Category: discussion

discussion

Let’s Talk Bookish – What’s Your Back-up Plan for Posting?

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books & Dani @ Literary Lion, where they discuss certain topics, share their opinions, and spread the love by visiting each others’ posts.

OCTOBER 22: WHAT’S YOUR BACK-UP PLAN FOR POSTING? (RUKKY)

Prompts: There are just some days when you completely forget to prepare a post beforehand. In those instances, is there a specific kind of post you quickly throw together to stay on schedule? Do you just miss the day and move on? If you can’t come up with any new ideas for posts, what do you usually end up recycling?

Welcome to another week of LTB, everyone! Today’s topic is suggested by our gracious meme co-host, Rukky. She definitely asks a good question – I wonder what the rest of you do as well. But first, what do we do over here at DTRH?

The biggest benefit to a co-run blog is that there is someone to cover for you most of the time! But here at DTRH, we usually try to stick to a general schedule, or else it can get messy with who is posting what and when. That being said, in terms of back-up posts, I think we’re like most bloggers (?), where we generally have drafts of book review posts that are either finished or almost finished, and we can quickly churn one out if need be.

It’s funny that despite having a schedule, life can still catch you off-guard, and leave you forgetting. Ironically, a good example is this post – meant to post this yesterday properly on the Friday, but after being in the zone, working 14 hours yesterday…it just completely slipped my mind. I’m sure many of you can relate!

Assuming there is no post prepared nor anything planned for a particular day, I think the quickest kind of post to quickly through together is a type of informational or opinion piece. Recommendations also work well in a pinch, in case any of you need ideas for a quick post! I always find that book reviews always have the most content that is hard to churn out quickly – and certainly if you aren’t finished reading the book, the review becomes an impossibility anyway.

Missing a day is definitely acceptable too, everyone. Let’s not buy too much into the hustle culture that we’re always sold. It really is okay to take a break. If you were tired and missed a post – then that means you needed the rest! I wouldn’t want any of you to feel the pressure of posting if you don’t feel like it. Definitely just miss a day and move on if necessary, we’ll all be here waiting for when you’re ready.

I think we don’t recycle too many posts here at DTRH, but certainly we do look to all of your blogs for inspiration if we’re ever running out of ideas. In fact, if you have suggestions of what you might like to see here on our blog, please feel free to suggest it to us. We are always looking for new content that might interest you all!

discussion

Let’s Talk Bookish – Overused Book Tropes

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books & Dani @ Literary Lion, where they discuss certain topics, share their opinions, and spread the love by visiting each others’ posts.

OCTOBER 15: OVERUSED BOOK TROPES (SUGGESTED BY ARIA @ BOOK NOOK BITS)

Prompts: Connected to my previous topic where we talked about tiresome characters, what are some tiresome tropes? Have you seen enough love triangles? Getting sick of enemies to lovers? What tropes have you had enough of, and can they ever be done well?

Welcome to the middle (already?!) of October, another LTB! Today’s topic kind of follows the previous topic of tiresome characters – this time we’re talking about tiresome tropes.

Overused? Or perhaps classic? I think sometimes it really just depends on how much the author leans into the tropes. Is it a classy or cheesy use? I think that’s what it usually comes down to. I really don’t have inherent problems with love triangles and enemies to lovers. Yes we can usually see them with a blaring red alarm a mile away. At the same time, I feel that just a hint of a suggested love triangle, or just a tense relationship becoming a close one…I really do think can be effective ways to kind of move the plot forward and to create the right amount of emotional tension.

I think where the real problem arises is where it’s just too much and they belabor the point that there’s a love triangle and both guys are so attractive and it’s just so hard for the girl to choose – these are the times that I desperately wish the author wouldn’t use such a trope.

For the genres that I tend to read though, there aren’t usually too many tropes that are overused. I feel that in thrillers and mysteries, tropes appear in so many different ways, sometimes in ways I didn’t even see coming, and I feel that rather than being “overused,” it’s more like an avenue for creativity – and I actually enjoy the same trope being twisted different ways and presented to me. In fact, I’d say that I’m often looking for the trope and trying to see how that type of character or plot is being fit into the thriller genre. Honestly the plots aren’t all that different when you break it down to its core elements, but the way it is executed really can change it from a 1-star all the way to a 5-star book.

For the books you all read, do you find that tropes appear too much? Or just the right amount? If you’re getting sick of a trope, is it because it isn’t executed well (or how you wanted)? Or is it because you personally just don’t enjoy the trope? Are there any tropes that just never work? Let me know in the comments below!

discussion, Uncategorized

Let’s Talk Bookish – Cut and Paste Character Archetypes

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books & Dani @ Literary Lion, where they discuss certain topics, share their opinions, and spread the love by visiting each others’ posts.

OCTOBER 8: CUT AND PASTE CHARACTER ARCHETYPES (DANI)

Prompts: Are there any characters you feel like you’re seeing over and over again recently? The same love interest in multiple romances? The same protagonist over and over? I’ve seen a lot of complaints about Rhysand-like characters recently so I’d love to hear what characters you’ve seen too much of.

Welcome to another LTB in October everyone! Today we’ve got a prompt from our very own Dani at The Literary Lion. If you don’t already follow her on her blog (linked in the quote above) please go check her content out! She posts consistently and is always a source of bookish content. Thanks to her (and Rukky) once again for hosting this wonderful meme.

First admission, I don’t know who Rhysand is! But looking him up on google…I’m not surprised that his type of character appears often. Some character types are just too good not to have repeated I suppose – whether that’s a good or bad thing though, I can’t really say. I haven’t personally really noticed the same character types popping up in my own series. It’s usually the same old, same old, but nothing that’s particularly repetitive to the point where I start rolling my eyes.

The same love interest in multiple romances would be a common theme though. I haven’t read any romances recently, but back when I did more, there were always the same kinds of love interests – mainly the good-looking but bad-for-you types. But I suppose that’s kind of what people read it for, and so… in that sense it’s okay? Honestly not sure what else I’d like to see, but for sure creativity these days would be much appreciated. The more reading and books I get under my belt, the more I love when there’s something new that I haven’t seen (which of course gets more rare as the days go by).

If I could have the same(ish) protagonist over and over, I honestly wouldn’t mind too much. But that’s probably because I generally read books looking for that same kind of powerful (on the inside) protagonist who struggles and (mostly) triumphs despite all odds. Because I tend to like the same kind of story, I tend to want the same type of protagonist, except facing different scenarios with more and more impossible choices. Is it just me? Maybe I’m weird for liking the same type of thing all the time.

In mysteries and thrillers there are definitely common characters that appear all the time, but it’s more about the way they are written than about who they actually are. There are always those “suspicious” characters, some of which are downright thrown in your face as a suspect, and others who are portrayed as innocent (which in itself makes you suspicious), or those who are completely unrelated (which also makes you suspicious). The “formula” for how these kinds of books are written are often not too far off – although when a trope is good, why change it? I definitely appreciate the authors who can use these tried and true archetypes to great effect.

What do you all think about seeing the “same” characters throughout different books? Yay or nay? Let me know in the comments below!