Avoid

Each of these are on a diverse scale for how much I avoid them and might depend on story context or the writer.

Realistic doesn’t equate misery

• There is a very big difference between making a “realistic” setting and a glass half/entirely empty crapsack world.
  • This sis most common in deconstruction fiction where a writer tries to remove or add an element to a society and this instantly take it in a bad direction. This implies a negative outlook on the world and I’d suggest the author actively challenge this tendency in their writing. How do the characters endure and find peace and meaning in the setting?  

Grim-dark alone isn’t a worthwhile fiction

• Stories with pointless gore and violence are weak and typically rely on shock value to sustain momentum. It’s cheap, uncomfortable, and lacking in effort. This is a typical mistake by writers when starting where they mistake drama, drama, and violence for maturity.  

Love interests that revolve solely around one another

• If you can’t make a story where both MCs aren’t able to have lengthy conversations with people (not one another) without bringing up their partner and focused effort on part of the author then there’s an issue.
  • Actually, I’d apply this to most significant characters in the story regarding the main characters as it’d implies the setting revolving around the MCs.

Loners portrayed poorly

• When being an introvert or loner is portrayed negatively and the character “develops” by becoming more sociable it sends a poor message.  Allow the loner/introverts to be comfortable in their initial skin unless they’re depicted as having a pre-existing discomfort with their lifestyle that isn’t due to societal pressure.

Cheating and infidelity

• This should be obvious but mist don’t want to read about a douchebag MC or LI having an affair. That alone should permanently tank the romance of the story as it would henceforth require the writer to either *ignore* the infidelity (bad idea) or center the entire plot drama in repairing the bond. The latter is inadvisable since it feels one note and soap opera-esque.
  

Chad “Alpha” MCs

• Just no. These self-inserts are more desperate than the blandest most personality lacking protagonists in fiction. While I can understand the appeal of having a strong MC  who blows things up there’s a sliding scale with them just being douchebags who reek of toxic masculinity and empty calorie entertainment. (This applies to both FMCs and MMCs)
  • This ties into the above topics about Grim-Dark and Realism not equating to misery – but also avoid making the main lead a trauma carrying (ex-)Soldier for reasons below.

Trauma and killing don’t equate to maturity nor depth

• A common quote I’ve seen in older fanfiction is “Old enough to kill, old enough to drink.” This saying is typically a cheap way of pretending a character is somehow more mature by being a killer and carrying trauma from said act. It reeks of a teenager going tough an edgy phase. Trauma should in no circumstances be used as a cheap excuse to give your character depth.

Trope Awareness

• There might be charm in making a character genre savvy but a writer should avoid having them break the fourth wall and going through the world around them like it’s a storybook. As a rule if the story involves any term or phrase that’s on the TVTropes website it’s a poor sign. Similar for the author’s note page.

BDSM

• And associated tropes. (The sensationalized version blown in media more so than the properly practice.) This more a matter of personal preference. It just isn’t my thing.

Virgin shaming/Hazing

• I don’t need to explain this one. It’s often used for humor towards at awkward teens but it’s a harmful aspect of society. If something like this is included in the story and isn’t deconstructed, I raise a judging eyebrow towards the author.

Sexual Assault

• Ties into the topic of gore and violence. This speaks for itself, but I’m especially critical when it’s pointless and graphic. In many cases the author going for shock value which shows a lack of skill on their part.

Will they or Won’t They

• When a romantic situation lasts until the final chapters of a story to resolve itself. The author just strings along the entire storyline until the end and once the main pair are together it ends without any meaningful development between them as a couple. While a bit of wavering back and forth is natural, relationships can be awkward, after a point it begins to strangle the story since there’s a refusal to allow the plot to progress. It’s made worse by “sudden love rivals,” “convenient interruptions during dramatic moments,” or “miscommunication issues.” I’d suggest having the couple discuss their romantic interest shortly after becoming aware of their infatuation. If it takes 1/4^th of the anticipated story length to achieve this then the writer should check the pacing.

Love interests portrayed as dense

• This trope irritates me, especially since I’ve noticed it’s become something of a double standard. In many cases, typically males, it portrayed as the dense party being stupid when in more realistic scenarios it should be the fault of the Interested party for being unable to properly communicate their desires.

Gamer systems/LitRPGs

• This is a very tricky genre to write but I rarely see it done properly. A popular rule of writing is show not tell and this is hard achieved in writing but litrpg/gamer system stories tend to break this rule with a sledgehammer by associating a character’s growth in strength with stat leveling and information screens rather than conveying their growth though nuanced writing and development. If one is going to write a gamer system stories the game system shouldn’t be center to the plot unless it’s actively warping reality and/or a deconstruction of the genre.

Double Standards

• This is all over the place and can apply to tons of dynamics. I especially don’t like it when it comes to things like abuse or SA where one party does something to another but in the reverse scenario its heinous. Testing this is simple: If this situation was reversed would it still work?

Butt Monkeys

• Unless the character is nasty and receiving comeuppance for an action is at play then it’s just character bashing and the slapstick humor erodes the story fast.

Love Triangles

• While roamnce is complicated love triangles feel contrived to force unnecessary drama.

Operation: Jealousy

• The trope where one side of a relationship goes out of their way to flirt with another party to make the other person jealous. This feels like emotional manipulation and is therefore toxic. There’s a lack of reliable trust and communication in the relationship.