We Just Write
Blatantly Plural
- Location
- New England
- Pronouns
- Plural
So, everyone doubtless has some particular types of fiction they really don't like. This is a thread for discussing those disliked genres of fiction, with the caveat that you have to actively explain why you don't like them. You can't just go "I hate X because reasons.", you have to actually give an in-depth analysis of precisely what it is about a given genre that ticks you off. I'll start with some genres that hit my pet peeves as an example.
First up, I REALLY don't like situations like in "Dies the Fire" where suddenly all the modern technology stops working for no apparent reason, casually smashing the last few centuries of progress humanity made. This isn't purely due to me being a radically transhumanist technophile, and is distinct from magic systems that mess up electronics (as seen in the Dresden Files). I also don't mind quite so much when some other catastrophe damages human infrastructure enough to cause a technological collapse/backslide. At least in those cases the technology falling apart is a logical result of how the setting is put together, and can be viewed as a simple (if tragic) case of "shit happens".
In the case of all the tech just falling apart at once though, that can be construed as nothing less than a deliberate "Fuck You" to humanity in general on the part of the universe/god/the author. The number of specific tweaks to electromagnetism alone that would be needed to make even basic electromagnets non-viable without also completely obliterating the extremely complex electrochemistry responsible for allowing brains to work is frankly immense, meaning that there's no possible way for it to be anything other than deliberate. In that case, why should I care what achievements the resulting society left over manages? They'll just be snatched away again by jackass gods the instant they manage anything remotely impressive, and whoever's responsible for this could literally disintegrate the entire setting with a trivial amount of effort.
Another subgenre I well and truly despise is Zombie Apocalypses, but for completely different reasons. Namely, they just don't make any sense, typically. Sure, a massive swarm of zombies could hypothetically be a threat, but there's also a MASSIVE demographic of gun-toting lunatics looking for any excuse to shoot zombies in the head, not to mention the military. Am I supposed to believe that a single zombie somehow replicated to a horde billions strong against the combined strength of every military on the planet, the aforementioned gun-nuts looking for any opportunity to kill zombies, the World Health Organization/CDC, and the weather? No, that's not how it works, especially with such an idiotic transmission method as biting. What's going on would be figured out in mere hours from Patient Zero, and a few hours later the zombie virus would be largely eradicated aside a few isolated and easily-dealt-with cases.
There are a few exceptions, such as Left 4 Dead in which the virus is explicitly airborne and the players are asymptomatic carriers, but as far as I'm concerned they're damned by association with the rest of the zombie apocalypse genre.
First up, I REALLY don't like situations like in "Dies the Fire" where suddenly all the modern technology stops working for no apparent reason, casually smashing the last few centuries of progress humanity made. This isn't purely due to me being a radically transhumanist technophile, and is distinct from magic systems that mess up electronics (as seen in the Dresden Files). I also don't mind quite so much when some other catastrophe damages human infrastructure enough to cause a technological collapse/backslide. At least in those cases the technology falling apart is a logical result of how the setting is put together, and can be viewed as a simple (if tragic) case of "shit happens".
In the case of all the tech just falling apart at once though, that can be construed as nothing less than a deliberate "Fuck You" to humanity in general on the part of the universe/god/the author. The number of specific tweaks to electromagnetism alone that would be needed to make even basic electromagnets non-viable without also completely obliterating the extremely complex electrochemistry responsible for allowing brains to work is frankly immense, meaning that there's no possible way for it to be anything other than deliberate. In that case, why should I care what achievements the resulting society left over manages? They'll just be snatched away again by jackass gods the instant they manage anything remotely impressive, and whoever's responsible for this could literally disintegrate the entire setting with a trivial amount of effort.
Another subgenre I well and truly despise is Zombie Apocalypses, but for completely different reasons. Namely, they just don't make any sense, typically. Sure, a massive swarm of zombies could hypothetically be a threat, but there's also a MASSIVE demographic of gun-toting lunatics looking for any excuse to shoot zombies in the head, not to mention the military. Am I supposed to believe that a single zombie somehow replicated to a horde billions strong against the combined strength of every military on the planet, the aforementioned gun-nuts looking for any opportunity to kill zombies, the World Health Organization/CDC, and the weather? No, that's not how it works, especially with such an idiotic transmission method as biting. What's going on would be figured out in mere hours from Patient Zero, and a few hours later the zombie virus would be largely eradicated aside a few isolated and easily-dealt-with cases.
There are a few exceptions, such as Left 4 Dead in which the virus is explicitly airborne and the players are asymptomatic carriers, but as far as I'm concerned they're damned by association with the rest of the zombie apocalypse genre.
. Either Prepubescent Girls crying LOVEMECHAIN to kill an Idiot Villain or poor Girls forced to kill other Girls for some Eldritch Abomination.
