What are your Fanfiction pet peeves?

Question

Here's mine:

Writers who can't seem to use the spellchecker on their computer. Fine, the odd little grammar error or misspelled word isn't bad but at least proofread a story before posting it. I know some people have trouble with grammar etc, for all kinds of reasons, but there are beta readers, spell checkers, dictionaries...

Writers who hold a story to ransom for reviews- i.e. "If I get enough reviews I'll post the next chapter".

People who write NC-17 fiction and sex scenes but are still too embarrassed to call body parts what they are. They're writing adult scenes- it's not likely to offend anyone who's reading. Using pretty euphemisms just sounds childish, like a kid trying to write a sex scene.

Works in progress that never get finished.

Characters written badly / out of character.

Names of characters spelled wrong. It's not difficult to check on how to spell the name of the main character in a TV show.

Nonexistent summaries. I want to know what it's about before I start reading, so something like "I suck at summaries, just read it LOL" really isn't helpful and makes me just skip that story altogether.

Mary Sues.

High school alternate universes in general, in literally every fandom. There are so many interesting things people could write about, why would anyone in their right mind write about (the stereotypical aspects of) high school?

Clichéd and overused ideas, i.e. popular girl falls for nerdy boy.

Yep, I think I'm done now.

Answer 1

I dislike it when writers go out of character or ignore established canon. I'm fine with alternate storylines and universes, but I have a greater appreciation of work that makes an effort to maintain the background information that made the original story so appealing to begin with.



To elaborate, I like fanfiction that attempts to branch out from a particular point in the story, where everything that came before it is still linked and connected to the story. If it rewrites everything, the appeal of the original story is lost, and I feel like I'm reading something that is trying to be unique and creative -- but fails.



That being said, I like fanfiction when it attempts to offer insight of a character within context of the original story. Harry Potter would have been completely different from the eyes of Hermione or Snape, for instance. Fanfiction that attempts to factually illustrate these viewpoints is challenging, because there's so much to account for; however, that's what also makes it so appealing: it can fill in the gaps that the original writers never accounted for. Otherwise, I just don't really bother with the genre.



Getting back on topic: I dislike people who bash on fanfiction for misguided reasons. I mean, I frequently make fun of fanfiction due to much of it being shoddily written wish fulfillment, but I'm not going to say that fanfiction is necessarily uncreative or unoriginal. It's easy to overgeneralize, but there are quite a few hidden gems that are articulate and well-written.

Answer 2

One thing that annoys me are the "reviews" that solidly flame and offer no constructive criticism. Someone writing fanfiction is obviously trying to learn how to write; it's doing them no good to receive nothing more than insults. It's childish and a waste of time. It's the same way with the reviews that say "OMGZ I LUV IT SO AWESOME!!!" That's nice and all, but WHY is it awesome, and how can it be better?



The unlikely/weird/stupid relationship pairings annoy me as well. Harry and Hermione, yes. Hermione and Hagrid, no.



But what annoys me more than anything regarding fanfiction is the people who read it expecting to see writing at an international-best-seller level from people with a Ph.D in English/creative writing. I mean, come on - it's freaking fanfiction. If you want to see stellar writing by a young teenage girl, then read The Diary of Anne Frank. Otherwise, what do you really expect?

Answer 3

Many of the the items mentioned already are reasons that I won't even read a story (bad spelling/grammar/summaries, weird relationships, "high school" fics, "reads the books" fics, etc). My pet peeves are more related to when I really want to like a story, but certain things just keep jumping out of the page and bothering me.



Clichés - I read a lot of fanfiction, but I'm getting really tired of seeing the same characterizations, plots, events, and plot devices in most of the stories. I know that a lot of people are just trying to get their feet wet writing, but go ahead and do something different while practicing your technical skills. Even if I've only seen a single story do something, I'll try my hardest to avoid using the same thing in my stories.



Poorly thought-out plot devices - If the main character(s) can use some easy spell/device/weapon/technique that is generally devastating, why doesn't everyone use it (especially the bad guys). When introducing elements to your story, really think through the implications that element would have on the story universe (even if they were already present in canon or commonly-held fanon).



Bashing - Yes, maybe certain characters acted reprehensibly in canon, or their actions can be interpreted in a bad light. But you don't have to make them completely one-dimensional characters with transparent motivations. Very few people would consider themselves to be truly evil, and very few people truly are solely evil. Most people have some redeeming qualities and a personal moral code. If you want readers to dislike or even hate a character, that's fine. Just don't make them the typical evil villain who always has their plans foiled with complete ease by the main character. Either give them some redeeming qualities, or at least make them competent.



Canon repeating - If you want to nestle a fic somewhere in a previously unexplored part of canon, that's fine. Just focus on the unexplored part. If you want to make an alternate universe, that's fine too. Just make sure that changes happen as a result of the initial change. If the change (or accumulated changes) are big enough, that should really affect how events happen later on. It gets annoying to see a fic that has changed very early on in the story timeline, but keeps twisting the fabric of the universe to the limit of believably to cause the same events to happen as in canon. And there is almost never a reason to have the same dialogue happen as in canon. Either change it or skip it.

Answer 4

My peeve is that people actually read fan

fiction. Why any writer would dabble in it to begin with is beyond me. (Every fan fiction writer): "I sure do love writing. But I'm not really into creating my own characters, settings or plots. Instead what I prefer to do is take characters which have been established by another author and then write about those characters as if they were my own using plots and settings which barely differ from the original material but I still like to call that 'writing'." It's the most unimaginative manner to approach writing and it's terribly detrimental to forging one's own identity as a writer. Not to mention that all fan fiction is based on young adult nonsense which is just total and complete drivel to begin with. You couldn't pay me to read the rubbish source material yet kids while away hours reading godawful pastiche works, rife with spelling and grammatical errors and filled with atrociously bad dialogue. God forbid they read real literature.

Answer 5

-May pet peeve is when people take their stories WAY TOO serious. It's fanfiction! You can't take it serious, and that's part of the fun.



-People who criticize young writers about fanfiction, which is not serious and was never meant to be taken serious. Mainly what you're doing right here.

Answer 6

Ooh, here's one: asking for reviews then complaining when things like "Following conventions of punctuations helps your readers to follow your story" get pointed out in the review.



And what about those writers who mistake over-use of a catch phrase for capturing the voice of a character?

Answer 7

When the whole story is one big block of text. And they don't start a new paragraph when someone talks.

Answer 8

To me, it would be work in progress that have not been getting updated for more than at least one year.

Answer 9

Oh god! All of the above! And bad formatting.