Kiyomi watches a lot of anime and reads a lot of light novels. Even more than Akemi(light novels, that is). And because she does, she encounters so many clichés that irritate her it's almost amazing.
But the more vocal of the two (especially in writ...
These need to stop. Unless it is is a different book from the story.
In all honesty, I used to create character pages for myself. This can help one stay consistent with their writing, which is a plus. But, these should be made for the writer(s) of said story only, not the readers.
When I say this, I mean you shouldn't place a character or definition page before the novel. People should have the words or character's past/class/weaponry and so explained or revealed to them during the book, not at the beginning. This is both confusing and often contains spoilers.
I've seen many writers on Wattpad use phrases/names from different languages (myself included. I tend to use small notes to explain the meaning of a name.) in their writing. This isn't particularly a bad thing all the time unless you're using phrases that can be translated. But when you use foreign language and place a 'definitions' or 'phrases' page, you can't expect people to understand or remember that.
For example, if someone were to create a definition page, you might have to flip back and forth to that section. This has happened before.
I am not reading a textbook. I'd rather not have a glossary at the front of my new book.
Not only this, but no one wants to see their favourite anime characters being 'repurposed' to provide a visual aid. Especially if they're straight up depictions from the anime/manga/game they're from. It's even worse if you do something as cheap as just recolouring the hair or skin. Everyone can tell and it looks dreadful. It doesn't help when you use well known characters or memorable designs from another series.
A while ago, I saw No Game No Life, Guilty Crown, Death Note (seriously? You think you can get away with that? They used Ryuk- of all characters) Black Butler and Vocaloid characters the person just provided screenshots of some anime episodes and placed arrows with their character names on to 'match the character'.
Just describe the character. Or provide images of your own OCs or something. Just don't use well known characters... or any pre-established character.
For those who think most people love these:
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As soon as you stop this and take time to explain concepts and ideas to the reader, the more people will read it.
If you are going to do a character page, never do it at the beginning. You should do it when a reader requests it or something, like in a seperate book or at the end.
The reason why? Because character pages are more or less an info-dump, no matter how you put it. If I were to view a book on Wattpad and it had a character page, I (more often than not) am confused by this seemingly random data before me. It makes no sense to me.
