Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Things I Want to Quit (Oct. 6, 2015)

Welcome back to the third day of the week (even though my weeks technically start on Wednesday :p) and with this third day comes Top Ten Tuesday, graciously brought to us by The Broke and the Bookish! The theme for this week is ‘Ten Bookish Things I Want to Quit or Have Quit’. Vague much? I think so. Though, vague is simply another way of saying ‘here’s your writing freedom. have at it!’ Well, I thank you for that! Here we go!

Ten Bookish Things I Want to Quit or Have Quit

1. Quit Reading a Single Series

   I’m a bit of a crazy person when it comes to reading because if I start a series I have to finish it before I read any other books. It’s terrible. It’s worse when a series is five or more books, but it’s the absolute worst when the next book in the series isn’t even out yet. So! I have determined that I need to cut this habit and be more free with my reading habits: multiple series at a time. However, I will be not be extending that to multiple books at one time. Just… no.

2. Quit reading the ‘Male Help’ Cliche

   I can’t even tell you how many books I have read back covers for that go as follows: ‘x is different. x must go on adventure. y joins adventure, but holds dark secret.’ Honestly? Way to make it a love plot without just blatantly setting the genre as romance. I mean, I get that romance is fun, and it’s generally inevitable with a male and female MC, but come on. These stories generally end up being too much about the romance and not enough about the main MC and her struggles, growth, etc.

3. Quit reading Series Prequels

   These can be really fun for the writer, but as a reader I really couldn’t care less about them. Prequels are usually just extra world-building or character development that’s unnecessary and is written to satiate the writer’s desire more than that of the reader. If the information were actually important to the story, it wouldn’t be left for a prequel written well after the series, but would have been the first book in the series. So, I just don’t like them (even though I’ve thought of a few for my own novels-in-progress, but my dislike as a reader keeps me from writing them.)

4. Quit reading about Happily Ever After

   Yup. That’s right. I’m the buzz kill. I’m the person who thinks that allowing the characters to live ‘happily ever after’ is cliche and severely overrated. I mean, I get that people enjoy a happy ending. It’s hopeful. It’s fun. It leaves readers happy, but sometimes it just does not fit. Sometimes it’d be better suited to the novel to not have a happy ending, to be realistic, even if it isn’t exactly the happy ending that everyone hopes for.

5. Quit Avoiding Popularity

   I have this nasty habit of avoiding certain books because of the hype behind them and the popularity that readers give the book. Don’t ask me why. Maybe I’m secretly a hipster, or I just like being a rebel, but whatever the case I have ignored some really good books for extended periods of time because so many people liked it. Very counter intuitive, I know. So, from here on out, I’m going to stop. If I think a book sounds interesting, I’m going to read it no matter how many people like or dislike it. After all, it’s nice being able to discuss books with people once in a while.

6. Stop my Genre Freezing

   I am frozen in a genre. I read books from one genre and one genre only: dystopian. That needs to stop. I need to really branch out my interests more, read other genres, learn from them, experience them. It will open me to other amazing worlds, writers, and plots. Additionally, exposing myself to different genres, allows for more writing styles, aiding me in my writing as well.

7. Throw away my Grade School Prejudice

   There were many books that were required reading while I was in school and frankly I thought most (if not all) of them were terrible. Terrible to the point where I won’t touch them. But I wonder if half the reason I didn’t like them was because they were required. I was forced to not just read, but analyze and destroy the book so that I could ‘understand’ the literature. So, maybe I’ll like them if I read them now for enjoyment’s sake. Who knows. I’ll give it a try, though. ^.^

8. Quit Reading about MC as Rebellion Head

   Let’s be honest. Hundreds, thousands of people are part of rebellions. How is it that the person we’re following in the book becomes the head of the rebellion? The figure head? I want to read a book where they’re just… one of the crowd, one of the followers, a nobody. Not everyone can be leaders. Let’s hear their stories!

9. Quit Reading about One-Dimensional MCs

   I understand that a good portion of the population has one hobby. They like one thing. It’s their passion. It’s what they want to do above everything else in the world, but what about the other people? What about all the eclectic people in the world? What about the people who love music, languages, science, adventure, exercise? The people who couldn’t pick one passion no matter how hard they tried because so many things call to them. That’s who I want to read about. I want to read about a character who is good a billion different things, rather than the best at one thing. No more one-dimensional characters.

10. Quit letting Life get in the way of my Reading

    I am so guilty of this that it’s not even funny any more. I don’t know how many times I start a book, get like ten or so pages in, and then let life sweep me away from the book for a long enough duration that I forgot what I read. Well, this needs to stop. From now on I’m going to start a book and finish it. Even if it’s chipping away a few pages a day. I really have to get back into reading if I’m going to add some book posts on my blog. :p

That’s my Top Ten Bookish Things I want to Quit. What’s yours?