Plot Pet Peeves and Plot Sins
I first considered putting this discussion in off topic because it is not quite as narrow as most Sims discussions, but I definitely think it is a very generally applicable one regarding both the plot...
Forum Discussion
Just to be clear, all art is subjective and nothing I’m about to say is the ‘last word’ on how writers should do things. I don’t want to sound like I’m acting like the queen of writing because I am far from it XD I’m not picky about plot at all and will happily read any story that at least has interesting characters, but some things I’m not keen on in plots are:
. Poorly-handled sensitive topics are my main biggest plot pet peeve in any story. There are plenty of resources online and in books about mental health/psychological sites, and people writing personal accounts of their experiences- I don’t know why people don’t think to do a little research first before dealing with such topics. I look into any topic, sensitive or otherwise, I don’t know much about before I write it. Also when people throw in very traumatic scenes just for momentary story drama, and it never affects the characters or the plot later on down the line. Or they make a side character go through a traumatic event so the main character can swoop in and save them and guys, look, look at how amazing the main character is! And then the side character is swept under the carpet and we never see how these events affected them.
. Out of character moments that make no sense in context. For example if you had a character who was a bully, being nice in the next chapter for no reason.
. Ties in to my first point but I’ve seen so many plots of stories in the past that glorify abusive relationships. Really do not want anything to do with that.
. This is a flaw I have seen in my own work and I am working to change: no consequences for characters’ actions can be an issue. For example, no-one calling out characters’ awful behaviour or actions can sometimes be a bit of a weird one for me. It makes sense if there’s a reason (maybe people are afraid of the character) but I have read stories in the past where the main character is just downright awful to everyone and even goes around committing awful acts, but there’s no consequence as a result of any of their actions at all. Nothing ever happens to them, no-one ever comes after them wanting revenge or something, nothing.
. Constant drama is also something I’m not keen on. When it’s constant it loses its strength in the plot. I think there ought to be moments of downtime amongst all of the scary or dark bits of a story, to not take away the dramatic effect.
Also it’s interesting to see a discussive style thread this side of the forum. It’s always fun to discuss this kind of stuff.
. Poorly-handled sensitive topics are my main biggest plot pet peeve in any story. There are plenty of resources online and in books about mental health/psychological sites, and people writing personal accounts of their experiences- I don’t know why people don’t think to do a little research first before dealing with such topics. I look into any topic, sensitive or otherwise, I don’t know much about before I write it. Also when people throw in very traumatic scenes just for momentary story drama, and it never affects the characters or the plot later on down the line. Or they make a side character go through a traumatic event so the main character can swoop in and save them and guys, look, look at how amazing the main character is! And then the side character is swept under the carpet and we never see how these events affected them.
. Out of character moments that make no sense in context. For example if you had a character who was a bully, being nice in the next chapter for no reason.
. Ties in to my first point but I’ve seen so many plots of stories in the past that glorify abusive relationships. Really do not want anything to do with that.
. This is a flaw I have seen in my own work and I am working to change: no consequences for characters’ actions can be an issue. For example, no-one calling out characters’ awful behaviour or actions can sometimes be a bit of a weird one for me. It makes sense if there’s a reason (maybe people are afraid of the character) but I have read stories in the past where the main character is just downright awful to everyone and even goes around committing awful acts, but there’s no consequence as a result of any of their actions at all. Nothing ever happens to them, no-one ever comes after them wanting revenge or something, nothing.
. Constant drama is also something I’m not keen on. When it’s constant it loses its strength in the plot. I think there ought to be moments of downtime amongst all of the scary or dark bits of a story, to not take away the dramatic effect.
Also it’s interesting to see a discussive style thread this side of the forum. It’s always fun to discuss this kind of stuff.
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