Your Most Hated Tropes

[Nightaelf]

I can’t stand it when a story starts by describing the characters as if it’s a casting call. I lose interest when I’m not allowed to form my own image of the characters. Of course, it makes sense to describe something naturally in the flow of the story, like “her long hair fluttered in the wind” or “she laughed so hard the borrowed bra snapped because her breasts didn’t really fit in it.”

Stories that are only about sex bore me. I just stop reading them.

I also really dislike huge chunks of text in italics that serve no purpose, or excessive bolding, or too many emdashes. It all needs to be functional, otherwise it just distracts me from the story.

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

OTOH, I've actually introduced a character into the next story I'll release who has an 8 inch penis. To use TV Tropes lingo, the trope is subverted, as my big-dicked guy is the only such character I've introduced in 10 stories, and also finds that there's a downside to his endowment. In this story, for one, he has to interrupt a very fun blowjob because the inexperienced woman he's with starts to choke, and it's implied that he avoids anal even when it's offered because he hates the idea of hurting someone.

I'm happy to see this - in my current series, one of the new, major supporting cast characters is extremely well-endowed, and it makes him miserable for a solid chunk of the story, because nobody can handle it and he thinks he's deformed and will never get laid because of it.

Of course, eventually he finds someone who can handle him and things work out, but I enjoyed turning the big-dick-is-always-better thing on it's head for a while.

 

[DEFCOM5]

The 8+ dick length trope is guaranteed to make me click the back button.

I am not sure why one I despise the most: this one or the DD or EE breast size (as if it meant anything)

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I can’t stand it when a story starts by describing the characters as if it’s a casting call. I lose interest when I’m not allowed to form my own image of the characters. Of course, it makes sense to describe something naturally in the flow of the story, like “her long hair fluttered in the wind” or “she laughed so hard the borrowed bra snapped because her breasts didn’t really fit in it.”

Stories that are only about sex bore me. I just stop reading them.

I also really dislike huge chunks of text in italics that serve no purpose, or excessive bolding, or too many emdashes. It all needs to be functional, otherwise it just distracts me from the story.

But how else are we going to find out she has a "body built for sin"?

 

[TheWritingGroup]

The 8+ dick length trope is guaranteed to make me click the back button.

I am not sure why one I despise the most: this one or the DD or EE breast size (as if it meant anything)

In my soon-to-be-published story, Jake and his penis don't appear until 46,000 words into a 74,000 word story. If I don't have you hooked by then, sure, you should probably stop reading.

--Annie

 

[Levorotatory]

The 8+ dick length trope is guaranteed to make me click the back button.

I am not sure why one I despise the most: this one or the DD or EE breast size (as if it meant anything)

8+ inch dick length usually makes me click out too, but I don't really see large breasts as being an equivalent trope. There is a lot more variation in breast size than there is in penis size IRL - something like 10% of women have more than double the average ~600 mL breast volume (600 mL corresponds to 34 D / 36 C / 38 B bra size, double that would be 36 F / 38 E / 40 D), but an 8 inch / 20 cm penis is 3-4 standard deviations above the ~13 cm mean. The statistically equivalent breasts would be watermelon sized, and few stories with large breasted characters are that over the top. Character's breast sizes are quite varied in stories here and many authors aren't afraid (and some even prefer) to describe their female character's breasts as "small", while it is rare for penises to be described as "small" unless a male character is being insulted or is being self-deprecating. Even then, the "small" penis tends to be about average if a length is mentioned.

 

[DEFCOM5]

In my soon-to-be-published story, Jake and his penis don't appear until 46,000 words into a 74,000 word story. If I don't have you hooked by then, sure, you should probably stop reading.

--Annie

I might go "WHY?" although if the story is about a guy with a big dick that cannot get laid, I would not start reading the story. Guys with regular or smaller sized dicks can have issues getting laid. Not interested in reading about a well endowed guy in the same situation.
However, I am sure that the story is more than that and does a beautiful job bringing out the guy's soul, aspirations, vulnerability and overall human goodness.
If the 8 inches in the big reveal and the heart of the story, I will curse the gods for not stopping me from reading 46k words of a story I will not finish. Unless he is an alien. Or a demon. Or a genetically engineered pleasure machine.

 

[DEFCOM5]

Character's breast sizes are quite varied in stories here and many authors aren't afraid (and some even prefer) to describe their female character's breasts as "small",

I must have a gift for finding crappy writer. The ultra majority of the stuff I read here has female characters with breasts described as huge and a number/letter combination. I got to stop reading that crap.

while it is rare for penises to be described as "small" unless a male character is being insulted or is being self-deprecating. Even then, the "small" penis tends to be about average if a length is mentioned.

My male characters tend to be average or smaller. I am not insulting them. It is often a source of stress until they realize that it is a plus for their partners.

Having said that, I am a noob, so what do I know?

 

[caleb35]

My apologies if someone's already mentioned this -- the straight woman (usually young) who never ever never thought about sex with a woman before, not even once, but during her first sexual encounter with another woman, suddenly decides that she loves all women, wants to have sex with every woman, and never wants to see another guy again in her life.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

The phrase ‘double-D’ and anything measured in inches.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

I'm pretty bored with "Woman rewards her rescuer with sex" stories.

--Annie

 

[dirk2024]

The 8+ dick length trope is guaranteed to make me click the back button.

I am not sure why one I despise the most: this one or the DD or EE breast size (as if it meant anything)

What if they (cock or breasts) are described as "large" or "melon sized", without giving a measurement?

 

[DEFCOM5]

What if they (cock or breasts) are described as "large" or "melon sized", without giving a measurement?

Then my interest goes down.

Unless the body part size is part of the story (e.g. guy cannot get laid because he is too big bullshit, BBC), why do we need size?
I know a ton of crap here where good guy is big and bad guy is small.
Cock size here is like cigarettes in the movies. It help you identify the good and the bad characters.
Breast sizes are different because if mentioned here, they all tend to be huge.

It is just me. It makes me lose interest.

 

[Britva415]

The extent of my description of cocks and tits and vulvas and asses is:

"They have them."

 

[DEFCOM5]

The extent of my description of cocks and tits and vulvas and asses is:

"They have them."

That is all I need to know as a reader. Let me imagine the size and looks!

 

[vividlyyours]

We’ve all encountered those tropes that make us cringe, groan, or even put a book down. Whether it’s the overused love triangle, the damsel in distress, the overpowered chosen one, or the villain’s endless monologue, some tropes feel like they’ve been done to death. They’ve been used so often they’re almost a punchline.

Which tropes get under your skin the most? No matter the genre, which ones make you lose interest in a story? Let’s hear your least favourites and why they just don’t work for you.

*Virgins who can deepthroat nine inches on their first BJ or take it in the back door immediately
*Mothers who walk into their twenty year old son's room and tell them they want to suck or fuck them with absolutely no buildup
*"Can I watch you masturbate?"
*Incoherent conversations
*Balls out naked sex in the car that the driver somehow is blind to

 

[TarnishedPenny]

That is all I need to know as a reader. Let me imagine the size and looks!

No, for once I must disagree. The insistence in some quarters that no bosom or wedding tackle is desirable unless oversized is, at best, evidence of a lack of imagination, but let’s leave room for descriptions. For instance, from a WIP:

Apple-shaped, sleek and with the perfect balance between muscular firmness and cuddly softness, her ass has me in thrall..

Surely that (or something like it but better-written) preferable to a mere, “She has an ass.”

 

[DEFCOM5]

@TarnishedPenny,
You just made my case. Your WIP told me her ass is a mix between softness and firmness. That is is. The rest is up to my imagination.

 

[iwatchus]

For me the trope I hate is not the descriptions per se. Descriptions of people can be wonderful. Or it can be nice to be left the imagination.

My hated trope is that every character has to be super model or have huge body parts, which ones depending on gender. An occasional character should be drop dead gorgeous. But I want most of my characters to be normally attractive. I want to read stories in a universe where there are a diversity of bodies, tall and short, thick and thin, curvy and slim. For both male and female characters.

 

[Britva415]

No, for once I must disagree. The insistence in some quarters that no bosom or wedding tackle is desirable unless oversized is, at best, evidence of a lack of imagination, but let’s leave room for descriptions

Did you really just tell a reader what they need to know as a reader?

Are you really telling an author what they need to do as an author?

Like, speak for yourself, that's fine, but don't pretend somebody is not letting you have room for your descriptions. All those people were doing was speaking for themselves.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Force or coercion of any kind.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I've seen models in their natural state. I've seen pictures of supermodels in their natural state, to the point you would not recognize them.

They're not so super. It's astounding what some cloth and cream, spray or paste can do.

In fantasy, I need them to be the kind of perfect no one is.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

For everyone who hates the "34DD breasts" and "11 inch cock" tropes, I happened to see this in a story here today. Brace yourselves.

I was created by Doctor David Hughes to be his robotic servant in his modest-size single level 1840 square foot residence.

No, the exact size of the house is never a plot point. Granted, I only skimmed the first two of six pages.

--Annie

 

[MillieDynamite]

Like Will Rogers, I've never met a trope I didn't like. Like Ted Bunday, I've never met a trope I couldn't murder.

 

[EmmAgain]

Just because we’re showing the goods, it doesn’t mean we want to give you the goods.

A girl might be flashing a lot of skin (in a story and real life) but that doesn’t mean that you’ll automatically be having sex five minutes later. Build up - with flirting, with sexy looks, with non-sexual touch!

Most girls want to feel wanted. Make the guy jump through at least some hoops.