This chapter includes a list of stories I personally wouldn't read and why.

I figured since you're reading writing advice from me, you might as well actually know what I like and dislike in a story so you have a better understanding of what kind of author I am.

Read the disclaimer if you haven't already.

Content warning: Opinions

These are just my opinions, please don't take anything personally.

Here are a list of stories I won't read for entertainment (will explain why later):

- Stories that are lowercase intended

- Stories in first person (sorry-)

- Romanticization of certain topics (ab.se, grape, st.lking, etc.)

- Any story with cheating in it

- Smut books

- Any of the following tropes: billionaire, CEO, sugar daddy, cold lover, arranged marriage, accidental or secret baby (most people agree with this one tho), fake relationship, brother's best friend, step siblings, love triangles.

- Dialogue with too many tags that aren't 'said' or 'asked'

Things I personally don't like in stories, but I'll still read:

- Present tense

- Authors that use rom instead of Hangul (Korean)

- Stories with bad grammar

I will read these types of stories for contests/reviews/interviews and give them a fair judging regardless of my personal preference. But for books I read for entertainment? I'll skip them.

Okay, let's go through the list.

1) Lowercase Intended

Every author is entitled to write their story how they want, but why?

I get some people see lowercase intended as aesthetically pleasing, but it doesn't change how it isn't proper grammar.

If you see it as aesthetically pleasing, cool.

But I don't.

I see it as extremely hard to read and even dehumanizing in some cases. So many people purposefully lowercase names to dehumanize others. I know that's completely unrelated to someone writing in lowercase, but it just reminds me of that and it makes me feel icky.

Beyond that, it makes it harder to see where sentences start and end. when the sentences are like this, it's hard.

See what I mean? I just can't do it. It drives me insane. It also creates some confusion. Proper nouns are different from nouns. It's hard to think of examples off the top of my head, but let's talk about commanders.

In my novel, Like Crazy, Jimin is referred to as Commander. Capitalized. In lowercase intended, he would just be commander. Lowercase makes you think you're talking about commanders in general, not a specific one. With the capitalization, you know it's a specific, special commander. Imagine if Jimin was referred to as "commander park" instead of "Commander Park." It makes a difference, doesn't it?

So not only is it grammatically incorrect, but it can create confusion when you're talking about the differences between specific roles and general roles. See what I mean?

Also, if you write lowercase intended and submit to awards contests, please don't get mad when you get points off for it being lowercase intended. Objectively, it's wrong. It's improper grammar, so judges should take off points for that. 

2) First Person

Okay, I'm ngl, I don't have a good explanation for this.

I simply don't like first-person. I don't like reading it, and I don't like writing it. I genuinely cannot explain to you why, it's just something I don't like.

I avoid first-person books to the point where I'll be super interested in a book only to learn it's in first-person, then I'll immediately put it down.

There's seriously nothing wrong with it. I just prefer third-person 😭😭😭

3) Romanticization

I'm not going too in-detail because these topics are highly triggering and I don't want to have to give a tw for this chapter; this is supposed to be a fun book, not a mature one.

I think this goes without saying, but I'm not going to read your book if you romanticize terrible things like what I listed above.

It's one thing if those mature elements are in the story; I don't mind reading that. However, it's something else entirely when those actions are there and displayed as A-okay and good things.

And again, it's one thing if it's a commentary on those things and it's showing how people get away with those things, or how someone becomes trapped to those things, etc. It's another thing entirely when those topics are treated like they're okay and not morally wrong. It makes me feel so icky.

4) Cheating

Cheating is just a no for me. I don't like reading stories where there is cheating involved in an established relationship.

However, I make exceptions for stories with cheating as the inciting incident. Like, the story starts and the main character has to go heal from it. That's fine. I'm not fine with stories that introduce cheating after the inciting incident.

I just don't like reading stories about it. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with writing about that topic, and I don't have a trigger with it, but it's not something I like to read.

Just a personal preference.

5) Smut Books

I'm not talking about books that have smut in it. I'm talking about books that exist solely for the purpose of smut.

Those books disgust me.

No offense to those who write it; I'm not saying it's a bad genre or one that's morally wrong or something like that.

I just don't like reading about it. Don't take it personally, please.

Hell, I hate writing it. I've been gradually straying away from it. You'll notice Like Crazy has only a handful of detailed smut scenes, and it's an over 400 page book. It just makes me uncomfortable.

Again, there's no triggers there. It's funny cause I can talk about those topics with my friends, make jokes about them, etc. and it's fine, but reading it makes me feel icky.

I know it's a popular genre; that's literally the only reason why I write it.

Hey man, I'm a writer and I want to succeed. Let's face it, on Wattpad especially, smut books are almost guaranteed to get reads. My entire recommended feed is just smut books with hundreds of thousands if not millions of reads. I don't even read this genre, Wattpad recommendations are cracked and push those stories. So if those are the books that are succeeding, I'll write some smut too.

I hope one day I can stop or limit it more than I already have. It's not fun to write.

No hate to any hardcore smut writers. You do you, I don't care. I'm not judging you. Those are just my personal thoughts. Not everyone is going to like smut.

6) The Tropes

I'll explain each one briefly.

Billionaire - No

CEO - No^2

Ironically, I will write these every once in a while, but I don't like reading them.

Sugar Daddy - They always go the same way: "Oh my gosh I'm in love with my sugar daddy, but he doesn't love me!" *three minutes later* "Oh wow! He just confessed he loved me but was hiding it because he was scared of his fweelings. Oh poor baby 🥹🥹"

Don't lie, you know it's true.

Cold Lover - Mostly because this leads to the miscommunication trope and it makes me mad. Sometimes the not cold person gets mad at the cold person for being cold. That makes me mad too.

Arranged Marriage - Same with the sugar daddy trope. It's almost always the same way. Oh we don't love each other, we're gonna divorce! Oh wait, we did love each other we just couldn't confess our feelings! Bonus points for those stories that have the girl go out with another guy and her arranged husband throws a hissy fit.

I also don't like the entire concept of an arranged marriage. It makes me uncomfortable.

Accidental/Secret Baby - No^3

Fake Relationship - Same thing with the sugar daddy trope. It's always the same.

Brother's Best Friend - I had this happen to me irl and now I'm scarred for life.

Step Siblings - Literally why does this exist?

Love Triangles - They annoy me because they're rarely written well. There's always an obvious choice and the female protagonist still chooses the wrong one. You have Buff Boy A who is a toxic jerk who has wronged her then there's Buff Boy B who is nice to her and patient, but she chooses Buff Boy A anyway.

7) Dialogue Tags

I feel like this one is going to cause the most debate, so I saved it for last.

Please hear me out before commenting.

I went over dialogue tags already, but I'll do it again briefly here.

I don't enjoy reading stories that overuse dialogue tags that are not 'said' or 'asked,' AKA: the fancier dialogue tags.

Again, I'll mention the 50-30 advice I brought up in the tags chapter. This is just advice so it's not 100% accurate, but it's a good starter guide for beginning writers: 50% or less of your dialogue should have tags, and of that 50%, at least 30% should be said or asked.

Fancy dialogue tags do next to nothing for the story.

If you Google "fancy dialogue tags," the very first thing that comes up (at least for me) is "If you need fancy dialogue tags, you're doing something wrong."

It's one thing to use them sparingly, but overusing them is doing next to nothing for the story.

Dialogue tags are meant to tell you who is speaking. That's pretty much it. If you need to rely on tags that are not said or asked, you are probably doing it wrong.

And I know what you're thinking: Raven, what about word choice? You yourself have talked about having unique word choice and not using the same words over and over again.

Good point, but I have a counter for that.

It is not boring or repetitive to use mostly said or asked for your tags; it is actually a good thing if you're using less tags, especially the ones that are "fancy."

I used to use fancy dialogue tags back when I first started writing because that's what I was taught in English during high school. As soon as I stepped foot into a creative writing class, I got taught the opposite and my writing has only become stronger because of it.

It's literally the first thing you learn.

Using fancy dialogue tags is telling over showing, which is actually what will make your story boring or repetitive.

So please don't overuse fancy dialogue tags.

I don't find them fun to read. I'm sorry, but I sometimes giggle when I see lines like "he asserted" or "he growled." What is that doing for the story that description can't do?

One of my classmates once said something that stuck with me, and I want to paraphrase it here.

This is not 100% accurate to what he said cause this was like 6 months ago okay??? I have a terrible memory. But it went a little something like this:

"You're a writer. You have the power to control every word you write on the page, so why wouldn't you make each one count?"

Make. Each. One. Count.

That really stuck with me. Thank you creative writing classmate I will keep anonymous for sake of privacy.

I'm not saying don't use fancy dialogue tags. I'm saying think outside the box before you do. I hope that makes sense.

I'm also not saying you should exclusively be using said. Quite the opposite: I think if you can show who is speaking through the dialogue or actions, that's infinitely better than using any dialogue tag.

You can disagree and I won't judge you or anything like that. I just hope you don't judge me for passionately disliking fancy dialogue tags. Or dialogue tags in general, for that matter.

I used to use them, and looking back, I realize how much it bogged the pacing of my writing and how unnecessary they were. They limited my creativity and, let's face it, didn't do anything for the story.

Again, I hope that makes sense, and I hope none of that was offensive.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

Things I Personally Don't Like

1) Present Tense

I'm not a fan of it. I used to write in present tense, but as soon as I got into past tense, I changed completely.

There's nothing wrong with it, but it's not my favorite. I'll read stories in present tense, but I'd prefer to find stories in past tense. It feels like the sentences flow better, if that makes sense?

I actually read a study on it and apparently, the theory is past tense is used in writing because it's easier for our brains to process. That's theory though, not fact. If I find the study, I'll try to link it here.

Also, past tense allows more freedom with time. You can move the timeline of your story more freely while in present tense, it's a bit awkward due to how the story has immediacy.

There are pros and cons to writing in either tense, so make sure to do some research before choosing what to write in. For me, I prefer past tense.

I'll read present tense stories no problem, but it's not my favorite tense, y'know?

2) Rom Vs Hangul

Romanization or Hangul?

So 안녕하세요 is Hangul whereas annyeonghaseyo is romanization (rom for short).

There's nothing wrong with using rom in your stories. I'm not trying to tell people to bust out Hangul, especially since most authors writing with rom don't know Korean.

So no, if you're using rom, don't get frantic and say "OMG I HAVE TO CHANGE IT RAVEN DON'T LIKE IT."

Let me tell you why I don't like reading it.

I don't understand it.

As mentioned in previous chapters, rom is not Korean. It is a pronunciation guide. I never learned rom, so when I see someone put palli instead of 빨리, it genuinely takes me 2 business days and a spa break to understand wth the text is saying... and this is coming from someone who has been studying Korean professionally for years. It's one of my fields of study and I learn from native Korean speakers, yet I never understood rom. It's a foreign language to me.

So I prefer not to read stories with rom simply because I don't understand it. This mostly applies to BTS fanfics since so many authors use rom, which is fine, but in most cases, you can tell the author doesn't know Korean.

We know you don't know Korean by the very first sentence that uses Korean. There's so much that goes into Korean that it's more than just how you spell a word. Even if you spell it right, there's a high chance you're using it wrong, or you're using the wrong speech style, or it sounds unnatural even if it is technically correct, etc.

When I say it sounds unnatural, let me try to compare it to English. "I am sorry" is technically right, but not many people say it like that; they say "I'm sorry." It's the same with Korean. There are words that are technically right, but native speakers don't typically say the words that way.

Please don't ask me Korean questions, I don't have the energy to explain anything right now, I'm burnt from doing reviews and working.

Long story short: I don't like reading stories with Korean in it, even less so when it's rom. I study Korean daily, so reading stories with Korean in them can sometimes make me lose my marbles.

No offense to anyone who uses Korean in their stories! You do you booboo, this is just personal preference.

Please don't feel the need to change rom because of me. It's your story, not mine! Do whatever you want!

Seriously, please don't change anything because of me. I will still read your story if there's rom in it, it's just my personal preference. I want to get away from Korean after I'm done studying it, y'know? It's like getting home from work then immediately getting a work-related email, if that makes sense.

3) Bad Grammar

Do I need to explain myself?

I don't mean grammar mistakes. I mean bad grammar to the point where I can barely understand the sentence.

And when I say bad grammar, there is a 99.9% chance I am not talking to you.

I am talking about stories that are genuinely unreadable.

Ironically, I put this in the "don't personally like" section instead of the "won't read" section because I sometimes like to read the whole story then bookmark it. It's interesting to see how an author improves over time, don't you think? Most of these authors will publish more books, and you'll notice they learn so much and have less errors.

So even though I don't like stories with not so great grammar, I will still read them.

And if the characters are good, I'll read almost anything. I can forgive most other things in a story if the characters are good.

I adore characters.

I hope everything made sense. I'm sure this list will grow over time, but for now, that's about all I've got. I'd love to hear what types of stories you would or wouldn't read. It's interesting to hear everyone's preference.

Again, I hope none of this offended anyone. Please note this is my preference; I am not asking you to write my preferences or agree with them. Please write whatever you'd like and read whatever you'd like. Don't let my opinion stop you from having your own.

~End~

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