Remove ads

Pet Peeves in Fanfiction

Reader mode
Blaflaix said:
The place where I draw the line come down to "No means no."
If someone says no, and the other decides they're in denial and just need constant harassment, then it's a catch-22.
It doesn't matter if they are right, it isn't a good relationship because they aren't listening to the other person.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Another thing here: "No means no, except yes you should push more".

No, someone "giving up" on receiving no is not them being weak or needing to push more. Do not play dumb games. If character says "no" and other character accepts that, that is not time to start mocking the guy for accepting no.

Way too often in both real life and fan fiction, people seem to think that if you accept "no" in first go, you aren't "commited enough". That you need to get second no.

No should mean no. Not a start of god damn mind games. Don't say no if you don't mean it, and don't get angry at people/characters for accepting no.
 
Rule 4: Don’t Be Disruptive -- Follow thread policy
Blaflaix said:
Expanding that to the story as a whole, if things are presented one way, there is a difference between a fanfic saying "What if things were different" as opposed to "What if everyone was in denial and needed to be corrected."
You can lay the groundwork to show things growing in a certain direction, but if they get impatient it can easily slide into really forced scenarios that aren't nearly as romantic as the fanfic author apparently thinks.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yes, exactly this! When the characters' orientation is shown in canon to not include each other, when both their POVs don't have the slightest bit of attraction (demonstrably differently than when they think about people they are attracted to), then the canon relationship is not romantic. I recognize there's a much larger contextual framework attached to the issue, but it doesn't make me any less peeved that the friendship is somehow not considered as valuable, deep, or emotionally intimate as romance.

Like, yes, there are gay pairings that are hinted at or outright explored in canon, and there are people who are in denial about them. I know that's a thing. In this case, I kinda hate how their existence colors arguments for friendship as homophobic, because... I can't really prove otherwise. The same peeve can be perceived as genuine or as a fig leaf to cover underlying bigotry.

I respect fanfic saying "what if things were different", and I respect exploring canonical queer pairings, even if only hinted at; my problem is solely with attributing existing platonic depth and intimate trust to romance without building the groundwork.
 
When you have a fic with an interesting premise, I finally read it, annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd...

It turns out to be a crack fic.

Something that just turns me off,
 
Ultimate said:
When you have a fic with an interesting premise, I finally read it, annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd...

It turns out to be a crack fic.

Something that just turns me off,
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I'm sorry, but did you mean "troll fic"? Crack fics are defined by having very strange premises (rather than anything about quality), so I would expect someone wanting to read one would know what they'd be getting into.
 
Limabot said:
I'm sorry, but did you mean "troll fic"? Crack fics are defined by having very strange premises (rather than anything about quality), so I would expect someone wanting to read one would know what they'd be getting into.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Well, for a specific example, I was really intrigued by the fics 'The Infinite Loops' (Where Yggdrasil, the World Tree Computer from Ah! My Goddess, is broken and are going to loops.) and React, Watch, Believe, Yikes. (Where Team RWBY views the Red Vs. Blue series) But the series themselves are far more crack than I initially expected.
 
...I mean... what did you expect ?

Like... how do you look at 'Team RWBY watches RvB' as a summary and think 'this will surely be a serious fic' ? When it says 'MST3K' on the tin I'm not surprised to not find 'slice of life/comfy romance' or whatever inside.
 
hghwolf said:
...I mean... what did you expect ?

Like... how do you look at 'Team RWBY watches RvB' as a summary and think 'this will surely be a serious fic' ? When it says 'MST3K' on the tin I'm not surprised to not find 'slice of life/comfy romance' or whatever inside.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
You misunderstand. I didn't expect serious, I expected comedy and slice of life.

I don't consider crack to be simply comedy though, the genre is more like an over-the-top parody. Like Ruby gets split personalities and I think Nora does too, even though it has nothing to do with the concept of the RWBY girls watching RVB
 
I mean, on one hand I get it... but on the other, there's some fic premises where you should always be going in expecting it to be the lowest possible denominator, absolute garbage, and being pleasantly surprised if it just so happens to be better than that. I feel like "X watches/plays Y which is totally unrelated to them" is one of those things, since at least if it was like "Team RWBY watches RWBY" you get the meta-plot of them reacting to their own characters and plot twists, or how it effects their alternate reality to know these things (say, Volume 1 Team RWBY finding out about Cinder early).
 
Ultimate said:
Well, for a specific example, I was really intrigued by the fics 'The Infinite Loops' (Where Yggdrasil, the World Tree Computer from Ah! My Goddess, is broken and are going to loops.)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
IIRC the Infinite Loops were a cracky spin-off anyway because those authors didn't want to be constrained by the worldbuilding of the original loops and let fly their wild fancies.
 
Somic said:
I respect fanfic saying "what if things were different", and I respect exploring canonical queer pairings, even if only hinted at; my problem is solely with attributing existing platonic depth and intimate trust to romance without building the groundwork.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

And I respect fanfic saying "what if things were different", and I respect exploring canonical straight pairings, even if only hinted at; my probelm is solely with attributing existing platonic depth and intimate trust to straight romance without building any groundwork.

The need to specify "queer" there is worrying to me. I'm aware that I brought the matter up, and I can respect your explanation, but it feels weird to act like this is something that even disproportionately impacts queer fics more than straight ships, when you see it in straight ships all the time. The best I can say is that it's the writers doing it sometimes rather than fans, but why does that make it any better?
 
I swear to God just to prove I am not a shitposter if anybody wants I will expound after work but for now (Also I am Bi before you start muttering the straights under your breath):

I think part of the dynamic with proposed Queer couples/Characters is that it is sort of :thonk: that people will say "X acts somewhat like a queer stereotype so they must be flamingly flamboyantly gay in every single way (this is a good thing)"

I would, for the record, far rather deal with the people who propose these things than their opposite number
 
New Peeve: Shoehorning in modern "real world brands" into a non-crack story.

If you have a serious Star Wars story, featuring, say, Obi-Wan trying to help Anakin adapt to life as a Jedi, and you suddenly have Obi-Wan saying he is going to go to "space WalMart to pick up some space Oreos" or something like that, my immersion in the story is instantly gone.

If you are clever, such as having them go to "Deh-nai's Diner", and the descriptions making it obvious this is a pastiche of Denny's cliches without actually saying anything, that can be clever and actual help with immersion. But if you just shove it in without a thought, it shows the audience you don't bother to think about details in your story, and will likely be similarly lax in other areas.
 
If you're writing a Star Wars story and aren't making up stupid sci-fantasy names for everyday shit, are you even writing in Star Wars?
 
As a quick note, everyone makes fun of that name, but it's actually an insulting nickname he picked up for, well, being a sleazebag, the character's real name is Elan Sel'Sabagno.
 
PossiblyEnos said:
IIRC the Infinite Loops were a cracky spin-off anyway because those authors didn't want to be constrained by the worldbuilding of the original loops and let fly their wild fancies.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I mean "crack" was part of the world-building of the original loops. The idea that the isolation and sense of futility would warp and grind at the Anchors' sanity — the 'extended' format meaning this could be shown far more clearly than in Groundhog Day (when they had to fit everything into the length of a single movie)

Yes, it's crack. But it's also crack-with-purpose. The multiverse is broken, but the true craziness comes from the mind.

LordCirce said:
If you are clever, such as having them go to "Deh-nai's Diner",
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
For a jinnanto niq?
 
As he's credited in the film he appears in as 'Elan Sleazebaggano', any retconning done by the greater SW fandom is just kinda not relevant. Lucas called him Elan Sleazebaggano.
 
Chronocidal said:
I mean "crack" was part of the world-building of the original loops. The idea that the isolation and sense of futility would warp and grind at the Anchors' sanity — the 'extended' format meaning this could be shown far more clearly than in Groundhog Day (when they had to fit everything into the length of a single movie)

Yes, it's crack. But it's also crack-with-purpose. The multiverse is broken, but the true craziness comes from the mind.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The point was that the crack they chose to be peeved about was the the version that was more unhinged with the perfectly suitable original Loops right there but left ignored.
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top