[Learn more about my HAUNTED WEEK meme here.]
Alright everyone, it's day two! Here's a post you can really sink your fangs into: Bats in Your Book Pages. Basically, what makes you crazy when reading? What are the bats in your book pages? Here are five of mine:
So those are a few of the bats in my belfry—err, book pages. Do you have similar bats? Do these bats not bother you as much?
Alright everyone, it's day two! Here's a post you can really sink your fangs into: Bats in Your Book Pages. Basically, what makes you crazy when reading? What are the bats in your book pages? Here are five of mine:
1. Where are your parents?!?
Okay, authors, here's the truth: real teenagers don't run around town as they wish or date hot bad boys without telling their parents or half the other things YA characters do. They have curfews and get grounded and have their cell phones taken away because they didn't put out the trash or clean their room. Real teenagers have parents who still parent them, unlike a lot of YA teens.
2. Too. Much. Description.
I feel so guilty about this one: I don't like long descriptions. I'm not really interested in what buildings look like or what the sky or a landscape looks like at a particular moment in the story. If it's a sentence or two of descriptions that's fine, but when there are paragraphs of descriptions in a book, I'll likely find myself skimming through the pages.
3. Hotness does not count...
Here it is, guys—I'm stating it for the record: hotness should NEVER be the main reason you're interested in a guy. At the risk of being extremely clichéd, it's what's on the inside that counts.
4. What happened to your friends?
Alright, there are a lot of books where the main character has just moved to a new town, right? This character never ever talks to/about any friends/acquaintances from the town they were just living in—it's like they just appeared out of nowhere.
5. You can't love them both!
I honestly don't know how I almost made it through this list without this one... If there is one trend that should be taken from YA fiction, it's love triangles. They're alright in one or two books, but now they're in every single book that comes out. At this point, they're unrealistic, they take away from serious plot lines and they're just a heart-breaking way to add drama to a book.
I've done mine too: http://salimakorri.blogspot.co.uk/
ReplyDeleteGreat! I'll check it out! (:
DeleteI so agree with you on the first point (and of course on the others as well). I don't read too much YA, but it was conspicuous very much in "The Wolves of Mercy Falls" trilogy. So many abandoned teens. Unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteHere is my second Haunted Week post.
Haha, yes, YA has many abandoned teens—that series is only the tip of the iceberg.
DeleteHahaha! I was just about to say that I thought The Wolves of Mercy Falls handled the abandoned teen thing the best - at least as the MC was concerned. That series did a lot more explaining as to why Grace's parents weren't around. Many books just don't say anything at all!
DeleteThat's a fair point—I just never really understood Grace's parents. My parents definitely aren't like that, and neither are any other parents I know, so it was hard for me to believe anyone would be like that about their kid, especially when they changed cold turkey in the third book.
DeleteJust posted mine: http://abeautyandthebook.blogspot.com/2012/10/haunted-week-day-2-bats-in-your-book.html
ReplyDeleteAhhhh I agree with all of yours. Especially the "what happened to your friends," one. Doesn't make logical sense. If I moved somewhere, I'd still talk to my friends all the time!
Great! I'll check it out. (: I know—there's texting, phones, and all kinds of social media sites. I would definitely keep in touch! (:
DeleteFinally! I've been waiting to see yours all day! Your #1 is right on. That's a hard one, as there's probably no story if the kid is with Mom and Dad all the time, but there's got to be a middle ground. I also have something similar to #2. As for #4, my daughter has a couple of friends who have moved away and they talk ALL the time. They text and chat and Skype. Unlike in my day when all you could do was write a letter. Long-distance phone calls cost money, so ix-nay on that. Here's my list: http://inkandpage.me/haunted-week-2012-bats-in-your-book-pages/, Again, this was super fun. And cathartic.
ReplyDeleteHaha, sorry to keep you waiting! Yeah, #1 is about moderation. Being a teen myself, I definitely understand that.
DeleteYep, with all the technology we have today, I talk to people who live across the country all the time. Moving certainly doesn't end friendships!
Seriously! I didn't think to use your first one, but you make a fantastic point, Chey! I find myself wondering where parents are sometimes...
ReplyDeleteHaha, have you ever read LotR? Prime description of TOO MUCH DESCRIPTION. ;)
Love triangles...*le sigh*
Awesome post Chey, thanks for stopping by mine! :D
Hahaha, no, but I've heard horror stories of the descriptions from LotR, hahaha. I think I would die if I tried to read them!
DeleteOnly beat by love squares! ;)
Awesome list! I never would have thought of these on my own but reading your list I was like YES, how did I not think of that!! Especially number one, that always drives me nuts!
ReplyDeleteHaha, I'm glad we agree! And I didn't know the parents issue was as big to everyone else as it was to me, so it's really interesting hearing from everyone! (:
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