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Clichés we currently hate in the literary world

32 replies

FknOmniShambles · 28/05/2024 22:12

I know this has been done before (she titted boobily down the stairs, etc!) but hey ho.
My current anti-fave is any book described as a "love letter to xyz." bleurgh.
Anyone else?

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CrossPurposes · 29/05/2024 16:00

Endless book covers that look like this.

Clichés we currently hate in the literary world
ZaZathecat · 29/05/2024 15:40

Books described on the cover as sidesplittingly or uproariously funny and they turn out to be about people dying of incurable diseases, where there might be a wry smile occasionally.

GalileoHumpkins · 29/05/2024 15:36

Psychological thrillers with a shocking/breathtaking/jaw-dropping/heart-pounding twist that you can see coming a mile off.
Dark romance, nothing more than an excuse to paint abuse/stalking/rape as sexy, romantic and desirable.

MrsRobinsonsHandprints · 29/05/2024 15:34

@EmpressaurusDeiGatti I'm with you.

Especially as they use words to describe messy eating, when they don't actually mean that the character is eating messily.

TheYearOfSmallThings · 29/05/2024 13:48

PurpleChrayn · 29/05/2024 12:08

Anything described as "urgent" or "whip-smart."

Anything blurbed by Marian fucking Keyes.

"For fans of..." So patronising.

Yep, "whip-smart" is a deal-breaker in any context.

EmpressaurusDeiGatti · 29/05/2024 13:14

Far too many books include references to messy eating of some kind - something I have a lifelong phobia about. At that point I have to be incredibly invested in finishing the book not to stop reading & dump it on the next bus or tube I take for someone else to pick it up.

I don’t know why it gets included so much. It’s revolting, stupid and pointless.

Muffin101 · 29/05/2024 12:51

Releasing the breath they didn’t know they were holding. Shut the fuck up 😂

KStockHERO · 29/05/2024 12:50

TheresNoFudgeHere · 28/05/2024 22:40

Padding along the floor. For fuck’s sake!

God, yes. Definitely. I loathe this with a passion - I've actually given up on perfectly good books because they talk about 'padding'.

But every time I get up for a wee in the night, I can't help but think 'padding' is actually quite a good word to describe that kind of quiet walking on plush carpet 😬

Cattenberg · 29/05/2024 12:36

Novels in which the characters never speak, they exclaim, smile, screech, grill, bark, wonder, demand, yelp etc. It tends to detract from what they actually say.

dudsville · 29/05/2024 12:29

MrsTomRipley · 29/05/2024 12:17

I love crime novels, but 99% of the detectives are addicted to coffee, I feel like I have a caffeine overload, and I barely touch coffee.

You've reminded me that I once read a lot of 1930/40/50 american crime novels. If they had breakfast then it would be just 2 eggs and coffee, otherwise they lived off whisky, cigarettes and cocktails. I'm impressionable so it was a very unhealthy phase for me!

I'm currently re-reading steinbeck, the opposite of this thread, but my contribution is titles that are intentionally dripping, like "where the crawdad's sing".

Westfacing · 29/05/2024 12:27

TheresNoFudgeHere · 28/05/2024 22:40

Padding along the floor. For fuck’s sake!

... usually barefoot and after great sex, with tousled hair and wearing his shirt.

AmazingBouncingFerret · 29/05/2024 12:19

Referring to books with any sort of mention of sex or actual sex scenes as “spicy”

LightDrizzle · 29/05/2024 12:17

It’s more common on TV but also happens in books: when a police officer or detective goes solo in a clearly very dangerous situation like confronting the suspected serial killer in his home or the isolated cottage they’ve tracked him down to.

MrsTomRipley · 29/05/2024 12:17

I love crime novels, but 99% of the detectives are addicted to coffee, I feel like I have a caffeine overload, and I barely touch coffee.

NormalAuntFanny · 29/05/2024 12:12

Tiktok made me buy it

It did once but never again.

Oh and anything involving plucky fucking land girls, midwives in the 40s or spitfires.

PurpleChrayn · 29/05/2024 12:08

Anything described as "urgent" or "whip-smart."

Anything blurbed by Marian fucking Keyes.

"For fans of..." So patronising.

TowerStork · 28/05/2024 23:26

TheresNoFudgeHere · 28/05/2024 22:40

Padding along the floor. For fuck’s sake!

I first came across that in One Day and found it really distracting

TheYearOfSmallThings · 28/05/2024 23:18

The (adjective)(noun) of (cutefirstname)(quirkylastname)

IDontKnowMargot · 28/05/2024 22:54

I have an irrational hatred of any description of wispy tendrils of hair.

whosaidtha · 28/05/2024 22:53

Normal people turning detective. Uncovering evidence based off absolutely nothing and refusing to tell the police because they won't be believed.

whosaidtha · 28/05/2024 22:52

TheresNoFudgeHere · 28/05/2024 22:40

Padding along the floor. For fuck’s sake!

Everyone in the world is padding around!

whosaidtha · 28/05/2024 22:52

When books are compared to Gone Girl on the cover. Giving the game away!!!

OnlyFrench · 28/05/2024 22:49

The ***(insert noun) of Auschwitz wherein the author writes everything they've ever seen in a film about the holocaust

cannonballz · 28/05/2024 22:42

normal seeming people who are actually devilish psychopaths with nothing in them but pure evil

TheresNoFudgeHere · 28/05/2024 22:40

Padding along the floor. For fuck’s sake!