For me, it’s anything remotely similar to:
I will not click on stories with those descriptions, unless I’m doing a review/read-for-read and absolutely have to, or if I want to see a new asset in a featured story (like the one that had cats in it, for example).
What are your turnoffs?
@Episodians
@Writers
“Will you resist falling in love with [NAME]?”
Um, ofc MC won’t…
“You were born a poor girl, your father a gabbling addict who took care of you when your mom died. Your life wasn’t perfect but at least it was ok, but that all changes when your father sells you to (Insert love interest) who sees you as nothing but a f*ck toy would you resist falling into his charming arms?”
duh
I honestly don’t like really vague descriptions that tell me nothing about the story. I might actually click on a cliche description, rather than a vague one that will tell me nothing about the story. Even if it’s a good story lol.
I’m not sure that this counts as part of the description, but my number one pet peeve is when people add something like “I’m not good at descriptions, give it a try!” or “Better than it sounds!” I know this comes from a place of insecurity, so I don’t judge it too harshly, but I don’t think I’ve ever clicked on a story where before I even started reading it, the author was making excuses like that. Descriptions can be hard, but don’t tell me how bad you think it is; nine times out of ten, I thought the summary sounded just fine until they felt the need to point out that it wasn’t that good.
I agree with this 100%. Or the common ‘Sorry my story sucks, but it’s my first story and English is not my first language.’ Whenever I read a description like that, which is usually placed in the first lines of the story, I’m already mentally programmed to NOT enjoy the story. Not once has a story with that description exceeded my expectations.
Exactly! It really feels like they’re trying to lower expectations for their story, which I’m just not a fan of. I usually assume this comes from younger writers or people who are generally insecure in their writing, but if you want me to dislike your story, the best way to do that is to open with “Sorry, this story is bad.”
Hate descriptions with complete spoilers.
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