Discussion Worst turn off in a novel?

Love interests getting separated from the MC for hundreds of chapters.

I'm pretty sure it's just because they don't know how to develop romance between characters, or give any kind of growth to the love interest, so they just use an excuse to get them out of the way for a while. Instead, they might introduce a new girl to make it seem like there is something new (even if the new girl is also 1 dimensional).

 

When a novel drastically changes its setting/genre. For example, modern novels that suddenly spend excessive chapters in immortal worlds, cultivating worlds, etc...this wasn't why I read the novel. If I wanted cultivating world then I would choose a cultivating world one.

The aphrodisiac one pisses me off too, or just when the MC becomes super pathetic just for the sake of the plot (a reverse plot armor? A plot maker?). For example, MC "super experienced" and capable of resisting all poisons and powers...except aphrodisiacs because you know... or MC known for killing and triple killing people to make sure they are dead, "mysteriously" the bad guy lives because MC didn't triple kill this time.

I guess just drastic changes overall turn me off. It feels like 1) the author got bored and wanted to start a new story but didn't want to restart with characters, plot, and intro, or 2) author ran out of ideas and is forcing it

 

When the MC or any other Character is described as a genius, prodigy, hyperintelligent, etc

and then proceeds to do something in literally the dumbest way imaginable, REPEATEDLY.
Which then often leads to some fight, stupid moment, other stuff that could have been avoided had they actually used their "genius" brain for a second

 

Game elements(ui, skills, passives, scan, digital maps, abilities)

It's not a bad thing if stories weren't so overly reliant on them. 60% of the story basically talking and explaining the basic and advance usage of the game element. It's like okay we get it if you scan the item it has x description. Or if you combine 1 2 3 it makes 6.

My constant gripe with stories that do that. It's like they get some decent action then the in between it has 6 paragraph long explaination of the skill they used, the effects and why it's good. Like for real? Then repeat it.

 

Japanese Harem, or Harem, Many wives, girlfriend/slave harem.

Don't get me wrong, if it is Chinese imperial harem I can still accept it, cat fight, I can imagine it like yeah if you got king you got everything
Since he is the golden thigh, aka the richest man, and strong, they want fame, or power rather than love. So I can imagine them wanting 1 man.

The biggest turn off from harem is..

> All of them fall in love too easily...
Like there's no other kind person or better guy than MC, out of man from the world you choose MC? there's still idk million men who are single. It's like he was the magnet of girls?, and all of the member is 'nice' , no spy or hidden agenda, wholeheartly loving MC unconditionaly

Can we just make them friends sometimes? stay platonic?

> Too peaceful??
Why you want to share your man??? like excuse me ?
I can accept if it is sister loving same man and then sharing but...
5++ person sharing??
I can imagine them sharing if they dont love MC just need fame, protection.
I can imagine if it is world crisis only 1 man alive, so they share 1 man
but...if just typical pervert mc, just why?

Maybe they want a peaceful life? but it still doesnt sit right.

> The girls...kinda feel like prop? like so there's more person in the plot?, 'not necessary', or they don't feel alive? like only there for harem purpose?

> Maybe just me but pervert MC is huge turn off for me...., I mean it is okay to be pervert but please dont let it be the main focus..

> I think it is better if it is kinda harem but stay platonic or friend rather than marrying a bunch of them.. like bakarina I mean, it is harem but not harem at the same time.

> Big turn off is when the premise say "I want to build harem".

> 'No other male', I mean, all the person MC met or interact always female, female and female, is there no other male exist in that world??, and the female he met always become one of the harem member.

> All female he met is single, so yeah, no variety...I mean wont you interact with married woman who live his husband, and will help you because she love his husband and want to save him, or smtg like that. I mean female which wont become his harem.

> It isn't common in that world / no explaination if in that world OK with harem, but MC is making harem and no one feels it is weird

If it is imperial harem, yeah that era it is common, but fantasy world?

> About MC slaving his sister etc... I want an extra which he will feel how it was like to be slaved. // I feel like it is like a dojinshi so I'm not going to be mean, it is delusion so, whatever, but still I want sequel when he get the karma lol.

 

You can kid nap rape and drug a woman. You can for ce her to marry you. I hate Chinese novels and comics they ruin every story it's a horror stort. Who gets blackmailed with THEIR OWN RAPE PHOTOS

 

Stupid humans who think they have rights, when only cats do.

 

Gun porn. Like "I haz bigger better cannon than you, you blow up nowz" type writing. It's basically fantasy wish fulfillement by guns from people who absolutely have no idea about modern warfare and only "oh I have machine gun model 9284721639 super gun, everyone on the other side can lie down and die now"

It's the western equivalent of CN power levels.

 

Snowflake antagonist who got offended by everything

 

Useless female characters/gold diggers

 

there's plenty but i'll just say one case from the latest novel i drop out.
one novel about magic/cultivation with the character is a master in item/weapon/armor making.
the novel lack of imagination in explaining the difference between each cultivation stage and
in potion making.

Its not helping that MC is acting like a jerk, he got a reason for that but from the reader view it its just some plot created by author to make him able to act like that and it annoys me when it happens every single time, but what really turns me off is bcause MC keep swearing basically in almost every chapter when he's in trouble.

Imagine an MC of a novel that keep saying f*ck, d*ck, moron, et cetera et cetera in every 1-2 chapter and that some trouble that he can actually evade if he's not such a smart ass jerk with foul mouth

 

Right. I was reading Martial World and they didn't even get together at the end of the book...the entire book was together, separated, together, separated...sigh...

 

I tend to steer away from harem and excessive violence for actually no reason other than the protagonist wants to kill.

 

The main character has a past of being a decent person who has never done anything bad, and then a random person appears, accuses them of being evil and the main character is punished way too severely without a proper investigation to see if the accusations were true.

Okay, that's a start for many stories, particularly Otome ones, the main turn off then becomes the main character proving time and time again they are good while the "heroine" acts more and more like a jerk who is obviously not as nice as she pretends to be and none of the former friends of the main character ever seem to figure everything out for way too damn long, only appearing to insult her again and again.

At least have this only happen in one or two arcs, not so long that after more than 200 chapters, no one has changed their thoughts about the main character.

 

I don't have any problems with the Chinese being proud of themselves. A sense of nationalism is much preferable than the weird cult of self-loathing you often see in westerners.

 

Word padding and pointless filler, from the perspective of a translator. When I'm reading novels I can skip past the parts I don't like, but if I'm translating them I've gotta live those icky filler chapters where the author and characters sound like they're repeating themselves nonstop in real time, euuugh.

(Luckily, this doesn't happen often in my current projects 'cause I'm picky, but it kills me when it does.)

 

Definitely this. And half the time there is no danger to the mc’s life. He gets poisoned and rapes some girl which ruins her life. It’s stupid. I just dropped a novel a couple of hours ago cos the writer decided to use this dumb plot~

Lololol~ nice response.

 

IMO all of the aboves, but it's not so bad. If the author makes one of theses mistakes once in a 1500+ chap novel then it Aok. I'm not gonna quit straight up.
BUT BUT the worst is REPETITION!!!!! mostly in eastern fantasy
You know? The basics

 

The world doesnt need to like it or not for the harem, polygamy is a thing in our world and it including today, and its stupid that its not legal everywhere, people are adults let they do what they want

Also whats the problem of sharing? You think that would be truly uncommon if it wasnt rooted that its wrong on people? If it was not forced int opeople that they cant share it would be much more common, if its girls sharing a single man or a woman sharing dudes, thats just our pathetic cutlure that has influence over us, doesnt mean everyone would like it, but that doesnt mean its something truly unreal



For me the main turn off harem

Mainly on chinese ones:
>the author keep introducing some love interest and even somehow make her interesting but he throw some bullshit reason for the girl not be with the mc, "i'm not worth" "oh yo uare different race(mc actually gets with other woman from other race later on)" "I...i didnt manage to confess and leave with him(world that you might die at any time and the mc is leaving and he probably wont ever return... yeah right"

>I dislike ridiculous big harem, if its not exagerated you can have a fair number of girls and develop them well if the author wants to

>Stupid reasons for dramas that happens because some character have some braindead reason that leads to trouble everywhere and drama, honestly i feel like dropping the novel just of how annoyed i've been lately because of this

>MC way too much of a perv and talking about every girl, everytime in the novel even in fights or serious moments

>Slave harems, pretty much feels ... might be actually this that the character think of that the girls are nothing but trophies to collect, not every novel fall on this though some novels have the mc not even trying to make a slave harem and it just happens

>MC that focus on a single girl or a novel harem that makes obvious that mc ends with just a single girls

>MC hates and cant make friends with males thats just plain stupid, feels like mc is scared of getting cucked and is trying to stay away from other dudes, or he might just actualyl wants some dude to dominate him or something

>Author start making excuses the characters cant be together like "you are a empress/emperor now we cant really be together!"

>No intimacy with the girls at best its just sex


Others things that turn me off is

>Author turn off the brain of characters in certain moments of novel for whatever reason

>MC is a battle maniac that doesnt care for anything else

>Nationalism

>Puritanism of any kind like... trying to show humans as some sort of superior than others or something, characters refuses other girl because they are from a different race,etc,etc

>No build up and keep being repetitive

>Lack of world building

>No diversity of characters personalities

>Next to no character interaction, feels like its a escape of the trouble

Well thats just a few, doesnt help i like to look in details and i find so much flaws and other points that turn me off that at this point i just feel annoyed to the extreme when i find the ones that feels the worse to me, even the first time might make me drop the novel but i try to check later chapters in some cases that can actually still make me read the novel

 

Well I know they are adult they can do what they want but, idk maybe backlash from people there?? if it in that world very easy going with everything, sure, I accept it xD.

What I want is kinda like how people around there react to the harem, chill since they do have harem too/normal in that world to have harem? example: chinese ancient era, chill because not my problem?, who cares MC do anything?, or very conservative "wth?? our hero is having harem??!".

In Japanese harem the world seems to 'ignore' the fact MC made harem, like it looks very normal, no one bother mentioning about it?

Is in that fantasy world really that accepting? very carefree/ mind your own business? I'm just curious about that fantasy world culture.

If no one does it except MC, and they never thought it is possible for them to have harem, only have mindset 1 vs 1 couple, MC will sticks out like a sore thumb, but somehow no one mention anything, like... weird right?? .

In the chinese one, I can imagine it to be very normal to have harem since everyone have their own harem wheter it is disliked, or liked by people there. So I have no comment here.

Well sometimes it is feel unreal because of the human emotion called jealousy and selfishness. But I wont say it is imposibble to have special case to be peacefuly sharing with everyone. I can imagine 2 people sharing 1 man, they are sharing it peacefully.
But with many people..? every single of them selfless? not even 1 of them has jealousy wanting only have that man by herself?
Well if they have a rule or something to make everything equal I can imagine for them to be peaceful. But yeah still, jealousy is scary.
And sometimes people has tendency being a possessive.

Ps: I agree with your turn off too.