: Re: What Is Considered a Pet Peeve When It Comes To Writing? I have had about two beta-readers who had pet peeves with respect to the use of certain words in fiction. I was wondering if these

@Karen856

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I try to look at this kind of feedback the same way I listen to other people express their style or taste.

Some people like chocolate more than strawberry, and others are the other way round. Neither is valid or invalid, its just a personal preference.

When some one gives my feedback on my writing, and its dominated with their personal preferences - I use oxford commas and some of my critique groups hate it — so I discount the feedback. For some reasons, and I hesitate to speculate why, some people really think a lot of their littlest inclinations.

But, that said, it is very important to differentiate between their expression of person taste v. a poorly expressed observation about readability. I’ve observed that sometimes critique groups are unable to express why a phrase or sentence or paragraph bothered them. Some will just say, I think this needs work, but I can’t explain why. And, others, because of their personal natures, need to have a reason to behind every observation. So, it becomes a pet-peeve.

So long and short, consider the source. If they motivated by ego then feel free to ignore it. If they are communicating a problem with readability then ask questions about specific sentences to uncover what is the real problem is.

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