Friday, May 23, 2008

GUILTY LITERARY PLEASURES

We all have them, right? It’s not just me? There are some things that I just love in a book no matter how cliché they are, or corny. Or…scandalous.

Name three.

1. Best friend betrayal. Is it really a betrayal it they aren’t your best friend? I don’t think so. And the good ones end in a cat-fight.

2. A love triangle. How can you know that the MC loves her guy if there isn’t another one tempting her? Give me choices!

3. A happy ending. Boo and hiss if you want, but when I read a book, I need to know that the good characters are okay. And yes, to me, okay means with a super hot guy. Making out.

So there are my favorite three guilty literary pleasures. Care to share yours? And don’t just try to sound cool. LOL. The more embarrassing the better.

-Suzanne
:)

10 comments:

Andrew Carmichael said...

Hmm, this is really hard for me because I don't really have anything consistantly pleasurable to me, but let's see...

1. Names. I love books with names that I like. It might sound silly, or random, but I will seriously consider a book on the basis of an MC's name alone. Give me a name like Gabriela or Sebastian and I'm all over it. Otherwise, you better have a good plot going for you.

2. B*tches. Yup, I love them. I don't mean the boring and randomly mean kind. I'm thinking B from Gossip Girl. Rich, stylish, delightfully b*tichy. How can you not love that? Strangely enough, I rarely read books with this type of character, but I love it when I see it.

3. Attractive characters that know they're attractive. This is another trait not seen much, especially in YA. But I admit, I'm a sucker for the character that's hot and knows it and maybe even uses it to his/her advantage. Now, hot and cocky are two different things. I don't like cocky characters. Or arrogant, self-centered, or oblivious characters. It's a very specific trait (I can't even think of an example at the moment) but I'm always ready for it!

Okay, these were kind of lame, but it was the best I could do! Maybe my literary pleasures are just too widespread to concentrate into a list.

Cat Hellisen said...

my guilty pleasures. Oh dear.

LOVE love triangles. Or quadrangles. The more the merrier.

ANGST. Brooding emotastic angst. I hate it in real life, but in books, I want to feel the pain, the pain, the pain.

Awkward relationships. Fumbly, stupid, horribly, wonderfully awkward relationships. Where I can see how much the characters care about each other, but are to dumb/proud/insecure to see it themselves. I cheer them on from the sidlelines, as it were.

Anonymous said...

OOOOOO! I have a character named Sebastian in my WIP! And he knows he's hot, but he's not cocky about it! :D

Honestly, I don't know what I have to have other than a happy ending or at least the hope for happiness. Sorry, I'm boring. LOL

~Dreamer

Andrew Carmichael said...

Dreamer, I best be seeing that manuscript soon, then. haha

Sophie W. said...

Oooh. I have a list of them for fantasy...

1. Dragons. OMG, dragons. Dragons, dragons, dragons. I don't care how or why or where or what or with whom, I devour dragon stories like forbidden fruit.

2. The tall, silent older man who falls for the bubbly young woman. I'm sorry. I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. It makes me giggle profusely.

3. Awkward relationships, just like Catherine. :) I love them for the same reasons.

Can I add another one? I have this soft spot for evil overlords. It ties with awkward relationships, except awkward relationships are often more well-written than evil overlords.

Alison Ching said...

1. The sensitive bad boy. Ye gods, I love the sensitive bad boy.

2. When writers get that some facet of their story is kind of silly and are self deprecating about it. Like when Meg Cabot worked the real Princess Diaries movie into the books and made fun of it.

3. Kind of related to #2 - in-jokes that are allusions to other books, movies, etc. Because who doesn't like to be in on the joke?

Sage said...

Yay, awesome topic, Suz!

1) Love triangles. Yeah, I know, everyone else said it, but I do love me them. Bad boy/girl vs. good boy/girl. Two good potential loves. Love polyhedrals ;) Yeah, I want to cheer when the MC chooses what I would choose or cry when my choice is left behind.

2) Charismatic but crazy bad guy. I love it when the bad guy steals the show and you could just watch him foil the MC again and again as long as it keeps him around.

3) The outsider. The guy who doesn't fit in for whatever reason. Usually a stoic outsider instead of an angsty one, but let's be serious, I like angsty too (Buffy, anyone?). But, yeah, give me a stoic, strange-talking character and play him (or her) off of the other emotional (to varying degrees) characters, and I'm hooked. Sophie understands ;)

Jacqui said...

Ooh. I love this question.

1. Have to agree with the sensitive bad boy, particularly if he starts out scowling and ends up smiling.

2. The awkward main character. Not the one who's totally cool and normal but feels awkward, because that's everybody. I like the actually awkward, stumbles, says stupid things, wipes out in the cafeteria awkward.

3. I know it's cliché and overdone, but I still love the best friend who turns out to be The One. Sigh.

brittanimae said...

1. I love twists. LOVE twists. When the bad guy (or better yet, girl) is the one nobody expected but BAM there she (or he) is. Mmmm.
2. Danger. Preferably with a down-to-the-wire rescue. By someone VERY hot.
3. Crack-me-up hilarious dialogue. Which is to say pretty much everything you write Suz.

hannah moskowitz said...

1) Drug abuse

2) Health problems

3) Brothers


...anyone surprised? hahaha