What would make someone drop a story?

Gryphon

The One who has the Eyes
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I don't normally drop stories per say since I try and read at least a books worth of content(around 600 pages) before deciding a story isn't for me. It can be for a number of reasons. My top reason being if your characters aren't interesting. I've only ever dropped a book before completing it once, and that was because the characters were literally clichés personified. Hotheaded protagonist, tsundere girl, mysterious girl, bully turn best friend, and tactical dude were all they had to offer.

So what makes everyone else drop a story. Knowing this, I can create the perfect story to trap readers for eons, then I'll disappear out of nowhere and leave everyone shocked and speechless. Mwahahaha.

Eh not really cause I'll probably trap myself into writing it now that I've started. The writer traps themselves trying to trap readers. The drama intensifies.
 

Ilikewaterkusa

You have to take out their families...
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I don't normally drop stories per say since I try and read at least a books worth of content(around 600 pages) before deciding a story isn't for me. It can be for a number of reasons. My top reason being if your characters aren't interesting. I've only ever dropped a book before completing it once, and that was because the characters were literally clichés personified. Hotheaded protagonist, tsundere girl, mysterious girl, bully turn best friend, and tactical dude were all they had to offer.

So what makes everyone else drop a story. Knowing this, I can create the perfect story to trap readers for eons, then I'll disappear out of nowhere and leave everyone shocked and speechless. Mwahahaha.

Eh not really cause I'll probably trap myself into writing it now that I've started. The writer traps themselves trying to trap readers. The drama intensifies.
I write on a whim
 

Piisfun

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I don't normally drop stories per say since I try and read at least a books worth of content(around 600 pages) before deciding a story isn't for me. It can be for a number of reasons. My top reason being if your characters aren't interesting. I've only ever dropped a book before completing it once, and that was because the characters were literally clichés personified. Hotheaded protagonist, tsundere girl, mysterious girl, bully turn best friend, and tactical dude were all they had to offer.

So what makes everyone else drop a story. Knowing this, I can create the perfect story to trap readers for eons, then I'll disappear out of nowhere and leave everyone shocked and speechless. Mwahahaha.

Eh not really cause I'll probably trap myself into writing it now that I've started. The writer traps themselves trying to trap readers. The drama intensifies.
There are a few things for me...
The first is just being boring. It might be characters or plot.

---
The second, much bigger, issue is when the content doesn't align with listed genres.
I don't read smut, and finding that a story contains it without being labeled as such?
(This is from experience)

Instant nuke.
 

Deeprotsorcerer

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Inconsistency, poor composition, and excessive handwaves slay titles for me.

For smut specifically, a lot of people will bring up the dreaded "NTR" tag, but it doesn't bother me at all, hell, in stories where characters have casual sex, it's often seen as a problem if "the protagonists' women" sleep with someone that isn't them. I think it's some inherent fear of being a "beta cuck" by transitive property because so many readers interact with novels as a projection fantasy.

For similar reasons, you'll get the loud reader that will complain about a character not being strong enough at the start, or if they don't absolutely dominate every social situation with the equivalent of an ape beating on their chest, the protag is a spineless, weak excuse for a human being, never mind any sense of nuance or previously established aversion to risky behavior 🙃.

Huh, I wrote more about what bothers me about what bothers other people than what bothers me...
 

Mr.Grey-Cat

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1_ too stupid or irritating characters​

2_ too much boring and lame stuff​

3_ no clear plot/objective/drive, making the story feel aimless​

4_ forceful events like weird sudden romance or twist just for the sake of a twist​

5_ edgy and embarrassing stuff that is not relatable nor tolerable, and also not fun to read​

6_ a lot of predictable third rate clicheness​

7_ pure reader torture like no romance progress after a 1000 chapter and sudden ugly and mentally painful content that is not used right​

8_ lazy insert event, where the author just half-heartedly copy an event from somewhere and don't even try to hide it, making it painfully obvious​

9_ prolonged staleness and having the plot stopping as if the whole world would wait for the protagonist to grow​

10_ needless cliche​

11_ weird and unstable pacing​

12_ swiss chees like story with many plot holes​

13_ illogical logic when the story's supposed logic break and contradict itself many time just to make the protagonist feel special​

14_childhood regression syndrome where the characters keep losing their IQ with time​

15_ invincible flaws when the mc for some reason just keep returning to his flaws and never grow up, never​

And many more, but those are the biggest ones, I think.​

 

Gryphon

The One who has the Eyes
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For similar reasons, you'll get the loud reader that will complain about a character not being strong enough at the start, or absolutely dominate every social situation with the equivalent of an ape beating on their chest, otherwise the protag is spineless, weak excuse for a human being.
I remember being a fan of Subaru's character from Re: Zero and there was a point in time when YouTube would just keep on recommending me Re: Zero videos. I've heard so many people wonder why Subaru just doesn't kill himself because of his ability to rewind time and fix shit, and I'm always like "Have you ever wondered what dying to piranha rabbits feels like. No, I don't think so." Like seriously, lots of those people tried to brush off dying like it was nothing and it infuriated me every time.

By the way, watch Re: Zero. Its either my favorite or second favorite isekai out there. It only competes with Mushoku Tensei and its hard deciding which is better.
 

Deeprotsorcerer

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13_ illogical logic when the story's supposed logic break and contradict itself many time just to make the protagonist feel special

15_ invincible flaws when the mc for some reason just keep returning to his flaws and never grow up, never​


I agree so much with these two. When the main character is stagnant, but somehow manages to achieve their goals despite every bit of evidence screaming that they shouldn't be able to do so at their current level of growth I feel like the writer just doesn't know what they're doing.

You can have characters fail, hell, it's almost necessary for characters to fail. In their failure, they are often forced to learn a lesson that lets them dodge #15 and by extension #13 because instead of illogical logic saving the day, it'll be the lesson they learned being leveraged.


I remember being a fan of Subaru's character from Re: Zero and there was a point in time when YouTube would just keep on recommending me Re: Zero videos. I've heard so many people wonder why Subaru just doesn't kill himself because of his ability to rewind time and fix shit, and I'm always like "Have you ever wondered what dying to piranha rabbits feels like. No, I don't think so." Like seriously, lots of those people tried to brush off dying like it was nothing and it infuriated me every time.

By the way, watch Re: Zero. Its either my favorite or second favorite isekai out there. It only competes with Mushoku Tensei and its hard deciding which is better.

Watched season one, did a few wiki walks, and read translations some of the official AU stuff, I love Re:Zero.

Ram is best girl, not Rem. Fight me.
 
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K5Rakitan

Level 34 👪 💍 Pronouns: she/whore ♀
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I used to be like you, but then I got into editing. Now, I can smell a bad story in the first page. I listen to manuscripts while I keep my fingers busy, so I'll usually torture myself for half an hour. I'll drop it in ten minutes or less if it's really bad.

That's what I did for several years until my baby. Now, I'm editing something I agreed to publish before I got pregnant, and I'm lucky if I can get through three pages a day.
 

CupcakeNinja

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I don't normally drop stories per say since I try and read at least a books worth of content(around 600 pages) before deciding a story isn't for me. It can be for a number of reasons. My top reason being if your characters aren't interesting. I've only ever dropped a book before completing it once, and that was because the characters were literally clichés personified. Hotheaded protagonist, tsundere girl, mysterious girl, bully turn best friend, and tactical dude were all they had to offer.

So what makes everyone else drop a story. Knowing this, I can create the perfect story to trap readers for eons, then I'll disappear out of nowhere and leave everyone shocked and speechless. Mwahahaha.

Eh not really cause I'll probably trap myself into writing it now that I've started. The writer traps themselves trying to trap readers. The drama intensifies.
people are whiny little bitches, so literally anything can be a reason they drop a story. Just focus on decent grammar and pacing and most people are fine with it.
 

Deeprotsorcerer

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I used to be like you, but then I got into editing. Now, I can smell a bad story in the first page. I listen to manuscripts while I keep my fingers busy, so I'll usually torture myself for half an hour. I'll drop it in ten minutes or less if it's really bad.

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There's just this overall impression you get from the first few sentences . You can tell if the author has a voice and a reasonable level of competency almost all of the time, and in the first few chapters, you'll usually be able to tell if the story's going to actually go somewhere or meander for 50+ chapters like Savage Divinity.

Being an editor ruins fiction for you.
 

Cossimeri

Purveyor of Yuri Adventures
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Honestly sometimes I just drop stories because I get tired of the genre. Like... sometimes I'm *too into* a particular genre and I start reading like 30 stories that fit that genre/theme... but once I get tired of it, well now I have 30 stories of a concept I'm not really into anymore. So sometimes I'll drop them for that reason.

Big reason why I hide my drop list... I don't want other authors to feel bad just because I stopped reading their work. My drop list isn't even marked as "dropped" so it won't show up as a dropped number on their stats.
 

Ellen_Dunkel

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I don't normally drop stories per say since I try and read at least a books worth of content(around 600 pages) before deciding a story isn't for me. It can be for a number of reasons. My top reason being if your characters aren't interesting. I've only ever dropped a book before completing it once, and that was because the characters were literally clichés personified. Hotheaded protagonist, tsundere girl, mysterious girl, bully turn best friend, and tactical dude were all they had to offer.

So what makes everyone else drop a story. Knowing this, I can create the perfect story to trap readers for eons, then I'll disappear out of nowhere and leave everyone shocked and speechless. Mwahahaha.

Eh not really cause I'll probably trap myself into writing it now that I've started. The writer traps themselves trying to trap readers. The drama intensifies.
Being really depressing: I read stories for fun. I don't always drop a story for being depressing but it's got to be pretty good to keep going

The author making more than five spelling/grammar errors in the title and summary: the author probably isn't any good at writing

Weird ways of indicating dialogue: anything other than quotation marks is really jarring. It can work if it's a deliberate decision by a skilled author, but it usually isn't

It's a harem story: I have low standards when it comes to characterization. Harem stories don't usually meet them

Characters espouse an edgy worldview that's clearly shared by the author: I'm not talking cynical here, I'm talking stupid edgy stuff that can be refuted in less than three short sentences with nothing but common sense

The author is deliberately making art super important in the story for ego: it can be kind of funny but making artists reality warpers is clearly just wish fulfilment-driven world building
 

BigHoodieBoy

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I don't normally drop stories per say since I try and read at least a books worth of content(around 600 pages) before deciding a story isn't for me. It can be for a number of reasons. My top reason being if your characters aren't interesting. I've only ever dropped a book before completing it once, and that was because the characters were literally clichés personified. Hotheaded protagonist, tsundere girl, mysterious girl, bully turn best friend, and tactical dude were all they had to offer.

So what makes everyone else drop a story. Knowing this, I can create the perfect story to trap readers for eons, then I'll disappear out of nowhere and leave everyone shocked and speechless. Mwahahaha.

Eh not really cause I'll probably trap myself into writing it now that I've started. The writer traps themselves trying to trap readers. The drama intensifies.
It’s usually when I end up finding reading it more of a bother than fun, it usually happens a decent way in and I just don’t connect with the story anymore and end skipping whole paragraphs to finish chapters. When I get to that point, I just delete from my reading list.
 

SakeVision

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Life. I drop 99% of the stories I read.
Simply cause I don't feel like continuing. I struggle with getting emotionally engaged in anything, so if fiction isn't clever or interesting enough, I can drop it easily even if I read dozens of chapters as I simply don't get invested.

But if you want to make sure I will keep reading your story, write in a poetic and flowery language, with a lot of metaphors, and reference all kinds of classics, especially:
-anything by franz kafka
-anything by goethe
-nietzsche
-the bible
-'children's' classics such as 'The nutcracker' or 'Alice's adventures in wonderland'.

Also, make parallels to real-life history and events (doesn't have to be alt hist). For example, write me a character whose story will be 1:1 fantasy rendition of Mao Zedong's early life and revolutionary career. Or write a story based on Mongol Invasion of China, the successful one. Or fictionalized Tiananmen square, where nothing happened.

I will 100% appreciate it and keep reading.

Many other readers probably won't, but that's on them. After all, webnovel scene is a cesspool of immaturity, and the average enthusiast is a kid whose parents didn't buy him Kindle Unlimited.

They didn't have their dopamine receptors all burned up yet, so they get excited over what's happening in black words written on a white page(or white words on a black page if you're a nazi) and self insert into fictional faceless men controlled by someone else.

Or just write smut and insert all kinda niche fetishes to ensure a dedicated and loyal fanbase.
 
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NotaNuffian

This does spark joy.
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I dunno? I just lost my relativity to the character I supposed?

For instance, when Grid becomes the centre of the Satisfy universe, when xianxia MCs becomes the arrogant young masters they destroy and when reading the work feels like I am trudding through a thick mud of fillers.

I have a pea brain and unless the plot can click with me in an instance, no matter how many words you throw at me, I will just be the guy who click skip cutscenes until I dunno wtf is going on. And if you start to make me skip chapters after chapters, you lost me... which is never a big loss because I never donate and pirate always.
 
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LostLibrarian

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Repeating arcs.

Especially with JP-harem or cultivation novels/LitRPG.
The same storyline just with a different enemy boss and on a higher level/plane/different planet/school/whatever.
Worst offenders are probably "faceslap novels, that have to constantly go to a new place to repeat the same young master, arrogance, face-slap routine...


I invest my time in the story. It doesn't need to be high quality. In fact, most webnovels I read are more "fast food stories" because I want to turn my brain off after work. I can excuse some plot holes or bad writing if I'm entertained enough. But repeating the same thing over and over makes me feel like I waste my time... and that's an instant-drop.
 
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