What are your likes and dislikes in an episode story?

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hi! just curious as someone who’s currently writing a story (fantasy);

what do you like to see in an episode story?

what do you dislike in an episode story?

[this can include genres you wish were more popular, tropes, customization/love interest/gem option/story length opinions, pretty much anything and everything <3]

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:white_heart: Dislikes :white_heart:

  • Unbearable cliches.
    The bad boy treats his crush and others poorly because he has mommy issues and his father beats them. :pleading_face: It’s not his fault. :pleading_face:

  • Bad directing.
    My character should not be teleporting or moving across the screen without a walking/running animation.

  • Unnecessary gem choices
    No, I will not give you 30 gems to make my character stand up to her bully! And the worst part is this choice will have 0 effect on the rest of the story. :woman_facepalming:t5:

  • Limited CC because of art scenes.
    I don’t mind reading a story without/with limited CC, but I can barely customize my character because of 15 second CLICHE art scenes? Okay lol :woozy_face:

  • Love at first sight
    I understand being attracted to someone when you first notice them, but head over heels IN LOVE? No relationship build-up? Booooring.

  • Predators disguised as love interests
    If you are 21+ and attracted to someone who just turned 18, you are a predator. End of story. 18 is still very much a child, and you guys are writing stories about MC’s best friend’s 40-something y/o father falling in love with an 18 y/o? :unamused:

  • When the mafia is brought up at all
    99% of the time the mafia is inaccurate in stories. There are not teenagers running the mafia.

  • Bad grammar / no punctuation
    I can’t read this, I’m sorry. Using the wrong their/they’re/there or two/too/to pisses me off. And how hard is it to put a (.) or (!) after every statement?

  • Main Character has a BFF with NO Story-line
    Token black best friends, fat best friends, stereotypical gay best friends and they don’t have a life? They’re just always in the MC’s business, being their emotional support?

  • A romance hidden behind the comedy genre
    Occasional one-liners is not comedy. Your story is a romance.

  • Non-diverse Characters
    I’m not just talking about skin complexion / race and sexuality. I mean I don’t want to see every character with the same features. I don’t want to read a story where all male characters are incredible ripped (especially if they’re teenagers) and all the female characters have straight hair. This goes for facial features as well.

:white_heart: Likes :white_heart:

  • Good Directing
    Good directing is mainly what pulls me in. Good spot direction, meaning background characters, nice overlays, etc. It shows how dedicated you are to your story. Nice zooms and pans are crucial for me, too. (Interesting backgrounds also). And it doesn’t kill anyone to make sure the speech bubbles are in the right place!

  • Diverse Characters
    I’m not just talking about skin complexion / race and sexuality. I mean I don’t want to see every character with the same features. I don’t want to read a story where all male characters are incredible ripped (especially if they’re teenagers) and all the female characters have the same hair type (Type 1, 2, 3, 4). This goes for facial features as well.

  • Good Storytelling
    I don’t enjoy seeing scenes that don’t matter in a story. Such as your protagonist eating breakfast. I really hate when those scenes are narrated. Narration or the lack of actual speech can get verrryyyy annoying. Be able to tell a story, not only with third person narration, but with animations and speech.

  • Originality
    I don’t read Episode’s featured stories for two reasons:

  1. Unbelievable gem choices.
  2. Cliches and predictable outcomes.

If you don’t add a little splash of originality to your story, it’ll get boring pretty quickly. It’s best to keep the reader on their toes with cliffhangers. (Make sure your episodes aren’t too long or short!)

  • Impactful Choices
    A lot of people seem to love impactful choices, because it is called Episode: Choose Your Story. Giving a reader a chance to greatly impact the story / protagonist or whatever, keeps people drawn in. It might be kind of difficult to write impactful choices on the first episode, but it’s not impossible!

:white_heart: What I Would Like to See More Often :white_heart:

  • Stories That Aren’t Romance That Don’t Have a LI as the Main Focus
    People claim their stories are comedies and thrillers when it’s just a love story… :sob: Which is why I hope Episode will soon add the sub-genre option!

  • Plot Twists
    All stories don’t need a plot twist, but I really like seeing them. It makes the ending more satisfying, as long as it isn’t forced or expected.

  • Different Backgrounds and Overlays
    I understand using the Episode provided backgrounds and overlays every once and awhile, but it gets annoying sometimes, seeing the same cafes, bedrooms, etc.

  • Fair Gem Choices
    Choices that aren’t mega expensive and that actually have an impact on the story, but don’t impact you badly if you don’t pay.

Fair Gem Choice Ex.
It seems you don’t have enough points to kiss [LI]. Would you like to spend 5 :gem: to get maximum points?

5 :gem: Get maximum points and kiss! :heart_eyes:
[FREE] Hug him instead. :smiling_face:

Unfair Gem Choice Ex.
[LI] is leaning in to kiss you! :heart_eyes:
29 :gem: Kiss him back and go further! :heart_eyes:
19 :gem: Kiss him back! :heart_eyes:
[FREE] Fall and kiss the ground. :woozy_face:

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oh? i planned for my gem choices to be what the reader missed in the episode because of their choices (plus support the author), i would be pissed if i were forced to make my mc kiss the ground💀

and thank you, this is really helpful tbh <3

also same

THIS‼️

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Wow you just listed everything perfectly up. Couldn’t have said it better.

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I HATE THIS SO MUCH! It’s very annoying!

Some Recs

Wo Ai Ni by Parako is a horror story that isn’t super focused on romance. And The Bizarre World of Bob Bobvoski by Esta Tolia is a comedy. Pure unadulterated chaos and I love it.

And my story Deadly Nightshade is a thriller and isn’t focused on romance at all. No LI. And the MC is black. Hope you decide to check it out!

Yes, yes, and YES!

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Definitely giving these a read :heart_eyes::sparkling_heart:

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Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy them!

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First of all, I LOVE your pfp and name @tranquilitybasehc ! Arctic Monkeys are my favourite band!!

These are copied and pasted from my post on this thread because I can’t be bothered to re-write it :laughing:
These are my personal preferences and I have a lot of them :face_with_peeking_eye:

Hate:

  • Stories of genres other than romance that still have romance as the main plot. I’m convinced people do this just so that they don’t have to put their story in Romance which is polluted with stories and lowers their chance of trending.
  • Pick me MCs, insulting other women in the story for their appearances and acting like she’s different for eating food. EYEROLL.
  • “badass” MC who’s actually just rude with no redeeming qualities. Yelling at someone for looking at you for 2 nanoseconds doesn’t make you desirable or badass it makes you an a**hole lol
  • over-sexual best friend. We get it, you find everyone hot, but please stop forcing my MC to “get out there” and asking her for details on her sex life. I don’t find this character type amusing, I just think it’s kind of weird
  • That scene in every story where the LI saves the MC from a creep in that dark alleyway background.
  • “Kitten”/“Puppy”/any other jarring nicknames🤢
  • Awful grammar, punctuation and spelling, Or Writing Sentences Like This
  • having to pay for a good ending
  • HUGE MISCOMMUNICATION. God just talk to each other!!! You would know that Kevin didn’t actually cheat on you if you sat down like adults and didn’t waste 5 chapters being mad at each other.
  • Random pregnancy halfway through the story???

Meh (things I don’t like but aren’t deal breakers):

  • Breaking the fourth wall too often. Breaks my immersion, and rarely done well imo
  • Trying too hard to be funny. I don’t know how to explain this because what’s humorous is different to everyone, but for me I just define this as trying too hard to be funny in a story that’s not comedy. Like constantly making jokes in a horror story, like, read the room :sweat_smile:
  • “enemies to lovers” that’s actually just “slight-dislike-to-lovers”. One misunderstanding doesn’t equal mortal enemies lol
  • Too much narration, to the point where it’s pretty much a novel. I lose interest sooo fast. I feel like the point of Episode is so you can show the story not tell it. Bonus points if it’s on a black screen lol, like did you even try?
  • art scenes that are way too long. The artist deserves recognition for their art yes, but 5 minutes of straight slow zooming and narration is too much
  • No sound. This is just a personal preference of mine but I feel like it’s the equivalent of watching a TV show with just subtitles. It feels too empty. Not only does the Episode music bang, but it also helps set the mood for the scene
  • Author character who flirts/argues with the characters in the story. I’m sorry but just why
  • choices that are just reworded versions of each other. If the options I’m choosing between are to either say “I’m so excited” or “I can’t wait!” What’s the point? They’re the exact same response just reworded. Choices are pointless if they won’t affect anything, it just gives readers the illusion that they’re “choosing their own story”.

Love:

  • Slow burns! I want at least 15 chapters before my characters even kiss! I need that tension.
  • dynamic side characters that have their own lives, not just follow the MC around like a lost puppy
  • plot twists. God I love plot twists. And I mean ones that aren’t obvious from the beginning, that I can’t predict
  • use of a point system, especially ones that allow you to sort of choose your personality if that makes sense.
  • option to change your clothing style, for example, closets for an alternative style, preppy style, etc. I know the coding is a nightmare, but so worth it imo
  • sad endings. I wish more authors were brave enough to kill off a few characters and didn’t feel as though the endings have to be happy all the time. I love me a good sad ending!
  • Sweetheart/goofball LIs. I love them so much
  • Filters! I feel like they set the mood for a scene or the story in general
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This is a big one for me as someone whose favourite genre to read and write in is comedy. About half of the “comedy” stories I’ve read shouldn’t be in that genre. No hate to the authors of said stories, it’s not to say they aren’t still good, but there aren’t enough jokes to justify being in the comedy genre or the jokes that are there are just not funny (to put it nicely) :sweat_smile:

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