Pet Hates In Fiction.

[TeeDee]

Just wondering what other people have as pet peeves in Fiction? The sort of thing that ruins a good book or character or just a plot twist to far or repeated one too many times.

I guess mine is flawless Hero's such as :-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Reacher

"Reacher is 6'5" tall (1.96 m) with a 50-inch chest, and weighing between 220 and 250 pounds (100–115 kg). He has ice-blue eyes and dirty blond hair. He has very little body fat, and his muscular physique is completely natural (he reveals in Persuader, he has never been an exercise enthusiast). He is exceptionally strong, has a high stamina, but is not a good runner.[SUP]"



Give me a good old fashioned Flawed Character any day on the week.




So when it comes to fiction , what peeve's you ?[/SUP]

 

[MartinK9]

Tom Cruise playing Jack Reacher

 

[TeeDee]

Tom Cruise playing Jack Reacher

Did make me smile.

 

[laro13]

Tom Cruise playing Jack Reacher

I thought the same thing. I like the books, but a movie with Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher is ridicules. :yikes:
I have banned that image out of my head when I am reading.

 

[Lupis]

Tom Clancy books where every character is the foremost expert in their field. Ever. And where an author kills
a character only for them to be brought back later. It really cheapens a book when you know anyone that
dies is likely not really dead.

 

[Macaroon]

Tom Cruise playing Jack Reacher

Tom Cruise playing anybody......

 

[John Fenna]

Historical novels where military details (uniform, weapons, time line) are wrong.
Novels where the hero takes an injury but does not seem to be slowed by it (ie being knocked out and coming to all bright and shiney, no headache, double vision ...nothing)

 

[mountainm]

Precocious kids - Sure, that 9 yr old can hack into the FBI's database. (e.g. Jurassic Park).

 

[crosslandkelly]

Tom Cruise playing anybody......

He's not so bad, what about that great movie 'Cocktail'. I had no trouble sleeping through that. Pick on someone your own size.

tomatometer..
Average Rating: 3.8/10
Reviews Counted: 40
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 38

There are no surprises in Cocktail, a shallow, dramatically inert romance that squanders Tom Cruise's talents in what amounts to a naive barkeep's banal fantasy.

 

[oldtimer]

Mine would be where the writer can't spell simple words like "heros".

 

[wattsy]

I hate books where the author spams the reader with loads of useless info, a good example would be Matthew Reilly 'The Uzis might have fired at 600 rounds per minute. But the P-90, made by the FN Herstal company in Belgium, fired at an astonishing 900 rounds per minute. Indeed, with its rounded hand guard, internal blowback system, and incredible hundred-round magazine mounted above the barrel, it looked like something out of a science fiction movie.'

Half of that quote is unnecessary

 

[Mesquite]

Mine would be where the writer can't spell simple words like "heros".

One of mine is when they type 'They went into a well lighted room' instead of 'a well lit room'

As for Tom Cruise... enough said already

 

[dwardo]

Pretty much every bow in every film ever made. Wrong period, wrong style, wrong form, just goes on.
Also every time someone takes a knife or sword from a sheath it goes "shing" or some completely rubbish audible insert.

 

[Cromm]

Archery everytime for me.

 

[JonathanD]

People calling the magazines in pistols 'clips'!!! They need shooting.

 

[santaman2000]

People calling the magazines in pistols 'clips'!!! They need shooting.

Or calling hollow points "dumb-dumbs."

 

[JonathanD]

Or calling hollow points "dumb-dumbs."

Clicking the safety off a Glock.

 

[Clouston98]

The goodies always winning- cheeses me off I get sick of happy endings! All to Hollywood with near enough invincible goodies- gets boring.

Something I do like is that English people always seem to play baddies- I do like that .

 

[Biker]

I hate books where the author spams the reader with loads of useless info, a good example would be Matthew Reilly 'The Uzis might have fired at 600 rounds per minute. But the P-90, made by the FN Herstal company in Belgium, fired at an astonishing 900 rounds per minute. Indeed, with its rounded hand guard, internal blowback system, and incredible hundred-round magazine mounted above the barrel, it looked like something out of a science fiction movie.'

Half of that quote is unnecessary

I read Reilly's Scarecrow series and another one titled 7 wonders of the world (I think). For a book like a brick you can see where most of the words went in your quote. But what chapped me off the most in his books was his killing off principle characters and the nick of time type scenes his other characters would be in. I got the distinct impression he was insulting my intelligence and I'm not the brightest bulb in the cutlery drawer.

I found an email address of Matthew Reilly and emailed him telling him his books, though fast paced were actually too unbelievable and therefore rather annoying. I didn't get a reply. (shock horror!)

Being bombarded with too much info can derail the story, but most times I get the feeling the author is trying to impress the reader by how much research he'd done for this book.

I'm with Lupis too. Everyone who features in a book is an expert in whatever situation they're in. I recall seeing Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible 7 (I think) when he was riding a motorbike and did a front end stoppy, rolled the bike forward shot 23 baddies with one handgun and then spun the bike about to face the other way on landing. So glad I only had to wipe the drink off my TV screen and not the big one at cinema. I'd still be there with the mop and bucket.

Rant over!


You really picked the scab off that one TeeDee (French CD will be on it's way soon buddy)

 

[ged]

I get turned off by really bad technical howlers. Dan Brown for example. An entire book based on the idea that nobody would think of pulling a plug out of the socket on the wall. I only read it because a friend wanted to know what I thought of it.

I thought it sucked.