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6 things that annoy me in fanfic writing
Willow
 1. The writer thinking that he/she is fantastic/great/good/am azing/etc.
Oh how often I read: “Don’t comment if you don’t like it cuz I’ll hate you 4-ever!”
Usually, I don’t even bother to read these fics. But when you read the reviews… they’re usually more fun than the fic itself. “OMG! That is amazing!” and “OMG! I want more!” And usually I’m tempted to read the fic, and after the first paragraph I think: “Oh dear god! What a waste of space!”
Obviously, ‘fantastic’ writers are afraid of honest feedback and are therefore afraid that people might want to hurt their ego’s by helping them.
‘Fantastic’ writers don’t use beta readers, and when they do, they usually have beta readers with the same short attention span as the writer.
‘Fantastic’ writers often write highly unusual stories that are canon (and fanon, and real life) wise not possible.
‘Fantastic’ writers don’t do research, they make it up as they go. So, for example, it’s easy to put animal DNA in a human body and that human receives super powers and… oh wait… *grin* I guess this applies to Mutant X writers too!
2. The lack of description in a fic.
This can actually be a blessing (when it’s done in a good way) or an actual nightmare (he said, she said, he replied… “Brennan goes to school”…)
How are we supposed to like a fic when we can’t imagine the world the writer created? How can we taste the atmosphere when we don’t know if it’s night or day… warm or cold… or how the lightning is?
So, how to describe things in a fic? Well, try to visualize the scene or object in hour head, try to visualize smells or taste, and write it down.
You’ll have to admit that it’s more fun to read how your favourite character is feeling, when Adam is doing a physical on your favourite character in the big lab with sliding doors and technical stuff that he doesn’t understand (let’s call him Jesse) the quick way, and how Jesse feels when he sees Adam taking more time with the ladies, who, barely have any clothes on.
instead of just ‘feeling’ or ‘being there’.
Description is also important for feelings, thoughts, touches and everything else that can be described. It’s much more fun to know how Mason got hurt, instead of just knowing that he is, right?
Though, as sharpiesgal says: “Writing description is like walking on a tightrope… on one hand you can have too much, on the other hand not have enough.”
3. Beta readers are nice to have
For a non-native English speaker, I discovered that beta’s are your friend. Since September 2005 I used a beta for most fics. For a non-native speaker, my English is pretty good, and before I asked people to beta for me, I had a lot of mistakes with the tenses (I still have). My beta(‘s) helped me to climb out of the pit I was digging for myself and my English improved. Now, I only ask people to beta when I’m not sure of myself, and even when I’m sure that there aren’t mistakes in it, my beta circle gives me positive constructive beta-like feedback.
But even native speakers need a beta. Well, most native speakers do anyway.
The ones who can use a different viewpoint of the fic.
The ones who don’t know about punctuation.
The ones who don’t know about spelling and grammar.
The ones who simply can’t write a character in character.
And certainly the ones who just seem to forget the difference between ‘there’, ‘they’re’ and ‘their’ or ‘your’, ‘you’re’ and ‘yours’.
The list goes on and on.
Most of these stories I don’t even bother to read anymore, not at ff.net anyway. I’ve posted many “get a (decent) beta” comments.
I’m not saying that everyone who has a beta is a terrible writer. Some fantastic writers have a beta, only to support them, giving them an honest opinion, giving them a different viewpoint, a focus on the little things, etc. (thanks lonelywalker, you can smash my brains in anytime LOL)
If your beta is a worse writer than you, if your beta is worse in spelling/grammar/punctuation than you, find someone else.
4. Drabbles are not fics.
Sure, before anyone wants to throttle me, drabbles are a form of fic. They’re usually one shot, and they’re either exactly 100 words (or less) and 500 words at maximum (according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drabble, microfiction is a story of 250 words or less).
I absolutely hate it when a series of drabbles are posted separately, when they can easily become a fic when all put together, if only the writer shows some TLC to his/her drabbles and take the effort to make it a real fic.
Don’t get me wrong, drabbles are good. I like drabbles, barely write them myself, but it irks me that people post like 5 drabbles, in the same ‘atmosphere’ and ‘setting’, with the same ‘problem’, and not making one fic, one post, out of it.
I like drabbles, but when drabbles don’t have a structure…
To quote Lonelywalker: “a drabble *should* be a very tightly constructed work. not just any old 100 words.”
5. Original Character invasion.
I don’t have a thing against OC’s (original characters) in general. I write them myself.
BUT, when you’re writing… let’s say, a Mutant X fic, about Mason Eckhart, and you add a cousin, let’s call her Mary Sue Eckhart, you have to decide how big the part of your OC is going to be. (Not all OC’s are Mary Sue’s. It’s knowing the fine line not to cross when writing an OC.)
OC’s are a joy to read when done brilliantly.
OC’s aren’t a stab in the eye if they suit the story.
OC’s aren’t a hazard to someone’s health when used with care.
OC’s are fun, unless they start to take over your fic and when they’re badly written.
When I read a fic or drabble with an amazingly bad written OC, I want to stab my eyes out. Because, unlike spelling mistakes and all other tings that make my head spin, most bad OC’s are a devil in disguise.
6. The flames minority pairing writers have to endure (and also people who like to write rare characters like Mason for example.
To quote feenixandashes: “I hate it when people get flamed. It’s not at all constructive criticism.”
This is true. People don’t read the warnings a fic has. There’s a reason for warnings prior to the beginning of a fic. It saves the innocent eyes from being hurt.
As far as I know, I’m the only writer in the The Pretender fandom with a very rare pair: Jarod/Angelo.
Even though I received good feedback on those fics in my livejournal, I decided to put them on ff.net. I should have known better.
People were grossed out. They were telling me to stop writing my beloved pair as it would never happen in canon. But in my eyes, Jarod and Angelo’s special bond goes beyond friendship and that’s what fanfics are for anyway!
Of course, I laughed. Those flames were obviously from people who don’t read. But it wasn’t funny.
Also, I find that writing Mason Eckhart is a hard task, and I tried my best in my fics, but at ff.net… they just don’t like Mason. I think Dark Mirage agrees with me: sometimes the feedback is good feedback, other times you get flamed.
What’s so bad about Mason?
There are other ways than flaming to disagree with a rare pair fic or a fic about a minor character.
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