FanFics That are Painful to Read! - The Official Rant Board Forum

Topic: FanFics That are Painful to Read!

I'm sure you've all read a story that made you want to bang your head against a brick wall. I've read them, you've read them and now warn the potencial victims. What are they and what about it annoys you? Let looses your annoyance and give it to these morons with both barrels!

(PS Keep the graphic language to a minimum)

#1 Jul 02nd 2007, 12:28am

Bash fics. I hate bash fics. Especially when an "author" bashes a character in order to promote another character- or couple. Bashing, IMO, is very, very immature and unnecesary. And I feel that if a person HAS to bash (rolling eyes), then, they should just stay away from writing altogether.

#2 Jul 03rd 2007, 3:00pm

I have to second Diva. Bash fics are my pet peeve. I hate that. 'Oh I don't like a certain character so no matter how OOC it makes her, I'm going to make her a psychotic bitoch!'

Another pet peeve, stories that have no spaces between the paragraphs, that's find in books, but on the computer, I need spaces.

And uh, pretty much anything written below a 5th grade reading level. LOL

#3 Jul 03rd 2007, 10:14pm

I just came across an author who said something like this in their profile: "I don't like Kat for some reason, so, she'll be OOC in most of my fics, so, don't flame me." Whew!

#4 Jul 03rd 2007, 10:38pm

Oh... my... goodness. I'd so love to go after her in reviews. If you don't like her, don't write her, don't tarish her character just because YOU don't like her.

#5 Jul 03rd 2007, 11:09pm

I think people bash just to compensate for their c**p writing skills. It's a sad day for a writer when the height of their humor is bashing. But then again it's a utopia for people who can't write for c**p. It doesn't take any skill, some strange people actually like it so why not? But if you can write then there's no excuse for bashing.

#6 Jul 04th 2007, 6:27pm

Very true and well said.

#7 Jul 04th 2007, 8:16pm

Very true and well said.

Seconded!

#8 Jul 04th 2007, 8:41pm

Colonel Curtiss

Bash fanfics are one of my favorite ones to 'bash', if you get what I mean. Even if the author does not like the character, he/she should not translate this into a series of unfortunate events for said character. Seriously.

The other type of fanfic I really detest is the 'random pairing' fanfic. You all know what that one is; it's the one where people get paired up for pretty much no reason at all, never mind that they hate each other, they're of the same gender and stuff like that.

#9 Jul 05th 2007, 3:38am

Well personally, I see nothing wrong with slash fics. But as for characters hating each other, sometimes, that makes the best type of fic, turn it into one of those love-hate relationships, or something filled with UST.

I love non-canon and unconventional pairings, but that's just my opinion.

#10 Jul 05th 2007, 8:11am

Yeah. A good Canon character/OC pairing- especially- can be very interesting if they start off on the wrong foot. JMO.

Anyway, my main problem pairing-wise are pairings everyone think is sacred. Like it'd be a sin to pair them up with other characters.

#11 Jul 05th 2007, 12:15pm

Colonel Curtiss

I guess I should elaborate:

I don't mind pairings where the characters hate each other, as long as there is the possibility that they could get along. However, the overwhelming majority of these stories are poorly written and the basis for the said pairing is often as shaky as a seasick three-legged cat on a rocking ship.

#12 Jul 06th 2007, 1:18am

Mints-n-Apples

1) People the say the stick at writing summaries.

2) Stories that have a lot of quotes that don't say who is saying what..Example:

"Hi what's up" said the girl

"Nothing much." said the boy

"I have a new game"

#13 Jul 06th 2007, 8:43am . Edited Jul 06th 2007, 8:48am

I agree somewhat Panda, but only if it's more than two people. Logically speaking, you can assume that if the girl speaks first, then the boy, the next line would be the girl, going back and forth. I know if it's just two people, sometimes I will just do dialogue banter after the rhythem of speaking has been established.

#14 Jul 06th 2007, 9:58am

I think unmarked speech is legitamate, so long as it's in the right place. Eg

"Hows tricks?" the girl asked.

"Just great" the boy moaned.

"Cheer up, at least it isn't getting any worse!" she smiled.

"And why are you so happy?"

"DO I need a reason?"

#15 Jul 09th 2007, 12:17am

But if it's misused, my god it can suck! Many a bad story's been made worse by unmarked speech.

#16 Jul 09th 2007, 12:19am

cherryheart

Story pet pev's

Do not use proper punctuation. There is a reason, the keyboards has these buttons.

People that write stories, they say at the begining, my spacebar doesnt work. WHAT THE FLICK ARE WRITING FOR THEN.

Authors that only update when the get a certain amount of reviews, IF U WANT 100 REVIEWS WRITE A DAM MASTERPIECE.

People who have not yet heard of the inventions called "spell check", "grammer check"

highschool fics

Authors that take there ideas straight out of a book or a movie or somone esles work. ITS CALLED PLAGERISM PPL.

13 year olds that try and write a sex scene, from only the bases of taking a sex ed class- yes thats nice sweety you can wrap a condom on a bannana . does mean u can write a love scene, SPARE US THE TORTURE.

Im not really fond of the pairing when authors pair like sibling together, like ewwwww

My disclaimer: Yes, my grammer and spelling sucks, But i do not write story, i dont think torturing ppl should be considered a hobby. To the ppl I have probly pissed off. " Turnyour hand so that your palm is facing outward, then curl up 4 of ur fingers, leaving the middle one up, and have a nice day

#17 Jul 09th 2007, 10:19pm

Amen! People who write/regurgitate c--p on a page, post it and hold the story ransom for 100 reviews need to be told that they are committing cruelty to literacy. As for people writing things they don't have a clue about, many people on this site do. Every writers best friend: empathy. I mean, how many people who've written about gun-fights have actually been in a gun-fight, hell, how many actually touchd a gun in their life-time? Giv'em a break. As for people who have broken keyboards, they have no excuse! If they really needed to, they could copy and paste the spaces from just about anywhere. And punctuation! Oh man! If you can't write properly, with the right punctuation, grammar ect, stop inflicting your own lack of skill on the rest of us! Please!

-PS-

Ban HarryxRon fics! No more. None. Never ever again!

#18 Jul 10th 2007, 9:44pm

Fytt

Hmmm, But think SV. Did J.K.Rowling go to Hogwarts and study magic? Did J.R.R.Tolkien survive 'Middle Earth'?

I must admit, I'm a terrible writer. Never been higher than 'Set 2' in my English classes. However, just because my spelling, grammar and punctuation are not 'Author Quality', it doesn't stop me from giving it a go. So SV, tough, you'll have to deal with me :P

Anyway, I loathe Pairings:

1) Because some of them are sickening! I.E HarryxMalfoy, SiriusxSnape

2) Some of them are badly written (Yeah, I know that I am chopping my own foot off here but bad writing in pairings do make me turn a shade of green).

3) Too many of them.

I have read some very good pairings over the two weeks of me joining the site. However, the cons outweigh the pros...

I dislike story bashers. I don't mine the critisism as long as they are proving a point and helping me improve my writing. However, I hate the few people who just insult and do not offer any words of help while doing so...

Fytt

#19 Jul 15th 2007, 5:29pm

Anyway, I loathe Pairings:

1) Because some of them are sickening! I.E HarryxMalfoy, SiriusxSnape

Ahh... but Harry/Malfoy and Sirius/Snape are classic examples of love/hate relationships, along with the whole unresolved sexual tension issue. Unless you're simply stating that slash squicks you out, which to each his own.

#20 Jul 15th 2007, 6:51pm

Shiroi Usagi-San

Pairings don't bother me. If the story will have homosexual pairings or taboo pairings then there should be fair warning for those that don't like those types of relationships. Stories that are indeed painful to read are:

1) Stories where the character's appearance and personality are changed beyond the point of recognition without justifiable cause. The writer simply claims it just is because he/she says so.

2) Stories where the characters spends more than half of the time in a mall when the original story line have nothing to do with shopping. Sadly, life does not revolve around the mall 27/7.

3) Stories that seem to have a high word count but the bulk of the words are author rants and response to reviews. It is just very annoying to scroll more than a half way down the page before getting to the actual story.

4) Stories that can't even be considered stories. Writers who writes only dialogs like this:

Bob: What is that over your head? Is that a banana?

Joe: No man, I think you are seeing things.

How is that even a writing? It is even worse when the writer refuse to change when a reviewer suggest it.

5) Stories that have no punctuation at all. You can't tell when sentences end and dialogs begins.

6) Stories that use foreign languages excessively. This happens a lot in the anime fandoms. A word, a name or even a short phrase in a different language is fine as long as there are at least footnotes to explain them or if it is a very widely known in the fandom. Full conversation in foreign languages are so confusing. It is even worse when it is not written correctly. If they don't know how a foreign word is used or spelled look it up. It is insulting, especially to those who know the language fluently.

#21 Jul 16th 2007, 1:01am

Very well put.

#22 Jul 16th 2007, 1:15am

ok so my pet peeve isn't really a fanfic peeve. can i still write it?

i'm going to anyways ok.

1) people who give crap reviews and like go crazy because the author needs to work on grammer and stuff like that. i mean sure they can mention it but Y in the world would u JUST rant about THAT! if the story itself sucks then i would get it but to just..well yeah!

2) MARY-FREAKING-SUES!!!! i hate them with a passion. when i was new to ffn i didn't know what they were. but i also used to read stories with really either perfect, or extremely sad. i then searched the term mary-sue and found out what it meant. i really hate them!

3) people who review all stupid saying the pairing the author chose was dumb. DON'T READ IT!!!! GEEZ! i mean really, it's about appealing to the audience that enjoys the same thing they like. random pairiings don't really bother me all that much, because the author could somehow think that they would make a good pairing. thats their opinion i mean this is FANFICTION

4) i agree with all of u when u say bashing. i read some good fics that have bashing in them, but i'm not really a huge fan of it

ok i feel better now...i hope no one was offended...

#23 Jul 16th 2007, 10:36am

Jedi-Kirby

Okay, my pet peeves are...

1. Poor spelling. Gosh, that makes my blood boil! I can understand if english (or whatever language you're writing in, I'm just assuming it's english) isn't your first language, but if it is, then you don't really have any excuse for putting an "i" instead of an "I" when you're refering to yourself, or "u" instead of "you". It really (in my opinion) makes you look like a fool.

2. Mary Sues. It's like the author went "Dayuuum! Let's make an impossibly perfect character who will invariably have the readers up in arms over her/his sickening perfection! (Just imagine this in a idiotic voice, and if anyone has an accent or anything that sounds like this, I'm not trying to be a jerk. I'm just mocking "Suethors", which are a combination of "Mary Sue" and "author". Not sure I have the spelling correct, though.)

3. High school fics. I'm suprised that these things don't sink like the Titanic when it met the embrace of the iceberg that (obviously) sunk it. They tend to have impossible things happen, like all the figures of authority (like teachers, and so on) being wrapped around a single character's little finger. You'd think that one of them, especially the ones that you'd think would be stamping all over Winston Churchill's corpse (Yes, I am British) in hob-nailed boots should at least be slightly impervious to the female (because they are usually the culprit) main character's charms. But oh no, heaven forbid that someone dislikes her!

And that's that. Sorry for blasting your ears off with my incessant ranting about grammar and such, but then again, this IS the forum for ranting.

#24 Jul 19th 2007, 5:11am

"I must admit, I'm a terrible writer. Never been higher than 'Set 2' in my English classes. However, just because my spelling, grammar and punctuation are not 'Author Quality', it doesn't stop me from giving it a go. So SV, tough, you'll have to deal with me :P" (Quote from Fytt)

Look Fytt, I read some of you stuff and I can't understand why you just made youself the subject of my post. Your grammar/punctuation doesn't suck so you aren't the problem. I'm not talking about author level grammar/punctuation here. I'm talking about fundamental skills like putting a comma where it sould go. I'm not telling people to stop if they can't do that, I'm saying they should at least try to improve the standard of their writing rather than be proud of their ignorance (it does happen). And I was agreeing with empathy in writing. What would fiction be without it? C**p. I've written stuff I haven't experienced, but I like to think I pull it off. So ease up and read my post properly.:+

#25 Jul 21st 2007, 4:05pm

The Mary Sue thing is definitely nerve-racking. I read a PR fic featuring one- before I even really knew all about Mary Sues. Anyway, the character was annoying and I wondered why she annoyed me- til I came across the "Sue" thing.

That "too imperfect" or "too perfect" stuff makes ya wanna vomit.

#26 Jul 21st 2007, 4:23pm

The Shadow Syndicate

'Oh I don't like a certain character so no matter how OOC it makes her, I'm going to make her a psychotic bitoch!'

Like the Rampant Sakura bashers in Naruto......

#27 Jul 22nd 2007, 1:58pm

Oh, I hate those! That falls under the whole bashing thing.

#28 Jul 22nd 2007, 3:38pm

Psycha Dea

I agree with pretty much all that's been said before, but I just have to add my two cents here...

Fanfic that's painful to read is fanfic written by writers who think they're God's gift to fanfic. Seriously, I've known a few and the fanfics are invariably clichéd, and not just by one, but by all the possible clichés in the book. The worst thing about this is that since those writers are so full of themselves, they'll never take any review that differs from "OMG U TEH BEST!!!!11111!!!1111!!11!!" to heart, much less try to improve themselves.

By some odd universal law though, it seems to be these writers who have the greatest numbers of readers. Perhaps because their bland style doesn't scare anyone away?

Also, pet peeve #2: Weird, weird synomyms. Granted, this seems to be mostly a problem in NC-17 fics, but you encounter it too often. I'm always torn between laughing, crying and puking when reading about "treasure box", "feminine orbs" (and "orbs" as synomym for anything, eyes aren't orbs anymore than boobs are), "pleasant tongue wrestling" (yes, I've actually read that. Makes me want to gauge out my eyes at the mental image it causes), "soft mounts of flesh" and the likes. Seriously, does anyone ever use those in real life? "Oh girl, your feminine orbs look FINE in that bra!" :|

Which brings me to #3: accents. They're hard, very hard and almost impossible to write. There are a few you can put down in paper, like scottish if you use the accent-typical words ("yer", "lass"), but all others should be pointed out in descriptions and NOT in dialogue.

And 4th, cos I'm on a roll now: "Tiny" as a description of stature. I'm guilty of using this in a dark past, but really, whenever I read about "her tiny body", even if she is ten inches shorter than the counterpart in the scene, I automatically picture a four inch tall figurine :|

And lastly: script-format. Sorry, but that just isn't writing.

I think I overshot my cents by a bit, but ah well. Nice to get it off my chest ;)

#29 Jul 24th 2007, 2:44pm

Kamejen

Yeah, I've read those. -_- I read one yesterday and left a scathing review for it too. Now I've noticed that my review when I look at it in my control panel has a little orange flag next to it. Does that mean I've been flagged for being abusive? :p

#30 Jul 25th 2007, 11:46am

LMAO... it means that the fic has been updated since you left your review. You can go leave another scathing review.

#31 Jul 25th 2007, 11:52am

Kamejen

Joy. I can't wait to read about the exploits of the illiterate Pikachu and Ash as they make passionate Pokeluv in broken English. :D

#32 Jul 25th 2007, 12:02pm

Oh my... LMAO

#33 Jul 25th 2007, 12:24pm

Pokeluv is evil! It's over-done, it's unoriginal and for g's sake, it's beastiality! Am I the only one who tries to avoid these cases of literary torture?

Tell me I'm not the only one gagging at them!

#34 Jul 26th 2007, 1:39am

It's the internet... nothing surprises me anymore. The shock value has gone down considerably. LOL I don't read Pokemon fics so I avoid them just because... but still.

#35 Jul 26th 2007, 12:31pm

It's comforting to know I'm not the only one. And yes you're right: it's the internet, anything's possible! Take NarutoXSasuke for example. Or Numa-Numa (*cringe*).

WHO COMES UP WITH THIS C**P!!!

Further more, who supports this garbage! During that evil Numa Numa epidemic, any website with a forum on it had a Numa Numa fan club (*shudder*). Anyone out there who take pride in supporting these things. The trends are on life support for g's sake. Pull the plug please.

Sorry... rant overload....

I think these epidemics should be stomped out before they cause any real damage.

#36 Jul 27th 2007, 3:07am

Colonel Curtiss

I hate every last one of those.

Also, I do not like fanfics written for the purpose of trolling.

#37 Jul 27th 2007, 4:29am

i think that narutoXsasuke is cute and i like it alot! but i guess thats ur opinion...still...no nevermind...

painfull fanfics... bashing mostly, have i already said something here?

#38 Jul 28th 2007, 11:13pm

oh ! i know what now!

fanfics which ppl who type in im chat format, unless it's a chat story.

#39 Jul 28th 2007, 11:13pm

You mean like in script form. Like a play. I don't really like that, either. It leaves out so much.

#40 Jul 28th 2007, 11:20pm

Vartan-LoVer

Yeah, I know. Its a story site not a script.

There is this story(using term losely) called We Used To Be Friends by sharisasweetie. She probably has seen a total of ONE Veronica Mars Episode. It's more lik a pile of trash that needs to be taken out. How can you report a story?

#41 Jul 29th 2007, 8:36am

ya...

#42 Jul 29th 2007, 9:12am

LOL. I wish you could report the BADLY written fics floating around in this site, but, you only can if the person's being verbally abusive in some kinda way, I think. They've got "Report Abuse" in the box- it's above or under "Submit A Review".

#43 Jul 29th 2007, 11:31am

Vartan-LoVer

Well, the author has given us some verbal abuse. Whenever we give her bad reviews, she either calls us gay, curses her out, or something like that. I mean, my first review to her I thought was pretty nice considerin how bad it is. And what others were saying.

Here. Look at this: a/n: Y DON’T U FLAMMERS JUST SCRWE URSELFS OK???//

that's abuse rite?

#44 Jul 31st 2007, 7:40am

Kamejen

Do me a favor, Vartan. :p PM me the link to this user. I wanna read her stories for myself, lol.

I'll try to resist "flamming" her, lol.

She said, as she grinned malevolently. All suspicion of ill-intent had been successfully removed. "Ah," she thought with chagrin. "I'm thinking aloud again..."

#45 Jul 31st 2007, 10:01am

You're right. That is abuse.

#46 Jul 31st 2007, 12:24pm