Agent Pet Peeves

These are straight from agents:

Anything cliche such as "it was a dark and stormy night", or when the author addresses the reader "so gentle reader..."

I hate it when someone wakes up from a dream in Chapter One. It makes me feel cheated.

The worst thing that you can do is let that crucial Chapter one be boring.

the 'run-down' list: names, hair color, height, even weight sometimes.

When an author features too much exposition--when they go beyond what is necessary for simply 'setting the scene'.

A rape scene in a Christian novel, esp. in the first chapter.

"The {adjective} {adjective} sun rose in the {adjective} {adjective} sky, shedding its {adjective} light across the {adjective} {adjective} {adjective} land."