I am an avid reader of fanfiction. A hobby/interest which began with Harry Potter.

Although nowadays it is mainly of Naruto stories. However over the years of reading countless fics there are many cliche's or at least overused plots/storytelling mechanics which can be used to great effect but more often than not are simply abused and put into the story for what I can only guess is due to the mass cultural (fanfiction culture not society as a whole) expectations. Sounds confusing? Yes I shall explain in detail.

Problem Number 1 - Pairings (or rather the need to pair people up)

Why does a story need a pairing? Perhaps its a romance story then hurrah for the lucky pair that you've set up. But how about for a gritty 'action/adventure' based story what does the pairing add to the story. Whilst I will admit there is almost always romantic sub-plot to those epic tales but when written as "OMG I never realised he/she was so HOT!" it just serves to irritate. I'm generalising here but the point is when badly written and tacted onto a story based on action/adventure it cheapens the whole romance/love part of it.

Another issue which authors pairing people up is the urge by many to pair up EVERYBODY in the story. Okay, I can handle a pairing for the main characters, it fits in some cases, but why does everybody have to have a love interest? Can't you leave it at the main pairing and let the rest of the unimportant characters just enjoy their emotional detachment? I mean its so full of crap that just because one set of characters have hooked up that every other person just happens to do so at the same time.

3rd issue deals more specifically with the PROTAGONIST/HAREM stories. I am an 19 year old male, I understand the typical male sexual fantasy of having multiple partners and I also understand the urge for authors to have their main character get together with a plethora of women BUT the problem arises when the author tries to justify their character been able to maintain such relationships. The typical justifications fall into these catergories

-When there's 2 women (A&B) and 1 man(C):

A: "I love C",
B: "But I also love C"
A: "Oh I love C so much why don't we just share him?"
B: "That's a great idea A! Lets go tell C now!"
Scene Change
C: "Oh how can A&B both love me? insert whiny self-doubt here"
A&B : "Its because your so great that we both love you, and due to your angst filled past you deserve it."

-When there's 2+ women and 1 man

Same as above except with more characters. Plus minor conflict between characters which ultimately results see last line of above example.
or
Gets some superpower which makes all women unable to resist his charms and they become his willing sex slaves but because he is such a noble man and loves them all he treats each and every one of them with great respect and they all live happily ever after.

The reason these annoy me is because they are written so badly that it reads like the script a F-grade porno with the budget of 2.50 and the production values equal to adding lens flare to a video shot using a 1st generation camera phone.
Yes authors are entitled to write out their fantasies, but my wish is for you to reconsider or maybe consider for the first time whether or not a female who sleeps with your main character has to fall in love with him.

Problem Number 2 - Long-winded monologues