By that definition, prequels are on the same page as these “prologue stories” and I don’t think that’s what the question’s OP intend to meant?
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Ohhhhhhhhhh, I get it now! Thanks!
Okay, so my issue was that I—personally—wouldn’t have used prologue to describe that. Instead I would use prequel…though that wouldn’t apply to a story like the Grand Budapest. I know there’s an actual term for it, but I can’t think of it right now.
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@rose-court @rinari @Szaal @chloeab1
Sorry about the confusion! Yes, I meant to say “Prequels” instead of “Prologues.”
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My latest pet peeve recently is when character descriptions focus on eyes and hair, bonus points for mentioning it more than once in a scene.
I also hate long descriptions of the scene with passion and often skip those. I’m dialogue focused show-don’t-tell kinda person and I love interacting with the story.
My favorite thing recently were CoGs which let you make choices from POVs of other characters.
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Interesting to read the responses. I don’t have pet peeves, my favourite novel The Big Sleep does a lot of things wrong. In many ways it’s a complete car crash but it’s an engrossing one nonetheless.
If a story has that X factor then readers will overlook a lot of warts.
If a story is boring, unengaging then all the reader will see is warts.
Interesting. I’m exactly the opposite. A scene that is all dialogue and barely any description has me running for the hills.
Although, lack of description in general is a big no-no for me. If there is no mood, no depth in the world, then I can’t immerse myself in it. Don’t just tell me I’m standing near a river of lava. I want my character to smell the sulfur, to have their eyes sting from the heat, their throat clogging with ash. I want them to feel every drop of sweat down their back, and the ever-present fear of one wrong slip of their boot…
And there they go.
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When the author provides players the option to be evil or morally gray, but when the player actually goes down the route the author/narrator starts saying how the MC can’t help but feel bad for their actions or lectures the player on why they should act more heroic instead of being what the player wants their character to be.
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When the MC is forced to like or put up with a companion/NPC with an annoying/asshole personality without ever being given the option to put them in their place or just fight them.
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Of course, I don’t hate descriptions in general 
but the examples you gave were exactly show don’t tell. Just don’t give me a block of text I can’t influence in any way 
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I’ve been reading a lot of Wren (research purposes, argh) recently and his habit of “introducing”/more like listing a huge amount of characters in one go is pretty bad. The Wages of Virtue has it really egregious: ten characters introduced in one sentence by their names and a nickname (“known as The Bucking Bronco”), or maybe one descriptor (infamous, unspeakable, marvellous, etc.) that doesn’t exactly tell you much, or nothing at all, just a name… Three paragraphs later, and who are all these guys again?
Chandler, right? Marlowe’s internal dialogue is always fun to read but I can never figure out exactly what’s actually going on in his novels, even after reading the ending first…
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To me, the purpose is comedy. It’s like, “James was very tired.” How do you know that, narrator? “I am very tired, James complained.” Oh that’s how haha. The joke is the needless repetition immediately after.
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You’re not alone, the plots of his novels are famously incomprehensible. That’s part of the charm.
See, that could be fun, but the stories I kept seeing it in was serious, and it definitely wasn’t framed as a joke, or a part of the overall narrative style.
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A big no-no’s of writing?
Easy, anything half-assed/half-baked/no depth /forceful or just there for the sake of. That’s pretty much descriptions but the ones that stands out:
》Agendas before films/novels - are you sure you’re here to entertain the masses? Or remind me every 2 seconds that this X should be a norm. Especially if that X has nothing to do with the plot. I can think of an example but I’m afraid you’ll sharpen your pitchforks and prepare a bonfire nervous laughing.
》 Associating food with sexual inneudos - can you let me eat my food peacefully? It’s a tasteless humour. Not my cup of tea. Okay? Thanks.
》 Instant Flirt/Romance Mode - I suddenly have the urge to flirt/blush with this person without knowing shit about him/her. Unless MC is flirty by default or the situation calls for it (e.g. the thought of stripping in front of this person even for medical puposes makes you blush/shy giving flirty doctor a chance to tease about it). For real you don’t flirt to everyone you meet for the 1st time. Well 99% of time, am I right?
》 Same Outcome/Insignificant Choice - no matter what choices are, the outcome is the same (E.g. choose your height. That’s the only time your height would matter). This one is a little tricky for me, doesn’t have to be a drastic change but the choice actually made a difference or would make sense.
These are the ones I can think of, I was nervous to post this because everyone sounds so critical and smart but this is a fun post.
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Hypocritical messages in stories - “power corrupts” but the main character’s an ultra powerful chosen one, “people are different and that’s great” but the main cast is entirely white/straight/cis/etc. and might be, I don’t know, nerds or something, “friendship is powerful” but the main group of friends as kind of awful if you think about it. That sort of thing. Especially if the creator has no self awareness about this fact and acts as if their message and the story are actually in line with each other, while they’re actually at odds, and seemingly pride themselves way too much on this fact.
Twists for twist’s sake - very popular in TV these days, needs to stop. Has ruined some of my favorite shows.
Love as a plot device. “I barely know him, but I’ve already fallen in love with him so I’m going to trust him [so the story can move along]”. “My husband died and now I’m a evil witch!” cried Creator’s Totally Not A Sexist Stereotype Woman. “We will NEVER communicate, ever, because drama demands it!!!111!” It’s cliche and often problematic and I’m sick of it.
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hilarious 
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well i guess my no-no would be having difficult words and phases instead of the simple ones to say simple stuff. 
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“This is my daughter, protagonist.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Hero Joe.”
- You too.
- Glad someone is enjoying this.
- You look good in that suit and would look better in my bed. WINK WINK NUDGE NUDGE SAY NO MORE*
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4. I don’t know who you are but I hate you.
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- My good sir, your daughter is the finest flower among the garden and I’d like to bring her to my bed and bang her. May I get your blessing?
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I totally agree on this one. I like my entertainment without having politics shoved down my throat. I want to have fun, not be lectured to. And, furthermore, if you’re going to write scenes where the MC is tortured, then give the MC some options to vent about it afterwards, even if them venting is just them bringing the smack down on anyone who even looks at them wrong (and then let there be consequences for it).
I agree with this, too, though I don’t mind insignificant choices being added for flavor.
Your list made me think of a few others that bug me:
Taking a normal choice and making it stat based: Trying to think of an example that won’t single any one work out isn’t easy, but here goes. Okay, so you’re amongst superheroes that can fly and trying to think of a way to get over a gorge. If you ask the superheroes to fly and have high people skills, then they’ll try it. If you ask the superheroes to fly and don’t have high people skills, they scoff and ask you what you think they are, airplanes? This is ridiculous and has nothing to do with people skills, yet I’ve seen things similar to this is more than one game.
Forcing things to happen or characters to behave a certain way (that jerks you out of the world) for the sake of angst/humor/author desire: Again, this is something I’ve seen often enough that its’ difficult to give an example. But something generic… say you measure the MC’s intimidating factor. If you have some random person walk up to them and ask them an intrusive question or do something that anyone with manners would not do to them, only to have the MC stand there with their thumb up their ass (instead of stopping them with a glare before they finish or telling them to STFU), then you’re ignoring what you’ve been building and forcing a scene just because you wanted it. And you’re ruining the MC and ignoring their stats.
And, a huge one:
Letting NPCs shit all over the MC without letting the MC respond accordingly: I’ve seen, in more than one book/game/IF/TV show, other characters crapping all over a character/MC verbally and/or emotionally while the MC just looked forlorn and took it. Repeatedly. Hell no. If I’m writing a character being a dick to another character, then said character (unless they are spineless or so against confrontation that they’ll accept any treatment without a word) is going to be able to tell the other one off, at the very least. Or leave. I really can’t stand this particular plot device.
This happens so freaking often in every form of media that it makes me want to smash things.
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