When it comes to high school stories:
- The MC basically has no personality. Even if they’re a self-insert, the MC can still have their own interesting backstory or personality. For example, in my story, my MC struggles with PTSD and also has her own backstory. And most of the time the MC is either nerdy and quiet.
- I don’t like the typical love triangle where two girls, usually the MC and the Mean Girl, fight over the main LI. It’s worse if the Mean Girl just exists to cause problems or be an obstacle for the MC. Like y’all can do better than that. For example, in my story, instead of the MC and the Mean Girl fighting over the popular guy LI, it’s the Mean Girl and the popular guy LI fighting over the MC because, surprise the Mean Girl is a possible LI option for LGBT players and she’s gay af.
- When it comes to the Bad Boy, I don’t like when the Bad Boy is generally a horrible person but his attitude is justified because of some like dark backstory.
- I also don’t like racial stereotypes and lgbt stereotypes. So many MCs in episode stories have the effeminate, gay guy best friend or they have the token black best girl friend. If you’re going to add minorities into your stories, don’t lean into stereotypes and don’t add them in just for the sake of diversity.