What little details irks you when reading?

[Rhaps]

As the title said, what minor things irritates you when reading?

For me, its the careless usage of honorifics. Refering to a prince as Your Majesty when it should be Your Highness, and a duke sometimes refer to as Your Highness when the duke isn't related to nobility.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Killing intent the way it is usually used and described in novels.

 

[CodeCrisis]

This one is just me being a filthy weapons nerd, but using the wrong terminology for various weapons. It's not a blood groove, it's a fuller. It's not a clip, it's a magazine. And it's one of those details that most people don't care about.

 

[Dec]

For me, especially lately, it is when authors use LLM to either generate parts of the story or "fix their grammar," as this always puts words that either do not fit or are bloating the story unnecessarily, giving that "wtf I read" feeling.
I would prefer the broken engrish every time over this.

Outside of this, it's the wrong use of honorifics (like mentioned above), or when a "smart MC" actually acts dumber than "dumb MC" ever would. It makes no sense at all.

 

[expentio]

Usually, I stop a novel if I find too great faults with characterisation, or if something happens that quite severely throws off what the story was about.

The first makes me stop being interested in a character if they can't even be one. They do things I don't think sane people do, they behave differently from how the situation they are in demands, or treat other characters weirdly, or worse, not like characters.

The second makes me lose interest in the story. I almost stopped my favorite novel, because the following happened. So the character is in a huge debt. That's a big plot point that defines a lot of her motivations, while she also has to handle accumulating power, knowledge, and a criminal investigation. So now, she gets captured by the elite police force, while being in disguise. Yet then they realize to a degree who they got. They put her in a special cell, place guards in front, and wait for reinforcements. So what happens next? She simply threatens the two guards with her reputation as an all-powerful monster, the guards help her escape, kill their comrades for a promised reward, and free her associates. Also, she stumbles on their gold treasury. To me, even though the whole novel was to me absolutely outstanding, this one bullshit chapter had so much long-lasting convenience, I almost stopped the story right there.

So yeah, this is the kind of event that puts me off.

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

or when a "smart MC" actually acts dumber than "dumb MC" ever would.

Hah, the problem with a smart MC is the authour generally needs to be as smart as the MC to make it work. Though you can coach it as intelligence vs wisdom in some cases...the old adage of;

Intelligence - "I know why the snow is yellow"
Wisdom - "I know I probably shouldn't eat yellow snow"

=P

 

[ConansWitchBaby]

When slang is used casually in the narration rather than dialogue. When all of a sudden the narration drops to middle school levels of diction (i.e. bully, just trust me, etc).

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Solstice vs. Equinox

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

"Why is my heart beating like crazy? What is this feeling?"

This dialogue irks me coz yeah, I have yet to see a person irl say it to themselves because love and feelings are well-known to us as we grow up.

And in connection...

"You're cute."

*heart beats like crazy

"I think he's kind. I'e fallen for him!"

Irl, if one tells this to a girl, 95% chance he gets mistaken for a creep. 5% chance he gets off with it coz he's handsome. Irks me a lot coz tis so unnatural.

Honorable mentions...

1) The couple goes on a date and encounters a lost kid.

-irks the hell out of me whenever I read romance manga/LN coz tis lazy writing on the part of the author trying to show everyone his/her MC is a kind soul.

I mean, there are other ways to do this.

2) The "I save you; I get the seggs"

-my personal bias, but yeah, dude, try to be a person of integrity for once. Don't take advantage of someone else's goodwill.

3) The "This is a hero/adventurer/dungeon diving story, so MC gets a sword for his weapon"

-yeah, cool moves, I get it. But tis unnatural knowing that swords are expensive back in the day, and there are lots of variants (thus different fighting techniques) other than the long pointy stick common in isekai.

 

[BearlyAlive]

Too much plot convenience without any foreseeable inconveniences coming their way because of it. The protagonist getting a McGuffin or some powerful and/or relevant item? Okay, I'll see where this is going.
Gettting the stuff without any consequences? Strike One.

The smart character being actually dumber than characters established as not-smart. There is a multiverse of differences between "smart" and "pretentious", and most "smart characters" are just acting pretentious instead. Plus the whole Int vs. Wis debate. But unless the smart character is established as awkward or autistic, there's no excuse for a smart character not to be wise, or at least not wiser than the "dumb" characters.

Harem stories where the author establishes a perfectly fine and functional couple, only to add more capture targets and degrade all characters over time. I always hate it when that happens. Just keep the other characters as friends/party members/underlings, please... This had me drop at least a few stories where this happened.

 

[NotaNuffian]

Killing intent the way it is usually used and described in novels.

Might be my nitpicking, but what is your idea of its proper usage?

I think I've seen it in Arifureta and the whole "this guy is dangerous/ going to kill me!" glance from Hajime makes some sense because glaring daggers is a thing.

And then there is the standard wuxia xianxia xuanhuan heightened sense by other freaks of nature that is clearly non-ordinary human that can tell the danger from MC by his stank (most CN) or just by his nine foot tall brick shithouse body (most xuanhuan)

Ps. I forgot to add my gripes, completely flowery and vague exchange of blows.

Example is "his dragon claw flew like the rising sun, bringing with it the power of a nuclear warhead.

MC dodged, returning the favor with Reverse Crane Kick."

I hate it when the chinese do this kind of shit. You can have fancy names all you like, just tell me where the blow is supposed to land!

 

[BigBadBoi]

Stupid writing for currency. What the fuck do you mean a gold coin is equivalent to 100 copper coins? Does a big basket of apples cost a gold coin now? How the hell did you hire a superpowered assassin to kill another OP superpowered dude for merely 100k dollars? Is the assassination job market that rough? Why are these people with superpowers risking their lives for below minimum wage? Why not just go to a fucking McDonalds serving McSlop instead of gutting giant rats for pennies?

 

[Macha]

Info dumps, expositions, and giant block of texts.

 

[l8rose]

Characters having abilities that they learned/trained but are caused by genetic differences. You cannot train yourself to have photographic memory. You can train yourself to have really, really, really good recall skills but never photographic. Or synesthesia or any other thing. Sure, you can get them with severe brain trauma but not because you "willed it really hard".

Random additions of things from outside the genre that no one else but the main character or their buddies have. I'm okay with the main character randomly being reborn or having a space or whatever at the first of the story, I just dislike it when suddenly three quarters of the way through and they suddenly find a pool in a cave that lets them cultivate like a wanxia (or whatever) novel and no one ever thinks this is weird. Especially if it's slice of life farming story set in Ancient China or the 70s.

Speaking of other characters not thinking something is weird when they very much should think it's weird or glossing over things that should not be ignored, that also bugs me. So many rebirth apocalypse stories just glosses over how much people should freak the hell out over the main character being A-Okay with bashing a zombie's brains in as they still look mostly human. Like... sorry... if my neighbor was suddenly okay with wiping out zombies, I'd immediately assume they were serial killers before the apocalypse happened and not that I'd be safe if I followed them.

 

[Eldoria]

I hate it when authors keep villains lowly, disgusting, perverted, and stupid. Okay, if the villain is written to illustrate how corrupt the world is, but keeping them for tens or even hundreds of chapters, even providing plot armor for the rotten villain, is simply unreasonable.

Writers like this fail to design a good villain. Maybe for her/him, if the rotten villain dies too early, she/he will have difficulty developing the plot. But seriously, guy, you are really ruining your story.

Imagine every time the reader encounters the villain's scene, she/he commits immoral acts repeatedly as if the author condones her/his immoral actions. I often encounter this kind of thing in Chinese novels (sometimes Korean novels too). It's okay if the rotten villain lives for a few chapters or at most a dozen chapters, but letting her/him live for hundreds of chapters is a real failure of writing.

And can the author create an iconic villain instead of a rotten villain? I mean, I miss iconic villains whose presence shook the world (and the readers' minds) like Aizen and Tendo Pain.

 

[Alucard21]

Any protagonist in a world with an established magic system that has abilities never seen before.

"Everyone needs tools and magic words to cast spells, well not me, I can cast without it cause I'm special."

Not gonna lie, I almost dropped Magician because of that once scene.

And for that matter, protagonist with stupid sounding names. Why by all the stars and wisdom did you choose to name your protagonist Pug. Why is everyone not making fun of him for having such a dumb fucking name.

Furthur more, titles that dont have anything to do with the story.

Why is a book called Magician: Apprentice when the protagonist didnt learn any fucking magic even with a teacher.

Furthur Furthur more, random POV shifts to uninteresting characters. No Raymond, I do not care about any of these people, especially his stupid fucking friend.

Finally skipping over an entire war that was set up from the beginning just to tell me in like twelve fuck pages that Pug is now a slave.

OK this sorta turned into a rant, my apologies.

 

[expentio]

Characters having abilities that they learned/trained but are caused by genetic differences. You cannot train yourself to have photographic memory. You can train yourself to have really, really, really good recall skills but never photographic. Or synesthesia or any other thing. Sure, you can get them with severe brain trauma but not because you "willed it really hard".

Random additions of things from outside the genre that no one else but the main character or their buddies have. I'm okay with the main character randomly being reborn or having a space or whatever at the first of the story, I just dislike it when suddenly three quarters of the way through and they suddenly find a pool in a cave that lets them cultivate like a wanxia (or whatever) novel and no one ever thinks this is weird. Especially if it's slice of life farming story set in Ancient China or the 70s.

Speaking of other characters not thinking something is weird when they very much should think it's weird or glossing over things that should not be ignored, that also bugs me. So many rebirth apocalypse stories just glosses over how much people should freak the hell out over the main character being A-Okay with bashing a zombie's brains in as they still look mostly human. Like... sorry... if my neighbor was suddenly okay with wiping out zombies, I'd immediately assume they were serial killers before the apocalypse happened and not that I'd be safe if I followed them.

Oh, right, I almost forgot that one.
To me, it's fine if the MC at the start gets some crazy ability. Like in an apocalypse story, they awaken something really special they can make use of. Because then it's the premise of the story. That one-in-a-million chance the story is about.
If it turns out the character was special from the start, it turns into a chosen one issue. Like, I can understand the unlikely thing happen to that one random the story is about. I have less lenience for some super special character who stumbles over crazy, conveniently things.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Two things generally get me angry enough to swear off an author:
Inconsistency that is not justified (shifts in tone can work if you're going first person, or third limited and the focal character would just see things differently, but sudden tonal shifts are just jarring and can kill the story outright if they go too far, unless they somehow fit the character)
A "mystery" story where the primary clue to solving it comes out very early but is never shown to the reader, only to the character who ultimately solves it, and only hinted at until needed to resolve the case. Even if there is no way for the reader to figure it out on their own, all the clues should be available for them to figure it out anyway)

 

[Arkus86]

Adding to some of the points above, excessive use of profanity rubs me the wrong way. There is a time and place for profanity, but that time and place is not every other sentence that leaves your characters' mouth in every situation.

Additionally, it irks me when authors butcher medieval warfare without a good explanation - or any explanation at all. Typical example being cavalry charging head-on straight into prepared enemy lines, which is just asking to get half your valuable cavalry skewered on spears in the initial charge or butchered when they inevitably get bogged down.

And can't forget medieval fantasy favourite trope concerning gear - wearing plate armour with hardly even a shirt underneath, where in reality you would not want to wear one without some form of gambeson.

 

[Anonjohn20]

As the title said, what minor things irritates you when reading?

1. Retcons and reusing the same plotlines.
2. Inconsistent character personalities, especially with the MC.
3. Dragging on conflicts/events/arcs/etc. way past the point where they could have been resolved by even the most incompetent MC.
4. When too many characters feel the same. For every one unique character, you had to read about dozens, if not hundreds, of characters that behaved the same as the previous one.