Discussion Author cringe

Sometimes you come across something cringe while reading novels, it could be a certain style, wording, event, phrase etc.

Have you noticed anything particularly cringe lately?

For me it would be world apocalypse online. The author likes to use "Let’s rewind time a little bit" which I find real cringe and unnecessary. A simple [number] hours ago/prior/before/previously would do.

 

That's the very reason i don't edit my own works (lol)

 

IDK man my most cringing moment is when mc is simping to someone who he just met or the ones that tries to kill him

 

All of the fourth wall breaks are sort of bad. But as for cringe, all these cultivation novels with romance the antagonist goes 'ay bby u want sum ***' and the MC uses his BDE to win the girl.

 

Personally, I think flashbacks are a crime against humanity. It's like going, yeah lets spoil the ending, and then go back to the start of the story.

Out of all the things I've seen, flashbacks were done right maybe 1 out of 10000

 

Meh any over emotional writing gets auto cringes from me.

 

If fourth wall breaking works, then it works, like how the Monogatari series utilized it. Honestly though, I think fourth wall breaking is only effective in comedic scenes since it kind of ruins immersion.

If flashbacking works, then it works, like how certain plot twists or reveals are recontextualized through flashbacks. But if it's done poorly, it can break the flow of the scene.

One thing I tend to not see in a good light is how some authors make characters stupid to make a chosen character look smart. I mean yeah, I know it's a common writing trick, but I just don't really like it, not that it's bad. But if there's one thing that really does piss me off when reading a story, it's the blatant racism in the works of some authors: the hacking spree in I am a superstar, that nuclear codes scene in HACKER, etc.

 

The phrase "It all happened in the time it took for an incense stick to burn/ to brew a cup of tea" when it comes up in xianxia bothers me quite a bit. Referencing names from popular media like naming the system Gandalf also makes me cringe, it just comes across as trying too hard for me.

 

Now that you mention it, i was reading a JP novel when the mc, starts showing the "typical, dense" jp mc trope, y'know the "if she does this my o holy saintly virgin self cannot endure therefore i have to run" . when i read something like that, it's usually a drop for me. it literally makes my eyeroll

 

For me, one of the worst things I see is when the writer gets too self serving. This happens whenever the writer needs something to happen but don't make the effort of making it believable. It's less about things that can bee passed off as coincidence or luck and more writing that looks like "No one else is intelligent enough to know that wearing armor gives you protection therefore I was now invincible." This kind of writing is the surest way to drive me away from a book. Books where the characters have no personality are also pretty bad.

 

excessive atheism I guess,Some author just like to make their hatred of God known.

 

When they bring RL franchises into it e.g. you're reading about a mystical shopkeeper ... and somehow, a world of warcraft character shows up to buy an item???