Elements in novels, which make me angry when I read them

Worst things:

1. Female bathing in some woods in some distant part the world without any ppl in a 500 mile radius or on the other hand half a minute walk out of the city gates behind 2 bushes throwing a tantrum because someone by accident came by and saw their naked shoulder shouting for some old super op person her super family assigned as her bodyguard to kill the MC because she was a stupid idiot not to have some kind of barrier (which every fucking story has to some kind and at leas the op old guy should be able to set it up and before the MC crosses it goes there and stops him since there are other dangers either way) so it is just SO STUPID AND ARGHHHHHHHH

2. "Who are you peasant supposed to be. My family has been the top guy in these parts for longer than the reader even cares to think about so bow before me peasant.
Oh? That sure is some nice looking woman / item / pet you have there give it to me!!!
Mimimi papa that mean person who I called lowly peasant scum dared to hit me after I tried to kill him for whatever kill him.
(change from son to the father) You have to die since you hit my little baby boy.
Ah he ran away with the help of some item post wanted pictures of him.
Oh he came back super strong and hit my ass have to run to my ancestor.
(change from father to ancestor) You uncouth little shit gonna whop your ass.
Oh he ran way with the help of another item posters out again and this time EVEN MORE OF EM.
Oh crap he is stronger than me after training gotta run to the super family 2 levels higher a district over of whom we are the subsidiary branch to seek help from. (was never mentioned before btw)
(repeat n - times until MC changes to another map of a higher level then start from the beginning again)

3. Fathers being like:
"You are unqualified to be together with my daughter since you are weak atm and I am much stronger than you" (no shit Sherlock. I bet in 115% of these cases the father would eat dirt if he were to compete with the MC if he was of the same age as the MC but noooooooo he would never even consider that since he has in most of these cases some disciple he wants to marry his daughter to even tough daughter does not like said disciple)

Spoiler

Looking at Xue Aotian (well Gu Yingbing is the bigger problem there but oh well) and Shangguan Tianyue from Heavenly Jewel Change especially since I read that at the moment after I finally managed to bring myself to read it.

4. Japanese beta male MC even denser than a Schwarzschild black hole who never gets anywhere with the female cast.

5. Japanese hentai MC who only thinks about getting in the female casts panties and how to best spread his seeds in the most efficient way possible to whatever reciprocates his advances.

6. Super edgy cringe MC who seems to be perpetually stuck in the worst part of puberty and hates the whole world for the sake of hating it.

7. Mary sue characters

8. Male MC giving a second chance to the female (and whoever is at the moment of the showdown attached to her) that double crossed him / humiliated him in the beginning of the story for no reason since she could have also done it in a way that did not slap MC face at all behind closed curtains. (this is not misogynistic it is simply a fact that the few female MCs I had the pleasure to read of in novels did not tend to give those juicy second chances)
Also forgiving the fathers from 3. because of their daughters even tough MC is now much stronger than the father and the fathers original argument is something along the lines of "might makes right / you have no talent so my beloved disciple is better" but oh no now the father sings to the tunes of "oh what do you even think I was always on the side of my daughter who loved you and was helping you from behind the scenes and we are family are we not we have to be a unit oh and by the way could you help me do this or fight that person for me my "" beloved son in law"" ".

There are probably some more I do not remember right now but if I do I will add them later.

 

The father one always pisses me off especially when they literally were hell bent on killing the MC. People like that deserve no quarter in my book and I wouldn't be involved with the women who excuse that and ask MC for forgiveness. Like what if I actually died(obviously impossible cause of plot) but what then? lol

Only one I respected was the heroine in Stellar Transformation who pretty much told her family "F U" when they were pulling that shit on her man.

 

1. An arranged marriage between the mc and a genius woman where eventually the woman decides to break it off. for eg. Battle through the heavens. Cause novels that start of like this always end up the same way. The guy becomes mad and after he becomes op the girl falls in love with him and regrets her choice. Like no it is fully understandable why you would break off an arranged marriage. The guy and the girl never met before and no one likes an arranged marriage. especially if the person you are supposed to marry is useless. It is fully understandable for the woman to break off the marriage and I really hated how these women are portrayed as the villain.
2. An antagonist that saw the mc massacre entire clans and decide to still fight him. It is just lazy writing. Or antagonist that had their entire bodyguards massacred and still say stupid stuff like "Huh if you bow down and kiss my feet I might forgive you." If a novel does that it is an instant drop for me.
3. Kingdom toppling beauties/ice cold beauties at every corner of an alley. The main character can go to the sewers and find a kingdom toppling beauty there.
4. Mc who hate on a woman for cheating on him while already having several women on the side. Just a hypocrite but most of these mc's are.
5. And the worst of all, the main character who is fighting against a woman decide that during that moment it is the best moment to grope the woman or molest her. It was what made me decide to drop otherworldly evil monarch. It is such a retarded concept in my eyes.

 

When the Male & Female lead have literally already had sex a thousand times but the Female lead still seems to act all shy and timid when the MC's tryna get it on.

 

I have more, but I'll mention just this one because it probably hasn't been mentioned yet in this thread:

Children in novels thinking, speaking, and acting like adults as if it's natural, with no explanation for why.
(One of the worst times I saw this, there were a bunch of 5 year olds legit strategizing national politics and absolutely no one thought it was weird!! Wtf?!)

 

When a MC builds some kind of organization but never bothers to actually leads it... simply handing it over to someone else so they can go on an adventure elsewhere.

MMORPG Stories where the MC seem to be allergic to parties and guilds wanting to do everything by themselves completely missing the point of MMORPGs.

 

They still don't know betting work .
And it annoys me that they cannot even real life things correctly .
Also when a single element of novel overtakes the entire story like need of resource , hiding talent or just being arrogant .

 

Thats pretty dumb as power without control is useless dangerous and pointless.
Not to say if that was truth , then their daily life would be impossible and so will be their survival .

 

Well, there are quite a few things I hate:

1. Genius children = normal. I mean those times when children (<10 years old) act like super mature geniuses and that is normal and no one finds it suspicious.
2. Pointless transmigration/reincarnation. Many CNs have this problem. MC dies, goes to another world and takes over dead body with a new cheat. Don't get me wrong. I don't have anything against transmigration if it is done well (like Release that Witch), but most of the time it is absolutely pointless and gives nothing to the story and most of the time is simply forgotten (TMW for example). The need for personality changes could easily be done without it as well.
3. JP novels MCs. Beta, dumb, constant misunderstandings or simply perverts with no redeemable qualities.
4. Harems which are not harems. This is famous problem in most of JP novels. Female counts grows, but they are forgotten after volume they appear in. If you write a harem, then write an ACTUAL harem, if single heroine then single heroine and not this nonsense.
5. Females treated as dumb objects and fall for MCs for no reason. I like harem stories, but ONLY IF female characters are properly developed.
6. Unexplained power systems. This is mostly related to game elements/system novels. MC just happens to get game elements cheat, which is NEVER explained throughout the story. Transmigrated to another world? Why does that world have level systems, classes etc.
7. Cliche powers. In most novels, powers are boring as well. 99% of CNs have MCs who focus on cultivating (if they focus at all) lightning, fire, swords and spears. The problem is that there is tons of other stuff that can be interesting. Monster powers, other elements, illusions, poison, mind control etc. Look at first 3 Er Gen's novels or Reverend Insanity as references,
8. Forgetting stuff. Another big problem of power systems in CNs. In most cases, MC trains X thing for dozens of chapters, then learns y technique and x technique is forgotten. There is practically no growth or incorporation. That is why novels like Warlock of the Magus World are so fun. Not only powers are unique, but they also grow with MC.
9. 1 dimensional enemies. Let me summarize a typical case in CNs: " I am x aka [insert name and rank here]. Crowd- MC is trash, X master is amazing. MC beats X. X - You dare?!" Etc.
10. Poison/healing sex.

 

Most of the time that only applies if the revenge doesn't put the rest of the clan at risk though, for example going up against a ruler or stronger clan.
Also there isn't necessarily any honor in avenging a clansman if the killer had a recognized justified reason, if anything then avenging him might even bring more dishonor on the clan instead.

 

It's weird how often 'intelligent children' get mentioned.

Real children are very intelligent. In modern (western) culture we artificially keep them 'innocent' and 'untainted' in their 'small little world of fluff'. Without school/medias/parents going out of their way to keep every half serious topic away from them, they'd be a lot more mature at a very young age. But also harder to 'manipulate and guide'. One mature child could spoil a hundred immature one with talking about 'any' mature topic for which they weren't 'prepared yet'.

Please don't forget that for long times the mid-twenties would mean you are your village/tribe elder/eldest. Life was way more simple back then, but funnily enough the topics that are deemed 'unsuitable for children' existed back then already.

There are good sociopolitical reasons to make children as 'naive' as possible and open to certain influences. A positive reason for that would be that it's hard (impossible?) to mass-educate children, if they aren't getting standardized to bring them on one level (without violence).

One kid alone is extremely clever and intelligent. A big group of children (and humans in general) together are loud stinking animals without even a hint of intelligence.

In other times (when kids weren't kept in their own closed 'fun-world'), a 7 year old kid was more mature than many 17-27 year olds.

 

1. Agree for the first half. The second half they are the villain and are not only portrayed as such. If you have a culture where arranged marriages are normal the woman mostly without consent / knowledge of her family going to the other family and practically spitting in their face by saying "you are now trash and no longer suited to me" IN PUBLIC is just horrible. You mentioned BTTH where she did go without her grandfathers consent (and he was the part of her family who set that all in motion and also the head of the family) while he was super sick behind his back. Wow much mature and even better that she publicly humiliated him. From a logical point of view her going there and asking them behind closed door to please drop the marriage with some pretense of him being trash would not only have saved his face a bit at least since he was not blinded and was able to see reality and she would also have at the very least not lost anything. Also her grandfather might have liked that version a lote more than the one where she went and humiliated the clan one of his best friends left behind because of her ego. Also saying no one likes arranged marriages is to absolute. Mostly every part of the world had a time where practically every single marriage was arranged and the people managed to live with it as well and those times were the more dangerous ones where you had no super advanced legal systems and no communication networks you can access at every time and also no access to the accumulated knowledge since time immemorial in a tiny box. Pressing the modern freedom into those settings does not do it justice.

But if you simply do not like arranged marriages that is fine as well. I just wanted to show that the complete and utter denial of the idea being any good is wrong.

2. SUPER AGREE. And not to forget villain inner monologue while seeing his bodyguards being dismantled in front of him: "He is not going to touch me tough since I am "insert son of X / disciple of X / member of X".

3. Yea that one really gets old.

4. Well here we have to split that up a bit.
If he does it behind her back as in real cheating he is an ass, as is she if she does it behind his back.
If it is a society where polygyny is allowed he can still be an ass if he said he would only every love her and still takes side chicks even tough she hates it. I have a feeling you are either talking about this one or the one without polygyny.
But if it is a society with polygyny where she was and is ok with the other women he is also having a relationship with and she does "cheat" on him there is no real difference between him having one or 5 wives as it is still cheating.

One can discuss a lot about polygyny and polyandry but to be honest the first one is much more common. While polyandry did certainly exist and still does it was mostly in societies with sparse resources to limit population growth as well as to stop the splintering of inheritances.

Do not misunderstand if it is just about having a relationship with extended skinship everyone can do what he wants for all I care but the moment marriage comes into play the story changes a lot. I just assume the women on the side you were talking about is the typical group of "promised to marry / already married squad". If it is not that one but the horny MC going after everything without a care for relationship I agree with you tough.

5. Well that one depends I am not sure what the thing in OEM was but overall it is not so bad. You have the typical accidental groping which is followed up by the flaming hit of a much stronger female and the "I did not do it on purpose" crap which really drives me up the tree. But the roguish behavior of Zhou Weiqing from Heavenly Jewel Change for example is overtuned on purpose as the comedic element if you like it is another question. If you can tell me the exact thing of OEM I might change my mind tough since there might really be super crappy examples of that.

Yea the organization part translated into author thoughts is:
"Wow I really need him to build a organization since it is A) cool and B) shows capability and can be used later on when I need to pull something out of nowhere but since leading it is a bitch to write of he goes with the vice master in charge. ^^"

The MMORPG part tough. I will be honest I only ever group up if I absolutely have to as in raids or dungeons I can't solo but the rest I enjoy doing at my own pace. If I had crazy overpowered items with which the only things I can't solo would be like world bosses and raids why would I even care to group up for the rest? ^^

1 AGREE while we certainly do have some of them even in reality (looking at the few having finished phds etc while 12 they are also mostly specialized on one or two things and not super overall masters of everything because of time constraints and personal interest) it is just a joke. Even if we have a society where children are much more mature THERE ARE NOT A DOZEN of em 200 IQ children in every second village. And if there are there will be even more 200 IQ adults who also have a lot more knowledge since they simply had a lot more time to amass it sigh.

2.Oh yea. Just having it for the sake of having it like in BTTH where it was like mentioned once or so and the only thing that came out of it was a slightly stronger soul is well not really needed. Well the transmigration/reincarnation is often used to transport important items such as in TMW or give the bullied trash a character overhaul so it is mostly a kick starter for stories everyone can somehow get behind so well I am cutting them some slack.

3. 115% agree I also said the same thing ^^

4. Also agree.

5. Also agree.

6. Take a look at Power-level system in novels

7. Sword, spear, fire, lightening is a real pest but the late stage spatial and temporal is even worse.

8. I HATE THAT TOO. There are a few novels I read I am 100% sure the author forgot abilities since the MC could have solved some problem super easy with an ability he already had but for whatever reason stopped appearing 200 chapters back and will never be mentioned again. Ditching a weaker technique for a stronger one is fine with me tough since why would the MC use extra time to master low level stuff when the power creep is real.

9. Yea. Even tough they are the easiest ones to create having to many of em in a time span that is very limited kills it.

10. Forced getting relationship 5 bases further since author can't think / does not want to think about how to further a relationship always has a bad taste.

No offense to anyone quoted I Just wanted to get into the fun conversation again and what is better than to throw the own opinion into the pot for that? ^^.

 

2. The problem is that MC getting item most of the time can easily be done without transmigration.
6. I mostly focused on the fact that in game novels stats works because they are games, but in transmigration novels authors rarely why explain why does that world have such thing in the first place or where do leveling systems come from.
7. Spatial and temporal are not that bad if they are done properly: withering, time reversal, teleportation, spatial freeze, spatial mirrors etc. Just look at how awesome Destiny moment from Pursuit of the Truth is. ISSTH hexes are also mostly based on these.

 

Putting yourself at risk is what honor is all about.
"Justified reason" is another matter. If the person's clan also thinks the reason was justified (and it can be reasonably proven) the situation can be resolved peacefully. But I suspect characters in novels like that don't even try to resolve it peacefully.

When have you last time seen a politician who isn't dumber than a 5-year-old kid?
Also, I kind of want to read that novel about kid politicians. Which one is it?

 

Good point.
Sorry, I dropped it so I don't remember.

 

2. Yea I know the item / technique / whatever can be done without the transmigration/reincarnation just as well but it still gives the character the easiest excuse to do a personality 180 to make the early conflicts with starting clan / family easy as well as give extra knowledge the author can pull out of nowhere if he writes himself into a corner. Let us just say that if the author capitalizes on it like in RTW which you mentioned it has the right to exist but for the transmigration/reincarnation that has no reason other than for it to exist because it is popular and the author does not really care about it after the first 2 pages it can die in some ditch for all I care.

6. Oh yea seems like I kinda zoned out and did not really read that one correctly. Yea the zero explanation "it is so because I said it is" also does not really do it for me. Hell I would be happy if there would be 3 lines of text like in which they say mana connects to akashic records and skills / levels / numbers are the easiest way for us to comprehend the information we can access would already be enough. Some super cheap way to explain it but explained in some way nonetheless.

7. Yea well I like it too but it still is a pest if all the late stage training and abilities of EVERY person are based on it like in Stellar Transformation or if the laws of space and time are stronger by one level compared to others if the other is not some special variant and every person has to comment on the 5th stage of space mastery of the enemy super stomping the 5th level of element the MC uses. In ISSTH it truly is enjoyable since not every single person uses it and all the abilities are more spread out than over a few elements where space has a distinctive advantage over most others. Time can be even worse tough since if 2 martial artists on earth fight with each other stopping one of them for half a second sends him to ground most likely so what would happen if you stop a person for a split second in a hyper speed combat? I always felt like time abilities are pictured much to weak in most settings. (for the opposite look at Stellar Transformation where a person with time law can't lose to anything that does not also have time law or cheats like the MC)

 

You seem to forget that they don't make enough single-player RPGs nowadays, forcing some people who would otherwise play those single-player RPGs to play MMORPGs. This problem seems to be worse in settings where they have VRMMOs.
On the other hand, enjoying a MMORPG with other people really depends on what kind of people you're involved with. It's not just about them being friendly, it's also about having a compatible playstyle - how hardcore or relaxed they are, how your builds interact, and so on.

 

Fatally "lawful stupid" or submissive-to-authority behavior from characters who should know better in Asian fiction of all stripes

Especially jarring when your characters are less-than-lawful criminals/demons/assassins/poisoners/rebels/ whatever, and despite being in open opposition to a clearly homicidal authority, will just play by the rules.

Nobody ever poisons the evil royal who threatens their family or simply stabs the leader of a murderous organization in lieu of grovelling, more grovelling, and finally openly but still-reverently challenging them and waiting around for the inevitable pre-emptive retaliation for daring to try.

ESPECIALLY loooove the variation that goes "we're gonna expend a toooooon of resources, murder and lose loads of people, and drive ourselves crazy trying to get the idiot king to behead the corrupt crown prince/general/other close associate, instead of just snatching the ponce and torturing him in our dungeon... which we totally DO have and DO torture people in, but just the random ones and never anybody we actually truly want to do unspeakable things to"

 

There is a huge difference between putting yourself at risk and putting all the people you know and love at risk, including your children.
And honour is simply about conducting yourself in a way that is worth respect, not about putting yourself at risk even if that can be part of it depending on the culture, and even then it depends on the situation.

 

Still, the way I understand it, blood feuds were indeed fought at risk of the survival of the whole clan, often putting the entire society around them in disarray.