Read the disclaimer if you haven't already.

This chapter is about pet peeves I have in writing.

Okay, so these pet peeves range from "There's nothing wrong with it, I just don't like it" to "these are wrong and need to stop." So some of them are genuinely incorrect, and others are just me being nitpicky and silly.

Some of these pet peeves are about writing and some are about authors.

TL;DR: Not all of these pet peeves are "right," they're just personal preferences.

Content warning: Opinions

1) Semicolons in dialogue

Oh.

My.

God.

I laugh every time I see a semicolon in dialogue. I can accept ellipses, colons, dashes, commas, whatever else, just not semicolons. They bother me. I think I've written one line of dialogue that included a semicolon and that started my hatred of them because I thought it looked so goofy and changed it.

So yeah, I can't with semicolons in dialogue. I don't know why I have such a strong reaction to them being in dialogue, but they make me giggle. And not just giggle. I mean full out hehe and hahaing.

2) Backseat Authors

I cannot tell you how many times I've read a story for my review shop and saw other reviewers in the comments being backseat authors.

There is a difference between being a reviewer and being a backseat author.

Backseat authors are like backseat gamers. Backseat gamers are people not playing the game who excessively comment on the gamer's playstyle and/or telling them what to do. Backseat authors are people not writing the story who excessively comment on the writer's style.

There's a difference between helping and leaving inline comments every other paragraph correcting the tiniest mistakes.

The reason I dislike this is because of how many different ways there are to write a story. Correcting a sentence by saying, "It should sound like this..." is counterproductive and forces the author to try to write in your style, not theirs.

Of course, there are times sentences are genuinely incorrect and need to be corrected, but there's a difference between making a grammar correction and telling an author to write in a completely different style. I'm talking about people who excessively comment on an author's style, not the ones making grammar suggestions.

You'll notice when I write reviews and correct sentences, I always offer alternatives that are the closest to the original sentence and make sure to stress that there are countless ways to rewrite a sentence.

Also, whenever there are consistent technical writing errors, I find it more productive as a reviewer to give general suggestions and examples to help steer them in the right direction rather than correcting every little thing using inline comments.

I feel correcting an author so often could turn potential readers off about the story, which is the last thing I want to do. That's why I say "I'd suggest reading sentences out loud to make sure they make sense" or "I'd suggest using a grammar checking software" instead of leaving inline comments on every single incorrect sentence I see. I also feel it can hurt the author if I'm tearing apart their sentences.

I'm not saying my suggestions are perfect or even good, and I understand some may prefer the inline comments on every error depending on how they view criticism, but I feel a few specific examples and then a general suggestion to improve the overall grammar is more effective than leaving a million comments about every other paragraph in the story.

Obviously I'm exaggerating, but you know what I mean: people who excessively comment on every little error.

That's my personal style, but if you prefer the million in-line comments, then you do you. I always felt they may turn a reader off a story and/or kick the author while they're already down. That's just a me thing, though.

3) Readers Who Only Care About Shipping

I don't think I need to explain myself.

I left ao3 because of readers only caring about shipping. Like Crazy on Wattpad was pretty rough too because of the ending. I'm not talking about people who dislike the ending (because let's be honest, it's hard to like that ending), I'm talking about people who were super pressed and pissy about it.

The funny thing is, the same people pressed about the ending are the same people who said "Namjoon x Y/n" "Yoongi x Y/n" "Jungkook x Y/n" the second something bad happened to Jimin. So, which is it? Do you want it to be a Jimin x Y/n, or a Namjoon/Yoongi/Jungkook x Y/n?

That tells me you only care about shipping. I'm gonna be honest, I genuinely do not care if people hate the ending. I stand by that ending and I think it is my best and riskiest ending out of every single story I've written. I knew going into it that people were going to dislike it because of shipping and the natural desire to want a 100% happy ending. However, it is the ending that made the most sense.

Something I think readers forget: I love the story more than you.

I wrote the story. I literally dreamed it. You do not love Commander Park more than me (unless you're ehehevhnddjbfgb). You do not love Y/n more than me. And you certainly do not love Like Crazy more than me.

I'm sorry if that sounds rude, but it's true. If I didn't love the story with every fiber of my being, I wouldn't spend over a hundred hours writing it. And that's just writing time. That doesn't count editing, brainstorming, creating aesthetics for it (like the map), etc.

If I didn't think the ending was the best for the characters, I wouldn't have written it because I adore the story more than anyone. Trust me, I didn't want it to end that way either. The reader in me wanted the opposite to happen, but the writer in me knew my fantasies could never be reality. 

If it did become reality, the story would be ruined. The entire theme and commentary on toxic relationships would be rendered useless. That's why it ends the way it does, and also the reason I will always, and I mean always, defend Like Crazy's ending. It was the best ending for the story I wrote and my best ending yet. Go argue with the wall.

Again, I don't care if people dislike it. You're not really supposed to like it, it's not exactly a happy-go-lucky ending, but there's a difference between people who dislike it but know it's best for the story (or at least respect it), and people who are pissy about it. Most people didn't have a problem with it (and some even wanted that ending before I even published the final chapter), but the few who did have a problem with it were assholes about it for no reason.

In general, shipping goes too far. Shippers (not all of them, but some of them) take things way too seriously and send hate to the author for no reason. 

I got hate because Jimin existed in a Taekook story. He didn't do anything. He was just Jungkook's business partner. Jimin literally did nothing, and Taekookers still sent me hate comments all because Jimin was in the story. I'm not kidding, they sent me hate not because of the story itself, but because Jimin was in it. Nothing to do with the writing or the actual story. Just... Jimin.

That, my friends, is why I left ao3.

I understand modern fanfic includes a lot of shipping fics, but that doesn't give you the right to send hate to authors who don't want to write that. 

I've talked about this before, but I got pressured into writing more ships for Adrift when it was supposed to be just Y/n x Jimin and Hoseok x Seulgi. I also got pressured into writing smut when I was never a huge fan of it. 

That was back in 2020 and early 2021, so I've learned a lot in these past three years and will never let readers peer pressure me into writing smth I don't want to write again. 

Still, that doesn't change how horribly I was treated on ao3 because the couples weren't smashing 24/7 and there was an actual plot. 😱😱😱 A book advertised as a book and not a smut fest has a plot??? No way???????

TL;DR: Don't pressure authors into writing your ships. Instead, just click off the book and go find an author who writes what you want.

4) Reviews + Achievements

I am so proud of authors who get good reviews and achievements, that's not what this is about. It's just a pet peeve of mine when authors put said reviews and achievements at the front of the book with multiple chapters. Not like one or two chaps, I'm talking those stories that have like 3+ chapters of reviews and/or 3+ chapters of achievements right at the front.

I'm sorry, I just can't, I'm gonna skip past it. I don't want to read a review of the book. I want to read the book.

If I'm done with the book, I might go and read the reviews, but I can't stop and read the reviews before I've even read the story.

I'm the kind of person where I don't care about what reviews say, I'll read/watch anything regardless. I mean, critics said the fnaf movie was bad but I went and saw it regardless and loved it. I ended up watching it in theatres like four times (it was supposed to be six 😒).

Even in a book I buy, I will skip past reviews if they put them in the first couple pages. I much prefer books that put reviews on the back of the book and put their lil achievement badges on the front cover. That way they aren't distracting, but the author can still show off their achievements/reviews.

I personally don't put any reviews in my books because I just don't want to. As for my achievements, I put them in my blurb instead of making an individual chapter for them.

But that's a personal thing. I totally, 100% understand and support authors putting reviews/achievements in their book. That's not what this is about. It's more about me not wanting to see a mass of them at the beginning.

That's one reason why I dislike character sheets. If I pick up a book, I want to start reading immediately. I don't want to have to skip through achievements 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., then reviews, then a character sheet, then an intro, then an a/n, etc. When I click the "read now" button, I don't want to have to then open the chapter list and skip past all those things.

Obviously I'm exaggerating, but there are plenty of books that will have:

- Achievements 1

- Achievements 2

- Reviews

- Character Sketch

- Intro

- Chapter 1

Do you see how long it takes to get to chapter one? I know it's easy to open the chapter list and press on chapter 1, but it still bothers me for some reason. Especially if I get an ad when skipping chapters. That frustrates me.

Yes, I'm aware I can do the hack of going back to the book's homepage then pressing on the chap I want, but sometimes I forget and still get ads.

That's why I'm starting to read on laptop despite how uncomfortable it is! I have the best adblocker even YouTube can't detect :D

My phone is old, that's why I'm not bothering to put an adblocker on it. Besides, mobile adblocks don't really work on apps, so if you're using the Wattpad app, you're kinda out of luck.

So, again, I don't care if authors post their achievements/reviews, but it does irk me a bit when there are like 3+ chaps worth of them at the beginning. I don't care how many chapters of them an author puts at the end, even if there's like 10+. It's only when it's at the beginning and in great mass, like 3+ full chapters of them.

5) Laughing In Dialogue

I'm talking about saying "Hehe" or "Haha" in dialogue.

I'm sorry, I can't.

Unless it's a comedy, I can't take haha's seriously, and whenever someone puts hehe, I think of MJ.

I don't know if there's anything grammatically wrong with it nor do I care to know since I'm never going to do it or comment on another author doing it anyway, but I can't. I can't take a scene or character seriously if they're hehe and hahaing their way through the dialogue, y'know?

Unless it's Hobi cause he literally hahas.

I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm only saying I personally dislike it.

6) "You Didn't Vote So No Update"

I really can't with authors who do this.

Do you want to know why? Because 9/10 times, these authors complaining about votes have an above average vote to read ratio.

I don't think Wattpad authors truly comprehend that around 10% or less of readers actually vote, and even less comment. The vast majority of readers are silent readers.

I'm not kidding when I say some of my most dedicated readers who comment all the time have admitted to me that they're silent readers and only started commenting on my work because they were in a good mood. 

Any of my regular readers knows the chronicles of ehehevhnddjbfgb and I flirting in the comments and playing the elaborate game of "Will they won't they?" Guess what.

She's normally a silent reader.

Literally the thing some people get more invested in than my actual story started from a silent reader. That's how many silent readers there are.

I'm a Wattpad author, so I understand wanting to get votes and I know it's frustrating to get a lot of reads but not votes to match. It makes you think people aren't liking your story, but in actuality, it's probably just people not voting because they don't want to be seen or forgetting to vote. But that doesn't mean you should get mad at them.

Like there will be an author with 1k reads on a book and over 400 votes still complaining about votes. That's over a 40% vote rate and you're mad? What????

I saw someone complaining about no one liking their story when their book had less than 400 reads and over 100 votes. Like????????? That is an extremely high vote to read ratio and you're complaining???

It makes me wonder what you're writing for at that point because how are you complaining if your vote rate is between the 20-40% range. Do you have any idea how incredible that is?

I cannot stand the authors who will punish readers by saying "no update because you didn't vote" or even discontinuing stories because readers don't vote as much as they want. Why are you writing if you only want votes and will literally stop writing because of votes? The only thing you're doing is punishing the people who are vocally supporting you. 

And fyi, engaged readers still boost you in the algorithm, so even if they aren't voting, as long as they're reading, they're doing you good. They're going to boost you in the algorithm for more potential readers, and potential voters, to see.

I found a system I think works okay: Encourage readers to vote by offering cool things and faster updates. If readers have a reason to vote, they're more likely to. If I get a certain amount of votes on a chapter, I'll release the next one early.

Obviously this isn't foolproof because I have a life so sometimes I don't get around to updating as fast as I'd like, but it's a good thing to at least try.

For Like Crazy, I offered a new MYG fanfic when I reached a certain amount of votes. I received those votes in like a week. Instead of villainizing your audience, encourage them. Think of new things to try.

Stand out from the other Wattpad authors. Try new things, be creative, give readers more reasons to stick around. If you're so upset about votes that you refuse to update, that tells me you're writing more for the vote/read counts than the joy of writing. I bring that up because if you care about that, then you should be doing new things instead of complaining. Complaining is a temporary solution that won't give you long-term, loyal followers. They're going to get tired of you making announcements to complain about your votes.

More likely than not, you're not going to get the reads and votes you want from just writing stories, throwing them out, and hoping they do well. Sometimes the algorithm is kind to you and recommends your work, and other times you'll get a story that underperforms.

Instead of punishing readers, think of inventive ways to promote your work. Submit them to Wattpad ambassadors like Stories Undiscovered to get your work featured, enter community contests, go to review shops so reviewers will comment on your work to boost you in the algorithm (a lot of reviewers vote, too), promote on other social media, encourage readers to interact by incorporating rewards and/or faster updates, talk to your mutuals and ask them to leave a vote to help you out, etc.

If you only care about the numbers, then there's a chance, maybe even a high one, you'll lose followers and reads. People don't want to support authors who villainize them. I will immediately put down a work by someone if they're complaining about votes.

And no, I'm not talking about people who ask for votes. I understand you're putting a lot of time and effort into these stories, so wanting votes is understandable. However, it's different when you refuse to update or even discontinue a whole story because the votes aren't in your goal.

Sorry, but it's Wattpad. If you're on here just for numbers, then I really don't know what to tell you considering the vast majority of Wattpad writers only have a handful of followers. I'd say if you have over 200 followers, you're above average. Most writers on here are small, the problem is Wattpad pushes the big accounts so much that you may think the average writer has thousands of followers when that isn't the case.

I bring that up because follower count isn't an indicator on how good or bad a writer is. You could be an amazing writer at 1 follower or 1 million. My advice to you is to focus on writing, not numbers. If you let the numbers get to you, you're going to lose your love of writing.

Of course it's amazing to be rewarded for putting in so much effort into your book. Of course you want to get votes and strive to get your name out there. But, if that's your only goal and you let it stop you from writing, then you risk losing those numbers you want so badly.

Also, BTS didn't become a global sensation overnight. It took them years of hard work and smart business moves to become what they are today. If BTS, the biggest K-pop group in the world and one of the biggest artists in modern times, took years to get to where they are, why are you expecting your book to blow up in 1% of the time it took them to gain traction?

Have patience. Success comes from hard work and smart decisions. Punishing your audience is not a smart decision.

Long story short: Don't write on Wattpad for numbers, write on it because you love writing.

7) Random Plot Twists

I think this one is self-explanatory.

I don't like it when there are plot twists that were obviously thrown in there for drama and weren't set up at all. I can deal with plot twists I didn't see coming or plot twists set up only like five chapters in advance, but I can't with the ones that came out of nowhere and make no sense.

Plot twists can create some of the most interesting storytelling moments (in my opinion) if they're done well. But if they're thrown in there for drama, it can feel cheap and it will make me want to put down the story.

8) Fake-Out Cliffhangers

I cannot with these.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm talking about those stories where a huge thing will be left at the end of the chapter to end it on a cliffhanger, then the next chapter immediately takes back that huge thing.

So, for example, let's say an orphan is talking to an older man they've been bonding with throughout the entire story. They form a close, father-child relationship when one chapter suddenly ends with the man saying, "I'm your real father."

Then, the next chapter starts with the man laughing and saying, "I'm just kidding."

That's what I mean. It's when a cliffhanger ends up being for nothing. It makes me so angry. It makes me feel like my investment in the story meant nothing and the author is going to continue to do random things to make me feel engaged, then take those things back.

It's a takebacksies of core storytelling moments, which makes me upsetti spaghetti. I don't want to be invested in something only for it to be fake, y'know (depending on the situation/story)?

If anything, to me it feels like lazy writing where you need to rely on fake tension to keep the reader engaged. I'm all for cliffhangers at the end of your chapters (I try my best to use as many as possible, but not to the point where I'll force them), but if you're using fake ones, then I'm going to put your book down.

9) Fake-Out Deaths

Similarly, I don't like fake-out deaths and that's actually the reason I dropped The Walking Dead.

Ironically, I have written fake-out deaths before in some older works, but I stopped since I really dislike them. 

I'm not talking about where you think a character might be dead because you haven't heard from them in a while or they went somewhere dangerous and we don't see their perspective, I'm talking about where it shows a situation where a character either looks to be dead or there's no possible way they could have survived and they still somehow survive (like Sabine in Ahsoka getting stabbed with a lightsaber and the episode cutting to black only for her to be fine in the next episode! Or the infamous Glenn dumpster scene in TWD).

I can't with those types of fakeout deaths. I can handle when you don't hear from a character for a while (I actually like this-), but if I see a character go through a situation there ain't no way they're surviving and they actually do survive, I'm gonna be upset.

In most cases, that's plot armor, so yeah. Boooo fakeout deaths.

10) Reviving Characters

We're really talking about death today, huh?

There are some stories where I don't care if characters get revived. Vampire stories are a huge example of that, and I'm okay with it in some superhero stuff as well.

It's when it happens in stories like Star Wars ROS that it becomes a problem. They weren't reviving people for a reason, they were undoing death because they didn't want any consequences. They had multiple fake-out deaths where characters "died" then came back later or were revealed to have been alive the whole time.

That's frustrating, not engaging.

I don't want to watch a movie or show where characters are dying but coming back all the time. It makes me less engaged and it makes death/consequences feel like they aren't permanent.

Just so you're aware, superhero movies/shows (and other movies/shows, but mainly superhero ones) reviving their dead villains/heroes so often has made me genuinely believe no one can die in media.

I was watching a movie the other day and the main character was about to die. I mentally laughed because I thought there was no way they'd kill off the main character. They did. I was shocked, but I still didn't believe it because I didn't think Hollywood would allow that to happen.

And just so you know, I understand some movies and shows need characters dying and coming back to happen to advance the plot or something. Edge of Tomorrow is an example, and I adore that movie even though the main character gets revived every time he dies.

So it's not that I think reviving characters is a fundamentally bad thing, it's that it depends on how you handle it. Is it a comedy where you're making fun of other media bringing back dead characters all the time (such as the MCU talking about bringing back Iron Man)? Is it a story like Edge of Tomorrow where someone is stuck in a time loop and dies over and over again? Is it a vampire story that relies on people dying and reviving as vampires? 

Those are a few examples of times I'm okay with it. Remember it's about execution. I've been on record saying I dislike the arranged marriage trope, but I've seen some stories that have executed it well and I end up liking the story. So it's fine to revive characters as long as the reason isn't "Well I don't want to kill this character lol."

It's fine if you don't want to kill the character, but please have a reason other than personal liking. Sometimes you have to make hard decisions for your book even though you know readers won't like the decision.

At the end of the day, sometimes life doesn't give us what we want. Sometimes a different way is needed or just happens because life isn't forgiving. Not every character needs to survive. On the opposite side, sometimes the characters do need to survive. It depends on the story you're writing and what you're hoping to accomplish with it.

That's another reason why I ended my book Like Crazy the way I did. The entire theme of the book is moving on, and the main characters were toxic assholes, particularly Jimin. Okay, okay, I get it, we all love Jimin in that story. He's an ass, but a charming one. I put crack into his character. But that doesn't change how toxic he is and how the opening scene is literally him decapitating an innocent man, spitting on his corpse, calling him a slur, then turning to Jungkook and Y/n and threatening to do the same to them.

Yeah, he sounds like a real charmer, doesn't he?

It wouldn't have made sense if I ended it any differently. It wasn't what I wanted to happen to the main characters, and I doubt it was what the readers wanted either, but it was a harsh slap of reality. Sometimes life doesn't work, especially in their world of poverty, famine, death, and war. 

Moral of the story: Don't be scared to do what's right for your work.

11) Actions As Dialogue Tags

It makes me giggle a bit, and I don't know why. I can't take it seriously when it happens. It's something like this:

"Hey, I missed you," he smiled.

To me, that's just weird formatting. I feel like it'd be much more natural to say something like:

He smiled. "Hey, I missed you."

I'm not a huge fan of actions as dialogue tags. That's a smaller thing, but it makes me giggle when I see it. Most of the time, for me, it feels awkward to read.

Dialogue tags refer to how someone is speaking. You can't laugh words. You can say them, whisper them, shout them, etc., but you can't laugh them (at least not without extreme difficulty). That's why I never really cared for dialogue tags that were "smiled" or "laughed" or "chuckled."

People debate whether it's correct or not, and quite frankly, I don't care. I'm never going to use them or comment on it for someone else's work (unless they're doing it excessively), so I don't care to know because it's so debated I don't even want to get into that conversation.

If you use them and think they're okay, fine. If you don't use them and think they're not okay, also fine. I just find them funny and giggle when I see them.

12) Jimin Getting Passed Around

This is a BTS fanfic pet peeve, but I didn't think of it when I made my chapter about fanfic pet peeves, so here it is now.

In general, smut makes me uncomfortable, but it makes me even more uncomfortable when it's Jimin (or any member of BTS, but it's mostly Jimin) getting passed around.

It happens all the time, and it's mostly Jimin. Oh and don't you worry, it's not for storytelling purposes, it's purely because I guess Jimin is a toy for the BTS members to play with. 

They're not trying to make some interesting commentary on sex being used as a transaction and how that impacts our mental states. No, it's for the readers to giggle at.

Passing any member around like they're an object makes me feel so uncomfortable. I think it bothers me so much because it's always Jimin. I'm not saying it never is any other member, but don't lie to me BTS ff readers, you know it happens the most to Jimin. In my experience anyway, if a member is going to be passed around like a blunt at a college party, it's Jimin.

I'm not talking about smut written about BTS, I'm talking specifically about one member of BTS being passed around the rest of BTS. That's where I see it happening the most to Jimin.

He gets passed around like he's an accessory to them, not an actual human being with thoughts and feelings. It feels so dehumanizing to read several fics in a row of Jimin just getting passed around.

I think it makes me especially uncomfortable because many times authors will depict him almost child-like. I understand Jimin looks young and pouts a lot, but I mean they literally treat him like a child despite him being almost thirty. That combined with him being passed around makes me feel sick to my stomach.

Is this like a subgenre in BTS fanfics? If not, then why does it happen so often? Is it because Jimin is involved in two of the largest BTS ships (Yoonmin and Jikook) and is the "antagonist" of arguably the biggest ship (Taekook)?

I don't know why it happens, and I honestly don't think I want to, but it grosses me out all the same. I just want to read a story, not something where Jimin gets passed around and acts like a child in the process. The problem is, Jimin getting passed around is never advertised or in the warnings, so it's not like I can click off before it happens because there was no way I could know.

Everyone's entitled to write what they want, but that makes me so sad. It's one thing if you're going for commentary on this kind of behavior, but no one ever is. It's purely for the reader's pleasure. Like I said, it makes me sad.

The saddest part? I see this the most in stories focused on other BTS members. Like OT7 stories, Namjoon stories, etc. Jimin isn't even the protagonist yet he's still the group's toy, almost like that's his only role.

I feel like they see his "softness" and bond with the other members as an excuse to pass him around and give pleasure to the readers. I'm tired of it. I cannot even begin to count how many times I've seen this happen to Jimin. Again, not saying it doesn't happen to other members because it does, but I've seen it happen the most to Jimin. It makes me depressed.

13) When The Y/N Is Given A Specific Appearance

Please read the whole explanation before commenting.

I know some people have mixed feelings about this, but I never cared for Y/ns that have specific appearances (depending on the circumstances/stories).

I'm not talking Y/ns that have scars or moles or even tattoos (especially if the story takes place in a genre like vampires, sci fi, dystopia, etc.; it would actually make sense for the Y/n to have scars, burn marks, or other marks in those genres.). I'm talking the fundamentals. For example, a Y/n is given a specific face shape (LET ME EXPLAIN BEFORE YOU COMMENT).

To me, it kinda defeats the purpose of a Y/n. It's a choose-your-own-adventure story. By giving Y/n a specific appearance, it's like an RPG but without the customization. I think everyone knows there are going to be differences between Y/n and the reader (obviously), but choosing a specific appearance for the Y/n takes away part of the reader's imagination. At that point, it feels more like an OC than a Y/n.

Like I said, I'm fine with small things like giving Y/n a tattoo, or specific moles, or scars, or even saying she has a unique eye/hair color because of something, such as she's a demon hunter and her eyes glow red because of her breed, or she has white hair because she got Elsa'd. Or her weight and/or skin color is established to appeal to specific readers. That kind of thing I'm okay with. 

I'm talking about stories where the appearance is specified for no real reason.

So, I guess long story short, if there's a reason the Y/n has a specific appearance, I'm fine with it, but if there isn't, it feels weird to me. It feels like an OC (especially since many authors give them specific names alongside their Y/n name, again, for no reason).

I don't really read Y/n stories outside of judging, but whenever I see this in a story I'm reading, I always wondered why authors do it.

I'm not going to drop a story if that happens, but it does confuse me.

Again: I'm only talking about when it's done for no reason.

14) ' Instead Of "

I know it's a thing in UK English to use ' for dialogue instead of ", but I don't like it nonetheless.

It's super hard for me to read. When I see ', I think it's going to set up a character quoting someone. So, like this: "Steven said, 'I found my wallet.'"

It's just how I learned English. It's not wrong for either side, but it doesn't change that I almost always put down a story if it's written like that because it isn't visually appealing for me.

It doesn't really matter since I'm never going to write like that, but it's a pet peeve nonetheless.

15) "Audibly" and "Visibly"

Anyone who knows me knows I don't like adverbs, but I dislike audibly and visibly in particular. Like, "He audibly laughed."

Oh, the laugh was audible? Thanks for the info.

There are times those two words can work. Audibly, for example. It can work to differentiate when someone is thinking then switches to speech.

Maybe something like this, I don't like this plan, he thought, then audibly, "This plan sucks balls."

Obviously that's an extreme example, but it goes to show there are cases where I don't mind it and even think it works well. My main issue with those words are that they tend to be rendered useless by the text. If someone is laughing, you don't need to say it's being done audibly. Like I said, no duh. We know when someone is laughing, it's audible.

Unless it's a case like I mentioned above (differentiating between thinking and speaking), I don't see the point of including the adverb and it makes me giggle.

The same applies to visibly, but to be honest, my hatred of this word stems from Star Wars. Do you know that "Visible confusion" meme? Maybe not, but it's exactly what it sounds like. Obi-Wan is visibly confused.

Whenever I see "visibly," I think of that meme, so I laugh. Star Wars ruined the words "visible" and "visibly" for me, so that's where my distaste of visibly comes from.

Still, like I said with audibly, there are cases it can work. However, I don't personally like those words.

16) Author's Notes

I have no problem with author's notes. I think every author uses author's notes. The problem I have is with author's notes in the middle of the story.

Like when you're in the middle of reading something and the author puts (lol yes y/n get it) or something like that.

In fluffy fun stories, maybe I can accept it, but I click on a book to read a story, not see the author's thoughts, y'know?

I'd love to get to know the author, but not in the middle of the story, if that makes sense.

Not much to say about this since it's self-explanatory.

17) It's Fiction, No One Cares

I guarantee you most readers do not care if you make changes to real life events, people, places, etc. I once saw an author change a BTS member's irl sibling and got defensive about the change even though no one was complaining and I guarantee no one would complain.

Just because they're based on real life people doesn't mean you have to follow real life. If that were the case, no historical fictions would exist. No biopics (even Oppenheimer) would exist. It happens all the time and most people don't care (unless you're specifically going for accuracy, but most ff writers are not).

If you change something about real life, unless it's massive and you're going for accuracy to real life, then I don't care. I doubt many people do.

Have I had readers complain about this before? Yes. Is it often? No. I had someone tell me Namjoon would fit the leader role better. Yes, in real life, but this is fiction. No, they were not judging based on Namjoon's character in the story, they were judging based on irl.

I don't want to reveal the story or give spoilers, so just trust me when I say there's no possible way they could have been speaking on Namjoon's character in the story.

Anyway, my point is it's fiction. You can change things. If readers complain, they can take some delulu pills and realize real life isn't fiction and vice versa.

'Nuff said.

~End~

Long chapter but worth it since I have many pet peeves.

Remember to vote, comment, and follow for more. I'm hoping to cover worldbuilding and how long a chapter should be soon.