Note: This thread is solely for books. Maybe we can start one for TV or movies, but I’d like to keep this one just for books in any format.
One of the things that always, always makes me want to throw a book out the window is the abrupt change in the focal character. I HATE reading 100+ pages on an interesting character, getting thoroughly wrapped up in his/her plot, anxious to find out what happens, we get to a critical point, and BAM! End of chapter. When you turn the next page it’s like Part II and it’s some other totally different character you now have to get invested in.
I find it very difficult to get invested in this new character. Occasionally the author can write a good enough yarn to get me back in, but 90% of the time I’m just reading to find out what happened to the first character. Which usually gets resolved in backstory or some such, or maybe the second character meets the first character.
What else?