Why hasn’t anyone replied to this yet?
The thing about episode stories is that a lot of authors forget that it’s a “show, don’t tell” app. The authors put in way too many black screens to narrate the story instead of showing the characters go through it. I love when authors…don’t do that.
Another thing is that stories these days try way too hard to make it relevant. Old stories weren’t like that [in episode and outside of it], and that’s why people still like older stories. A unique story isn’t going to try to fit in, and I love when authors can achieve that. It’s pretty difficult, and bombard your story with trends if that’s what you want to do, this is just a personal opinion. I just end up being very satisfied after I complete a story like that. It makes me feel all fuzzy haha.
I also love when you can actually get into the story. When it’s not really a story anymore, it feels like you’re actually there. Everything is in present tense, and you get into your feels when a scene that’s supposed to do so cues. When a story is presented in a way that you actually feel exactly what the author wanted you to feel.
The MC shouldn’t be shallow, they should respect people around them instead of trying so hard to be “badass” and “not like other people”. When they are just themselves, purely because they don’t want to be anyone else, and lives respecting peoples’ boundaries.
When there are different problems/disabilities/mental health issues that are represented right, that’s a great story. I love when you can tell that they author did research before writing something.
D I V E R S I T Y. This adds to what I said before, the author should do research. When they add different cultures and race into their story, it makes me really happy.
I have a lot more, I’ll add them here when I remember them.