what i don't look for in a story/book

Confession: I do A LOT of these things. I mean, don't we all, my dear writer friends? Nobody's perfect. Seriously, what kind of messed-up parent would name their child Perfect? "Oh, Perfect, it's your turn to do the dishes! Perfect, don't bother your little sister! Go do piano practice, Perfect!" Okay, I'll stop my little rant.

So. Anyways. Wow, I'm back on topic already! The following is supposed to be a list of things that make a story or book worse, but every writer does them.

• Too much romance. Okay, I'll confess that I love shipping people in books! But if the story's overly focused on the two main characters being in love, especially if one of them's a really really hot guy/gal and the other is an awkward nerd, it just gets annoying. Relationships like that don't happen in real life, so why use them in a "realistic fiction" book?

• Characters who get away with everything. Example: Bobette's cheap eraser is stolen by Jimmy. In response to this, Bobette picks up poor Jimmy by the ears and knocks his teeth out. And NO ONE SAYS A THING, and they act like her beating up Jimmy was totally justified. There's a little imbalance there, right? 

• That canard about the "fourth dimension." Seriously, people, the fourth dimension is TIME. It's not some creepy alien world that you can fall into and walk around in and not know how to get out of. The next time you write sci-fi, write scientifically accurate sci-fi, all righty?

• Contradictions. Example: in one paragraph of a story, Piper leaves her red hat at home. Then, right after mentioning that, and without Piper going home, the author says, "Piper looked beautiful, her red hat matching her dress perfectly." Unless the hat can teleport, which probably should've been mentioned before, how did it get on her head?

I will write more in another post. Farewell, grasshoppers! *skips off into the sunset... oh wait, it's 9:25 PM!*