Feel free to rant if you want!

NC

1) The topic. If what the story is about isn't something I like reading about, I'm not going to stick around and pretend that I like it.

2) Poor grammar. As much as I know that any sensible person would want proper grammar in a story, I think I am many times worse when it comes to grammar expectations. Blame it on AP and advanced learning.

3) Poor format. I hate stories that are just one paragraph and those that don't make a new paragraph when there is a new speaker. I also dislike when the spacing between the stories is irregular and too hard to follow.

4) Flatness. A story without conflict is not really interesting. In the story I'm working on right now, I've been stalling for nineteen (and one more) chapters to get to the climax. I would've turned off many readers to my story had I not added character development and stuff in between. For example, in my current story, the characters make up a plan that they'll take part in three days later, but because the majority of the characters don't get along with each other, they have to split and wonder if the plan will work with so many people fighting. Stuff like that.

5) Very rare cases will I not read a story because of the author. If he or she is super obnoxious or if he or she doesn't like me and I know I'd be annoyed by that writer's story, then I just won't.

I definitely stop reading if the story bombards me with paragraphs about the hero/heroine’s beauty or perfection. (I think authors who write that are crazy!) Like Ghost Love Score, I like to see flaws in characters.

But I’d also get turned off if the characters are too flawed for my taste. I don’t like spoiled, simple-minded, slutty, or sadistic characters. I’m more interested in flaws such as unattractiveness, clumsiness, slowness, weakness, compulsiveness, and moodiness.

I wouldn’t read a story if the author never makes new paragraphs, if the author doesn’t make sufficient attempt to be understandable/interesting, if the author is long-winded…

A lot of things make me quit reading!

Examples of character flaws with my characters come in the following:

1) Ryeja, the main, main character, is a nice and funny sociable guy. He's energetic, albeit a bit too much, and smart. However, he hates all Japanese people just because they're Japanese (which is funny, because he's Japanese) and basically, he thinks they're all the same. He has reason, because his Japanese cousin is horrible, but Ryeja's flaw is that his mentality is "see one Japanese person, you've seen them all."

2) Ryuki, a character who shows up later, is this crazy ball of energy that drives everyone insane. And that's his flaw. He's so wacky that everyone wants to smack him!

Other characters in the story may not show as dramatic flaws as Ryeja and Ryuki, but they do have flaws.

Poor grammar, punctuation and spelling also ticks me off. I understand that sometimes little mistakes may not have been picked up by the author or spell check, an i usually dont mind but it can be really irratating when the person constantly makes mistakes...i remember reading a story when this chick kept spelling 'followed', 'fallowed'...

it ticked me off so much

These things are becoming even more common then mary-sues in the process of trying too hard to make characters NOT mary-sues. What a lot of writers don't get is that problems and flaws don't have to stem from such a big and dramatic picture. That has to be like my number one turn off, is that if the character is not one bit realistic I am totally bailing on the story no matter how great the righter and story because i can't relate to the main character.

This is a topic about stuff that annoys us, so I'll say that I've realized something else that annoys me. When in the story summary, the author writes at the very end: "Did I mention (insert whatever the author forgot to mention here)." Don't see why they put it there and it's very annoying.

NC

And when an author goes on and on about their character's attire and/or appearance for, like, four paragraphs. I like to figure out what a character looks like gradually and leave to my imagination what he or she is wearing (usually it's just going to be jeans and a tee shirt unless they're headed out to a formal dinner or are at work). Especially if it's a side character that isn't going to be mentioned again, or will be mentioned very rarely throughout the rest of a story: I really don't care what Mr. Smith looks like, because I'm sure his son is his spitting image. Ditto on Mrs. Smith.

Author's notes IN THE MIDDLE of a story. Example: -- "What?" said David, flexing his big muscles (A/N: isn't he so hot?!??) -- Might be a bad example, but I don't want to use a real example and directly hurt someone's feelings. Yet there's no way to lose my interest faster than to read an author's note in the middle of some dialogue or during a filler scene. Save it for the end of the chapter, and even then make it short; I despise author's notes that go on for paragraphs, a little novel in themselves. AND author's notes that replace chapters entirely just to let everyone know the story is on hiatus until the author is back from vacation. I'll figure it out on my own once the story isn't updated for a month or two.

Also, REVIEW RESPONSES at the beginning of a chapter -- I can understand when someone gets an anonymous review and there's no other way to reply to it than to do it publicly. I can even comprehend why an author wants to thank each and every one of their reviewers in bold format for all to see at some point. But if the response is longer than most of the dialogue in your story, I'd rather read it in a Private Message.

Stories you just KNOW nobody proof-read after a quick once-over. It's understandable an author may not have a lot of time to proof-read; but the thing is, if someone has time to write more than a couple chapters, it is my belief that they have more than enough time to edit them too. Just because these stories may never get published by Random House doesn't mean FictionPress readers' deserve any less dedication. Writing is a passion of mine, as well as reading, and I get offended when I see this.

Other factors that get annoying FAST: bad grammar; predictable and/or shallow characters; all dialogue and no descriptions; and transparent plots.

I'm a very critical reader. I'll read just about anything. I'll even review it if it holds my attention through the first chapter. I don't criticize people simply to offend them, and I will never judge your writing based on the first paragraph alone -- That isn't how I get my kicks. All I'm really trying to do is help a writer to better their writing skills and maybe with some choice suggestions make the story into a success. I expect the same in return.

Phew! That was refreshing to get off my chest.

I hate it when writters in a romance story automaticly make the herion of the story just fall in love with the boy like *snap* just like that, um we all know this doesnt happen in real life and really I do like for the girl in the stories to have some character! Most of the time its just oh poor me i hate my life and thats it. No telling how she gets stronger over time. ugh such a waste.

1. I hate when they write OMG or LOL in the middle of the story its annoying and unless the person is actually saying it.

2. I hate when people use bad grammar and spelling. If you have to capitalize a letter just do it.

3. I hate when the two MC's are always kissing and making out.

4. I hate when authors throw in a random curve-balls to get the story going, because it was better in someone elses story doesn't mean its going to be good in yours.

5. I hate when authors are trying to write about a topic and they don't know much about it, like a murder scene or something, and they start making up stuff. Research first then start writing your story so it comes out realistic.

6. I hate when the author is writing in a boys point of view and they make them say something that probably no boy would say. I mean how many boys say turquoise instead of blue when asked about a specific color. NONE, or when talking about a girl and he says that she has chocolate eyes.

7. I hate when the MC's are not developed properly.

8. I hate when people write in their summaries, it sucks or don't read or please please read, or I suck at summaries, etc. Just write your summary and let the people decide whether to read it or not. Believe me half the stories that have these comments I do not read or open.

9. The most thing I hate in most stories is the when authors write based on the stereotypes. This goes back to researching, having brothers older does not mean they are always protective, living amongst the rich does not mean you're always spoiled, being a goth doesn't mean you're a cutter, being the Queen bee of your school doesn't mean you're evil, fake blonde, stupid and have slept with most of the male population, etc.

I think people should write about what they know, or at least research it a little bit before begining to write the story itself so that it comes out realistic. I could probably go on with my list but I have to go now.

That's so true. I've noticed that in a lot of books that are aimed towards teenagers, those types of characters seem to pop up more (that's why I don't read anything that comes out of the "Teen Section.") I mean, I understand if "instantly falling in love/falling in love to quickly" is a character flaw (that's how one of my main characters is) but you just can't have girls that see a guy, only know him for a day, and then instantly want to elope with said guy. Seriously... it's degrading humanity.

Well you can if you're rewriting Romeo and Juliet... :] But let's not get into that. I also don't read anything from the Teen Section, unless it's been recommended to me. But anyway, I hate bad spelling. That's got to be my biggest pet peeve. I mean, I can understand the spell check not catching everything, but there is such thing as a dictionary!

Repetitive words? Nope. Get a thesaurus. Do something but please don't say "her eyes were green." in one sentence and then two sentences down say "she looked at him with eyes of green." and then three sentences later say "he loved her green eyes." !!! Bad examples, yes, but you get my point.

And why do people feel the need to refer to eyes as "orbs" and breasts as "globes"? If I'm reading a sex scene, and I don't want to hear about his fingers clutching her globes. First off, the word clutching makes it sound painful, and the word globes just sounds tacky. Do her breasts have the relative locations of South America and Russia on them? Yeah, didn't think so.

It's nice to have some variety in there, I like to spice up my writing with "big words", but please- don't make it cheesy.

I agree with you guys.

You know what I noticed the other day, its aswell done with fanfiction, but when one story that is quite popular begins using a story line that is good or descriptions that are good, other people take it and use it in their stories.

One thing that I really really am starting to hate, is the random curveballs the throw in the story, like somehow when a girl figues out she likes the guy he is hospatilized or her brother dies or something like that. i cant stand it anymore, if I wanted to read that kind of stories I would have watched a soap.

umm stories that are too long and pointless are annoying. like get to the plot..you dont need 50 million chapters to prove something..and if its a romance fic with a sequel, make sure that the characters realize they like/love each other in the first part; otherwise..its...not good lol

A long story can sometimes be good. On mm.org there's an author named Sueric who writes really long stuff, but then again... hers is really good.

I see your point with the whole pointless thing. Like, if a story just tends to drag on and on... yeah. haha Get it over with! haha

I don't like sequels unless it's the first pairing's children or something. I love those! haha

That reminds me of another thing I don't like: romances in which the two main characters break up and then get back together about 50 times in one chapter. By the time you're at the 10th chapter... there's just no point anymore. Seriously folks... just don't do it. It's a annoying.

Yeah, I don't like those either. I'm fine with one break-up throughout the whole story, but they end up getting back together at the end or something... but if it's overly repetitive I don't want to read it. It gets too predictable.

Something else I hate: Big drama. Like, "I can't believe you just called me a **!" type drama. IfI wanted to see that, I'd watch a soap opera with my grandparents. Honestly.

yea lol i get you; i love some long stories..like one shots are my favourite, but i refuse to read anything under 1000 words..the longness of story isnt the real issue, its the dragging..like i dont wanna be mean, but there was this certain story that people were interested in, and the writing was really good, but the author spent WAY too much time tryna set up tension or friendship or whatever.. think there are like 60 or 70 chapters now,,i stopped at like chapter 30, ad there's a sequel too..so like all my irritations in one. lovely. lol. on te topic of sequels..kids are cute :) and yea, some sequels do make the story better, like you dont love with your brain by spicydreams62 is a better read than its..umm prequel lol..i dunno :P

Yeah, I hate stories that drag off too much that you lose interest too. I also can't cope with reading too many words per chapter... like I've seen ones with 5000+ words. I think that's just a bit too much in one go.

I HATE huge grammar errors or stories that switch tenses for no obvious reasons other than poor writing. I dislike characters who are perfect or flawless, and I can't stand characters that I can't relate to.

god, i love complaining :)

umm ridiculously unrealistic names ** me off. dont get me wrong; i love diversity, its just when its so obvious that the name is contorted from 2 other names..hmm i probably dont make much sense..lol also when its an interracial relationship and a huge deal is made. it' like god, it happens, its frequent, and not a big deal, let it go. like if the summary says:

Xeniroyazim and Kristiannicapye are star crossed lovers who face many hurdles along the way..the biggest one being, he's a blue alien, and she's green. oh no. And if it's 60 chapters of crap, i swear i'll pop a blood vessel.

Wow, I can't tell you how many times I've seen summaries like that. It kinda sounds like a Kindgom Hearts fanfic with those names. Heh heh... seriously, every member in Orginazation VIII has either a "x" or an "z" in their name.

Yeah...I don't like names I can neither read nor pronounce.

And cliched story plots that we've seen thousands of times is really pushing it. Unless there is something unique to it, I want to shoot the writer and ask if they have any originality at all!

I'm more of a reader than a writer, and I've read a lot of first chapters that are complete turn offs(mostly because of spelling, grammar, complete lack of hooks and if it simply isn't intriguing). I look at the title and summary and if it isn't interesting I don't even bother. If it is on the other hand, I'll read the first chapter and if there are what I have previously mentioned I usually just stop reading because there's no point. When a story has too much mush, its not good, but it isn't if it doesn't have enough either. If the writer uses a word repeatedly it annoys me, it might just be me, but that's a turn off.

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