Book Dialogue Pet Peeves
1. In general, I dislike writing in which characters from other countries don't speak how they normally would in real life. For example, if you have an Irish character straight out of Ireland, they should use Irish phrases instead of American phrases. It sounds/reads strangely and unrealistic if the character with an Irish brogue who just showed up in America isn't speaking in an Irish manner. Bugs me!
2. The following dialogue is in almost every book I read, lately, and it's driving me BATTY!
Character 1 (usually male): Hi.
Character 2 (usually female): Hi, yourself.
WHO SPEAKS THAT WAY???!!! I have never in my life said, "Hi," to someone and had them respond with, "Hi yourself," nor have I ever said it to anyone else. I don't think real people speak this way unless it's a way of speaking in another country from my pet peeve #1. I am seriously going to start counting how many books I read that have that dialogue in there at least once. Even some of my favorite authors use it, and (as you can tell) it makes me CRAZY! Do you speak this way? Have you ever heard anyone speak this way? Do tell. Maybe I'm wrong.
3. The overuse of a character's name in a scene when they're the only two people in a scene (especially if it's a male and female which make pronouns easy to infer). Let's say Sue and Tim are speaking to one another in third person, but the author rarely uses Sue's name when referring to her, but always uses Tim's. WHY??
Example (and yes I know it's generic, but it makes my point):
"I love you, Tim," she told him.
"I love you too," Tim said.
Sue reached across the seat and held Tim's hand. Tim had such soft hands and she really liked Tim's soft hands. She loved to hold Tim's hand. ETC ETC ETC.
I have heard someone say, "Hi, yourself." Maybe it's a regional thing.
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