What parts of the genre you're writing in do you dislike/hate? Do you try avoid them?

[smokesalty]

I'm actually kind of curious about this because I assume most people enjoy and consume content in the genre they like writing

What parts of the genre/ tropes/ cliches do you not like from your chosen genre?

This is personal opinion btw- just write your thoughts!

For me, I tend to enjoy darker, more 'edgy' (if that's what you wanna call it) content which usually tends to be in the horror, thriller and mystery categories. This will mainly be my ramble about horror I guess.

1. When the main characters are massive IDIOTS. Like listen - I know why characters need to make dumb choices sometimes but sometimes I'm like OH MY GOD there is a zombie in front of you STOP STARING AT IT AND RUN (giving me flashbacks to freaking high rise invasion)
2. Characters that the audience barely knows getting killed and being expected to care- listen please let me list more than one personality trait then kill em off (I will note that I get that having characters get murdered early on can be important for establishing stakes, I'm more referring to important characters that we're meant to care about)
3. Monster creature things (this is a big personal preference) I really like threats that are very human, I find threats that are just evil or human eating as their nature makes me not as invested in the threat UNLESS I adore the main characters. It's a big massive preference, I just prefer humanoid villains more.
4. Blaming it on mental illness- I swear not only does it lead to misrepresenting a lot of disorders (DID and schizophrenia come to mind) it villainises it. I especially dislike when it's a character that's all nice and suddenly switches to an evil personality it's just UGH. Like there's so many interesting ways to represent a villain omg
5. Jumpscares- don't care for them.

[xkdeSskf]

Alright! Finally something to rant about!

Main characters being perfect- being super perfect doesn't even seem to relate to us at all. If they are smart af, op and goodlooking and good at everything, it doesn't make any sense.

Side characters being too in the background- it is the side characters who helps the main characters to learn, grow, be it to be better or worse as a person.

Too much text because of too much explanation- the lore in the genre that I am in focuses mainly on lore. Having too much will make the readers lose interest in the plot.

Thank you for reading to my ranting!

[arxianfall]

When the main characters are massive IDIOTS. Like listen - I know why characters need to make dumb choices sometimes but sometimes I'm like OH MY GOD there is a zombie in front of you STOP STARING AT IT AND RUN (giving me flashbacks to freaking high rise invasion)

Every genre every story ever, with no explanation if the character is an actual idiot so it makes sense or it's because of a background thing.

Mine

• Ultrons. Skynets.
• Mad max leather and spikes fetishists. bargain bin sexualization.
• Aliens that many times are just humans in a prosthetic suit. I mean, in behavior, politics, ways of thinking or communication. (this is a minor dislike)
• Deserts, desert planets. Jungle planets and giant shroom forests. bust mostly deserts. (and my own story starts in a black desert, FML.)
• Magical Bionics that solve everything.
• Always a she that is the central key, MacGuffin, special one, maybe pretty Mary.
• Super religion (warhammer40K) or very hateful of religion.
• Real world parallels and politics from the writer's current climate. International writing gives you this culture shock sometimes
• too much asian, arab, indian, persian inspired!! (hello dune!)
• lately: nihilism, nihilism everywhere. And all the most basic puddle level take.
• Classism. Classism and castes everywhere.
• Raising the stakes and powers to godlike levels in sequels. Or singularity lmao. Only mass effect did it right.

I'll keep adding as I remember them.

[liaroger]

Hmmm, the only thing I can think of are relationship tropes but I don't know if that counts since I am deliberately using romantic tropes for a queerplatonic relationship to get people to question societal norms surrounding romance and relationships. But I do really hate that certain things are seen as inherently and exclusively romantic and there's so little room for ambiguous relationships and relationships that break conventions around romance and friendship. I'm already worried about readers getting mad and telling my aro characters to "become a (romantic) couple already" or "just admit that they're in (romantic) love" or telling me to just call the relationship "what it is", accusing me of queerbaiting, saying that if their relationship is read as a couple they're a couple and feeling dissatisfied with it not having a label.
And then I also hate all mononormative jealousy tropes and love triangles and tend to avoid them. Pretty sure I'll still get "stop cheating, you have a partner" comments about my openly polyamorous characters because that's exactly what I've seen happen in other stories where the characters communicate well. (If I get comments at all)
So yeah, I guess I just really hate most romance tropes because they paint this picture of there being only two possible relationship types, but I'm also subverting the genre because there's so much about it to rant about.

Aside from that I guess I dislike the fantasy trope of certain species being associated with character traits (all elves are high and mighty and wise, all dwarves love beer and fighting, etc) but I feel like a lot of fantasy authors feel this way and don't really do this anymore.

[NickRowler]

I tend to write a lot of fantasy and my annoyance about the genre is that people have made rules about how you should write fantasy creatures/races, and if you try to be original or different, some people will lecture you that you are writing them wrong.

No hate on anyone who loves or wants to write stuff like Lord of the Rings or Dungeons and Dragons but, I wish more fantasy would break away from those tropes. I also want people to not be afraid to break the rules. Your fairyfolk do not need to be like Tinkerbell. Your mermaids do not need to be like the Little Mermaid. Your vampires do not need to be like Dracula.

[Stargazer31]

Tropes I can't stand are:
- Slave races in fantasy settings who "like being slaves!"
- Female characters being treated as ornaments or prizes to be won.
- Chosen ones who never question it or attempt to stop being the chosen one (my MC was a chosen one, but she decided to stop being one out of her own will.)
- Love triangles that drag on for ages.
- Abusive or manipulative behaviour being presented as being romantic.

[authorvicomara]

I'm into gay romance, gay erotica or gay PWP stories. With as close-to reality-depiction of the scene (in the universe the story is set in) as possible.

1. I absolutely abhor rape or any type of intentional (and non-consensual) abuse in romance novels, specifically, when they are romanticized or presented as "okay", "cool", "sweet", "an accident", "a misinterpretation", etc. It should never happen, in my humble opinion.
   It's so very sad when potentially good stories get ruined by this nonsense.

2. Lack of (insufficient usage of) lube. It's incredibly frustrating when creators ignore human anatomy. If an alien is depicted with a self-lubricating ass - that's perfectly cool. But if it's your average (and inexperienced!) man in a non-fantasy setting - use the goddamn lube and lots of it!!!! Or if there's no lube used, then be consistent with reality and show the bottom in moderate to serious pain (and the possible consequences after). ‍⚕️

3. Top's ridiculously oversized dicks (especially so when compared to the bottom's). That part just makes me laugh at this point, it's so ridiculous. And combined with above point(s), it often forces me to drop the story.

4. Changing POVs. I don't dislike it as a rule, but I find that only very few authors in even fewer books were able pull off writing different POVs within one story. It's a very hard thing to do, especially if quality is mind. In my opinion, creators should stick to one POV only until they get years of solid experience in writing and good character development.

There are some more, but these are the major ones.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

Fantasy:
Giant worldbuilding essays. I love to write them, don't get me wrong, but I recognize that they aren't the same thing as a story, and I acknowledge that the average reader would have very little use for them. I wish more fantasy writers would also acknowledge that... 9_9
'Chosen Ones', as in, "someone is supposed to do X, Y, and Z, and we've picked you to be that someone, so get to training!" The concept just bores me; I can't get invested in it or take it seriously. I have created exactly one Chosen One MC in the modern day, and her story's been DOA for 2 years because I just have no idea how to write it (even though it's a parody! o_o)
The Big Quest To Defeat the Ultimate Evil-type plots. I guess I don't hate seeing them, but I don't like to write them and I prefer stories that also do not use them. I just feel like conceptualizing 'evil' as something with a singular source that can be found and eradicated is a bit...childish.

Sci-Fi:
Aggressive technobabble. Again, don't get me wrong-- I love technobabble; although I try to restrain myself I'm probably guilty of this exact thing. XD But I feel like I get a pass because I'm a scientist; I tend to know what I'm talking about or at least how to simplify it. Many sci-fi authors...don't. ^^; And if you stop to think about the terms they're throwing around it quickly becomes obvious that it's just thematic nonsense.
Robots as disposable sidekicks that can be abused and tormented for fun-- HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE IF YOU DO THIS I'M MENTALLY SCRATCHING AND CLAWING YOUR FACE RIGHT NOW
...Not only do I find the "oh, they don't have feelings" excuse disgusting, I think this trope kinda goes against human nature. We love to anthropomorphize things; long before 'robot' was a concept we gave cute pet names to boats and weapons and even buildings, and tried to love and care for them accordingly.
Just in general, I want more sci-fi stories about recognizing the value in non-human objects AND creatures, and less promoting sick outdated ideas of 'supremacy' from the early days of the genre. T_T
Science vs. Ethics-type plots, as if the two concepts can't coexist. Good science always takes ethics into account, and scientists in general are not emotionless data-gathering shells of human beings (seriously, this portrayal needs to stop. It's just sad at this point).
I do like Ethical vs. Unethical scientist conflicts, though. More of that, please~
'ToughGuy McManlyMan' MCs. ^^; I don't even know why this is a trend...maybe because that type of protagonist was popular in the 80s when sci-fi started to get really big...? Anyway, I'm just...not interested
Mad scientists specifically as people who do whatever-the-heck and have lost all contact with reality. It's just too unrealistic for me...you know what usually happens when you goof around in the lab with no plan and no idea what you're doing? You accomplish very little, and then you die. ^^ There are plenty of ways to write a 'mad' scientist who's still competent enough to get things done without relying solely on luck and coincidence.

[BoomerZ]

In relationship genre:
1. The characters not acting like humans. Throwing temper tantrums and the other person putting up with it. One person in the relationship hitting the other like its normal (not playfully, you know the difference).
2. The person that is suppose to have others falling all over themselves to be with has the personality of a rock. Most socially awkward people don't have people throwing themselves at them.

Sci fi or fantasy
1. explaining the complex world and background to things that have no impact on the story in any way. It's great your magic system is thought out but if it doesn't have a reason to be explained to move the story along, who cares.
2. Wildly different species living in a city with no conflict. Everyone just acts like the cat girl and the 9 food lizard man are perfectly ok with one another. That doesn't happen in any real world or animal kingdom.
all genre:

Meta: (not in a straight up comedy) I hate, hate, hate. When the characters know they are in a comic. Quippy jokes in life and death situations. Jokes that only the audience would get but the characters in the story wouldn't say. The characters have to believe this is their reality. They don't know any different. Quickest way for me to stop reading any story is meta.

[arxianfall]

'ToughGuy McManlyMan' MCs. ^^; I don't even know why this is a trend...maybe because that type of protagonist was popular in the 80s when sci-fi started to get really big...? Anyway, I'm just...not interested

It's because there's a lack of good tough guy protagonists 80's style and there's a lot of people, myself included who want that. These days there's only deconstruction of trying to bring nuance by giving them "Emotional Damage!"

There's a fine line to walk and I think most writers didn't meet in real life a McManlyMan, talked to one, one on one over a couple of beers.

"oh no I don't drink beer, said the writer, without understanding that it's not about drinking beer and you just refused a ToughGuy's open invitation. He judged the writer as pretentious, and moved his eyes back to the bartender. "

I do agree the 80's version was a very simplistic character, but few have the skill to make them entertaining anymore. A vein pops if they don't try to shove some morals.

Sorry I love this trope and I miss good simple tough guy protagonists. Too many limp dick isekai MC. Yes the ones who bone too. It never feels earned.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

(Hope no one is butthurt because you can dislike a trope but still enjoy the media that have it, or even have it in your own series. I personally don't actively avoid them, they simply less likely to exist just because the taste and story don't overlap)

• Obvious wish-fulfillment audience/author surrogate main character
• Also I have biases against overpowered main characters, they are hard to get right
• Power/magic system? You mean the reason the MC is fucking strong that also kinda explain the power/magic that presents in the story
• You are not "subverting it" you're "adjusting it to your preference." Sometimes some works that "subvert" or "defy expectations" are the most predictable in itself. Subverting or defying cliché is the new cliché. It's okay to have some clichés or common tropes in moderation.
• Hey, give that sidekick a.k.a the-narrator-of-fights-and-explainer-of-power-system a raise
• There is an obviously superior and often flawless race/species, or a species/race that has strong predisposition to be good/evil. Why the Zogborgorc pillaged our village? Because they're an evil race, Sonny. Let's go to the Elven hippie festival.
• Or it is humans that are the weakest, but the greediest, breed like roaches, and destroy everything in their wake. Humans are always wrong and evil! I get it I hate humans too, but that is stupid.
• MC is a sole survivor of an extinct race/species that is often proven to be special or really powerful in the future
• Shoehorning real life racial/class dynamic or political issue sloppily into the fantasy counterparts, because it will inspire many people and solve racism (nominated for Nobel)
• "Tyrants." Royals cannot get away with whatever they want. There are often other parts of the court like ministers or other royalties who hold power over them, that they can sometimes be a figurehead. A noble/royal killing another kingdom's for lulz isn't a cute example of a "Such a cool and cold-hearted tyrant." That is a stupid act that can risk the stability and security of their own countries.
• Literally nobody cares about the people, aren't they the part of the kingdom? Who the royals and nobles collect tax from? Who moves the economy and build infrastructure? Who can be drafted when invaders arrive? Who will bring out the guillotine, then? Collapse is inevitable for those who treat their people like shit and keep killing them.
• Oh, this 21st century town girl is isekaied into some "primitive" fantasy civilization? Of course as a modern human she must teach and lead the way of the uncultured into the true height of civilization! And she is gonna be extremely good at it, despite never doing outdoor work in her life. She is also an expert despite not having any qualification and only have read Wikipedia. I meant what can ancient people do? It's not like they did invent mathematical theorems, sail to find new lands, build cities, or something. Also of course, please preach about modern moral/religious values that may or may not be applicable or practical in the circumstances of the savages, but they don't know better! (I used female pronoun just because the last example I saw features girl MC)

[TheLemmaLlama]

Slice-of-life:
- The quiet, serious one vs the loud, silly one. Maybe it's because I act quiet IRL and get irritated at people telling me to 'lighten up' (moreso as a kid when people expect kids to be rambunctious). I believe that's what triggered my 'lolrandum' phase. Yeah, I have a bit of a personal grudge against this trope Conversely, I have an irrational adoration of quiet, spacey, out-of-touch character vs loud, bossy, overachiever character dynamics XD

Fantasy:
- Worldbuilding that feels too 'clean'. Examples include

• The humans being the 'central' race; e.g. there's a masculine race, a feminine race, a strong race, a smart race, a quick race, but the humans are the middle of them all and the 'jack of all trades'.
• Magic systems where everything fits neatly into one category. Also, when everything is known about the magic system and there are no new discoveries that completely upend the current model of how magic works (at most, a new magic comes along that get its own new category, and that's it :P)

I guess it kind of just breaks my immersion and reminds me that this world was designed by a human for consumption by fellow humans, and not a real, organic world that exists out there somewhere

---

And yeah, I do kind of naturally feel like not-doing these things in my own writing For instance, the fantasy series I'm currently developing has exactly one (1) other sentient humanoid race other than humans, so humans by necessity can't be a 'central' race because the average of two different points is neither of those points

[simonitropunk]

Since Lyza's Sandstorm is an Action packed series... so here are things that I dislike:

• Villains being too sympathetic: The villains are one of the most important characters in the story and they do play big roles in the protagonist's journey. However, recent times, they are making the villains too sympathetic or too relatable that you cannot hate anymore. That's get kinda annoying so, that's why I'm appreciating the more evil, sadistic, malice, more removed than being humanistic. Those are what villains are supposed to be. You can have a backstory or make in totally ambiguous and make the readers come up with their own conclusion but at the very least, make the villains that you'd love to hate. That's why Dr. Robotnik is my all-time favorite villain ever. HE DESTROYS PLANETS!!! He wants to robotisize everything and never mentioned onto why he wants to do that or what's behind his motivation or maybe it did but my God, he's hellbent in accomplishing that and he has the balls to face Sonic straight on in almost all levels. I like that in villains... not being afraid to go after the hero rather wait at the very end.

• Short main fights: For the most parts, action stories are about as simple as building up the hero and the villain together so that, they'd eventually face off at the very end. Once it does, IT'S ON!!! You'd expect an epic duel that both would just GO ALL OUT and then... "fart" and done. What a fucking load!!!

• ...and it was all just a dream: That could be for any genre but please, never finish a story like that.

[somethingsomething]

Ugh, I really abhor your point two. I call those characters "Tits on legs" characters, because more often than not their personality is "cute" and as deep as 13-year-old on Tumblr and they only exist to be subservient to, fawn over, or jump through hoops for the approval of the male MC. It always ruins my mood whenever I encounter it and I immediately drop whatever I'm watching/reading when it has it.

[liaroger]

Couldn't agree more with your first point. I'd expand on that and say any one dynamic where one personality type is treated as better, healthier, whatever and there to fix another, but usually it happens the way you described it, with the loud silly one making the quiet serious one 'loosen up'.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with character development and characters helping each other grow and bringing out new sides of each other, but there has to be some respect for who the characters are, and treating certain personality traits as a flaw to fix is just ... Iffy.

[VibrantFox]

as a fantasy enjoyer and writer my biggest beefs are isms and appropriation

i wont flat out avoid isms in fantasy but depending on use it may earn a lil stank eye

also complete lack of poc in fantasy settings and again its getting the look if they're only inluded in instances with isms coz in a planet world whatever with varying climates, ecosystems, biomes whatever your gonna tell me everyone looks exactly the same??? 🤨

[DokiDokiTsuna]

as a fantasy enjoyer and writer my biggest beefs are isms and appropriation

i wont flat out avoid isms in fantasy but depending on use it may earn a lil stank eye

Just out of curiosity, what are "isms"?

I assume from context you mean things like racism; misogynism...?

[Mallory]

I write mainly in the sci-fi genre... I can tolerate a lot of stuff depending on the execution but there are some things that just... always get on my nerves.

1. This one is a new one, and I hope this doesn't get taken the wrong way, but... Every new book I've picked up recently that featured a female protagonist that wasn't stereotypically femme/was written as an interesting, fully fleshed-out character - was lesbian or wasn't allowed to express any sexuality at all (Greg Rucka, as much as I LOVE his female characters, is super guilty of this second one). I uh... I find this super problematic because it continues to reinforce the idea straight cis-gendered women can't be interesting/butch/not written for the male gaze and that lesbian women can't be traditionally feminine. A good number of them were written by what appears to be lesbian authors so, okay, fair enough. They're just writing what they want to see. But it's been a rising trend even outside of this set of circumstances and I, a pansexual woman, am starting to really dislike it.
2. This only applies to male authors writing female characters, but like... female characters with tortured pasts related to their femininity or their reproductive capacity in some way. Not even necessarily the "sexual assault as a backstory" thing, but like... Yennefer in the Witcher, who chooses to give up her reproductive capacity for power and then becomes incredibly whiny about it. I'm not saying a woman can't regret the choice to give up her reproductive ability, but women generally don't start to make up stories about how other people wronged them in these cases and start randomly lashing out...? Like women in general are raised to be super self-deprecating, so if anything, the first person they'd blame is themselves. The whole thing just feels exploitative, patronizing and slightly misogynistic. I'm not one to say that people can't write X or whatever, but this is starting to approach the "if you don't have a uterus and/or identify as a woman, please don't write about it" territory for me.

[VibrantFox]

well like you said racisms a big one but other things like sexism, classism, and the like can be played pretty poorly so i tend to be picky when it comes to their inclusion

like i said its not always a hard no but execution will determine opinion

[TheSingularitySeed]

My genre is fantasy.

I feel like it's such a broad genre that there are a lot of things I could write about it. But this early in my story, this was the main one I tried to avoid:

Starting with a lore dump

Now I don't actually hate lore dumps and I don't even mind when they start the story. They're hard to avoid when explaining a fantasy world. And I know some people prefer it because they want to know what kind of world they're getting into. I even got a few critiques from friends to do this (while others told me they liked that I didn't start that way)

But I don't like it when I've read through all the lore only to realize I don't vibe with the actual characters or the specific journey the protagonist will take. I wanted to put my characters before the lore dumps so readers could decide if they actually want to spend time with these people.

I do think the opposite is completely valid but both appeal to different types of readers.