Writing that triggers your fight or flight instinct

[Drewbie]

It makes me so incoherently frustrated that I can't enjoy the rest of the story. My entire mind is focused on how that scene would change if the secret was known or how the characters would react

[SleepingPoppy]

Mary Sue has no flaws, but author insists MC is "clumsy" as if that constitutes as a genuine character flaw

They only ever trip dramatically into the arms of their lovers. I wouldn't even describe myself as clumsy, but I trip, drop, and bump things WAY more than characters who are actively described as clumsy.

[baasinsimple]

There's something about this I find awe-inspiring.

[Maps]

This is wildly off topic from the most recent comments, but sometimes I struggle with the maid and/or butler plotlines. Especially when they’re going to end up being the romantic interest. The “Master” thing doesn’t do it for me, or the maids/butlers fighting over who pleases the master more. The one that’s favored usually gets ostracized and the master is almost always an asshole at the start.
Maybe it’s because I’ve seen too many of these plots?
(Though, I did love Kuroshitsuji)

[SleepingPoppy]

For me anything with a power imbalance depends on how self aware the writing/author seems.

[joannekwan]

OH another thing is I become very wary of BL's where one of the main couple has a traditionally feminine name (and I CHECK with behindthename as sometimes names flip-flop genders over the course of history).
I just find that a lot of the time in these cases, the 'uke' is usually just a waifish female insert and it's not a trans/non-binary situation.

[Iris-Grimoire]

I need to keep in mind to check there more often if I do romance stories in the future with normal names. I only go there sometimes to make sure it's the actual spelling, or to choose someone's name when I'm out of ideas. I didn't even notice the gender icon a few times...

[Kittosaurus]

When it feels like the author is just spewing the entire dictionary at you and they don't even know what half the words they are using even mean...

[Kann]

Reading works like that is especially tiring for people with first language other than English. Whenever someone puts lots of sophisticated words in writing, I just can't focus on reading because I need to check the meaning every now and then or focus way too much on how should I actually read that word.

[Kura]

I hate this so much.

My English is not the best but it's not HORRIBLE, but with novels like this I keep having to look words up in the dictionary, only to have the word have little to nothing to do with what the author was trying to say and confuse me even more.

[Maps]

I remember when I first started writing papers for my English BA, I was googling so many synonyms to words in attempt to make my paper sound more intelligent. It had the opposite affect. My professor basically came up to me and was like “cut the shit and write as if you’re talking normally.”
I owe her a cake.

[Kittosaurus]

I know I have been guilty of too on my English papers, luckily I too smartened up!

[Zhengo]

When writers want to put drama in the story but don't want to try to use that drama to showcase a character's flaws or create real consequences so they go for the cheap misunderstanding trope where everything could have gone fine if someone had just had basic communication and just wastes time in the story because you know it's going be resolved anyway. And of course the misunderstanding clears up and everyone's happy in the end anyways. -_-

[joannekwan]

The misunderstanding trope can go die.

[Zhengo]

Yeah, it's just annoying because it feels like the writer doesn't have the guts to make their characters do something disagreeable but at the same time still wants a conflict in the story where characters get mad at each other..

[Jenny-Toons]

Anytime a character is purposefully eavesdropping on their lover, but don't have the COMMON SENSE to finish the job and run off upset, I get irritated. Like, you went out of your way to listen in on them -- FINISH listening.

And then they wanna get mad at their lover instead of TALKING, and now their lover has NO IDEA why they're pissed. Come to find out, it was all a misunderstanding, and readers are supposed to gloss over the fact that this character 1) didn't respect their lover's privacy and 2) made a snap judgement against them.

Also, whenever I read a novel that has the hero/heroine be "this nice person who never gets love because they're SO different but SO misunderstood", I cringe. They're always brunette (because obviously blonde people are so arrogant and popular) and they always wear glasses (because you can't be attractive with glasses). They also make snap judgements towards other people, and the reader is supposed to agree because the other people are so paper-thin shallow and underdeveloped.

[Drewbie]

If you gonna be a snoopy mf you gotta get the whole snoop

[BlueDragon]

I hate it when an author's sole purpose for writing a book is to show off all their "cool" "obscure" knowledge about a certain decade they they want to impress is waaaay more awesome than anything else.

References and call backs are fine, but when the references engulf the entirety of book, and detracts from (or omits) any character development, plot, or atmosphere...well, then you've lost me.

[Hexigate]

EBONY D'ARKNESS DEMENTIA RAVEN WAY

Calling dibs.

---

20 characters long, blah blah blah

[DasIstWunderblyat]

Ridiculously possessive male love interest who are supposed to be cool according to the author. I just don't get it at all about what so interesting about them; they are always good-looking and have a nice body, but their personality is often zero but their obsession to their love interest.

Such kind of story also can come across for glorifying abuse and in-relationship rape, because that's how the guy always act (controlling, demanding sex, etc.). The author often justify it by saying it's their right being the "Man" in relationship, or for protecting the love interest.

I once read a werewolf fiction on Wattpad (a popular one, but what do I expect). It's always an alpha male looking for a female mate (usually called queen or luna), and the rival is always some rogue packless wolf.

Do you know what the romantic first words the alpha said to his luna? "Mate! Mate! Mate!" and "Mine!" He also spent most of their interaction
by kabedon-ing the girl, trying to kiss or grope her, and fighting any guy who approached her by grabbing her close and growled "Mine" angrily to that guy.

So hot