As the title says, what elements do you like/dislike to find in a story?

Character types, various plot devices, genres, writing style, story format, etc.

Post your thoughts here, don't be shy!

Interesting. I'll have a shot at it.

Now bear in mind this is personal opinion, you may fully disagree here.

There's quite a few things, but of course most of these listed elements can "be done right" (though I'd like to see an info-dump prologue done right. That would be an interesting read!)

1)
Big blobs of info-dumping often called 'Prologue', or even if I'm not actually following the character I meet in such a prologue. Why did I just spend time with this character? It's an extenuating circumstance if the character is crucial to the story and plays a large role.

2)
Harems. I can't take them because they're more often than not a sign of paper thin characters. 
In addition to this, I don't endorse the objectification of women associated with this. Way too often the female characters are portrayed as little more than yet another treasure to win. Can't the character just get a castle or something? At least they aren't paper thin.

3)
Let's see. Stories that wander aimlessly without a goal can be quite bothersome as well, some are entertaining enough without it, though.

4)
OP characters. They can be done oh so right, mind you. (One punch man comes to mind.) but if there's no real problems the MC's got trouble handling, which I find is often the case, there's no real tension.

5?)
Oh right. Stories that are axed when I start liking them. Oh, that's not an element. Right. Sorry about that.

Dislikes: Overpowered child MCs, melodrama, using anime tropes, bad guys who are just bad because they are the bad guys, excessively poor grammar, using Japanese honorifics in a story written in English that is written by an author not from Japan, MCs who are handed overpowered abilities from the beginning and corrupt the story forcing the author to create an inane plot, using "because magic" to explain things because the author is lazy, the sexualization of children in 80% of the novels on this site, super beta protagonists, all the rape found on this site, improperly developed game mechanics in almost every virtual reality novel on this site, people whose entire knowledge of sex comes from porn writing sex scenes, people who have no understanding of interpersonal relationships that just copy and paste relationships from their favorite anime into their story, MCs having advanced an understanding of science (particularly physics and engineering) and using it in a medieval fantasy setting when there is no way they would realistically be able to do it with the background they had in their previous life, tsunderes, marty stu and mary sue protagonists, every bad guy in a story threatening to rape the female characters or protagonist because the author can't think of any other bad things a bad person might do, authors with a severe lack of understanding of politics or economics trying to incorporate them into their story without conducting any research, and Hugh Jackman.
There are many more things but I don't feel like spending hours combing through stories and memories trying to remember them all, these are just some of the first that come to mind.

Likes: Stories that have as few of the dislikes as possible. Proper character development that may or may not result in an overpowered state at an appropriate time in the story, proper pacing is a must as well as grammar, "original" story ideas, characters and plots that fit with the world that an author has built, lack of plot armor, non-reader interactive stories, medieval fantasy settings, chapters that have at least 2000+ words, a synopsis that is actually relative to the plot and doesn't trick you into wasting your time, well developed characters that I like, and character interactions that don't make me cringe or facepalm.

I'm a character-focused reader, so if the first 3000 words or so of a story doesn't have any kind of interesting dialogue in it, I'll probably drop it.

The type of protagonist I'm as of lately particular fond of are the ones with quirky personalities and rather ordinary--some might even say boring--backgrounds. Think of Subaru Natsuki from Re:Zero, or Reigen Arataka from Mob Psycho. I especially like characters that can make me laugh my ass off and don't spout out inspirational lines constantly as if it's their full-time job.

The type of characters that I like the least are the sarcastic asshole types. Rather, just assholes in general. I don't care how much they've suffered in their past, if they act like a total asshat to the majority of characters in the story, I almost definitely will abhor them.

My reading criteria is first based on interest and readability. Then comes the more in depth stuff of content and execution. If the first two fail, I don't read. If the latter ones fail, I'm liable to simply bail on a story mid chapter.

As for specific elements, I might come back to that. Interest is based on a whim and interest at the moment. It's liable to change from day to day, but I do like a good adventure, tragedy, horror, or slice life now and then.

'FreshPrinceofRR' pid='800788' dateline='1474309133' Wrote: Dislikes: Overpowered child MCs, melodrama, using anime tropes, bad guys who are just bad because they are the bad guys, excessively poor grammar, using Japanese honorifics in a story written in English that is written by an author not from Japan, MCs who are handed overpowered abilities from the beginning and corrupt the story forcing the author to create an insane plot, using "because magic" to explain things because the author is lazy...

Same dislikes, like yours. Bad guys who are just bad because they are just bad guys? I like one such bad guy, the Joker, all because of his unpredictibility.

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I like responsible MCs in stories. It doesn't matter if the MC is a male or a female, or is a thief or a murderer, it all matters if he is doing it all for saving his love, or to feed his family. And if the MC falls into a despairing situation, I want him to first think about his family, then about his goal, then about himself. I want him to fight against fate. I want him to not give up. I want him to become more responsible throughout the story.

NTR, brainwashing and scumbag main characters are at the top of my list of things I dislike reading.

Other than those three obvious ones I dislike inconsistency. Specifically when the author states something and then latter on disregards their previous statement. It's like saying gravity works one way and then saying that- no- gravity actually doesn't work at all and now I'm on a horse. It's that annoying.

I also dislike things that make absolutely no sense in anyway way. Like using wings to fly through space. Give me a made up science sounding BS reason and I'm happy. Until then it just gnaws at me until I just put it down.

Convenient coincidences also rally annoy me. Like if the MC is fight cyborg dive bombing terrorists and from the start a character is one thing and then suddenly they were actually a cyborg the entire time and now they're going to grow wings and dive bomb the white house. That's fine if it's a comedy but if they're trying to be serious with me then I'm just gonna walk out on them. That's not a twist that's an "I thought this would be interesting so this character is now an airplane. Let me just tear up all my character development and burn it as you all watch this interesting character turn into a Cthulhu monstrosity for my, the authors, amusement." FLIPS A TABLE! Sorry I had some flashbacks to something(THE NEBULA) which really annoyed me. More than that however is when the MC just so happens to run into someone by "pure coincidence" that just so happens to be related to them in some way. Like two people running into one another in game and them actually knowing each other in real life but not knowing it. Or Let say... something like activating a warp drive that teleports the MC and his friends to some random place in the universe and conveniently it's a scrap planet that will let them repair their ship good as new and oh look they met someone their NPC that was apparently a player all along and plays a race that players can't even pick and then even used to play the games beta together as beta testers. WHAT A COINCIDENCE THEY MET YOU THERE! AM I RIGHT!?

*Breaths heavy*

Sorry... I ugh... guess I'm still not over that. Had to take a moment to settle down. Anyway those are the few things that really annoy me. There are other things like barely understandable grammar and wording and lots of other things but I'll not rant any further.

if the story is fun to read and interesting, I'm not going to drop it, I don't care about the style or format or any of that as long as it does make sense.

What I dislike are many words that are too deep and I need to google it just to understand. Other expert readers want the author to show what's happening but sometimes I don't get what the author is describing, I need to imagine things and stop reading for few a moments, then yeah I think get it. I didn't read any american novels because I can't relate to it. I think, my perspective is one those almost average readers. Anyway I'm not sure maybe it's just me. lol

I like a good flow, but that is something everyone enjoys. Something else I enjoy is when the MC is summoned but doesn't follow the wishes of the summoner. Good jokes that will return every once in a while are always a nice touch.

What I dislike are Harems. For some reason I just can't stand them. Romance in general is something I'd rather not see. Multiple POV is another thing that irritates me. NTR is a big nono.

Eeeuhm, I'm sure there is more but my battery is kinda empty right now :(

Crap Grammar and Info dumps. If you can't write a sentence to the standards I want to read then turn around and start chapter one with a wall of text telling me a bunch of nonsense instead of showing me an interesting story, than I'm out -_-

But if you can avoid bad grammar, and info dumps. Than the only thing keeping me glued or not glued to your story is....


je ne sais quoi~

Everyone did said many dislikable things above, I'd like to add more to it.


I hate the 'grinding' narration, where the narrator keeps dumping out a series of action in the kind of "I do this and it goes like that". It's almost something that was born from LitRPG. Even if there is tension or curiosity hanging, I still feel it's too sloppy to get into.

And there's also overlapping characters. I guess there's a school of thought thinking characters from a story are people the narrator sees and meets in the course of the story. "There are Merchant A and Merchant B, and they are different people!" Well, no. Even if they are side-characters, they should carry a level of distinctiveness. If a character only have three lines, in worse case, more, it'd be the best not to have them at all. Only canon fodders don't need distinctiveness, and lines.

And multiple-perspectives-first-person-narrator. Simply won't work, unless it's a visual novel.
Also the use of multiple perspectives narration as a 'change of style'. Something that always make me feel betrayed, the same as a deus-ex-machina, but on the execution instead.

And one facet character. Walking machine with personality traits while coincidentally having a modus operandi to go with the all the hardware. A hot-headed ninja that only knows how to shout and dive into the enemy, who can get angry very easily and when he gets sad he actually gets angry. His flaw is that he's not very patient, and quick tempered (duh!)

And background that was just thrown out and complete in 3 sentences. And background that is only used as an excuse. "I do that because I'm me, you know." Irresponsible.

And idea of Gods that was ripped out from a Xianxia. They are called the Immortals over there, beings that just don't die, but when brought over to the west they become Gods. Don't know why. They are very powerful individuals but have no idea of what responsibility or higher understanding of the universe is. Like a kid with a gun.

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That became a rant instead. I guess the topic touched my landmines.

Oh here we go.

1. Stupid culitvation stories


2. ones that have the japanese honorifics


3. plagurism


4. Harem


5. even when i try and push through Harem all the female characters lives is he MC


6. immature self placement within the stories


7. OP cause why not (I've done it and I got bored of it)


8. Somehow all villians are chaoctic evil that just dont care, there are all sorts of evil you can use lawful evil where they're protected by law, neutral evil where they'll do it if they can get away from it etc.


9. when it feels like im reading a porno than a book


10. when the mc is just so dense


11. the author places the MC in an inescapable situation but he makes it out of it because somewhere between the chapters he did something that saves him.
    

Wow. Just wow.
I read the tittle 'what you like or dislike in a story', yet it focus in the dislike part and becomes ranting thread?
Moreover, i've read many of the posts above somewhere in other thread. C'mon :))


What i like... Let see, i always love the idea of science meet magic thing. Of course, not every novel with that genre is done right. One of the exceptions is your 'two worlds', reshi-sama. When are you going to update that one? T_T

Like:

1) Romance sub-plot
2) Characters with distinct personalities
3) Not-so-pointless grinding
4) OP but not so OP MC
5) Simple but solid game/magic mechanics
6) In case of high fantasy genre, I love anything to do with otherworldly culture and words/terms.
7) Good art cover/fan art
8) Bad art cover/fan art
9) Paragraphs

Dislike:

1) Typical NTR, which revolves around rape. Like in the end, the girl falls in love with her rapist. I hate that kind of NTR.
2) MCs with uncompromising view of morality. Seeing everything in black and white.
3) Info dumps are okay for me, but when abused, it's not okay.
4) Bad guys just being bad guys. You might think that all characters should be consistent with their personality, but in real life, no one is consistent. Everyone has their own levels of hypocrisy. Sometimes, a bad guy should do something out-of-character, but within reason, of course. Same thing with the good guys.
5) Devils/demon lords/powerful bad guys being too obvious with their seduction. If you want a good guy to be a bad guy, make him think that he's doing good even though he's actually doing bad things.
6) Political correctness.

Like:

• Depth of storytelling.


• Character development & growth - both personality and strength.


• Character interactions.


• Deep of world-building.


• Non-cliche romance subplots (not overly sweet, not this whole virgin+CEO/Billionaire trend, etc.)
  

I want to feel like there's more going on in a world/story than just the book's primary plot. The world and characters need to feel like they're alive. If a fiction is set in our world, I like it when I see the author has put in the time to research the place that their novel is set in - or have lived in that place itself. It makes the story a lot more believable.

Dislike:

• MC's who are OP off the bat - or even within the first 20-30 chapters.


• Harems - most people can't pull them off in a believable/logical manner (I blame manga/anime.)


• Violence for the sake of violence.


• Sex for the sake of sex.


• Rushed plots.


• Flat characters.


• Stories that seem overly influenced by SJW, PC, and other real-world cultures/movements. Especially when not set in/on our world.


• Stories that neglect storytelling in favor of fawning over certain traits, characters, etc.


• Overuse of rape as a character growth device.*


• Stats & Tables.**
  

*Overuse as in the stories where it seems like every main and side character gets raped for the sake of "character development" or "angsty backstory." Not only is it an overused trope, but most people who use it can't stomach doing the research to make things...accurate or believable.

**I'm fine with stats when the author isn't using arbitrary values. As long as the author has put in the effort of calculating what stat points actually do it's fine. Aesthetically I still don't like tables, but as long as they're not too frequent it's okay.

Several characters having their own narration/viewpoint as the story unfolds. I just love seeing how things unravel from each one's perspective.

An impossible situation and an intelligent Protagonist. I feel as, the more the plot shifts towards the protagonist being handicapped, the better. These types of writings, I like a lot. It shows how well thought out the plot was. (Protagonist doesn't unlock some op power and actually uses his head.)

I also love those characters who have an ideal sense of justice and change as they move on. The "cliche" hero. As stories unfold, they have to go against their sense of justice and actually choose hard decisions.

A twist to that one slave girl. I don't know if it's just the writings I'm reading or if every author is making their protagonist meet that one slave girl. I feel, it would be a new and fresh twist if the slave actually turned out to be some huge villain. It's always some cliche master-slave love going on, never have I seen it really different.

I'll keep mine to my biggest dislike.
The slave harem member that doesn't want to be let go trope.
Find a slave, make them your slave. Convince them that you're a good person with one touch to the head rub, and Bam. They'll die for you, and be your harem member...

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'Zolfaghar' pid='813359' dateline='1475466844' Wrote: Wow. Just wow.
I read the tittle 'what you like or dislike in a story', yet it focus in the dislike part and becomes ranting thread?
Moreover, i've read many of the posts above somewhere in other thread. C'mon :))


What i like... Let see, i always love the idea of science meet magic thing. Of course, not every novel with that genre is done right. One of the exceptions is your 'two worlds', reshi-sama. When are you going to update that one? T_T

Jikuu Mahou de Isekai to Chikyuu wo Ittarikitari

has a nice science meets magic. it kinda went off the rails real quick though. I did like the magic level = pure knowledge of the element type deal. sadly the story left that realm for regular JP anime tropes rather quickly.

Likes:
When the story goes "ARE YOU ENTERTAINED?" and I say "YES!" and then curse because I just realized I haven't slept all night because I was reading and need to get ready for work now. Seriously, if you have me hooked then I'll probably choose reading your story over sleeping and eating. And I LIKE that.

Dislikes (some of these are from my diving into wuxia):
When the answer to that question is "no" and I wonder why I'm even bothering.
NTR
Rape
Pedo nonsense (some wuxia/xiaxia is pretty bad in this regard)
Female love interests who are basically just notches on the bedpost who serve no part in actually being a part of the plot
The overuse of "jade skinned beauty" in wuxia. There are other ways to describe the "ideal woman" you know.
When I spend three chapters basically reading filler (even worse is when said filler just repeats the same thing multiple of times in slightly different manners to pad out a word count)
Copying someone else's idea with a mild character swap. I don't care if two stories share a concept (I've even run into a situation as a fanfic writer were a friend and I were both coincidently writing stories with the same basic concepts but they went differently from each other) but when you just shamelessly copy and don't even try to use your own voice to share a story I'm going to want to stab you with a broken spoon.

I personally enjoy a evil MC, but I dislike MCS who are way to rightous, goody to shoe MCs, when the MC starts out as evil but then turns good. I dislike harem unless its like from re:hamster. I also dislike stupid self sacrifices, and lastly I dislike like MCs with no ambition whatsoever.

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'skullcyber' pid='817282' dateline='1477651920' Wrote: I personally enjoy a evil MC, but I dislike MCS who are way to rightous, goody to shoe MCs, when the MC starts out as evil but then turns good. I dislike harem unless its like from re:hamster. I also dislike stupid self sacrifices, and lastly I dislike like MCs with no ambition whatsoever.

I forgot about the likes sorry xD. I like stories where a human turns to a goblin or lich, that they have a trait from them. Like how if your a lich you could careless about living things, or you want to use them for power. I like stories where a MC is royalty and acts like it since it's so rare to find that. I also love smart MCs who will do anything to win. I dislike NTR when it happens to the MCs wife/GF. I think I'm done xD.

'skullcyber' pid='817282' dateline='1477651920' Wrote: I personally enjoy a evil MC, but I dislike MCS who are way to rightous, goody to shoe MCs, when the MC starts out as evil but then turns good. I dislike harem unless its like from re:hamster. I also dislike stupid self sacrifices, and lastly I dislike like MCs with no ambition whatsoever.

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'skullcyber' pid='817282' dateline='1477651920' Wrote: I personally enjoy a evil MC, but I dislike MCS who are way to rightous, goody to shoe MCs, when the MC starts out as evil but then turns good. I dislike harem unless its like from re:hamster. I also dislike stupid self sacrifices, and lastly I dislike like MCs with no ambition whatsoever.

I forgot about the likes sorry xD. I like stories where a human turns to a goblin or lich, that they have a trait from them. Like how if your a lich you could careless about living things, or you want to use them for power. I like stories where a MC is royalty and acts like it since it's so rare to find that. I also love smart MCs who will do anything to win. I dislike NTR when it happens to the MCs wife/GF. I think I'm done xD.

I hate overly righteous MC as much as I hate pure evil MCs. Regarding evil MCs, I love it when his evil ways are reasonable. If not reasonable, then at least not for the sake of being evil. Antagonists are protagonist in their own POV.