I like:
- When the story starts with a scene where we get to see the MC’s personality, instead of having it explained to us.
- A story starting in the past, but later jumping to the present time in the same episode
- Stories that start in the middle of action
I’m fine with:
- Character customization at the beginning, because some readers might prefer to choose what the character looks like before starting the story.
I hate:
- The author appearing on a black screen to apologize for this being their first story.
- ‘Spoiler’ flash-forward scenes, where the narrator is all, “I bet you’re wondering how I got into this situation. Well, it all happened two months ago…”
- The MC pausing on a character and telling us their whole life story. “This is Emma. She and I have been best friends for 7 years. She’s a good friend, but she doesn’t know how to keep secrets. She loves pizza more than life.” That can be explained through dialogues.
- The author or MC explaining the plot of the story.,