Writing Meta: Pet Peeves

Vixen

Vixen

Member
I'm sure we all have pet peeves when it comes to reading other peoples work (even our own), so let loose here! I find that I'll be flicking through fanfic or even books in a store and I see that the author has a habit of doing x annoying thing. I promptly close the book/page and go elsewhere.

Not only is this a way to get the complaints out of your system, but you can offer advice to writers who fall victim to peeving their readers!
 
I'll start. I hate it when writers refer to a character we already know - and the POV character already knows - as something like 'the old man' or something vague and descript. Would Harry Potter think of Hermione as 'the bushy-haired brunette'? I don't think so. If it's in character or noting something new, by all means go for it! Otherwise, please no.
 
I understand the reasons behind doing it, but it is often over-done and feels really janky usually. I've seen some people pull it off. But mostly not.
 
I guess one thing I have a problem with when it comes to fanfiction, and that would be OC x Canon Character shipping. It's not that I don't care for the concept, but usually when I see them done, they're either unexplained, poorly developed, or transforms the canon character from what they actually are in canon to some cardboard cutout lover figure.

Take for instance, in one RWBY fanfic, Pyrrha Nikos is used in a pairing with an OC. Putting aside that I ship her with Jaune, they turned her from an interesting character that was intelligent, reliable, and somewhat awkward, into a one-note love interest that is in a steady relationship that for some reason has a focus on how the OC performs in physically intimate acts of all kinds with her. I had a huge headache when I read it the first time, and it still shows up whenever I look at it again.
 
I'm not a big fan of detail-porn. It may come from my habit of minimalism over extensive writing, but I really don't like it when people go into minute detail regarding weaponry/clothing/emotional situation. Contextually it's fine, but when you're opening up the thread with a long three paragraphs about why your character chose their outfit I'm likely to stop reading.
 
Rorshach's Journal said:
I'm not a big fan of detail-porn. It may come from my habit of minimalism over extensive writing, but I really don't like it when people go into minute detail regarding weaponry/clothing/emotional situation. Contextually it's fine, but when you're opening up the thread with a long three paragraphs about why your character chose their outfit I'm likely to stop reading.
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That's a problem I have when writing longer stuff. I tend to work too much on detail just to reach a personal word quota.
 
Otomos the Crazy said:
I tend to work too much on detail just to reach a personal word quota.
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This is probably another peeve I have, actually - not to pick on you. Word counts and word quotas make me shrink back a little bit. Again, it comes from a personal philosophy of writing only what I need to write to get my point across - probably cultured in Chat RP more than anything - but having to hit a certain number of words is a hard no button when looking at a new RP or partner.
 
Oi'. I've got a few.

Length and language conflated for quality: The manner by which a statement can be crafted is indeed numerous in the significant number of editable linguistic paradigms by which unique dialect and slang can be composed and wielded for such purposes as to create an aesthetically motivating but ultimately benign and superfluous expression of the artistic talent that one possesses through the utilitarian utilization of a thesaurus to demonstrate the irrevocable truth of how incredibly perplexingly elongated this particular journalistic entry is thus perpetrating my own superiority through a vitriolic vomit-inducing verbiage spree.

Translation: Wanting to look smart by taking a simple statement and inflating it is like eating ten times as much because you think the extra nutrients will help you. They don't, they just make you fat and unappealing. Like your paragraphs.

Spellcheck: Use it. dis dun mak gud werds guvna.

Antisocial Whatevers: With a few exceptions, antisocial characters tend to disinterest me at best--irritate me at worst. Unless the entire narrative is built around the antisocial character, their presence rarely adds anything, and often just distracts from other, more important things. No, I don't care that Korusaki Ichikawa is brooding in a corner; Godzilla is blowing up the city right now. That's more pertinent.

Confusing plot and premise: Happens all the time. All the time!
  • A premise is the basic idea of a work. "The knight saves the princess from the dragon with his sword."
  • A plot is the series of events within that work. "The knight starts out in a little hamlet and learns of the princess's fate, thus he springs into action by travelling to the King, who then talks to him about..."
[Blank]x[Blank]: Like I'm supposed to know what to do with this, sweet summer child. It's alright to not really know what kind of premise you want to do, but don't just drop a list of 50-something pairings and expect me to know what to do with it.

YOU HAVE TO BE SEMI-LITERATE!: What the actual fuck ferret does this actually mean? Literacy is not something you can measure, reading and writing comprehension is. Literacy is literally the ability to read and write. So is someone who is semi-literate only able to read every third word, or something? I mean if you want to go there, shouldn't you be using grade school level reading and writing comprehension levels to give someone a more accurate idea of what you're looking for?

Four paragraphs per post required: Read this.

The Invincible Man: Yes, it sucks to lose. Boy does it ever... But, it's a character's greatest source of growth potential, period. Characters sometimes need to lose--lose the girl, lose the house, lose a valued possession, lose a battle, lose an argument, et cetera--so they can learn their faults and grow from them. Besides, joy and victory are hollow without having known the bitter taste of loss and sorrow too. So whenever I see the character that just never loses, I tend to be turned away pretty quickly by these.

I mean, the same is true for perpetual losers though. Characters that exist purely to be pitied don't entertain me for long either.
 
A few of my pet-peeves were hit on by other people already but I'll recap on them myself.

Improper use of the word 'literacy': I hate the usage of the word 'literacy' in roleplay criteria. 'Literate partners only', 'Semi-literate required', 'Be literate please'. Every single person who registers on the site (or really who uses the internet at all) is by the definition of the word 'literate' otherwise they wouldn't have been able to navigate the internet, or read the registration application. To me this especially makes me cringe because the person requiring 'literacy' in their roleplay is typically just requiring a specific level of grammar and vocabulary skills (while themselves failing to understand the definition of literacy).

Post-Length Requirements: I can't abide them. So much so that I actually will not join a roleplay with set post length requirements. I once wrote a one word post, and it was all that was necessary given the context of what was being written. "No." The result and consequence of that one word had a devastating and life-long impact on my character. Had I fluffed it out with 4 paragraphs of filler, it would have lost the sheer power behind it. I'm always of the mind that the context of a post determines how long or short it should be. We actually detract from our writing by trying to force every single post into a set mold.

Pop open any book and read some dialogue? It's all rapid one-line exchanges. You lose the flow of the dialogue if you cram paragraphs of fluff in between. Flip ahead a few pages to that massive space siege battle taking place? You'll probably find multiple paragraphs (if not multiple pages) of details. It would be pretty boring to read a few sentences of ships pewpewing back and forth and then one blows up. Not nearly grandiose enough to fully capture the scope of the battle. Flip back to that fisticuffs scene? You'll find short rapid attack exchanges written with little detail so as to capture the pace of a fight while leaving the details to be filled in by the imagination of the reader. Three paragraphs outlining the exact angle and speed of each punch would leave readers with a headache of trying to carefully envision each and every motion of the fight and they would spend so much time musing on the mechanics of it that the spirit of the fight would get lost in the shuffle.

Posting too many actions in one post: I find this is especially common in roleplays that have set post limits. To avoid over-fluffing details in posts people will instead chain numerous actions one after the other to reach a necessary post length. This drives me insane and I feel like a complete asshole having to tell someone "hey sorry, that 10 paragraph post you just wrote? My character interupted it about halfway through the second paragraph, and the rest of it is now null and void". Chaining too many actions together leaves other players no room to interject without destroying the original post.

Example: Character #1: "Why don't I give you a tour of the city? <insert 10 paragraphs of touring the city>"
Character #2: "Nah, I have to meet someone over at such and such place. Maybe another time." <entire tour nullified because the character didn't take the offer>

All too often this puts players in the position of either a) acting against what their character would do, or b) ruining another players post.

Asocial Characters: This one isn't actually a pet peeve of mine in itself, but Nilum remarked on it and I thought I'd share my own personal thoughts. Asocial characters can work, if done right. That said, it irks me if a player brings an asocial character to the table and then gets upset that no one roleplays with it. Asocial characters are difficult to play, and often-times require initiative and ingenuity from their player to make the character work. I'm more than willing to work with players who want to put in the effort, and will do my best to orchestrate a reason for why the character might get involved in a situation despite being asocial. But if they just sit in the corner like a lump, don't bite on any hooks offered, and get upset that roleplay won't fall in their lap... I tend to shrug and move on.

Color Coding Dialogue: This is a massive pet peeve of mine. I admittedly (and shamelessly) ban it from my roleplays. It especially makes me twitchy when people use it to distinguish multiple dialogue speakers in a post as a crutch for not line-breaking properly when there's a change in which character is actively speaking. With proper line breaks, color coding isn't necessary to follow a post. (If it was, novels would be much more colorful!). For me it actually makes posts downright unreadable for me. My eyes want to jump from like color to like color, and I can't easily follow the post chronologically. Unfortunately if I strip the colors out and they have multiple speakers in the same paragraphs the posts can become unreadable.

"Hey Jane," Bob said.
"Hm?"
"Never mind."
^ With proper line breaking, I don't even need to label the second two rows. Anyone familiar with basic grammatical rules will understand that the speaker alternates every row. Bob, Jane, Bob, Jane.

"What's up," Bob asked.
"Nothing much," Jane replied. "Did you want to do something?"
"Sure."
^If the first line doesn't identify the speaker, then discretely establishing the speaker in the second line can setup for an exchange of dialogue.

"Hey Jane," Bob said. "Hm?" Jane said. "Never mind." <-- BAD. Did Bob say 'hm?' or did Jane. Did Jane say 'Never mind', or did Bob? Depending on the actual dialogue this can get VERY confusing VERY fast. Especially if one speaker says two things in a row, and you think they alternated. "What's up," Bob asked. "Nothing much," Jane replied. "Did you want to do something?"

"Hey Jane," Bob said. "Hm?" Jane said. "Never mind." <-- It's all over. I want to stab you in the face (if you used difficult to read colors, make it two face stabbings). It's nothing personal, my brain just says 'nope'. This is especially true for very long posts. The longer the posts, and the more colors in the post, the more chaotic and disjointing I find the post. I have to re-read them over and over to make sense of them.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't expect everyone to be 100% grammatically correct. I know I myself make mistakes all the time. But I do tend to ask my players to make the effort to try rather than using color coding to essentially give up bothering.
 
Pet peeves? Aye, I've got a few.

God-Mode Gamers: These are players who believe that their character is immortal. By immortal, I mean that they believe their character cannot die, by any means, ever. Period. This is always utter bullshit, as even an immortal should have some sort of flaw or weakness. Take Vampires, for example; I use them because they're my faaaave to play. They are immortal, yes? Yes. They do not age. They live for thousands upon thousands of years. The essence of immortality. That being said, should they step out into the sun, they fucking die.

Character-Takeovers: What this basically boils down to is a player that ultimately ends up trying to control your character. While suggestive text is absolutely fine, my character typically won't do, say, or feel something, simply because you felt the need to type it. That isn't how it works. My character is my character.

Post-Length Difference: I typically post anywhere from two to three paragraphs per post. If I find someone with similar interest and we "click" well enough, this may become a wildfire that spreads into Novella posting. The reason this is a pet-peeve for me is that if I take the time, and use the effort to type something that is lengthy, well detailed, and befitting of a similar response in return... and all I get is a couple of sentences... OOOOOH BOY, THAT REALLY GRINDS MY GEARS (thanks Peter Griffin).

Lazy Role-Players: You know the type. They message you with "Hey, I like your character. Wanna rp?" That eventually degrades into them want you to come up with the tone/setting, and them wanting you to be the one to post first. Wait. What!? You messaged me. That isn't how this works. Stop being lazy!

Speaking of Lazy: Characters who are made with a back-story/history that reeeaaally doesn't make any sense. Your character has multiple personality disorder? Describe each. Describe measures to prevent. Describe triggers for each. Your character has moved? Why? Was it for leisure? Was it for work? Your character is afraid of something? Why? Do they have a coping mechanism? Even the smallest things about your characters should be addressed (my opinion).
 
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Diabolique said:
Character-Takeovers: What this basically boils down to is a player that ultimately ends up trying to control your character. While suggestive text is absolutely fine, my character typically won't do, say, or feel something, simply because you felt the need to type it. That isn't how it works. My character is my character.
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Yeah, I also find people who passively GM you - like two characters having a full-blown fistfight without offering you any chance to interject or diffuse, making your character just kinda sit around uselessly - fit under this umbrella. It's one of my most tiring peeves to deal with.
 
Rorshach's Journal said:
Yeah, I also find people who passively GM you - like two characters having a full-blown fistfight without offering you any chance to interject or diffuse, making your character just kinda sit around uselessly - fit under this umbrella. It's one of my most tiring peeves to deal with.
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This. It does happen in RP fights (T1, etc), but it can also happen in just regular roleplay sessions. Like... I just don't get it. Being suggestive is one thing, but when you try to control the actions/thoughts of another character, especially in an unrealistic sense, it just annoys me. -_-
 
Personally? Multiple characters. To clarify, players who create and play multiple characters of their own. I feel that it adds unnecessary character bloat, and someone has to split focus between characters.
 
Rushed Relationships with no development:
Issues I have with the writing of others often stems from how relationships are portrayed. This is mostly aimed at roleplayers but I suppose it could also apply to other writings as well. I believe that relationships take time to develop and that there has to be a reason behind them, and that reason should make sense. It really annoys me when I see people just shoving two random characters together like two slices of bread without anything in between. A relationship without development is, in my opinion like a sandwich without meat, or cheese, or some type of condiment. Basically, not a sandwich its just two sad pieces of dry bread. I get rather annoyed when I see two characters look at eachother for like five seconds, say hi and then immediately begin either having sex or aggressively making out and then later professing their undying love for one another. Maybe I'm wrong or perhaps just old fashioned, but I really think writing a relationship without development is rather lazy and boring.

OOC characters for the sake of shipping:
Staying on the same subject of relationships, I would also like to talk about characters suddenly becoming out of character for the sake of a ship. Now this mostly applies to established characters from a show or game or etc. that have defined character traits and personalities. I think it is downright distasteful to completely change a characters personality and ignore all of their traits just so they fit into the slot of an ideal movie romance. I also see this a lot in roleplay. I'm not sure if what I said made sense...for example let's say we have a character that is very mean and harsh. That character shouldn't really become the biggest lovey dovey softy and change everything about themselves just for a relationship. I have seen this so much and often the characters aren't even together. I think that is lazy on the roleplayer/writers part just so that a character can fit into the slot of an ideal lover. In my opinion they should take the character that they have, the good and the bad, and use those traits to convey how the relationship between them and their significant other.
(( I have a lot of problems with roleplayers but I know that this topic is about writing so I wont go there))

Asocial Roleplayers/Characters that don't fit:
I believe that my next point has been touched on before so I'll just list it and add my short little blurb for it. I really dislike Asocial characters that aren't done correctly. Going along with this, I really don't like characters that don't fit into a story or situation. On the topic of Asocial character, I have no clue how to portray them correctly, I find it very hard to get them involved in a plot so I tend to stray from em. My problem is when those who choose to act as asocial characters make little to no effort to get their character involved. I mean, yes it is one million times more difficult to get them involved, however that was your choice not mine. It is very annoying to see "hey why is no one roleplaying with me?" when they choose to roleplay as a slice of sandpaper. It is their job to think of a way to get their character involved, not mine! Don't expect the plot to fall into your hands, sometimes you have to make more of an effort. Asocial characters/characters who don't fit are like roleplaying/ writing on hard mode.

Writing in the second person:
This is mainly a Homestuck fandom thing so I really don't have much to say about it. I understand if the source material that your character comes from writes like that but OMG it is so annoying when someone writes in the second person. Well it doesn't really annoy me but it does make me cringe and it takes me out of the immersion. Especially in a large group roleplay where everyone and their mother is writing in the third person.

Headcanons that interfere with the actual canon:
Headcanons are lovely and great, there is nothing wrong with them. However, the second that they conflict with anything established they become a problem.

Mary Sues and Gary Stus:
Need I really say more? Tragic backstory too edgy and Personality drier than cardbord *shrugs* but hey, we have to love them because most likely they're a princess and oh so special. (To be fair they make me laugh and my irl friends and I love to make fun of the concept of mary sues XD)

Written Accents:
If a character has an accent, fine, but please do not write in an accent. I really don't like when "It is I the frenchiest fry" becomes "Zit zis I ze frenchiest fry" (is that an exaggerated example....not really I have seen this multiple times.)

Detail Porn:
If you have ever read the Harry Potter fanfiction "My Immortal"....you know what I mean. I just don't feel you need to describe every single strand of fabric (and then the backstory of that fabric) that makes up a character's clothing.

I went on a bit of a rant there....I hope most of that made sense...these come from my experiences so there could be key reasons why my opinions/grievances are flawed. :3
 
Everyone's An Orphan: Yep. Everyone's an orphan. Get a cast of eight adventurers and you'll be lucky if maybe three of them have any surviving relatives, leave alone parents. (Oddly enough, it's almost always a single uncle or little sister that survives the annual "purge the protagonist's family" trope.) Say, about 95% of the time, it's done for one of only two reasons too. (Though there's always exceptions.)
A. It's done to try and instill an incredibly cheap sense of sympathy for the character.
B. It's done to ensure the author doesn't have to deal with the existence (and natural consequences of) a character's family.

This trope is prevalent in fictional mediums outside of role playing, sure. Pick a medium, any medium--comics, books, games, films, et cetera--you'll find a couple prominent examples of orphaned protagonists. Role playing, however, is absolutely drowning in them. I admit, every time I see them, I just roll my eyes at this point. I even try to avoid writing them myself now, even when they might be interesting or make sense for a particular world, just because this trope is so overused. This trope has been used, killed, beaten like a dead horse, turned into glue, and used (along with staples) to put together the last remnants of the dead horse to keep beating away at it in the hopes of making a new [insert orphan hero here]. It's old.

Plus, families provide lots of interesting character development angles. Depriving oneself of them is... A choice, certainly, but it usually takes away more than it adds.
 
1.) I don't like to be rushed to post. I don't want it to be assumed when I come online I live and breathe to write rapid posts. I don't, I would get burnt out immediately.

2.) Yes I play female and male characters, no problem. I don't mind being the male to your female. I do mind playing a male to a damsel whose sole purpose is to constantly be in trouble where she has to be rescued at every turn. Also, when she is not in danger of which she has no strength, she's able to forcefully try to place my character in romantic situations.

3.) I don't enjoy being the only one to contribute to a story.

4.) When someone sends me a PM about searching for a literate writer, makes demands about how I should roleplay, and their request thread sent to me is filled with the same errors they demanded I not do.

5.) One liners.

6.) Making a long starter only to never get a response.
 
I know someone already touched on it but character take overs drive me to the edge of insanity. Even the littlest things. I'm all for suggestion but the moment my character is out of my hands I'm done.
 
One thing that gets on my nerves is when the nicknames of characters make no sense. Like "Plague" for a character named Deborah, and has nothing to do with plague or death or anything.
 
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