One person's trash is another person's treasure.

Humans truly are different. From the things we like, from the things we hate. We are all different and it shows in various ways.

I am going deeper into what I mean.

When comes to reading fiction or even nonfiction (I am going to use fiction mainly), readers are strongly divided by what they find amazing.

Something that is terrible garbage to you will ultimately be the greatest treasure to another. Books that make you go “who the hell would read this nonsense?” will cause another person to go “this is really great, and I like it”.

This causes us to be so divided on what we truly want in a good story overall.

But what is considered “trash” is just a matter of opinion to many people. So, fiction, music, and etc pleases different people and we all know this, but it feels like knowing isn’t enough.

So, I ask you all this, what is something that you hate/dislike which has become favored by other people?!

Meaning, what do you consider trash which is treasured by others?

What do you think?

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The romance genre

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The romance drama which is filled with Vampire and Lycan love interests, half heartedly written by teens who just need to get out there and find honest love and grow with it…

Though many will say the same about that which I write of, and that fantasy is overdone equally, and that dragons are shite, and all other demonic derived enemies are too samey-samey…

So be it, but that is my pet peeve no less…

SD

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In regards to anything random, coffee. I hate coffee. I’ve tried all sorts of types—cappuccinos, Frappuccinos, mochas, lattes, espressos, decaf, regular… and just never been a fan. Never liked the smell nor the taste. But coffee is treasured by the majority.

And in regards to books, I’d have to say fan fiction. So many people get into writing and reading because of it, so many people have had their lives changed because of it, and some big authors still read and write fan fiction. But… I’ve never gotten into that. I don’t really know why, though. I have seen some really well written fan fictions out there, but I wouldn’t personally read them.

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I hate Carry On with a passion, but the reasons I hate it aren’t really the same reasons people love it. All the fans gush about their OTP Snowbaz while every day I find new ways to entirely destroy the house of cards that is the word building and the glass vase that is the magic system. I can’t focus on the character writing if I’m wondering how powerful “Exit Light, Enter Night” would be as a spell.

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Popular things I consider trash? TikTok, 4Chan, Twitter, Facebook, everything young adult. (უ‸ლ)

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Harry Potter. Which had me a bit left out at first, but now sees me unfazed by contemporary pressure to stop consuming HP products.

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Me too, my friend, me too.

Though after watching Wizards of Waverly Place as a kid, I’ve been pretty critical of urban fantasy because when you think about how much good in the world the wizards of, for example, Harry Potter could do (cure diseases, control the weather, talk to animals, create food and water) it’s highly unlikely anyone would hate them for their powers. Jealous and resentfulness, maybe, but there’s far more advantages to being a witch or a wizard than not. The people who were tried for being witches weren’t tried because they were magical, but because they were believed to be harming people, their crops, and their livestock.

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Easy. Twilight. Shouldn’t have to say more than that. Lol

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It gets worse. Diabolik Lovers is an otome game that got an anime adaptation, the target audience is teen girls who have a fetish for getting their blood sucked by some rich bastards.

It’s too risque for good Mormon lady Meyer.

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I don’t think it’s too risque for Meyer since what she did was to glorify what was essentially a pedo relationship, but yeah, this anime looks pretty bad. Argh…wtf’s wrong with animators these days? (ง︡’-'︠)ง

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Sup?

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Not much with me. I’m editing what I’ve written of my wip so far to make sure there are no plotholes or inconsistencies. What’s up witchoo? \(^◡^ )

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I’m surprised you didn’t come here sooner. I was waiting for your words of wisdom.

I know you have so much to say. I am here for it. LOL!

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I’m exploring a map of Albaquerque to plan my WIP LOL (this is also a good excuse to binge watch Better Call Saul :wink: )

:cold_sweat:

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Sorry for putting you on the spot like that. LOL!

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Age gaps is less weird than what is essentially softcore vampire bdsm. It’s technically not sexual but it’s not how it’s framed.

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I don’t think I’d blame the animators for the fact that someone somewhere really wanted to adapt this game, of all games.

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The problem for me, especially on Wattpad is that a lot of stories are money motivated, and a lot of writers are sucked into the Creators Program, which may not be the best strategy long term. If the person is writing a story, and they have to make it profitable, it sacrifices the ‘integrity’ of the work, and it drives people away from it. And you’re tied down to Wattpad, and making your writing exclusive to Wattpad’s terms and what they want from the platform (not slating any writers, but Wattpad do want a certain kinda story to make profit from).

When enough people join the bandwagon and Wattpad is making enough money (by exploiting enough users as workhorses, we get a saturated market of ‘slush’ that puts people off, and people don’t want to partake in reading, and a lot of people who don’t fit that mold decide to give up, and become disillusioned by Wattpad as a whole. Wattpad loses revenue because of this not working in the long term, and they try to use more drastic methods in order to bridge the gap, and keep cash flowing.

Even within the traditional publishing industry, things aren’t as they seem. Many workers within the industry itself are realizing that they can’t survive in the industry and are being pushed beyond their means. In New York, many Harper Collins Publishing workers are currently striking because of the rising prices of living in NYC, and not getting enough money to survive under those conditions.

Because of the formulaic stories and the archaic processes driving the industry, stories which aren’t a sure cause for profiteering tend to suffer and not get exposure because, like I said, they don’t fit the mold that is meant to fuel the flawed industry (see above) online and offline, and create ‘opportunities’ for more careers (at the cost of a lot of these people, and the top execs refuse to take a pay cut either).

The ‘hidden gems’ remain hidden, and even if you self publish, you don’t tend to make as much revenue as the formulaic books do (if you’re lucky, you can make it, and have a heavy social media presence, but a lot of self-pub/indie authors just don’t have the time or resources to do that efficiently). People could be discovering them, but the way things are currently rigged, it takes them a long time to surface (even on TikTok with some exposure). They become a ‘treasure’ because they are so rare to find to many people, even on social media and when they find them, they cherish them. These stories that don’t fit the mold.

Having said that, of course, they’re not for everyone. Someone might find them pretentious, long-winded and too experimental/hard to follow, which is valid reasoning. They’re just not their cup of tea. On the other hand, someone who prefers Indie and out of the box works, they might find the traditional, formulaic books garbage, shallow and too predictable, which is also valid on their part.

Like you said, taste varies a lot. There can also be people who don’t mind a trashy romance to unwind, but generally prefer indie books as a whole, or experimental/well written books, or someone who is into ‘trashy romances’ might enjoy branching out once in a while and finding something new.

People’s tastes also change with age; what someone liked as a teenager ten years ago, they may turn their nose up at it now they’re almost thirty and in a stable job/with a family/have a changed world view and have grown since then. And someone who was pretentious when they were younger may be more open minded now, and read ‘basic’ books (well, what people deem ‘basic’) or YA books to unwind now because they have found that helpful/they enjoy doing that now.

There will always be a divide in some way, shape or form on what people enjoy to read, or what makes a book good, whether than be culturally, socially, generational, religious, sexuality based etc., and no one person will every agree with another fully or have the same tastes because everyone has their own world view that is shaped through what they consume, and how they experience life. If everyone was the same, then the world would be boring, and no one would be open to learn new things, or try new experiences.

I would rather there be a divide and a diversity of opinion than not. No one would progress if there was.

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That is probably one of the many reasons why I stopped using Wattpad.

This is something I would often think about. Who needs to change, adapt and grow more? The writers? Traditional Publishing? Both? I would often times find myself asking this question and for the most part I feel like the answer is that they both need to change. Yet I can’t be too sure.

I feel like trying to get yourself out there through any means is a challenge these days. Some days are easier than others though.

Why have the strongest feeling that some weird person out there would not have a problem with that?

Anyway, I greatly appreciate your comment.
I’ve been waiting for you to give your opinion on this topic.

Got anything else you want to express that has nothing to do with reading and writing?

:grin:

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