Discussion Fan Fic Pet Peeves?

Often the only difference is reading and handling, Lotus.

 

I'm afraid I'm not sure what you mean.

 

I don't have a problem with characters doing things I don't like(it depends on different factors. sometimes I won't read cause it's just wrong) otherwise I'd never read my favorite books.

With my above point I meant, I get personally disappointed when I am enjoying a story and than it goes into a direction I don't like than I stop reading.

Not all the things I don't like are necessary bad. Looking up the word peeve some of my stuff listed probably falls under preferences and aren't really much of pet peeves. I have to remember they aren't the same.

I hope I wasn't sounding selfish as if an author has to write what I like cause they don't.

 

It probably came out like that accidentally. It happens.

 

I get carried away sometimes and don't always think about what I'm saying.

 

If that's about me I mean what I said. I mean there's little difference between a pref and a peeve and it's down to how it's conveyed and perceived.

 

This.

True. You can't know sometimes but a lot of the time you can.
Luke, I can see some people. Kind of hard.

 

You quoted me and didn't write anything. And I'm curious now.

 

Oops. Well take FFN for example. I just use the character lists and use the character relationships I like. Most of the time they are relationships.

 

There is a distinction, I think, between something a reader prefers and something that just annoys them when it pops up.

I don't read fic about Boba Fett but that's a preference not really a peeve. I just think that for this thread to devolve into "my peeve is this character/pairing" would be unhelpful.

 

I don't normally step in here as a mod, as this thread tends to be all over the place. But I do agree with what some people have been saying. There have been A LOT of people here recently stating fic preferences. A preference is something big about a fic (say a genre or a character) that you have a like or a dislike for. For example I have a preference towards Luke and Mara romance fics and a preference not to read Clone-Centric fics. I think it is a bit rude to list L/M fics as a pet peeve because you simply don't like them. I wouldn't list Clone-Centric fics as a pet peeve because I can chose not to read them.

A 'pet peeve' is something, usually minor, that can appear in almost any fic. For example, walls of text annoy many people. Any fic of any genre can have walls of text. A personal pet peeve of mine is when a fic provides no background information at the beginning (era, main characters, etc). It's not the hugest of deals when it comes to fics, but it annoys me when I can't get that info right away.

This isn't just a place to vent out annoyances, but also a place to learn. A person can't learn from someone saying "I don't like THIS PARING" because there might be a dozen more people who like it. However, a person can learn from a discussion surrounding one dimensional OCs that are main characters.

Basically, I ask that you please don't list clear 'preferences'.

 

Sorry I got a carried away in listing preferences. Wasn't trying to be rude.
Not everything I listed actually peeves me unless it's something wrong.
I get off subject sometimes. I don't get annoyed at everything. If something don't interest me I typically don't read.
But sometimes something I don't normally find interesting can be surprising if I give it a chance.

 

It's alright. This thread has a tendency to go REALLY off track. I've been meaning to bring this up for awhile, and a number of people have done this, but the conversation has always moved on before I could. Just try to ask yourself, is this a peeve or a personal preference? And yes, sometimes there is a fine line (for example - mary sues - in some situations it may be a pet peeve, while in others they may just be a preference). However, a good rule of thumb would be to ask yourself: "could a new writer (or reader) learn from this?" or "could this scenario/thing be improved without changing the entire fic?" If the answer is no, it's probably a preference, but if it's yes, then it's a pet peeve.


And there are some peeves that are kinda obvious, I feel, as a user. Yes, something like incest is going to turn MOST people away, but we don't allow such fics anyways here, so why bring it up? I'm not saying you can't vent about stuff found in fics on other sites, or other sites in general. You could say something like unexpected incest (or X thing that would turn off a lot of readers), where the author gives NO WARNING, in an otherwise perfectly good fic, is a pet peeve.

 

Mary Sues falling under their true definition of "perfect at everything, no flaws (or flaws that make them better), overly tragic and or perfect past, beautiful, can do no wrong, bend the rules of the universe, make others go OOC/fall for them for unrealistic reasons" are never okay. That is poor writing. Which brings me to a pet peeve - most classifications of Mary Sue are not truly that. A self insert is not a Mary Sue. A original character who is important and beautiful is not a Mary Sue. A Mary Sue is a one dimensional embodiment of sickening perfection. I hate when I see comments accusing people of Mary Sue-ism when it is definitely not. I have seen some pretty horrible Mary Sues, calling a beautiful important character one is just not good unless she's truly a boring, miss perfect.

But I have found something truly irritating to me. Mary Sues and Gary Stus who are literally paired off together and do absolutely nothing for the plot. They just stand in the corner looking lovingly into each other's eyes, or something. Yet they are "so vital" and "can save the story" as implied or stated by the author.
Um...okay.

 

I've been burned on that, to the point I'm ridiculously paranoid when introducing OCs. I always make sure that they aren't more powerful than canon characters. Or smarter. Or better looking. Or *insert here*.

Readers can be quite insistent on what they consider Mary Sues. It's quite a peeve of mine to have that happen.

 

And that is why I introduced a bunch of interesting people: a middle-aged woman who hates the world, a skint scrawny punk with little to no formal education, a hyperactive sugar addict...coming soon: a dumb crime lord.

 

Ewok Poet

I don't dislike shipping all the way, but when that's all you come across, personally, it makes you kinda tired of the franchise.

I mean just look at the ATLA/LoK franchise. The whole franchise has been built on that, though.

 

Mary Sues also influenced how I write characters and I'm constantly paranoid on how OCs appear to readers. Talents and powers will be nerfed; they'll have a ton of flaws; their backstory will be unremarkable (any tragic events in their past will have little to do with anything in the present), and they will have little interaction with any major canon characters. My OCs are complete nobodies. Even my old ones before I started paying particular attention to certain traits were run through a litmus test, and they came out as mediocre characters.

I try to make them interesting, but I'm always afraid to make them too interesting.

That paranoia of writing a Mary Sue is a peeve of mine. I don't like using my OCs because I'm afraid that they'll be seen as a Mary Sue. Most of them sit and rot.

 

Honestly I ignore the whole Mary Sue thing. To me that's just readers being overly picky. I write my heart first. I feel bad for those that fret about such. A peeve of mine is when writers clearly insert themselves as an OC in their work. RLC's make me uneasy.

 

This. I don't often write OCs, but I was so very paranoid with my OC diary last year, and the character PROBABLY crossed the line of being a Mary Sue, but it was fun to write, so I wrote it.

(Also, I was just using mary sues as an example, it was all I could come up with at 2 am. I personally don't mind the odd Mary Sue if it's not overdone and the author doesn't take themselves, or their character, too seriously, but the blatant "self insert, I'm so perfect" mary sue is annoying, BUT CAN BE FIXED).

 

Since most of us don't know each other personally I never understood how anybody would know if the author is inserting themselves? Also, aren't we supposed to write what we know? My OC went to similar military schools and has similar life experiences as I did. Am I a self insert? If so, why am I inserting myself as a male OC character?

In the Star Wars universe I don't see OCs having special talents as being Mary Sue. Most of the EU has Mary Sue tendencies. Luke can walk on Lava, Anakin is the Chosen One, Jacen is the hero of the Vong war. I think most readers don't mind a strong OC, it is when the strong OC is always saving Luke's life that they get upset. I think most of us don't want our favorite GFFA characters getting emasculated in order to boost the image of an OC.

My pet peeve is people not reading my Author's Notes prior to reading. I have a fic that is part 6 of a series of fanfics. I explain that there are five stories prior to this story and they may not understand what is going on if they haven't read those stories. I still have people (in FFN) making comments that indicates they came into the story cold. I try to write the story and bring in the background information that is pertinent, but I can't condense 500K words of previously written fanfic plot and characters into a new story. I don't think anybody would expect a person that never read LOTF, NJO or FOTJ to grab a book from the middle of the series and understand what is going on.

 

That leads to another, very specific pet peeve: not linking previous stories.

Or, worse...not writing any kind of a heading and/or notes.

I don't want to search, guess...the author should make the story accessible to new readers.

 

Many blatantly say so that's how.

 

When you remember a specific scene from a story but can't remember what story it was from.

 

I do that here, but FFN doesn't allow links. But all they have to do is look at my profile and they can find the stories. I do list the stories and in the order to be read.

Or when you remember you wrote the physical description of your OC somewhere in the 500K words of fanfic, but don't remember where it is and now you can't recall if your lesser OC had blue eyes or green eyes. So now I have to reread my fics to figure out what I should have put down on note cards or in a separate document. One day I will get organized.