Slightly OT: Pet Peeve in Fiction Writing

[CJWrite]

Originally Posted by anng

Stephen King always makes cameo appearances in his movies. I've never had an issue with that. It actually becomes a game for us to see who spots him first.

In this case, the author is a no-name for all intents and purposes. She's going self-published through Amazon and honestly, if she was a big name, I think I could tolerate it a little more, but for an unknown, it's just vain IMO.

The first thing I thought about when I saw this was Stephen King in his books-turned-movies. But then I thought about it a little more and realized that it was a completely different situation. He's a well known author and he always plays these bit parts portraying the weirdest, creepiest little character. I think he does mean it as a game. It's kind of like his mark - like naming his towns Castle Rock.

I don't really see an author naming herself in a book vain. I just think it's really weird. Honestly, I might not notice, since i read so many books, and I dont even really pay atention to the author's name to begin with...

[anng]

Originally Posted by CJWrite

I don't really see an author naming herself in a book vain. I just think it's really weird. Honestly, I might not notice, since i read so many books, and I dont even really pay atention to the author's name to begin with...

I read on average a book a day for my review site, so I read all the time. It's very rare that an author mentions his/her own name in the books. When I have seen it, it's almost always been a self-published book. I think that's why it bugs me so much. If bestselling authors don't do it, why do the self-published authors think it's, I don't know, "cute" for lack of a better term.

[CJWrite]

Originally Posted by anng

I read on average a book a day for my review site, so I read all the time. It's very rare that an author mentions his/her own name in the books. When I have seen it, it's almost always been a self-published book. I think that's why it bugs me so much. If bestselling authors don't do it, why do the self-published authors think it's, I don't know, "cute" for lack of a better term.

Hmmm... Good question. They have to no what they're doing - it's not like it's a mistake.

Maybe they're trying to keep their name in the reader's head? It's still too cutesy for my taste though. That is if I actually noticed. i gotta start paying attention to the book authors now...