Reader Observations

In reading a fair amount of fiction, I've noticed certain commonalities (and quandaries) over the years. Although I'm writing more about fiction than non-fiction so far on this blog, it seems to be easier to find similarities in stories than in teachings, though I'm sure I could put some thought into repeated non-fiction concepts.

A few things that I have observed in reading fiction that either puzzle me or amuse me are the following (please be assured that none of this is meant to be scathing but rather something to poke fun at):

• The concept of grey (or even purple) eye colour. I can't recall meeting someone who hasn't had brown, blue, green, or maybe hazel eyes. Hazel to me is a mix of the above colours, and as I'm not terribly well-versed in further distinctions, I wonder if I'm missing a whole subsection of the population with these aforementioned eye colours.
  
• Recessive genes being dominantly featured. Surely there are more brunettes and brown-eyed people who need some representation, right?
• The notion of smirking, especially when this is the only look that characters seem to give to each other! Please tell me I'm not the only one who notices that characters are almost always described as smirking, which leaves me wondering if they're being sarcastic, playful, annoyed, or flirtatious. I think it's funny when characters are smirking non-stop as it makes me think that their faces remain the same way the whole time.
  
• The idea that men are as captivated by what women are wearing as described in books, although I should give credit to the men that do pay attention. In reality, I think I can safely say that after having been married for double-digit years now, my husband usually has other things on his mind and would not necessarily be the first to remark on clothing 😆
• This isn't as noticeable in most Christian books, but there are books out there where I feel like the manuscript has been drowned in alcohol. When every single social occasion is punctuated by the partaking of an alcoholic beverage, it makes me question how the cast of characters exist in a sober state and whether the plot actually has to do with functional alcoholics. I don't mind reading about drinking, but it increasingly seems like it's an all-or-nothing practice.
• People calling each other by their last names. In historical books, this makes sense when it's a title or the characters have not yet given permission to others to use their Christian name. In contemporary settings however, I don't know too many people that do this—perhaps athletes to fellow teammates on the sports field? At the very least, I don't see too many love interests address each other this way in life.

I could probably go on, but I don't want this to appear as a rant. Rather, it's a brain dump of little things that have stood out to me in the course of reading. I still think that authors do an amazing job of capturing everything that they do and making their stories entertaining, so this is more to highlight the odd exceptions than anything. While I have written non-fiction materials, I don't think I could stand up to the scrutiny that fictional books face!