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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Discussion Fan Fic Pet Peeves?

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction and Writing Resource' started by alienyouthct, Jul 30, 2002.

  1. Lady_Misty

    Lady_Misty Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 21, 2007
    I mess that one up on occasion.

    I was reminded of another one last night, one that I am sure that I have been guilty of now and then: doing zero research. They seem to think that the idea is cool, something that I now and then suffer from, and run with it.

    EDITED because I was being narrow on one point of it when other aspects annoy me as well.
     
  2. ekrolo2

    ekrolo2 Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Jun 17, 2014
    I'm pretty lenient when it comes to stuff like grammar & writing mistakes since a lot of people who write fics aren't English speaking people (like myself) and mistakes like that tend to happen. What really kills a story for me is a lack of flow. I like it when one line of dialogue and/or action seamlessly flows into the next, and makes sense. Now that's just a given of writing for many people, but I'm surprised by the amount of people who just write characters saying or doing stuff without taking into account how these things flow from one to the other.

    Now I'm not gonna pretend I don't make these mistakes in my own writing, because it happens a LOT, the problem is when people don't go back and read a full chapter once its completed to check for this kind of stuff before releasing it.
     
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  3. Lady_Misty

    Lady_Misty Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 21, 2007
    This one jumped out at me a few days ago. I was curious about the earlier work of one writer in a certain verse and was shocked by the later chapters of one of the fics. As part of the Manga and Anime from the fanfic comes from there is time travel and the time traveler, in the first arc she is in, disassociates the young man she meets from her father because he is younger and looks different; the time traveler also (If I remember correctly doesn't know that this man is her father) so after the heroes go to the future and a few other things the time traveler wants the younger version of her father. Instead the writer gave the time traveler an OC brother, has them mess around and then has the OC son knowingly abuse his mother in sexual manner. The writer seemed to think that knowing incest was better than "I don't know that this young man is/going to be my father".

    At least in Star Wars the infamous kiss between Luke and Leia they didn't know that they were siblings.

    Even though I do not approve of incest if the characters don't know of the relation than it is understandable.
     
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  4. ekrolo2

    ekrolo2 Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Jun 17, 2014

    Fanfiction always finds new ways of innovating in the field of screwed up sex & romances, its really quite impressive just what kind of stuff people come up for smut.
     
  5. MsLanna

    MsLanna Jedi Master star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 2005
    Fanfic. :oops:

    I was about shouting at a story I read 'THAT IS WHAT FANFIC IS FOR!!!!' before I realised that I was, actually, reading fanfic. *coughs*

    I seem to have a warped perception of fanfic which inlcudes mostly 'stuff I wouldn't want to read in novels'. And where does that leave me? (Wong side of chick lit, I'm afraid.)
     
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  6. Goodwood

    Goodwood Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    May 11, 2011
    ...teenagers that want to be Sith because Sith is cool and "hip" and anti-establishment—as expressed in horrible teenage fanfic.
     
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  7. Lady_Misty

    Lady_Misty Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 21, 2007

    Sounds like Goth or that episode from Buffy The Vampire Slayer where those teenagers are fascinated about becoming vampires. Maybe the Buffy episode works better since vampires in Buffy are evil or mostly evil and the Sith are evil unless you're the conflicted Chosen One and are silently questioning your actions. But at the end of the day the Sith are evil.
     
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  8. Goodwood

    Goodwood Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    May 11, 2011
    That's my point exactly. And what's even worse is when those teenagers go off to university and start "questioning 'the man'," as embodied by the Jedi and Republic in Star Wars. I've had to deal with the likes of them before, and it is never fun—they get so huffy when you dare to question their deeply-held beliefs about a fictional universe and what is established canon and what isn't. There's a special sort of cognitive dissonance at work when a person realizes at least at a subconscious level that, yes, the Sith are evil, but rationalize being associated with it (e.g., playing dark side/Sith/Imperial in KotOR, KotOR II and TOR) by saying "Yeah, but the Republic and Jedi have blood on their hands, too!" And it comes out in the fanfic that people in this category write.

    There's probably a few comparisons to tumblr that can be made here, but I'll leave that to people who care.
     
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  9. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    This isn't so much a peeve as it is an observation. I had a friend who wanted to write steampunk. I read their initial stories and what stood out to me was that the prose didn't fit. I couldn't adequately explain it to them, but there was something about the prose that didn't fit. It didn't feel like it was written for a steampunk. The prose was the same prose he used for other stuff, and the only thing that I could see different were various buzz words that he'd insert to say "hey, look, steampunk!"

    I think if he used more purple prose and a more archaic style, similar to Victorian-era authors, it would have flowed better. But, he's not the only person I've noticed this with. Some authors have a specific prose that they use, and they'll use it for every genre, even if it doesn't fit. They'll use flat prose for a comedy, when the prose should be engaging and humorous, for example. If the prose doesn't fit the genre, the story can suffer.
     
  10. Ewok_Slayer

    Ewok_Slayer Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Nov 24, 2004
    I like South Park's take on Goth and the vampire culture.
     
  11. Goodwood

    Goodwood Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    May 11, 2011
    If we're going to go that route, then you may as well expand my earlier statements into all fictive realms which feature clearly-defined evil organizations/collectives/species. Inevitably, there will be folks who will attempt to identify with the "bad guys" as being "misunderstood, just like me!" and will write fanfic along those lines. Bonus points if they try to paint the good guys as "evil" or paint them in fifty shades of gray.

    Whatever the case, such works are an unending source of peeve.
     
  12. Skywalker_T-65

    Skywalker_T-65 Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 19, 2009
    Oh, I agree with that so much. Harry Potter definitely takes the cake in that regard (of what I've read). I literally can't read half the fics in that genre without wanting to bang my head into the nearest wall.
     
  13. Goodwood

    Goodwood Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    May 11, 2011
    Tell me about it...sooo many stupid tropes!

    I suppose the supreme irony of the various Harry Potter examples is how much they piss Jo Rowling off. She's come out at least once to publicly—and rather angrily—declare her disdain for Draco in Leather Pants and Ron the Death Eater, to name just a pair of them...
     
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  14. Lady_Misty

    Lady_Misty Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 21, 2007
    And the winner is . . . *drumroll* She-Who-I-Will-Not-Name.

    Vampires seem to have somewhat made a mark on some of the Star Wars fics; granted most of them seem to be on the section for TCW but it is annoying.

    Did you know that zombies and vampires have very similar roots? In the days of plagues and mass graves that were reopened to bury more victims of the plague. Because of decomp some bodies looked odd; almost as if they were still alive and eating the dead to escape. The villagers would stake the "undead" and sometimes take more drastic measures when they buried the dead.


    Sent via my iPADD from the Milky Way Galaxy using Tapatalk
     
  15. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    When I go to bounce some ideas off of a person, but am mocked for said ideas.

    [face_plain]

    People wonder why I don't write anymore.
     
  16. taramidala

    taramidala Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 18, 1999
    That's awful, TrakNar. I'm sorry that happened to you.
     
  17. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    TrakNar, what kind of lurdos did that to you?
     
  18. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    I'd rather not disclose names. I don't wish to incite an angry mob. :p
     
  19. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    But...but...torches are cool!
     
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  20. Cushing's Admirer

    Cushing's Admirer Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Jun 8, 2006
    [:D] Trak. That is majorly uncool. Been there.
     
  21. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    Then again, I am pretty sure I saw a fic thread where somebody was recommended my story and they used some negative criticism for it...so, I guess things happen. :(
     
  22. Cushing's Admirer

    Cushing's Admirer Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Jun 8, 2006
  23. Lady_Misty

    Lady_Misty Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 21, 2007
    Just to clear the air She-Who-I-Will-Not-Name isn't a member on this site; as far as I know. I have no issues with anyone here beyond minor disagreements over opinions.
     
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  24. Cushing's Admirer

    Cushing's Admirer Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Jun 8, 2006
    A peeve I have is that almost all writers and some fans are VERY selective who they consider 'worthy' of redemption. It's usually Anakin. I for one naturally empathise with those whom are maligned and misrepresented and yes I want them healed and redeemed. Erring doesn't make a character worth less.
     
  25. Goodwood

    Goodwood Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    May 11, 2011
    Some folks are just beyond redemption. It would be completely out of character for them, as they've crossed the Moral Event Horizon ages ago and they don't care. They're in it for the power, and "the ends justify the means" isn't so much a slogan as it is an integrated and long-nurtured aspect of their personality.

    In other words, one of my peeves is the use of the Draco in Leather Pants trope.

    (Just as an aside, I would like to point out that Vader didn't blow up Alderaan; that idea was all Tarkin)