Unpopular opinions? Embarrassing preferences? Come on, I know you've got them! Confession #1 I hate character creation. Sorry. I know the MC's going to choose something cool (half-something) and at the same time rather boring (human-something or elf-something) and I know the author has decided for you and any lengthy pondering or consideration is just there for show. So let's just get on with it quickly and start the story. I kinda prefer stories where they don't get to choose and have to make do with things they end up with, because that makes things interesting. Or when they have limited options. (The character creation in the first 'trial play' mode in Hero of Thera is way more interesting than the 'real game' mode) [To explore this further -- I just want to clarify first that I'm not one of those people who go "Choose something rather than human!" because if you're dead and you're in a game, you're probably going to go for something comfortable, so it makes perfect sense for the MC to be human or half-human. And, for readers telling the MC to choose something else, I doubt they would really want to read about an MC who's a a six-armed reptile or a halfling with bunny ears. It's a matter of identification. So what I think they're actually complaining about is the fact that the whole character creation sequence feels unnatural, because there's no choice in the first place.] Confession #2 I love epic loot. I love rare loot. Cliched? Undeserved? Yes! MC totally didn't earn that? Maybe not. But whenever something epic drops I'm inexplicably super happy. (And then I get annoyed with the fact afterward) *runs and hides*
Confession #3 I don't mind info-dumps as long as the info is interesting. Actually... I prefer info-dumps to 'confusing bits of information hidden in dialogue and passing comments and spread out over 100 pages'.
Confession #4 I usually hesitate to download and read books that have zero 1-2 star reviews (especially the first book in a series). I don't know why. But it's like... if everyone likes you, there must be something wrong. Confession #5 I also hesitate to read any book where the author responds at all to any of the reviews on Amazon, because it scares me and makes me feel like my preference is going to be judged by the author.
1. I actively avoid any book that has a middle aged man trapped in a VR game while he re-lives his second teen years. 2. I WILL form a very negative impression of the author (and this carries on to the book's rating) if they give themselves five million titles yet look like they're's 30 or even younger! 3. Sometimes I feel bad seeing a book that's been out for months yet doesn't have a single review on either amazon or goodread so I'd get it out of pity just to leave it a few stars... sometimes it's good, sometimes.... well, we established that I feel sorry for it so I won't be TOO harsh.
I am stubborn enough that if I got the book, I'm gonna read it. I'll snark-read and hate the whole book, but for some reason I have a horrible time just...stopping reading. I don't know if it feels like if I start something I should finish it, or if I have some kind of weird gambler's fallacy where I put in the time so I should just keep going. I will also let intense curiosity to see "just how bad it is" drive me to read a book I'm 75% sure I won't even like. Just because I want to see if it's as bad as I think.
Oddly enough... I used to be exactly this type of reader, but Amazon sort of changed (cured?) me into being able to drop a book at any point during the first 30% (maybe 50%?). Past that point, yeah, it's the Point of No Return in Which I'll Friggin' Finish This, but before I can drop a book as soon as it's not interesting anymore (which usually happen when, at my next reading session, I just don't pick it up).
Unpopular opinion: I sincerely hope that the erotic harem trend in LitRPG dies a swift, fiery death, and never reappears, ever. I hate it so much that I don't even want it to suffer, I'd rather it just went away.
I shall have to work to cultivate this ability. I know it's completely silly and does nothing but annoy me. So I have no idea why I feel like if I start a book, I must finish it.
Not even slightly unpopular in my book. I'm grimacing constantly at seeing so many. Like no shame to those that enjoy them, but I was really pleased to find LitRPG was...well, if not quite "PG-13", at least it seemed fairly free of that sort of thing when I found it. Now? Now because I glanced at a couple (without realizing what they were), Kindle keeps throwing freaking harem books at me! Where is the "do not want" setting for that?
It’s not even that I hate harems or erotic scenes. I mean, they’re not my cuppa (erotic scenes anyway, harems done well are fun), but it’s more that the story begins to serve as a thin connector between sex scenes. If I wanted to see a rice paper thin story driving from sex scene to sex scene, I’d watch porn. I read to be immersed in a story, not to tickle my pickle. And that’s exactly what happens in each of them. They may start out as 90% story/10% sex, but as the series goes on, those numbers flip.
The last audiobook I got opened with a teen sex scene in which the elf he was interested in morphed into a hybrid of herself and his current girlfriend so he could have the best of both worlds... in an open bath located in the very center of the elven city... because of course it is... That's the opening chapter... I refunded that faster then you can blink! WILL THOSE AUTHORS JUST GET SOMEONE ALREADY! I don't even care who, surely there's a grandma down the street working her corner that'll take pity on a basement dweller. JUST GET IT OUT OF YOUR SYSTEM ALREADY and stop spluging all over my book!
My confession... Can't stand it when the dialogue is drenched in "gamer talk". Noobs, aggro, tanks, support, mobs...blah blah blah. Just tell me a cool story set inside a game already!
Exactly. I'm not saying "there should be no erotica ever!" or anything. They're just not something that interests me and I get bored as heck reading a bunch of author self-wanking over what a "nice guy" their MC is and that's why he gets all the ladies and the other males are all rapist jerks! Like I'm sure if it's done well, it's an interesting read, but 95% of the time it's most definitely just thinly veiled praise of a boring hero and the way every female in the setting is hungry for his hot, hot lovings. Dull as dishwater to me. It is definitely a trend I wish had missed LitRPG.
Confession #6 Most of the time I don't want to invest too much mental effort into remembering stuff, so I appreciate when authors hit me over the head again and again about how their mechanics work, like "Fire mobs are immune to fireballs!" -- if fifty pages have passed since the last time we saw any fire mobs, the next time you see a Magma Demon, have the MC actually think "My fireballs won't work here" or something. Or if it's a Steam Monster and fireballs only deal 50% their normal damage, explain please ("Steam = fire + water, so my fireballs are only half effective") Yesh, sometimes I'm just stupid, so just give it to me in plain text.
Confession #3! I actually really enjoy when skills are explained as they level. Even better if they're important. I don't want to read the list over and over and over every few pages, true, but I like when you get some detail and some reasoning as to why the character is choosing this ability. Like I like my tooltips in MMOs that let me know "oh, this is my Flame Arrow that does this much damage!" so I like knowing what the hell is going on when the hero is like "I use my Shadow Strike!" or something.
Confession #4 (At least semi LitRPG related) Sometimes I go to @Viergacht 's Covers and think about things to write that would suit my favorite ones. They do some amazing covers and I keep going "wow, that would be an awesome cover for a story" and thinking of scenarios that can match the cover I'm eyeballing.
