What turns you off form a story

[LewdWhisperer]

So I'm curious, what is one or more things that either immediately turns you away from a story or drives you to drop it over time. It could be any nitpicking thing. The character may spend way too much time in their head, or character dialogue is just a means to advance the plot and there is nothing of substance. So what drives you in a absolutely frenzy , makes your toes curl in the wrong direction or urges you to pull out your hair.

Me for example, i can't stand a superiority complex if the protagonist is literally blessed by the gods. Arrogant, gloating and boasting. Using their unmatched clout to dunk poor little npcs.

What is yours?

 

[Cipiteca396]

Cruelty. Bigotry. Hypocrisy.
I guess, if the main characters are assholes.
Even if they're nice, if things are too bleak I'll leave.

Or if they are jokes, I guess. I've been a little fed up with this one story where the character acts like a buttmonkey in a fairly serious story. And not in a funny way, but just a sad way. It's... Secondhand embarrassment is not something I want to get from reading a story.

 

[Sergeandgreen]

Deus Ex Machina.
Gatcha like systems.
Maincharacters doing really stupid stuff but get away without any consequences because some god thought this biggot deserved a powerful boon.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

LitRPG and pervert MCs, like, yeah, I know you got urges but ffs have some personal dignity.

 

[LilRora]

Misunderstandings, primarily drawn-out ones, combined with drama. Especially if it's a romance.

Some systems. It's difficult to point out what exactly it is, but generally the more distant a system feels, the better. While the more interactive and personal it is (usually seen through quests), the worse it tends to be; there are exceptions, but they are rare.

Hidden powers that miraculously work precisely when they are needed.

Oh also mcs that stubbornly cling to some arbitrary human morality.

 

[Corty]

• Concealing true identity
• Stealing of love interest by powerful family or the likes.
• Bland dialogue.
• Lack of detail of the surroundings and reactions of characters.
• Overanalyzing and too much focus on the tiniest details. There needs to be a balance.
• Repeating plot points with a different coat of paint, selling it as new.
• Power reset in the middle of the story.
• Hidden higher realms the moment MC reaches a certain point.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

System.

 

[Dark_Phoenix_Zaetyk]

Drama, Misunderstanding, Perverts Prota, Righteous Hypocrites.

 

[Terrate]

When the mc does something completely opposite of what they've shown themselves to be. Oh, misunderstandings too, I remember dropping Mushoku tensei because he misinterpreted the letter so much, + a whole fucking arc because of erectile dysfunction. Fun.

 

[FallenMoon3]

Tropes, I usually look for books that have something new, if the first chapter seems too generic I don't feel like reading it

 

[Deleted member 25151]

So I'm curious, what is one or more things that either immediately turns you away from a story or drives you to drop it over time. It could be any nitpicking thing. The character may spend way too much time in their head, or character dialogue is just a means to advance the plot and there is nothing of substance. So what drives you in a absolutely frenzy , makes your toes curl in the wrong direction or urges you to pull out your hair.

Me for example, i can't stand a superiority complex if the protagonist is literally blessed by the gods. Arrogant, gloating and boasting. Using their unmatched clout to dunk poor little npcs.

What is yours?

Edgy Protagonists.

Unnecessary Cruelty passed off as being grounded and realism yada yada yada.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Hmm - the only books I have never finished (aside from ones lost due to Kindle crashes that I just never re-acquired) were either non-fiction written in a very dry, matter-of-fact manner, stories that spend too much time on sex and not much on anything else, or The Worm Ouroboros; the story had two levels of separation between the reader and the MCs (the third person narrator is telling the story as a witness to it who was not a part of it, but I never get a chance to feel like I WAS that narrator, nor to really empathize with the characters because of that extra layer of separation; kind of like having someone in a chat room describing a movie they are watching scene by scene).

Oh, right one other thing, why I dumped a lot of "free" Kindle stories - grossly bad grammar and/or spelling that just yanks me right out of the story. Had one that did an odd shift from first to third person - basically the introduction and about every third chapter was first person, and beautifully written, but the two or three third-person chapters were always a flat-out, painful mess to wade through (or maybe I have it reversed as to the ratio of first to third person sections, but the quality shift was always jarring, and whichever type it had more of were the bad ones). Made it to about chapter 9 out of 25 in that one before I just had to either give up or find out where the author lived and force them to rewrite it at gunpoint...

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Self righteous mc. Lack of vampires where clearly they could slot in here.

 

[AnonUnlimited]

Vampires. Vampires turn me off. Unless they're part of a harem.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Vampires. Vampires turn me off. Unless they're part of a harem.

I didn't want you to read my story anyway, hmph.

 

[i-am-here-to-kill-CHAOS]

LitRPG tag. I have no interest in seeing numbers and text blocks in a story. It takes me out of the flow and forces me to deal with memorizing an often overly intricate power system rather than drawing me into the narrative.

I don't care that the hero beat the giant man-eating mantis because he had +2 Strength and +1 Dexterity instead of +1 Strength and +5 Intelligence. All I care about is if there's any hook to draw me into spending my limited time on this mortal coil perusing your wall of text.

Speaking of, no illustrations is a second pet peeve, but I don't expect any on this site, so it's a nice surprise when there are some.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Vampires. Vampires turn me off. Unless they're part of a harem.

I like vampires if they are the villain - even better if a stylish, semi-sympathetic but still clearly EVIL one. None of this Twilight silliness (and if you see a vampire sparkling in the sunlight - RUN, because that (blood)sucker is about to explode...)

 

[RepresentingDesire]

Hollow characters, a shallow world

 

[Astrolust]

I like vampires if they are the villain - even better if a stylish, semi-sympathetic but still clearly EVIL one. None of this Twilight silliness (and if you see a vampire sparkling in the sunlight - RUN, because that (blood)sucker is about to explode...)

Play vampire masquerade if you like video games. Shit changed me. I thought vampires were so lame now I’m all in on vampires.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Play vampire masquerade if you like video games. Shit changed me. I thought vampires were so lame now I’m all in on vampires.

I played the role playing game for a few years. That's what turned me OFF from them. Still tend to include them in games and stories, but often go for the more obscure types unless they're the main villain.