The Things I’d Like To See More In Books, Because For Some Reason They All Magically Vanish

Posted on by Ashleigh

things to see more in books

Have you ever had one of those moments where you wish there was something else included in books?

Whether it be something of a magical topic, or something positively mundane, over my years of reading quite a stack of wishful thinking has built up on this topic.

So here are the top 10 things I’d like to see more of in books!

1. A story without any romance

Why does every single story have romance in it somewhere? Why can’t anyone go on an adventure without falling for someone along the way? There’s plenty of other relationships to be had in books. Family. Friends. Foes. Pets. Anything other than another romance. Please.

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2. LGBTQ characters, but where it’s not a big deal. It’s normal.

I’ve only seen a few books that do this. All the other books I’ve read so far with LGBTQ+ characters in, that’s the main topic of the book, or at least one of the main topics of the book. A big fuss is made out of it, when it really doesn’t need to be. I feel like it needs to be treated as a normal thing, so that soon enough when someone mentions there’s romance in a book, people’s automatic thoughts aren’t boy meets girl.

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3. Characters actually not believing they’ve been sucked into an alternate reality fantasy type world.

Does anyone else think that when a character inevitably finds out they’re meant to be part of this fantasy world they’ve never heard of…they believe it all a bit too quickly?

I mean, if someone came up to me and something along the lines of…

“You’re the lost heir of this kingdom. You need to retake your throne”

“You have magic. You need to train it before it’s out of control”

“You’re destined to be part of this world. It happens once in a millennia but here you are”

Or basically if someone told me I had magic at all, no matter how much I’d want to believe it…I just wouldn’t. I’d need so much convincing. SO MUCH. There would be so much disbelief coursing through my veins, that I’d be so lucky as to join this wonderful world full of all the magic I long for. I just wouldn’t believe it for a long time.

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4. Music mentioned more.

Why is it never mentioned when people listen to music? Or when people sing, even in the quiet got-a-song-stuck-in-your-head way? As someone who literally sings every day and annoys the hell out of everyone around me because I never stop singing quietly to myself, it baffles me that music is mentioned so rarely. I think from the books I’ve read, I’ve only ever seen someone play the piano – that being in Throne of Glass. Oh, and music is mentioned quite a bit in the Am I Normal Yet? series by Holly Bourne. Obviously I might be missing some, but that’s the only one that comes to mind. Whether it’s an instrument being played, someone singing, or even just someone listening to music through their earphones or having a good dance around.

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5. Money mentioned more.

This is probably the one I’d like to see more of. Too often in books, money isn’t ever an issue. Teenagers like me just leave and go off adventuring around the country on road trips, or go to coffee shops, or just hitch up and leave to somewhere without wondering if they have enough money to buy food out or not (for example). As a teenager, I literally plan out how much money I have and what I need to buy. And yet somehow in books everyone comes from a wealthy enough family that these things don’t need to be thought about.

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6. The protagonist’s love interest doesn’t end up with them.

This is one that I think I want, but if I was reading it I probably wouldn’t want it at all.

But don’t you think it’s rather convenient that most of the time, the main character likes a person and then lo-and-behold they’re soulmates. Isn’t it more likely a character will have a crush on someone…but nothing will happen, or there’s awkward moments where they come to admit it?

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7. Swearing

Let’s be honest, most people swear. I feel like whenever swearing is actually included in a book, the character’s reactions just feel so much more real. Like if someone dropped their phone, first reaction would be to swear while falling to pick it up. Or in fantasy, if someone’s love interest was hit during some magical war, they’re more likely to start screaming profanities while struggling to get to them.

I know it would be seen as promoting bad behaviour, but I’ve seen it included in books labelled for an older audience with warnings on the back, so that could be a thing.

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8. Family

This actually had it’s own discussion post not long ago. But doesn’t it seem a bit convenient that most main characters are missing that authoritative figure while they’re off out on their dangerous adventures? And not even just parents, where’s the sibling relationships? Grandma/Grandpa? Where’ve they all gone?

Every time I find a book where the family is actually mentioned, I feel like applauding the author. Well done for adding this perfectly normal thing to your book. Congrats. Great writing 😀

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9. Girl Problems

You know the sort I mean. Periods. A perfectly natural thing that all of us girls go through every month. I mean sure, it’s not exactly the nicest or most interesting thing to talk about. But I don’t mean the book has to go in depth through it all.

What I mean is…How is it handled while the characters are on some wild adventure? Katniss Everdeen was in the arenas for a while. Did they send stuff in for her or take her out to deal with it? Was she given something to stop it? And every other book. The amount of journeys in the books I read where they don’t have anything but food and water for months…how does that work?

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10. Pronunciation guides

I know I know I know – some books have these. And this is a very fantasy based want.

But most fantasy books have oddly spelt character and place names…so why not give us some help with those. I’m a person who has to know how everything is pronounced, otherwise every time I come to that word, it’ll just jolt me out of my reading pace. I have to Google every single name I can’t say. And it can be quite annoying, I must say.

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So there we have it!

Those are the top 10 things I’d like to see more of in books!

Which of these would you like to see more of too?

Is there anything you’d add to the list?

Are there any books you’ve read that do any of the things on the list particularly well? Recommend them in the comments!

Are there any topics that have become tropes and you want to see less of? Maybe you want to replace a trope with one of these?

Also, since I have a discussion post on the family aspect, would you like to any of the others to have their own discussion too? Which ones?

Let me know in the comments!

Until next time…

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32 thoughts on “The Things I’d Like To See More In Books, Because For Some Reason They All Magically Vanish”

    1. Very true! I mean, it doesn’t need to be explained explicitly what’s going on in there, but even if someone just said “I need to use the bathroom” at some point, that’d make it so much more realistic!

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  6. Yes, yes and yes! The point about Katniss and women problems is so true! I was thinking the exact same thing as I read it. Great post 🙂

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  8. Agree that I’d like to see more books without romantic relationships. I think there is so much focus on romance because it’s an easy way for writers to create conflict. Also, non-romantic relationships, particularly ones involving family, can involve a lot more backstory that the writer would need to make up.

    Have you read The Hidden Oracle? The main character is bisexual and doesn’t make a big deal out of it.

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    1. I think it’d be fun to make up the backstories though! But I’m not a writer so I can hardly say anything about writing. I suppose it could be a different way to build up the main character though, through what their family says about their past etc.
      And I’ve not read The Hidden Oracle yet, but I do hope to! I’m so happy to hear that about the main character! 😀

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      1. I suppose it depends on the writer. I think for most of those starting out it’s hard to keep track of so many elements, so not bringing family history into the matter might be easier.

        Then again, in the first novel length thing I wrote I tracked my main character’s family going back a few hundred years (and included all that information in the first chapter. It was terrible!) So, maybe not…

        And, now that you mention it, I can see how learning the character’s family history might help with development.

        Hope you like The Hidden Oracle!

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    1. Thank you so much! 😀 I feel like every book as a romance in it just so there’s something else to write about, but sometimes I just sit here thinking “…this doesn’t need to be here…” haha!

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  10. Yes to all of these, but especially the romance one. I don’t understand why every single book has to have a romantic plot somewhere within. Sometimes things happen that do not involve falling in love. Sometimes you don’t have time to ever think about love. Where are those books?

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  12. Nail on head. We seem to bound by some unspoken conventions more than we imagine. Personally I do like to use a little music and appropriate lyrics maybe, but my Mum doesn’t like it if I slip in a foul-mouthed character 🙂

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  13. Fantastic post, Ashleigh! You make a lot of really great points. I also wish there were more books without a huge focus on romance – especially in fantasy books. One that I read recently that had a surprisingly minimum amount of romance was A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston, which I would recommend. 🙂

    Haha, I agree 100% about how characters accept outlandish “facts” about themselves too easily. Too many times, characters are told that they are actually paranormal with some crazy powers, and they’re like “ohhh, that’s so cool. Let me save the world now!”

    I also wish money was more of a thing in books! It’s like most characters have bottomless bank accounts. And yeah, I think girl problems should be mentioned more too, especially when a girl transports to a fantasy land or is traveling for more than a month. Once again, great post! 😀

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    1. Thank you! I’m glad to see you agree 😀
      A Thousand Nights is on my TBR, I really should get it soon! I definitely agree with you wanting romance to take a back seat in fantasy books – I mean, if all those monsters or a magical war was going on, which is more important? That, or the romance? I think we all know what I’d go for haha!

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  16. I agree with EVERY. SINGLE. POINT. Your book discussions are all so fascinating and I find myself looking forward to the next one.

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