If a description uses words like “lit”, “bougie”, etc., it totally takes me out of it. I immediately realize it’s more of a fun read than a literary read. This happened to me with “Yellowface” and my current read “Remarkably Bright Creatures” (which I’m enjoying but the writing is not my favorite).
What about you guys? Do you tolerate/not mind or does it take you out too? Like if a character overuses “literally”.
I don’t know, I’m a nitpicker.
by mzingg3
1 Comment
Sometimes things take me out of the story, sometimes not. For me it’s more about the overall flow, if it’s consistent and makes sense, it doesn’t bother me. But where it’s not flowing and things feel forced, it takes me out of the story. A lot of people complain about how Stephen King mixes up generations (for example, in Fairy Tale one of the character has rabbit ears on his tv, which don’t really even work anymore in most of the US despite the character being elderly). That doesn’t bother me because it just fits in with how he writes, because I’ve been reading him so long it doesn’t pull me out of the story cause it’s just his style and flow. But a book I’m reading now is set in covid lockdown and the main character is like 32 and is talking more like my 21 year old son, which I find distracting because most people in their 30s don’t talk that way (in my life, anyways).