I don't need two pages of intricate details. I end up skipping to the next line of dialogue.

Another boredom/irritation inducer... I won't name this author because I find his writing atrocious and I confess that I only read him because 1) He is fairly entertaining and simple and 2) his prose is so awkward it makes me feel like I'm awesome. Anyway, my major beef with this guy is that he uses ALMOST the right word. A few examples:

"I've never known him to be so damaged by the death of a friend."
"dying torches tossed their light onto the men"
"a stream of tears burst from beneath the lids" (of his eyes)
"he could spot a red-robed [Orc equivalent] faster than a hawk"

This is all from the first few pages, including the unnecessary prologue. I mean, you can become damaged by the death of a friend, but it's not something instantaneous... I think he means "upset" or "disillusioned." And how does a torch "toss" light? Does he mean "cast?" I've never seen tears "burst" from anyone's eyes, except maybe in anime. And are hawks really known for how FAST they can see something? No, it's the detail with which they can see. Constant little things like this just drive me crazy.

Also, this has nothing to do with the writing of a novel itself, but it often determines whether or not I read a book: cover material. This includes design, artwork, and back cover text. I have high expectations for all of these elements because they are the first thing you see-- ergo I assume a great deal of attention has been paid to putting them together. What I really hate are generic cover pictures. For sci fi, a spaceship and/or a field of stars. Do publishers just have a stock of space paintings they assign, or what? For other stuff, either generic designs or classic paintings that have nothing to do with the work. I want the picture to SAY something about what's inside.

As for back-cover text, if it 1) tells me how much I'm going to love this book, or 2) explains the setup of the world (ie "in a future where women are extinct, men have to procreate by blah blah..."), that's an immediate no for me. In general, I want the back cover to introduce me to the main character and give me a reason to care about this guy/girl.

Long, descriptive passages.

Words.

Words in books really piss me off.

I don't love long, descriptive passages, but I also don't like things too fast-paced. He did this and then that and than some more of this and then some that. That bugs me too.

Drills.

1) Info dumps
2) Scenery just for the sake of scenery.
3) Long passages wallowing in a single unrelenting emotion...whether it's grief or angst or even joy...Yes, I get it, move on! Or at least Do Stuff to move yourself in some direction or other.

The absence of any desire to turn the page.

Excellent thread! The best way to avoid mistakes in our own writing is to know what other writers/readers dislike. My pet hates go to infodumps, detailed technicalities, characters I just cannot relate to, too much action that just leaves me exhausted, misprints and bad translations, gratuitous sex and/or violence that does nothing for the story.