What would you like to see more / less of in stories?

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This could also apply to TV and films.

-An asthmatic character who isn't a coward or just there for comic relief.

I'd really like to see an asthmatic character be treated seriously. Whenever I do, they've overcome their asthma somehow either by growing out of it or supernaturally cured (such as becoming a werewolf). Usually this overcoming of their condition is used to show how the character has grown. They become more confident and less fearful. I'd like to see a character who is asthmatic and is still useful to the group instead of being treated as a burden.

Also, the way inhalers are treated tends not to be particularly realistic. I'm asthmatic and something that has always bothered me is the overuse of the emergency inhaler. A character will do a small amount of exercise and then proceed to take their emergency inhaler about twenty times. If you're using your emergency inhaler that much, then there's probably something wrong with your prescription. Perhaps they'll use it once or twice, maybe three times after that run, but unless they're having a severe asthma attack then calm down with the amount of inhales.

- Characters who somewhat pick up on sarcasm.

Whenever I see a character who doesn't understand sarcasm they are usually completely oblivious. To the point where anyone could make up anything and they'd believe it. Personally, I am someone who misses sarcasm sometimes, but I am still aware of the concept. I understand what sarcasm is and how it works. There are moments where I even use it myself.

Yet I can miss the tone in a person's voice when speaking to them and miss their use of sarcasm. I find that there are situations where I experience a lag, I might realise later on in our conversation that sarcasm was used despite it not registering in the moment. There's also the fact that I might be able to figure out that a statement was sarcastic by working it out logically. I'd like to see characters who aren't completely oblivious to sarcasm, but aren't fluent in it either.

I would like to see more female characters who are not in tune with their emotions but aren't completely logical insufferable geniuses either. Also female characters who aren't designed as role models or aren't very nice people. Although media has been getting better with the portrayals of female characters in general. I loved Eleanor from the Good Place for example.

I'd like the newer horror movies to be more scarier but without having jump scares. It seems that each time I buy a modern horror movie it always seems to be about a bunch of teenagers playing pranks on each other and falling in love, and nothing creepy actually happens, just a bit gory at the end.
Or they have scary things that almost happen but don't, instead a character wakes up from a nightmare or snaps out of a daydream or whatever. And each time there's an open door or something, you're just getting ready for a jump scare, which I don't find enjoyable.
The older horror movies like The Shining are brilliant; creepy things actually happen and the plot is well put together.
I do like emotional plots and less sex. Seeing a man and woman having sex in horror movies isn't really what I want to see.

More character-driven story; less pandering to special-interest groups.

I'd like a bit more of: spooky stories that are perhaps a little cheesy, and aren't shocking. I think I'd like horror if there was less use of shocking on-screen gore and jumpscares. Enough horror to build interest and tension, but not so much that I won't sleep for a week. Horror that's scary to the characters, but not to the audience except perhaps as a cautionary tale. The type that's more mystery focused. Dark undertones with enough lighthearted moments that make me want to keep up with the story.

Less focus on romance, especially for women.

As for scary movies, I like things that make you think a bit and stick with you instead of relying on jump-scares and shocking amounts of gore. I like things that are actually scary. Jump-scares, in my opinion, don’t actually scare, they startle, and to me there is a big difference. Gore, and sometimes a lot of gore, is okay with me, as long as they don’t rely on the gore itself to be scary, because it isn’t (at least, not so long as the gore isn’t mutating or moving on its own or anything).

And I agree, less sex in horror movies. I get that they can slip it in because something is R-rated anyway, but that does not necessarily mean they should. I don’t want to have to see any sex, unless perhaps it’s a key part of the story.