What do you want authors to think about/include when writing their stories?
Post whatever you think authors should see/think about before hitting the post button.
diversity brownie points :
if youāre going to add different types of people in your story do it with your whole chest. donāt add one and give them zero personality or make their personality revolve around whatever the thing is that makes them diverse 
diversity is such a gift and it can make a story very interesting and different when used right and respectively.
Gay and black are not personality traits!
Dang, I keep finding your profile lol.
If youāre going to use a stereotypical theme, put a twist on it that makes it worth while to read. For example, a mafia story that shows the realities of the messed up shiitake that it does to them, and the protagonist being a person whoās life was ruined because of it and is climbing the ladder to get revenge might be an interesting read or twist to the usual archetype used when describing them. Etcetera, etcetera.
Itās sometimes blatant that some poc characters are written by people who have close to no knowledge about theses minority groups. Every Muslim girl character Iāve come across has brown skin, thick eyebrows, a broad nose and the same green headscarf. If you do want to have a diverse cast, please at least make a quick research about these people to avoid falling into a stereotype.
Yes!! I have also noticed that. Some authors just go by stereotypes and do not fully think about the characterās traits and focus more on giving them the stereotypical āethnicā look
What plots are overused? high school. mafia. vampire.
What are your thoughts on diversity brownie points? diversity is good. but dont add it just for the diversity. make good characters there fit where the story takes place
What are common, yet annoying, directing errors? the size especially the background characters. people who keep talking in a loop. or not talking when they are supposed to.
What do you wish authors did more of? be happy with the work before they publish. I often see they sorry for bad directing. if you feel like you need to say sorry then you clearly arenāt ready. your story will be more popular if you take time to make the story better than if you publish a few weeks or months before its ready
Having a character slide into a scene while they say their line and do their animation
Right? I thought it was hilarious when I kept seeing TheTalkingLlama. Moreso since my friend loves llamas lol
I 100% agree. Cliches can be good if theyāre done well and little differently from the rest.
I have friends who are Islamic and wear Hijabs. I know some who are extremely dark with large noses, others that are extremely pale with small noses and thin eyebrows, and others that are in between.
Plots that are overused
Oh my god seriously we need to stop using the typical tropes and plots. Everyone is tired of Mafia stories and āI married a gazillionaireā and the Iām a good girl heās a bad boy story. I can imagine some people genuinely want to write these stories which is okay because generally when someone wants to write something they take great care and consideration to develop something well rounded and with layers. But you can tell that so many people are just using these themes as an easy cope out to get reads. You can tell cause the story and characters are card board cut outs, thereās very little substance to them, they follow the same format as every other similar story. Any story theme can be good if written well, please authors just choose to write about something you actually care about and would read yourself.
Diversity Brownie Points
Diversity should be added because it brings something to the story, not just because you want to seem diverse. A story that has less diverse characters but they have an actual character and personality is better than lots of diverse characters whoās only personality trait is whatever makes them diverse and they do nothing for the story. Itās fantastic to add diverse characters and I canāt see why you wouldnāt want to, it adds just so much more to your story. But take the same consideration writing a diverse character as you would a non diverse character. For an example, if you put in an African American woman into your story, give her personality: she loves art, she doesnāt like wearing pants and likes to wear skirts, sheās kindhearted, she thinks pineapple on pizza is great, she loves getting to know people, sheās helpful, sheās honest, etc.
Donāt have an African American women who is just there to āact blackā and put in those harmful stereotypes, Iāve seen it done so many times. Constantly angry, sassy, loves chicken and watermelon, lives in the ghetto. Iām not kidding Iāve seen it done so many times. And donāt have a character just say āIām (insert diverse label here)ā and then never bring it up again or insert it into a story. If you have someone say āIām Muslimā SHOW US SHES MUSLIM! Show her wearing modest clothing, show her praying, show her doing her cultural practices. Donāt have her say āIām Muslimā and then have her in booty shorts and a crop top so short her boobs are popping out.
Common yet annoying directing errors
Iām guilty of almost all of these, especially when I first started. Thatās why Iām planning of reediting my story. But some common directing mistakes: speech bubbles facing wrong person, zones are messed up, zooms in wrong place, overlay isnāt it right layer.
What do I wish authors did more of
I wish they just thought about action and consequence more. I wish they took the time to think āoh well this person died and this person was close to them so this person would be dealing with grief possibly for a long timeā not āthis person died and this person was close to them so they are gonna be sad but then sleep with the LI and be fine problem solvedā NO!! Also (following from the same example) someone died but no one reacts cause I didnāt think about reaction, at least one person should be sad but Iām just gonna have everyone go about their business like nothing happened and then use the death as a plot devise sometime later.
I also wish authors took the time to flesh out characters, make them real people. Itās better reading for the reader and itās easier to write for the author, so why wouldnāt you?
I wish authors would plan their plot twists and subplots better. Donāt just throw a plot twist in for shock value. A good plot twist is one that leads up to it and you give some reason as to why it happens throughout the story, not enough for the reader to figure it out, but enough so when itās revealed it all makes sense and everything falls into place. Those are the most satisfying plot twists. Not the āDavid was the killer all along!!ā But it makes no sense cause David was always with you throughout the story??? Now if David would do things out of character through out the story, if he came home late once a week from āworking lateā, if he was gone by morning when you woke up, all seemingly normal things, and THEN it was revealed he was the killer it would be so much more satisfying and would make sense. Some readers will see it coming and others wonāt, either way, itās a lot better than it coming out of nowhere. And alternatively donāt spoon feed it to readers either, let them work on it themselves.
Subplots are just as important to the main plot, they add to the story. Donāt put in a meaningless plot that wonāt affect the main plot in anyway or the character in any way. For an example: donāt have a side character go for a promotion and see them try to get the promotion, for them to get it and have it not affect them at all. If it does nothing to affect them then what was the point? Have it increase their wages, maybe they get more tired at night because theyāre working harder so they become snappy towards the MC, maybe the character gains confidence in his work ability, maybe he realises that a promotion wonāt improve his quality of life in anyway and heās disappointed. Give there a reason to be a subplot! Donāt just throw it in because you canāt carry the plot on its own, if your plot doesnāt carry, maybe get a new plot?
Yeah, I am muslim myself and some creaters just think automatically link the religion to the Middle-East. I donāt know itās a lack of research/knowledge or just simple laziness, but itās kind of irritating to see the same āmuslim girlā type in every story.
I think authors should really think about why theyāre publishing a story and what theyāre publishing along with it. If there are any sensitive topics they should have trigger warnings and be beta read by trusted members.
I also think the overall story is good to think about. Publish what you as an author enjoy writing but donāt forget to try and strive for quality and some originality in the product. 