Discussion
Topic: Books
Hi guys!!! I’m in the process of starting my first draft for a my book. I’m an aspiring teen author! The book is YA, soft sci-fi and a science fantasy. I don’t really read sci-fi, which is quite ironic considering my book is in that genre. What are some things in a book that instantly make it a DNF? Or things that you don’t like seeing in books?
12 comments
Christa Bryan-Duffus Cliche dialogue is a killer.
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chloe Got it!!! What would you consider to be cliche?
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Teresa Prokopanko I highly recommend reading the books "on writing" by Stephen King, and "self -editing for fiction writers" if you want to learn how to craft compelling sentences and dialogue! Your story has to work both on the sentence level, paragraph level, and as an entire narrative.
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Lorelai Kinzer For me personally: Sex,drugs, and alcohol. I realize that’s not super relevant for a Sci-Fi but as soon as any of that happens it’s a DNF for me
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chloe I get that. I don’t think any of those will be featured in my book lol
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Lorelai Kinzer Figured not but thought I’d put it out there
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Julz @chloe_7977 that’s great! I do not like when fantasy books have spice
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Aislyn Bougher-Vaessin When the plot isn’t cohesive
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Aislyn Bougher-Vaessin Or when the story is overly predictable
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chloe ah got it!
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Mystique Waters Highly recommend doing your research. Just because magic may be involved, there’s still the science element that you need to add in. Ask lots of questions and don’t be afraid to accept that there’s more to learn if your alpha & beta readers point out some flaws or plot points you didn’t notice. It helps a lot to provide more authenticity to your story. I wish you luck!!!!
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chloe thank you!!
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Lottie if the plot annoys me. like in romance when the girl gets with the wrong guy for a while
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tilly! i think when the chapters are incredibly long. i don’t mean ten pages, i mean 50-100+ page chapters. i would love to read your book when you finish it though!! it sounds very interesting
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chloe thank you!! i hate super long chapters too
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Mary Thomas Character development! Is so important. And consistency in characteristics. Then you got it! Good luck!
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chloe thank you!!
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Natalia Banturaki When the details are so specific and so complex reading the novel feels like reading a textbook on a subject I’ve never studied before
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chloe ohhh that’s a good one
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Rayana Marie Decide what kind of magic system you’ll have. Hard or soft magic? Will there be rigid rules for everything (meaning it’s needs to be explained) or will it be a sort of “it’s just there” type of magic system.
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Ashler Finnstro When someone has an idea that has already been done before, but doesn’t put their own spit on it or doesn’t make it interesting if that makes sense. For example, like a hero with dead parents. But instead of making that trope your own, you just copy Batman.
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