Easy: the miscommunication plot. Two characters who allegedly love each other spend ninety minutes in agony because one of them saw something through a window and decided the mature response was to move to another city. One sentence would fix it. “Hey, was that your sister?” Roll credits. But no, first we need the montage of rain and regret.

I know why writers do it. Real conflict is hard, and a misunderstanding is conflict on a budget. But it insults everyone involved. The characters become idiots, the audience becomes a babysitter, and the big reunion feels less like romance and more like two people discovering the concept of talking.

It shows up in books too, usually as a secret kept for three hundred pages to protect someone who would have been fine. Nobody is protected. The plot is protected.

If your entire story dissolves the moment two adults share one honest sentence, you did not write a plot. You wrote a hostage situation with a soundtrack.