There's nothing wrong with the name, it's just not a favorite. In my head, I picture Professor X whenever I read the name, not the hunky leading man they are trying to paint.
Agreed about the names that are extra hard to read like Elon Musk's kid.
Oh, I've been burned by that before. It can make it hard to get into things for me because of how I haven't gotten the return on my emotional investment in the past. And at that point if feels less like I'm reading/watching a story and more like I'm observing a creator drive a perfectly functional car into a wall.
When every character in a story talks about how this character is so smart, but it ends at that. The character in question never does anything to prove they're smart. Just one dumb decision after another.
I don't like it when the only arc a character has to go through is getting physically stronger. XD To me, this is a meaningless change unless there is an appropriate reason why that character needed to get physically stronger (like, maybe he was previously getting beaten up because he couldn't defend himself?) but even then, I also need evidence that the character has become mentally stronger, too, where he doesn't let other people's jerkiness get the better of him anymore.
I also dislike romances where the only goal is to "get" the hot guy or girl. Like, neither character has to change in any significant manner to earn each other's affection and the only drama is wondering whether or not they're going to pork, LOL.
Honestly, I don't read BLs, but sister told me about a funny trend where the guys are all named like "damon" "damien" or "dominic" XD I was curious about whether this trend was true or not so I clicked on a few BLs and to be honest, I do think I saw quite a few damiens, damons, and dominics.
I remember a similar trend in YA urban fantasy/paranormal romances back just after the Twilight craze thing, where those were the kinds of names you got for the demon/half demon/actually the devil bad boy love interests.
Isn't it kinda off-putting when the writer gives you a "recommendation letter" for a character? Explaining them in detail, mentally & emotionally, instead of revealing their nature as the story progresses.
I think my biggest pet peeve is when the character development happens too fast, or is explained really sloppily. For example, a villain turning good suddenly just because the hero said something nice to them once. Like, no, a complete paradigm shift is going to take some time?
Also, related to what @eliseswarren said, when characters go through a lot of really traumatic/gruesome stuff for no particular reason. I love me some good angst, but there's a point where it starts to feel really gratuitous, like the author's just throwing in trauma for trauma's sake.
I am also not a fan of writers heaping on the tragedy for the sake of a backstory. Not every backstory needs to be tragic to make the character relateable or sympathetic. Tragedy happens, but it gets to be too much when even before we get into the story, we learn that the MC was orphaned, abused, sickly, etc. Can a character just be happy? A character can be orphaned, but maybe they were placed with loving foster parents? They could help take care of a sick family member but they have friends or other family members willing and able to share the responsibility.
I like characters to have a support network, instead of the lone wolf or lone orphan all the time.
I got one-- protagonist-centered morality:
It's just dawned on me that I never even knew this was a problem until I encountered how it affects RWBY. ^^; I feel like most authors who are inattentive/ignorant enough to fall into this trap don't bother trying to write convoluted stories like RWBY is trying to be. They just write simple good vs. evil where the badguys are mean and the good guys are nice, even if they have to follow overdone stereotypes to do it. And maybe it's lazy writing, but at least it works.
This, on the other hand, does not. The heroes are never in the wrong...but not because they happen to be unrealistic angels who always choose the most helpful and least harmful options. Nah; they're never wrong because the story dictates that whatever they feel like doing is automatically right. And the unrealistic part is that the audience is expected to believe that, and never question the reasoning behind their actions OR the consequences thereof. =/
Oh my gosh! Yes!! I hate this too! I think the term you are looking for is “fridging”. It’s basically when a side character is reduced to a prop to make the protagonist relatable with depth. Their parents died so they could have that tragic backstory, but the ramifications of that death are never really felt or explored. Hate that.
I was bitching about something else today. I think it's an age(mine) and culture thing, But I can't watch romance with boneheaded characters like:
"she only walks home with me. what does that mean!?? huh you confessed your love to me, what does that MEAN?"
Or the lack of skinship between couples of any kind. It drives me up the wall. There's not one couple I know, one! even the ones that fight that don't subtly flirt and tease each other in public, are stuck together so hard that their molecules created new bonds or make fun of each other.
I would absolutely love to see stories where characters like these get abandoned and people move on. Even better if they move to that "enemy" character. "Enemy of women" or the one that's always portrayed as the NTR hentai protagonist.
Heck, I should do this as a oneshot if I get the time. A story about a man who's seen as an absolute dick through the eyes of the harem protagonist and his girls. Until one of them gives him a chance and the filter gets taken down.
Yeah, although I choose my character names by etymology or having a long scroll through the naming list. And man, I often can't take the character seriously it's like I'm numb to these names in particular.
Same, I find it kind of weird to be honest, even if I were to create character sheets, I'm just drawing the line at briographies, and their professions, the rest I like to leave it up to the reader to decide.
I agree actually, my characters do have a very strong support network, and even for characters with less than stellar backstories, I never leave them completely alone. It's just unrealistic and well, it would make them really antisocial, with humungous trust issues and also a complete lack of willingness to accept help. Or they are likely to be absolute martyrs. And probably because I've seen enough of it that I don't want to write it.
Although they have their traumas and they have lost their parents but their parents have been around in their lives up until their teenaged years and they are in a loving stable home till then, but they have a lot of other people supporting them and they are the furthest thing from being abused and all that. In fact, I just let them be regular young adults who are probably most likely definitely creating their own problems and committing their own mistakes.
Definitely! And if you start exploring different angles and avenues for character development and connection, I think it makes the story 10x better. I'm a big fan of dreams coming "true" in different ways in my work. In my series, my MC and her dad were separated when she was a kid. She spends most of her life wanting a family. She does get her dad back, but now she also has a partner she loves and adores, friends who are like siblings, etc. She's got a family she never dreamed of having. The same with her dad.
Although they have their traumas and they have lost parents but their parents have been around in their lives up until their teenaged years...
This actually reminded me of my parents. My mom lost her parents as an adult, but she said it's still hard from time to time, because sometimes, you just wanna call your mom. But she can't. Years ago, one of her fabulous coworkers decided that my mom needed a mom and "adopted" her. They haven't worked together for years, but she still calls frequently to check up on us and invites her out to eat. Since my mother became a daughter to her, that meant that my siblings and I are her grandkids. And I gotta say, it's nice to have a grandma again.
I guess one pet peeve is when girls are not really given female friends or even get along with other girls. I guess that what usually happens to token girl characters. Added that they are usually framed as the "not like other girls" or "the smart girl that everyone hates because she is smart", and I generally just end up finding them annoying. It's strange that she usually has enough patience to put up with the chaotic or moronic actions of the male lead but putting up with a girl who wears pink is just too much for her. 
I love nuance. My biggest all-encompassing pet peeve about characters and their development is when they think they and their actions are more nuanced than they really are.
This is not like when they learn they overlooked things, they grow from their mistakes, etc. No. They truly think they're so nuanced and complicated and grey all the way throughout the story when they're actually doing some of the most messed up things. Most of the characters around these said "nuanced" people either 1) eat it up, or 2) don't eat the BS, but do forgive these "grey" people for all of their trespasses because good intentions.
I never understood that to be honest, but you did hit the nail on the head. I actually make an effort to give my female characters a female confidant and vice versa, and honestly not all women are going to be about fashion, clothes, jewelry or makeup, and I honestly think it's more of social conditioning about what's acceptable and what isn't.
It's a spectrum not yin and yang or black and white, so feel free to play around with where they stand. Even I in my real life don't fit easily into the girly girl or the tomboy, and that's probably why I add a lot of nuance. Even if they are smart, they don't have to be insufferable.
And also it feels like some sort of weird double standard. Guys can do moronic stuff and still the get the girl but girls need to be cool and sometimes drop frivolous stuff to be a friend.
this is because you are human being, and not some badly written character. Everyone has few different interests, you can love fishing and make up, these two things don't go against each other.
Media (not always but quite often) likes to label people (not only but usually girls/woman) ,there always needs to be dumb,mean, girly character, mc must be not like other girls, even if said stuff is normal stuff that everyone does,for example she would like to read, almost everyone i know likes to read,some prefer classics, some comics ,etc.
I'm glad to see that you try to fix this problem, maybe if enough of us do so, media will stop with "make up means dumb bitch"
10 days later
I don’t like it when an author tells me what a character’s personality is. If your summary and first chapter are “I’m a shy, nerdy MC who no one likes”, I’m probably not gonna keep reading. Show me what they are like, don’t tell me. It’s particularly egregious when a character says in the first chapter “I’m not normally like X, but...” I hate that. If you are normally a fun, outgoing person, but then in the first chapter you meet your crush and turn into a simpering fool, imma call BS. I particularly hate it when the scary big guy is described as a “total teddy bear”, but then he actually isn’t. He’s actually a super possessive, creepy stalker. Yeah, that gets on my nerves.
I totally agree on this one. I also see a lot the side characters' personalities fit into the category they are assigned. If they are the best friend, they have no longer have a life or personality outside of their relationship with the MC. If they are the mean girl/jock, they act like every mean girl/jock in every 2000s teen romcom ever.
And that is also kind of why I don't make any descriptions for them in personality, or not much of them. I let the readers decide what my characters are like or I tend to use it through other people's perceptions of them. And so I realise I put more weight in their own actions and words, since what they do and say is often much more telling than what I think they say. There are still things that I don't quite know about them.