Pet Peeves in Fanfiction

[Argent]

I even notice it, in-regards to ASOIAF fics with Jon Snow

Catelyn Stark was cold to him, but wasn't abusive

Oh that is another pet peeve of mine.

All the fics that make Cat out to be a villain because she didn't want to raise her husband's bastard and treat him like her own child. While Cat does stupid things throughout the books and has the political sense of a drunk goat in this one area she was not exactly wrong.

First this is a medieval society. This mean there are certain rules and bringing your basdard home was a slight against your wife, her family and the alliance that marriage represents. Ned could have raised Jon elsewhere with a loyal Lord like Reed and avoided a lot of family drama and trouble. But rasing your bastard in your own castle and having them take classes with your true born heir was just not done.

Next she lives in a world where bastards have tried to take the true heirs inheritance. Even the Starks had a cadet line rebel against them. Westeros have fought multiple civil wars over who has the right to inherit from treating bastards like truebrone heirs. So as far as Cat is concerned Jon should be raised far away and taught not to get ideas.


Then you get into the more personal reasons. Here you have Cat that has to live with a reminder that she was never Neds first choice. Jon is a remind that ever dutiful Ned Strak married her for some armies and a dead brother. Not out of any choice. Which while expected for political marriages most Lords do not shove their indiscretions into their wives face ever day.


The fact that she was only cold to Jon and generally let him is more then Jon could expect. Just picture some other Nobel wives and think how long till Jon had an accident.

 

[CarlManvers2019]

The fact that she was only cold to Jon and generally let him is more then Jon could expect. Just picture some other Nobel wives and think how long till Jon had an accident.

I think he'd have at the latter "kindest" sort had been made a servant or a whipping boy for the legitimate children

Honestly, I feel much of the Isekai genre is the result of whatever FFN equivalent Japan has, deciding to try and make original fiction themselves whilst indulging in their chuunibyou fantasies

 

[Lord Sovereign]

A personal peeve of mine, drawn almost entirely from observation, is when an author permits far too much reader influence. Seriously, I've seen some authors almost get pressured into forcing stuff in, especially if it's to do with shipping. Low and behold, the story then spirals entirely off course and you are left with a mess.

 

[Arlos]

Character falling unconscious all the time, most of the time for plot convienence.

 

[Knowledgeispower]

Harems for the sake of having a harem in the story for no particular reason and usually it involves characters that don't make any sense

 

[Argent]

A personal peeve of mine, drawn almost entirely from observation, is when an author permits far too much reader influence. Seriously, I've seen some authors almost get pressured into forcing stuff in, especially if it's to do with shipping. Low and behold, the story then spirals entirely off course and you are left with a mess.

I tend to see that more on sites like SB or here. The feed back can help a story but at times it can derail and ruin a story.

But you also see it in bigger productions like T.V. shows where vocal fans have influenced casting and plot decisions.

Overall I think that to many works but especially fanfics focus on shipping. You can have a story still be compelling without massive romance everywhere.


But this peeve relates to another one of mine. Author that write 12 year old kids like 20 year olds. Just look at all the Harry Potter fic and how every kid acts like a young adult despite being 11. It takes some skill to write young kids that most authors lack and ruin stories with.

 

[Emperor Tippy]

Pet Peeve of the Day: SI stories that make everyone but the SI a fucking idiot.

Yes, an SI has a great many advantages when it comes to information and knowledge (especially in something like Harry Potter, where it is primarily a mystery and so knowing the mystery in advance makes it really easy to manipulate) but the world is not populated by unchanging cardboard cutouts that only exist to fellate the SI and tell him/her how great they are.

 

[CarlManvers2019]

Pet Peeve of the Day: SI stories that make everyone but the SI a fucking idiot.

Yes, an SI has a great many advantages when it comes to information and knowledge (especially in something like Harry Potter, where it is primarily a mystery and so knowing the mystery in advance makes it really easy to manipulate) but the world is not populated by unchanging cardboard cutouts that only exist to fellate the SI and tell him/her how great they are.

As far as the authors are concerned, they are

This may depend on where the fic is from

FFN or Spacebattles or Sufficient Velocity etc

The latter where you have more constant communication, SJWism aside, is where you will find guys who are more serious regarding canon and respecting characters

 

[Lord Sovereign]

Yes, an SI has a great many advantages when it comes to information and knowledge (especially in something like Harry Potter, where it is primarily a mystery and so knowing the mystery in advance makes it really easy to manipulate) but the world is not populated by unchanging cardboard cutouts that only exist to fellate the SI and tell him/her how great they are.

Not to mention showing any knowledge of future and past events will usually put you at the top of the villain's shit list. Painting a big target on your back for Voldemort is not something you want to do. Hey, that would be something for a story: the villain goes straight for the SI, tortures them into giving up all information, then uses that to beat the heroes.

As far as the authors are concerned, they are

This may depend on where the fic is from

FFN or Spacebattles or Sufficient Velocity etc

The latter where you have more constant communication, SJWism aside, is where you will find guys who are more serious regarding canon and respecting characters

Until you get to shipping, or the character's sexuality, which almost always involves "the big gay" over there. I've seen it happen.

 

[CarlManvers2019]

Not to mention showing any knowledge of future and past events will usually put you at the top of the villain's shit list. Painting a big target on your back for Voldemort is not something you want to do. Hey, that would be something for a story: the villain goes straight for the SI, tortures them into giving up all information, then uses that to beat the heroes.



Until you get to shipping, or the character's sexuality, which almost always involves "the big gay" over there. I've seen it happen.

I think there’s a problem in that authors severely underestimate the villains at times, if they even remember them from canon, instead they may just focus on burning down the wizarding world or konohakagure with crossover powers

I’m pretty sure Taylor Hebert’s straight, even has sex with Brian

 

[Lord Sovereign]

I think there’s a problem in that authors severely underestimate the villains at times, if they even remember them from canon, instead they may just focus on burning down the wizarding world or konohakagure with crossover powers

Villains often get the short end of the stick in fanfic. It's like the author is so wrapped up in character interactions, showing off their OC, or delighting in going full on "for want of a nail," they forget to keep an imposing antagonist around to challenge the heroes, let alone a well written one. This is often to the massive detriment of the story, as the antagonist is perhaps the most important tool of a writer. Without him, there is no conflict.

On the other hand, there are those who've portrayed the villain better than the original. I'm certain honking screaming Voldemort has been made into an utter terror in a fan's work.

 

[CarlManvers2019]

Villains often get the short end of the stick in fanfic. It's like the author is so wrapped up in character interactions, showing off their OC, or delighting in going full on "for want of a nail," they forget to keep an imposing antagonist around to challenge the heroes, let alone a well written one. This is often to the massive detriment of the story, as the antagonist is perhaps the most important tool of a writer. Without him, there is no conflict.

On the other hand, there are those who've portrayed the villain better than the original. I'm certain honking screaming Voldemort has been made into an utter terror in a fan's work.

Probably because the readers(who are not "flamers") didn't come for the conflict, they came to watch the author show off their SI/INO/OC

Hell, they're not even there to see the effects of what would having a guy with Clarketech building a city Beyond-The-Wall have on Westeros and Essos' economy and politics

Insert that overpowered MC in Worm who's for whatever the reason, REALLY busy bashing the PRT, Protectorate & Cauldron and for really petty reasons the "Terrible Trio" and they won't really do much like actually hunt down the Endbringers, Slaughterhouse Nine, The Fallen, The Yangban etc

Again, I think they'll forget the villains from canon even exist

 

[Abhorsen]

Stories that throw out fundamental setting conceits. A Naruto story without chakra is not a Naruto story. A Harry Potter story without magic is not a Harry Potter story.

If the characters are distinctive enough, this can be fine. For example, there is a crossover between ASOIAF and the Great British Bake Off that manages to mostly stick true to the characters, while modernizing them to make sense (it's hilarious, I can't recommend it enough). For Harry Potter, I could totally see an adaption that keeps the characters and the school, but removes the magic and replaces it with something else.

 

[Argent]

Pet Peeve of the Day: SI stories that make everyone but the SI a fucking idiot.

Yes, an SI has a great many advantages when it comes to information and knowledge (especially in something like Harry Potter, where it is primarily a mystery and so knowing the mystery in advance makes it really easy to manipulate) but the world is not populated by unchanging cardboard cutouts that only exist to fellate the SI and tell him/her how great they are.

It is why stories like the Song of Fire and Ice Dresden Crossover by Puzzle was good. He basically gave out idea and wrote an almanac. Then chaaracters took his basic ideas and help to make their own steamships and advances.

But overall to many SI authors assume canon characters are stupid. Things like Harry Potter and the gold to muggle money is a prime example. For the world to work you have to assume they fixed that loophole. Yes JK did not expand on that but not having Lord of the Rings world building does not mean your idea to become rich makes sense.

 

[TyrantTriumphant]

I hate it when stories keep to closely to the stations of canon. If the author is just going to write the same plot as the original source, then why not just read the original source? They're just wasting my time and theirs.

 

[CarlManvers2019]

I hate it when stories keep to closely to the stations of canon. If the author is just going to write the same plot as the original source, then why not just read the original source? They're just wasting my time and theirs.

Don’t tell me you can’t save Ned Stark if you have the power to summon giant robots

Or NOT kill Joffrey by sending him to the moon

 

[Abhorsen]

I hate it when stories keep to closely to the stations of canon. If the author is just going to write the same plot as the original source, then why not just read the original source? They're just wasting my time and theirs.

Sometimes this can be okay, but rarely. There is a particularly good Mass Effect fic that basically was written with the intention of being perfectly canon, up to the point of trying to use the same dialogue. The catch? They had Shepard be a sociopath that the Alliance blackmailed (they found her murdering people) to join up because they needed a biotic of her caliber. The point of the fic is a reconstuction of canon, explaining how everything still goes similarly despite a wildly OoC Shepard. This combined with some viginettes of past actions make for a very interesting story. The highlight of it all is the suspense, just waiting each character to discover that Shepard, who comes across as paragon, is a monster. Garrus is a delight here, as he starts out all willing to be a vigilante cop, but starts to realize that the rules exist for a reason.

EDIT: I think a general rule though is that if you have a good enough writer, you can take what is normally a pet peeve and make it good. These are sort of the exceptions that prove the rule.

 

[Argent]

I hate it when stories keep to closely to the stations of canon. If the author is just going to write the same plot as the original source, then why not just read the original source? They're just wasting my time and theirs.

Like Talyor fighting Lung her frist night even when she heads out on a different day. The odds of Talyor finding Lung are low. A left trun or pausing to look in an ally are all it would take to miss that encounter but over half the stories still have that as Talyor's frist fight.

 

[CarlManvers2019]

Like Talyor fighting Lung her frist night even when she heads out on a different day. The odds of Talyor finding Lung are low. A left trun or pausing to look in an ally are all it would take to miss that encounter but over half the stories still have that as Talyor's frist fight.

And memes aside, she almost fucking died to him

People turned Lung into their Guiche

Speaking of Lung, I get pretty annoyed by the Adaptational Heroism I see him getting probably because the author’s are obsessed with Nazi’s

The guy’s a fucking human trafficker

 

[Argent]

And memes aside, she almost fucking died to him

People turned Lung into their Guiche

Speaking of Lung, I get pretty annoyed by the Adaptational Heroism I see him getting probably because the author’s are obsessed with Nazi’s

The guy’s a fucking human trafficker

I think that has more to due with the media's general portrayal of Yakuza. People picture Lung as a Yakuza boss due to being Japanese even if he runs his gang more like the Crips from little we see.

But for better or worse Yakuza are seen as "Gentlemen" criminals in most media like the Mafia. This means that they are viewed better then random street gangs(Merchants), or neo nazis(Empire 88). You also see the same thing happen to Marquis because he is seen as the old school Mafia. In general this means that media portrays them as having rules and tends to whitewash the really bad stuff.