Something that's interesting and is usually not written about.

That's all I can think of...
Spend like 1 minute looking some stuff up, this might help you. http://www.cassandraclare.com/writing-advice/

Originally posted by Kryztal:

Something that's interesting and is usually not written about.

That's all I can think of...

Originally posted by Ninten:

What constitutes a BAD story?

Jokes aside, I'll add that to the other thread.

I absolutely abhor any kind of romance more than good friendships, stories tends to make everything revolve around that and it just becomes cringy because there's not many unique ways to spin it.

Originally posted by odd owen:

lets begin with something obvious, like a mary sue character
they are just painful to read about

Mary Sue? Like a "not Sonic" for example?

Originally posted by Ninten':

Originally posted by odd owen:

lets begin with something obvious, like a mary sue character
they are just painful to read about

Mary Sue? Like a "not Sonic" for example?

A Mary Sue is basically an unbalanced or overpowered character.

Originally posted by dino_inc:

I absolutely abhor any kind of romance more than good friendships, stories tends to make everything revolve around that and it just becomes cringy because there's not many unique ways to spin it.

I can agree with that. They're extremely predictable as a side-story. As a good friendship on the other hand, a really good one. It can be quite interesting. You could avoid the tropes that'd make it romance and be okay. Or make it relatively creepy like Kafka's Metamorphosis.

Originally posted by Kryztal:

Originally posted by Ninten':

Mary Sue? Like a "not Sonic" for example?

A Mary Sue is basically an unbalanced or overpowered character.

So, kind of like a super hero?

Originally posted by Ninten':

Originally posted by Kryztal:

A Mary Sue is basically an unbalanced or overpowered character.

So, kind of like a super hero?

Superman has a weakness, green rocks.

Mary Sues don't.

Originally posted by Kryztal:

Originally posted by Ninten':

So, kind of like a super hero?

Superman has a weakness, green rocks.

Mary Sues don't.

Technically speaking, a Mary Sue can have a weakness, but it's usually something obscure or extremely rare.

I.E. Superman's Kryptonian.

Other traits of Mary Sues include being loved by everyone, having no negative traits, and being 'good at everything'.

Originally posted by Stake from Jate Farm:

Originally posted by Kryztal:

Superman has a weakness, green rocks.

Mary Sues don't.

Technically speaking, a Mary Sue can have a weakness, but it's usually something obscure or extremely rare.

I.E. Superman's Kryptonian.

Other traits of Mary Sues include being loved by everyone, having no negative traits, and being 'good at everything'.

Pretty much.

Originally posted by Kryztal:

Originally posted by Stake from Jate Farm:

Technically speaking, a Mary Sue can have a weakness, but it's usually something obscure or extremely rare.

I.E. Superman's Kryptonian.

Other traits of Mary Sues include being loved by everyone, having no negative traits, and being 'good at everything'.

Pretty much.

A good way to have a powerful character that's not a Mary Sue is to have him lose to someone, or explain his limitations in a battle.

Like, for instance, there's a demonic character, you could have him fight an angel and have him visably be injured by the angels weapons.

The Bible has God as a mary sue, it's pretty popular tbh.

Pretty much gettign to know the main character, him/her developing over the course of the story, only to at the final moment turn out to be someone completely different.

Originally posted by Littlefoot:

Pretty much gettign to know the main character, him/her developing over the course of the story, only to at the final moment turn out to be someone completely different.

Or the same with the villain, I don't want to spend time hating the guy if it turns out he wasn't actually bad/who we thought he was. That has been done way too many times before.

I'm hardly an author or a critic so I'll just list what bugs me.

- "Chosen ones" can be a dangerous trope to use. It can be done well, but if your chosen one complains about "not being normal" or something stupid like that I'm not going to pick up the book again

- Overuse of tropes. If I can tell what's going to happen after the first page than your story needs work.

- Forced relationships. I should be able to see WHY two characters get along well, if they don't even have any common interests than it's best to keep them as colleagues or friendly rivals.

- If it's an adventure story than I'm a big enemy of what I call the "redeemable female liutenant". Basically the only female villain in the entire story is a liutenant (or equivalent rank) who switches sides because they fall in love with the main character or something stupid like that. Keep her as a villain, or if you're feeling extra special make more than one female villain (rank and file soldiers, officers, etc).

- Uneeded angst. Some people might think making their characters get upset a lot makes them seem edgy and cool, but all it does is make me happy when they lose something and actually have something to complain about.

That's all I can think of for now.