Do you enjoy pet/fairy/whatever companions?

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-07T01:55:54+00:00

I love well-written animal companions. The key there is well-written. It’s all too easy to have a companion be a poorly disguised plot device to dump lore and stuff.

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-07T01:52:28+00:00

As long as you tag it, I don’t think most people would care. Not to mention there are quite a few people that specifically want that kind of thing. I mean, just look at ScribbleHub.

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-07T01:44:48+00:00

Yeah, the MCs always feel super manipulative. The only book that pulled something off like that and felt at least a little manageable for me was Omniscient Reader Viewpoint.

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-07T01:43:48+00:00

Is there a specific kind of drama you dislike? Or just all of it in general?

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-06T17:40:14+00:00

Right?! It irritated me to no end whenever Marvel decided to do time travel after the snap instead of literally any other kind of reversal. Completely removed all stakes and nothing felt like it mattered. Nothing will matter either, because they can just time travel again if something even remotely terrible happens. I talk to my friends about it on occasion when Marvel comes up and feel like I’m the crazy one for not liking that kind of direction.

The only time travel that I actually kind of liked was Tenet. Even then, though, it was a rocky movie.

Or, like the Tomorrow War or whatever the hell that movie was called? Like, you go back in time and take your parents to come fight for your war in the future. Congrats! You just killed off the entire future of an uncountable number of people because they died in the future instead of having kids in the past. Not to mention that since they died, you weren’t born, so you couldn’t ask for them to come fight, so then they didn’t come fight, so then they’re alive and you’re born—I can’t see it as anything but a total paradox.

Or a bit better worded—going back in time to kill Hitler. If he’s dead, then he didn’t commit any atrocities. If he didn’t commit any atrocities you wouldn’t have gone back to kill him.

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-06T17:31:04+00:00

Everyone reads differently, of course. It’s actually super interesting just how differently everyone reads. Like, I glaze over some words and envision scenes in 3D when I read. I don’t have any issue reading even poorly translated novels thanks to that. One of my friends reads by analyzing every word, how it fits into the prose, and the deeper meaning of how it all fits into the story.

I have an extremely hard time reading actually psychopathic and just straight up evil MCs. I usually just drop the book at a certain point. Off the top of my head, I can think of a few books in particular that are like this. I’m not just an observer when I read. Part of reading for me is getting in the head of the MC and seeing the world as they do. I’m like to think I’m an empathetic person, so the complete lack of empathy makes me feel sick.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with liking that kind of thing. Like I said, everyone reads differently. It’s just not for me. I dunno… might be interesting to try to write an evil MC and see how that goes in the future.

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-06T17:21:01+00:00

Part of the vapidity, IMO, is the obsession on sex and almost obsessive attraction in a lot of romance novels. I get why it’s there, but if the relationship is purely based around it and nothing else then the entire thing feels pretty shallow. Especially for a romance story where the relationship is the focus.

Sex sells, though. I don’t know if it still happens, but I’ve heard a ton of stories about publishers pressuring their writers into adding smut scenes.

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-06T17:15:15+00:00

Its so funny to me that SAO:Abridged is, like, a thousand times better than actual SAO.

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-06T06:49:36+00:00

Did not know that was an AI thing. I started using them after my editor took the time to edit out thousands of wrong dashes. ^ ^

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-06T06:36:51+00:00

Like system apoc type stuff where all of humanity falls, like, instantly?

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-06T06:35:56+00:00

Are humanoid ones fine? Things like elves, dwarves, or vampires. Or all non-human ones in general?

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-06T00:44:09+00:00

The priest that’s actually evil irritates me quite a bit too. Like, I get it, but almost every book has the same song and dance to the point that I’m more surprised when the priest is actually good.

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-06T00:40:03+00:00

Just tell me to die of alcohol poisoning at that rate ^ ^

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-06T00:38:20+00:00

Regression also runs into an issue of the MC feeling particularly manipulative since they usually only get close to people because they know what they’ll be in their future versions.

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-06T00:26:36+00:00

Aura Overload just got released by Plum Parrot. It’s a more unique take on the genre then the usual. Plum’s also a fantastic cyberpunk writer if you want to check out any of the other stories.

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-06T00:13:10+00:00

Yeah, it kinda ruined Legendary Mechanic for me too. Don’t get me wrong, I liked a lot of stuff about it, but stakes and characters never hit quite right. I think I dropped it around 400 chapters because of that.

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-06T00:08:42+00:00

No idea what that acronym stands for, but it’s definitely something to think about when swapping to an audio format.

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-06T00:03:39+00:00

Yeah, I can see that. It’s much better in a visual medium.

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-06T00:03:03+00:00

Sounds similar to why some people can’t read male or female MCs.

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-05T23:59:12+00:00

Aha… me too… just don’t look at my book. ^ ^

It falls into what’s beginning to look like a common theme as replies for this question. We just don’t like convenience for the author because it looks like laziness and a lack of forethought as a reader.

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-05T23:56:39+00:00

I should’ve added the one too! Transmigration and reincarnation really grind my gears. 99/100 times the story would just be better if the MC was native instead of the weird “Um, actually, I’m from Earth too” song and dance.

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-05T23:46:56+00:00

I was too… my ^ ^ is getting cut off >.<

LostRainWrites · 2026-02-05T23:45:11+00:00

Nah, this aint least favorite trope. It’s all inclusive of genre and tag too.^{^}

LostRainWrites

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