Fanfiction Pet Peeves

Fanfiction Pet Peeves

I admit it. I (attempt) to write fanfiction, I read fanfiction. I read about fancharacters. I make fancharacters. Heck I've been doing that since before I knew what fanfiction was. But are their things in a story you just can't stand? Anything that just make's you want to pull your hair out, or smack the OC you're reading about?

Me too! So then, what I have here is a list of pet peeves I come across more often than not. These usually ruin the fanfic for me, but for whatever reason, I  keep reading. Anyway, let's get started shall we?

The Sister - This one is the biggest irritation for me. Every so often I'll come across a fanfic that has either an older or younger sister of the main character. On rare occation's it's one of the secondary characters, but I'm a bit more leniate on that.
One of the three biggest cases where this irritates me are for Naruto, Harry Potter, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Allow me to explain.

One of the key things to remember about characters like Uzumaki Naruto or Harry Potter is that they are both orphaned and did not grow up in a caring inviormetn. Or at least not completely. What made Harry and Naruto's characters great for  me is that they both could have easily turned to the dark side. Very easily. But they chose not to.

Having a sister means that they have someone to turn to when things get too hard. But that robs both the character and the readers of the joy they feel when they accomplish something. Would have felt as happy for Naruto when the village treated him like a hero if he wasn't isolated growing up? Would Harry seeing his family in the Mirror of Erised have meant nearly as much if he had someone to turn to for the past nine years? Or how about in a fairly recent chapter of Naruto when Iruka told him that he was like his little brother. Would that have meant as much if Naruto had a sister?

The answer is, no. It doesn't mean as much if they didn't have that isolation. That's why giving Harry and Naruto a sister pisses me off. It robs them of development like that.

Then there's the case of Yu-Gi-Oh! Most of the time I see an author or artist give Yugi a sister…. So she can get together with his Yami. Who is dead. Who takes over Yugi's body. Do you get where I'm going with this?

It's technically a form of incest. That's all I need to say.

My First Relationship Ended Badly! I Will Never Love Again! - I suppose this could work, when done correctly. But… no. This is mostly done so that the OC could meet the designated love interest. I really hate this, this is just over done and pointless. You know what's going to happen, and it makes the OC come off as a whiny drama queen.

It's just… no. Just no.

I Can Sing/Fight/ect With Little To No Training At All! - I can understand having raw talent, but even then you need to put work in to help you grow in that skill. For example, when I was in high school I was in a sort of advanced choir class where you had to audition to get in. I took two years of the basic choir my school offered, at the end of my sophomore year I auditioned for the advanced one, and got in. The music we went over was bit harder, and, from what I got, my other classmates had a bit of a history with music, let it be vocal training, or instruments. I did not, and I struggled a bit.

So you can probably see where I'm getting at. I hate it when an OC automatically excels at skill that takes a while (possibly years) to master. This, for those of you who are just starting to read fanfiction, is a clear trait of a Mary-Sue. It's sometimes best to stay away from that.

Sailor Earth - 'In stories where the characters are divided in a kind of official order or hierarchy, it's theoretically very easy to simply expand that group to add new significant characters. The writer doesn't have to retcon half the back story in order to fit his own characters in. Likewise, well done fanfics do this by bending canon rather than breaking it. If this is done in preference to simply adding a new character out of the blue, it can give the illusion of added legitimacy to the new character's Sixth Ranger-ness as long as the rules are followed. If the main characters are the last of their kind, then these characters will be There Is Another.' - Take from TVTropes.org

While I myself can ignore the literal Sailor Earth (depends on the execution) and some occasions. Keyblades, companions, Fakemon, senshi, tenth walker, which, not counting Keyblades, really depends on execution. There are some things I can't stand for, depending on the fanbase. Like an eighth Millennium Item, a fourth piece of the Triforce (once again depends on the execution), a ten tailed beast, an eighth or more homunculi, and in a weird case, a fifth house of Hogwarts. And no, I don't mean Sparklypoo. This one was literally called Hogwarts House.

Did your brain implode yet? Mine did.

DID, Dumbass in Distress - Thank you Nostalgia Critic, I now know of a term that properly describes my feelings on the subject.

This one's kinda self-explanatory. I dislike OC that need to be saved all the time, this on occasion counts for canon as well. *coughkagomecough* It really depends on the characters attitude. Like if they realize their dead weight, and try to change that, or try to help *coughkairicough* I'm all for it. But they completely ignore it… yeah save everyone the trouble and jump off a cliff.

I Don't Think It Means What You Think It Means… - Allow me to explain this one. Every so offen I'll come across a fanfic that completely abuses using a word, term, or figure of speech. There's this one where the author kept saying 'pilgrimage' over and over with very little variation. There where other words she could've used, 'journey,' 'travel,' 'voyage.' Just use another word once in a while!

And let me tell you, I hate, I hate the term 'shrugged it off' because the author used it way too much.

Don't even get me started on 'My Inner Life' with 'heavenly naked body,' and whatnot.

I'm Strong and Badass!  No wait! I'm Fragile! No, No I'm Strong! - Er… Make up your mind! Yes, I get that the character is most likely human, but I can't take them seriously if you're going to flip flop all the time. I can understand showing that their valuable, I understand that. But, again I can't take them seriously if you're going to turn off the baddass as the plot demands it. The on and off switch get's annoying and repetitive.

Take a look a Lightning, from Final Fantasy XIII. When you first meet her in the game she's cold and, kind of a bitch, and fairly kick ass. But she has a softer side and still manages to keep that attitude. I realize the game itself is fairly torn between the Final Fantasy fanbase, but I feel that Lightning is a good example of how to make a strong female lead, while showing that she is human.

And for the record I kind of liked Final Fantasy XIII. I think the basic idea of the plot had something, but the execution needed a little more work.

"Romantic" Suicide - …………………….

Don't. Just don't. It's not romantic, it's selfish. Yes, I did find this once. The bitch had three kids, and a fourth one on the way.

Fuck you bitch!

The Bitch - Allow me to explain. Every so often you'll come across a character that is, to be blunt, a bitch. But I like the bitches who know who they are, and don't care. Characters who are a total bitch but act like their in the right, no. I like characters who'll act however they like, and not care what anyone thinks.

A good example of the bitch who know's who she is and doesn't pretend to be otherwise, is Rose Hathaway from 'Vampire Academy.' Exspecally in the beginning of the series.

I think TVTropes refer to this as the 'bitch in sheep's clothing.'

Show Don't Tell - I assume English classes are teaching this. But yeah, show me why the character is awesome, don't tell me. There's this one fanfic that said that the main character was best friends with another and I'm sitting there thinking, 'Really? All you've been doing is thinking about yourself, this is the first I've heard about you having a best friend.'

You get more across by showing.

Don't Like Don't Read - Would someone care to tell me how the hell I'm supposed to know if I like something or not if I don't read it?! You can't always tell if something good or not by summery alone. I can't speak for others, by my ESP has been off lately, so, yeah I have to read something to know if I'm going to like it or not. Don't like that fact? Either deal with it or get off the Internet.

I Suck at Summaries - If you 'suck at summaries' then why are you waisting the limit to type that instead of trying to make the summery better? If you ask me summaries are the easiest part, it getting everything to fit the letter count that's difficult.

Authors Notes in the Middle of A Fanfic - You ever have a person interrupt you while you're watching a movie for the first time and you find it annoying. That's what an authors note in the middle of a fanfic does. Don't do this. Most of the time it's pointless shit, that usually can wait until the end of the chapter.

I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT MY MA-AN! – Bella! Jenna Silverblade! I'm looking at you!

Romantic Plot Tumor – "Love is a powerful emotion. It can completely change the way a character acts and thinks. It can be used to create drama, comedic relief, or suspense. Maybe the writer just wants to tug at the audience's heart in a way they couldn't with the rest of the story. Whatever the reason for introducing it, love is a powerful weapon in storytelling that can also make the audience feel okay with abrupt, arbitrary sex scenes.
However, like most weapons, a love story can be deadly in the wrong hands. Sometimes, a writer gets so caught up in wringing every last drop of blood out of their romantic stone that they forget they have a compelling A-story to tell. This results in a Romantic Plot Tumor: a comparatively weak romantic sub-plot overtakes the potentially more interesting main plot." – Taken from TVTropes.org

Yeah… this pretty much 95% of every fanfiction out there. My philosophy on writing romance is, 'Story first, romance second or third.' Romance should be more of a subplot of sorts.

Realities of Life?  What's that? – You know when someone dies, they don't come back. At all. The Elric brother's learned that the hard way. That's the reoccuring theme in Tsubasa Resivoir Chronicles. Reincarnation, I can handle. But when you bring someone back from the dead… No!

This is one of the reason's why I don't read Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfic's as much anymore. One of the major theme's in the last few episodes where that the dead couldn't come back to life. That death had to be accepted.

But what do fanfic writter's do? Bring back the guy that's been dead for three thousand years, so he can hook up, thus making the last few episodes hold no meaning whatsoever!