T5W – Bookish Things You’re a Grinch About

Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly meme where you pick five examples for a question introduced by the host on Goodreads. This week’s topic is “Bookish things you’re a grinch about” – your bookish pet peeves.

You know, they said that I shouldn’t pick examples that makes me angry, just petty thing I don’t like. But I’m a petty person so Imma pick things that make me angry. Besides, a guy that’s so grumpy about something (christmas) that he actually steals the very thing and tries to wipe it from the face of the earth… Well, it isn’t just small pettiness.

 

5. Let’s focus on the B O O B S

Alright dear male authors (plus some female authors, I see you), here’s a shocker for you – women don’t describe their boobs when describing themselves, or even just their appearance. Go ahead and describe a figure, because telling someone is “pear-shaped” or “skinny” makes anyone with 5+ brain cells understands the natural size of someone’s breasts, if you’re so interested in that. But p l e a s e stop focusing on women’s breasts. Even if it is, no especially if it is from the male gaze. Like isn’t it enough that we get sexualized when going out? Like, I understand if you write an antagonistic, creepy character who sexualizes/objectifies women’s bodies, but when you make a Male main character meet their love interest for the first time, and the first thing they describe in detail is her breasts? Please, s t o p.

4. The Bullying-Victim Main Character

Look, this isn’t some kind of pet peeve of mine when the book’s theme is about bullying and making an accurate and fair depiction of it. But when you’re just gonna shortly introduce this character like a bully victim at their school before throwing them into some kind of fantasy adventure, please don’t do this. It’s such a lazy way to try make us readers feel empathy for this character and just a slap to the face for actual bullying victims, as if a new environment makes the character completely forget everything.

3. Alpha Bitch™

Look, do we still have to discuss this trope? Plus is if you use the above pet peeve of mine and introduces the Alpha Bitch like this, haha you have me sold. Like, I will sell my soul to whoever removes this book from me. *Pulls out megaphone*  Stop Portraying Strong And Influential Women In Social Groups As Bullies.

 

2. I’m Not Like Other –

1. Hi! I’m Your Love Interest™

If you introduce a character solely for their purpose of being a love interest to the main or supportive character, remove them. If the love isn’t introduced naturally in your writing, it ain’t gonna be believable to your readers. People aren’t walking love interests in real life, sure you can get a crush on someone on first sight, but won’t be your soul mate and true love until after you’ve both been up together at 3 a.m. singing “Just Can’t Wait To Be King” or conquered a kingdom together and seen your enemies tremble on their knees (no there’s no in between). But, like stated, things must be built of naturally and not enforced. You can have actually created this character in order to be a love interest. But we can all tell if you’ve bent the plot in order to just hook them up. It’ll tell us the difference if you’re a good author, or a lazy author.

 

Do you agree? Disagree? Comment below with your own thoughts 🙂