I am quite a picky reader, and so I try to ignore things and let them slide, but some of them just make me want to not continue:
Racism/lack of diversity/wrongly depicted/designed poc characters/stereotypes - RACISM AND ISLAMOPHOBIA ANGERS ME SO MUCH. Like how they wrongly depict a character’s sexuality/culture/religion and make that the character’s whole identity. Like as if that is their personality?
Slutshaming OMGJDFJJD - When they introduce the mean popular girl and OBVIOUSLY, she has to be a slut, sleep around with every guy in the school, and be bi*chy to the MC.
Exceptionally bad grammar - Listen, I am one to look over this issue a lot, because if the plot and characters are intriguing, then it doesn’t matter much. But, if the grammar and punctuation is so bad I cannot understand what is being told, and the author ends up saying, “English isn’t my native language (which I understand), sorry my grammar is such a da*n inconvenience, I can’t help it, sorry for wasting your passes.” Please have someone co-write with you, and not be so rude about it, because it really makes me click off the story. Acknowledge the issue, ask someone to help so I can tell that you’re trying, instead of blaming the low reads on your readers.
Abusive/Toxic LI’s… or just bAd bOyS - There is nothing that makes me click off a sotty faster than seeing one of these. Somehow, making the bad boy a jerk, cocky, abusive, toxic, and repeatedly harass you is hot and romantic, sorry but it’s not. If my Love Interest has no personality and is a jerk and thinks it’s cool, then they will end up being my Hate Interest. It also wrongly depicts the enemies to lovers trope, which is one of my favorite tropes. This is 95% of the time in Episode Featured Stories.
Bad Narration - I like plots that are thrilling and capture my attention, but if the first few lines in your story are: “omg im a nerd and noone likes me and in my school im the most unpopular but this is my best friend and we met in kindergarten and that was the time i knew she was my bff for life”. And it’s also very off-putting when the first episode is unnecessary backstory. Also side note - If episode 1 of your story says “I PROMISE it get’s better after 15 episodes”, then I deeply apologize, but I’m unfavoriting your story.
Character’s that lack personality, or have none at all - Character development and depth is something that I look for, and I absolutely love when the character’s have so much more to them than “here’s my helpful bff that was created solely for outfit choices”. If the plot isn’t boring, then this definitely is.
PLOT - Very basic plots with nothing to make it interesting, and no progression at all. This is mostly in Episode Featured Stories, but when you kiss/get laid in the first episode, without any thrill in the romance, the plot is moving too fast (you kiss, develop feelings, and then call it an exciting, interesting, slow burn romance). ALSO CHOICES THAT DON’T MATTER AT ALL TO THE PLOT OR DON’T INFLUENCE ANY IMPORTANT SCENES/DIALOGUE, for example “what do you want to eat for breakfast?” I would rather not.
Hmm… Many things can stop me from finishing a story. Some are specific to me, some are disliked by most of the community members.
5-minute intro.
I feel like I had spelled this out for like, a millionth time already. I like a well-done intro but just… Keep it short and simple, please… I had to spend 300 seconds watching unskippable zooms and pans… ffs can we just get moving?
Basic plot/interactivity
I’m super picky, so this could be just me.
I don’t mind reading stories with basic plots but I find it hard to engage with the story if its plot is just too simple. It’s not necessarily bad, but I just won’t continue to read.
As for interactivity, it isn’t compulsory to make the story good. However, too little or too much can be overkill for me. I cherish balance a lot.
Lazy directing/Directing that doesn’t even make sense
I understand spot directing is painful. Believe me, I know. It hurts my back, my fingers, and my eyes too.
But I especially despise when the characters walk 7 inches above a character IN FRONT of them.
Or, in some cases, characters walking at lightning speeds and then jam at a spot with idle animation for 2 seconds before crying and collapsing on the floor…
At least make the directing look neat if you don’t like advanced stuff. Or use the basic 5 positions provided by Episode.
Still story problems.
Lazy character development.
It’s a mean girl, it’s a bad boy, it’s a school nerd… If this is a parody scene I would love to read it and have a good laugh. For most cases, it’s not so stereotypes and tropes are a big no-no for me.
Plot that resolves itself.
I am rich. I spent 60 episodes crying because my boy/girlfriend is about to die… Only to realize there’s a cure since God knows when and I have the money to buy it!
You think this is some joke? Because it’s not funny at all.
Messy storyline.
I like content. But how you, as the author, arrange the events also impact how I see the scenes.
So if the storyline is so messy I couldn’t differentiate the precedent and consequent, I might as well start a case file investigating what the hell are you writing. Sorry if that offended anyone
Weak emotional impact.
This isn’t a must in stories, but I tend to finish stories that manage to make me feel a wide range of emotions. So, bland stories are just too boring to me.
Insta-Love: So in most of the episode Stories that are in the limited catalogue go like this: The mc and li hook-up because they are “made for each other” And the rest of the story draaaags as I love you blah blah. A fight happened blah blah. I don’t know about you, but the part I like in romance Stories is the part they both fall in love with each other. They shouldn’t say they are made to be together. We should feel it.
Bad boys: No intro needed. Every single high school romance, I repeat EVERY single high school romance follow around the bad boy, mean girl, nerd girl trope.If you want explanation read the above replies. Every single reply mentioned them. And they give justification for it also. (as it is in Rule breaker) Smoking and drinking… What are you people trying to do? Spoil kids??
Plot diversion: Mostly this is in thriller Stories and these people do it in the name of “twist”. Remember that a twist means (as it is in the name) means to twist the plotline. Not to change it.
Strong female characters: I really love powerful female characters. But most of these strong female characters have no dynamic other than they are STRONG.
Grammatical errors: It irritates me to the core!
Racism, colorism, casteism, religionism, etc.: I’m not reading a story for the author to be racist, colorist, idiotic to me.
I’ll rant more when I feel like it.
it remind me of a class , not sure right word in english, it just where rich people look down upon people poor people. I dont know what the diffrence is,
but found a video explain it so, so gonna watch it Difference Between Caste and class - YouTube
Okay, I dont think its a thing most have, never heard about it myself. but I understand why you dont like it. I only just at a little bit of it, and it just seem wrong to me.
I hate when I have to customize the MC’s ENTIRE family. I just want to get started with the story. The author should code the story so that the family automatically changes with the MC or even make it so that’s the MC is adopted.
I don’t mind stories with point systems, but they can be too much and too stressful sometimes. I don’t like making decisions in real life, so I don’t want to make them in stories either. I read to escape reality, not relive it lol.
I am so so tired of love interests who sleep with someone new literally every night especially if his reasoning is that he’s trying to get the MC out of his head or some dumb crap like that lol. I don’t mind the MC having a healthy libido and sex life, but make it realistic. A man or woman who sleeps with anything that moves is not attractive to me.
I read the story ‘Beating Hearts’ didn’t mind the story but the fact she found a child and they both bathed naked together the first day very nearly made me exit. As a mother that’s a no
Damn, that’s disgusting, actually. There are 13 year olds reading stories on episode… What was the author thinking?? Besides… I don’t understand why authors are showing whole days of MC and her best friends lives and LI’s and his best friends lives. Like waking up, eating breakfast, taking dumps, going to the shop, eating brunch, taking a shower and eating dinner. In three episodes. Hell, if I wanted a real life show I should watch TV…
Was just reading My Brother’s Best Friend and I have to say I’m not a fan of the LI controlling the MC and the MC still having a crush on him? Like in chapter 4, they were just like “I wrote a poem about him” and that was the first time I realized that the MC already likes the LI. And I don’t even know why? He’s annoying and two-dimensional.
In general, when love interests are undeveloped, it drives me crazy. Like, I feel that a lot of authors give their LIs interesting backstories, interests, and opinions and then… no personality. Like, ma’am? Where is the sum of those parts?
The MC getting betrayed and then forgiving them in the next chapter without any ramifications from the betrayal, at least let me punch them or something
Besides… I don’t understand why authors are showing whole days of MC and her best friends lives and LI’s and his best friends lives. Like waking up, eating breakfast, taking dumps, going to the shop, eating brunch, taking a shower and eating dinner. In three episodes. Hell, if I wanted a real life show I should watch TV… 