❛ the lazy writers ❜

[The Worst Username]

What are some cliches that irk you while reading?
Maybe adult ones are different? (I don't have much hope for that, though)

TL; DR: adult dystopias are great; read George Orwell.

A lot of the adult ones are great. I've only read Animal Farm and 1984, both by George Orwell, but both of them were like no dystopia I had ever read.

Animal Farm was a direct criticism on the USSR, showing how a new regime, after destroying the old one, slowly corrupted; 1984 was a complex and disturbing novel about how even the most democratic of countries can be warped into totalitarian nightmares. It focused heavily on subjects like the destruction of individual thought, the idea that he who controls the past controls the future, and manipulation of language to control people. I would love to read them again, even though I only read them last year. But yeah, if you want really original, creepy dystopias, check out Orwell. Or read Brave New World; I've never even seen that book on a shelf, but my dad says it's good. I'll shut up now.

[CJClaire]

Your character has a massive bag of Carmel corn to share (Significant other, best friend, ect) how do they divide it up?

awh, this is a cute silly question! I like it. I'll use my protag from the story I'm working on now, so Ben. He'd probably take the whole thing and then just hop over with his friends and share it while they had a movie night and baked or something silly and cute like that. Cyan would probably try to steal most of it, and Rin would then fight him about it. They'd probably get so caught up in the silly fight that they wouldn't notice Saer and Nyk running off with it, lol.

What are some cliches that irk you while reading?

I read primarily YA novels because they're easy, quick and fun, so all of these statements apply really only to those.

One thing that REALLY bothers me is when books tend to follow trends? So like one book gets really big with like a love triangle (my vey least favorite cliche ever omg) and then suddenly every single book that is coming out after that has a love triangle. Same thing happened with the YA dystopia thing, where it's the same plot. And the "strong independent female character only finds happiness after falling in love" thing...

I guess I just get tired of reading books that are essentially the same thing over and over just in different forms. It irks me a LOT.

[DeMaizu]

What are some cliches that irk you while reading?
I'm gonna have to agree with the people above me; Female protagonist saves the day with bland boyfriend, love triangles, stuff like that. Also, when there are characters there just for the sake of fulfilling that role (The Glasses-Wearing Nerd, The Jock Bully, The Popular Clique Mean-Queen, etc). I mean, if you can do that and have them be real characters and not just people to be there? Cool.

Your character has a massive bag of Carmel corn to share (Significant other, best friend, ect) how do they divide it up?
Griffin; "Hey Sora, want this? Not my thing."
Jay; *gobbles nearly all of it before Thalia glares and makes him share what's left*
Harper; *om nom noms half and gives rest to his dad*
Eli; *om nom noms maybe a third and gives rest to his son*
Lyndon; "No."
Pax; "Anyone want some?"

[The Worst Username]

Here's another question that I also posted on Inklings! Huzzah!

Code: Select all

[b]Do you think it's okay for writers to add elements to their stories and characters even if the plot doesn't need them? (E.g., the protagonist has pink hair.)[/b]

I think it's fine to have unnecessary elements; my protagonist carries around a cat named Ophelia, despite her having no logical, plot-related reason for being accompanied by said cat. At some point, though, this becomes annoying, and the writer is clearly trying to make her/his character a special snowflake.

[Bilaz]

Do you think it's okay for writers to add elements to their stories and characters even if the plot doesn't need them? (E.g., the protagonist has pink hair.)
I think this is actually rather neccesary. Your character isn't really going to be realistic if everything about them has to do with the plot.

Like for example (I'm just going to make up something random, don't expect this to be good haha) if you are writing a story about a character who, let's say is a doctor from Sweden. If everything about this character has to do with the plot, so everything about her has to do with medicine or Sweden or otherwise moves the plot along, that would be odd to me.

Not everything about a person has an actual impact on how their life goes. Like this doctor may, idk, have a black labrador and a fascination with Russian history, this won't have anything to do with how she treats her patients.

[Aliria]

Do you think it's okay for writers to add elements to their stories and characters even if the plot doesn't need them? (E.g., the protagonist has pink hair.)
Well, if there's nothing in the story that's not necessary to the plot, you'll probably end up with a boring bare-bones story. Details are important, they're what makes a world feel real. However, you need to know the right kind of detail. Going with the example of the main character with pink hair, if the setting is some kind of fairyland-type place, unnatural hair colors are great for worldbuilding. If the character dyed her hair, it would add an interesting detail to their personality. On the other hand, if the character has pink hair in a setting where it doesn't make sense, it's just kinda dumb.

Your character has a massive bag of Carmel corn to share (Significant other, best friend, ect) how do they divide it up?
Hayden: Quietly eats the popcorn slowly, waiting for someone to ask to share because he doesn't want to have to talk to someone about sharing.
Gemma: Doesn't really pay attention to how it's split, just kinda eats whatever she wants. Also probably does at lot of throwing popcorn at her friends.
Jadit: Either eats the whole thing herself or makes sure to share it exactly equally with everyone. Probably the one who gets more popcorn when it runs out.
Devin: Eats all the popcorn himself, no sharing at all.
Piper: Eats very little, letting whoever she's sharing with get a much larger portion.
I'm gonna cut this off here, because I could add twenty more characters to this list and still have many more I want to add.

[DeMaizu]

Do you think it's okay for writers to add elements to their stories and characters even if the plot doesn't need them? (E.g., the protagonist has pink hair.)
I'm gonna say that yes, I think it's okay, and I'm pretty sure I've done it myself. So. *hums*

[Megaguirus]

What are some cliches that irk you while reading?
Maybe adult ones are different? (I don't have much hope for that, though)

TL; DR: adult dystopias are great; read George Orwell.

A lot of the adult ones are great. I've only read Animal Farm and 1984, both by George Orwell, but both of them were like no dystopia I had ever read.

Animal Farm was a direct criticism on the USSR, showing how a new regime, after destroying the old one, slowly corrupted; 1984 was a complex and disturbing novel about how even the most democratic of countries can be warped into totalitarian nightmares. It focused heavily on subjects like the destruction of individual thought, the idea that he who controls the past controls the future, and manipulation of language to control people. I would love to read them again, even though I only read them last year. But yeah, if you want really original, creepy dystopias, check out Orwell. Or read Brave New World; I've never even seen that book on a shelf, but my dad says it's good. I'll shut up now.

Well, I've seen a live action and animated adaptation of "Animal Farm" (why they say both of these are for "kids" is beyond me). I've heard about "1984", but I remember my mom saying that she wouldn't recommend it or something? I don't know, but it does sound intriguing.
As for "Brave New World", my mom actually owns it, I know exactly where it is, and I believe she'd recommend it.

I don't know, maybe once I'm in the mood for dystopia I'll look further into it.

[TheSongOfTheStars]

Do you think it's okay for writers to add elements to their stories and characters even if the plot doesn't need them? (E.g., the protagonist has pink hair.)
Totally, the characters would be rather boring and indistinguishable from each other if they didn't have little things like that. It's also just fun. I have a character who carves, has nothing to do with the story, but I think it adds a bit of depth to him.

Your character has a massive bag of Carmel corn to share (Significant other, best friend, ect) how do they divide it up?
Hehe, gonna answer my own question.
Martin and Lily would probably end up sharing right down to the last few crumbs, then they'd fight for the privilege of eating the last bites.
Jade and Jasmine would fight over ever bit, but they'd end up with fairly equal portions.
Darkmoon and Shyshie would eat about half the bag, before Darkmoon would put it up, telling her daughter that's enough junk food. But the next day what was left will be half gone and Shyshie will realized it but she'll happily split the remained with her mom.
Achran will claim that he doesn't want any, but will steal a pawful at a time when Freya isn't looking.
Adrian and Avery would split it into perfectly equal portions and Avery would squash the corn up so Adrian could eat it better.

[anxious ghost]

Your character has a massive bag of caramel corn to share (Significant other, best friend, etc) how do they divide it up?
Spencer is literally the only of my chars that would really eat it. I don't think Mack would be a fan, and neither would Toby, and Des wouldn't eat junk food like that. And Tanta and Lyra can't eat human food, so... yeah.

Do you think it's okay for writers to add elements to their stories and characters even if the plot doesn't need them? (E.g., the protagonist has pink hair.)
Yes. Definitely.