Pet Peeves-What can't you stand

[Clockwork_Knight]

We all have those little pet peeves. The things you wont touch with a ten foot pole or just the things that annoy the piss right out of you.

Mary Sue/ Gary Sue: Like most writers, do I even need to explain why I hate these ? It's one thing to make a well done Bad Fic involving sues but smashing the cannon character with a super sparkly sue makes me gag.

God-modding\God mode- I’ve been in one to many RPG's with people like this, its extremely annoying. Seen a lot of fics like this too. The Characters are not puppets for the writer to yank the strings of, it makes the story hitch up and eventually grind to a screeching halt.

People being magically transported into a fandom world- these are pretty much just a Mary Sue\Gary Sue fic. Annoying

High School Fanfic- just plain annoy me

Water Sports\Scat- No....just no. Not a fetish I’m willing to really touch unless its in character for it to happen and even then, ew.

Adult Fics With Bondage in Them- but the writer has obviously done no research what so ever on bondage. There are some positions the human body is not meant to bend in. Not all characters enjoying being tied up. I admit I do enjoy writing bondage fics, often non con, but I do my research before hand.

The Overuse\Misuse of a Writing Tools- like jealousy, suicide, angst and the like. I've seen one too many fic that has turned into a giant wrist cutting emo fest.

Two Dimensional or Stereotypical Villain or Hero- This goes for RPGs as well as fics, their rather annoying and make for an uninteresting read

Overused Romance Clichés- heartbreaks, unrealistic love triangles and the like. Their often over used and get rapidly annoying.

Traumatizing Experiences-I do write\RPG these myself but I try not to fall into the pit trap of them. Its easy to use it as a crutch but it should really serve to shape a cha not give them something to lean on constantly. A traumatizing experience can make a character weaker or stronger, give him\her irrational fears not just come out of the blue and happen for no reason what so ever.

The Constant Happy Fairy Tale Ending- See a lot of these, their often unrealistic. Not that I'm bad mouthing all happy endings. Its just that some fics have an ending that’s forced to be happy by behind and shaking the plot until its in knots. Life is not always a happy thing but its not always an emo fest either.

Typical Bad Guy\Good Guy -stories \RPGs were there’s a very clear cut line between the good and evil. Human and even animal nature are not clear cut. Some of the best villains were not truly evil and the good guys were not so good.

Rape fics- This is my biggest pet peeve. Don't get me wrong, I love a good non con fic. But their hard to come by. Most have the victim turn into a emo that jumps at being touched or sits in a corner crying all day. Not every one is a victim and some characters being raped really pisses them off. Even a very strong character can be worn down with rape and\or torture but it's not going to happen over night. Even if they get away or get rescued, realistically they will have all kinds of issues to deal for years. Everything from man hating to be leery of any kind of sexual contact.

The being rapped then growing to like it makes me back out of the story. Play rape is one thing and its comes off as cheesy to me. The body may react to stimulation but that does not mean their enjoying it.

Rape is a serious issue even if only when being written about in story so it should be realistic both when it happens and afterwards. No one is capable of going through rape or torture and coming out of it completely fine as though it never happened. It scars both physically and emotionally.

Simile, because your day is about to get worse.

[canterro]

Let's see...

High school fics (Maybe because of it I've started my own, that generally manages to escape traps I find in this kind of stories. I kinda like this particular one )

Rapes. I just don't like them. There's nothing romantic in rape. The only story I could read about it is a serious drama, dealing with traumas and deep wounds.

Minors involved in sex.

Stop.

My list is very long so there is no sense in going on with it here. Actually, I could sign under your list too

In fact I don't like majority of stories I come across. I have high expectations as a reader and I need an interesting, mature story, with interesting, multidimensional characters. Blood and bones. Not air and overflowing emotions

[WarlordEnfilade]

When I'm reading a story and the author has thrown in strong language out of nowhere when it doesn't suit the characters.

I mean, if you've got a story about a mercenary and a hooker, and they're using lots of words like pussy and jizz, that's fine. They would think in those kind of terms naturally so it makes sense.

But if your character has up until now been described as a good girl, who wouldn't think or use that kind of language, it doesn't make sense to put it in the sex scene because it breaks character. A virgin princess, who's been innocent and sweet the whole story, is not going to suddenly turn into a whore in bed.

I see a lot of stories where previously "good-girl" and "good-boy" characters suddenly start being described in strong language, and the fic ISN'T about them exploring the "bad" sides of themselves (where talking dirty would make sense).

The language has to fit the characters.

***

I also don't like fics involving sex with children (I can deal with teenagers, but not little kids) and it's very rare that I enjoy rape fics. I think there's a difference between non-con where the character finds him/herself reluctantly enjoying it and giving in, and brutal rape where they're fighting and screaming all the way--and even then, it takes a deft touch for me to actually enjoy non-con.

[Guest StSE]

Let's see...

Minors involved in sex.

You might want to be more specific. I myself am totally against pedaphilia and WILL NOT write or read it... But I'm currently using an OC who's 17, not a virgin, and slightly rebelling against adults telling her that she's 'too young'. Would you be against this 'minor' being engaged in sex that she instigates? (behind the backs of the adult 'authorities'...)

Me? Nope... This is a believable 'minor involved in sex' scenario. And seems to happen more often than naught in real life. So I personally have no problem with a 16 or 17 year old minor engaged in 'rebellion'...

[Guest sylvir]

I can't stand anything that interrupts the flow of the writing. The biggest pet peeve I have that will actually make me stop reading even the best of stories is the A/N in the middle of the sentence that explains something stupid. Or the author has to describe out side of the story what a character is wearing because it is the same outfit as a character from an anime or cartoon or something

Ex 1) Billy's dad put his arm around his crying son's shoulders and rubbed his arm (A/N: not like that you pervs for comfort.

Ex 2) Candi threw her waist length green hair over her shoulders. (A/N Candi's hair is just like (so'n'so) from (insert anime) and she's wearing the same outfit as (so'n'so) only pink. Just so you know:)

If you have to explain that crap then you don't know how to write.

[aoisuiren]

I hate when people just have terrible grammar... Like they just wrote it, no proofing, no beta, not even a read-through once done, and post it up.

Severe out of character-ness.

But mostly, when someone has committed at least a couple tens of thousands of words of a story.... then stops, vanishes, leaving unresolved plot and tension... with no explanation. (The people who vanish for years, never to be seen again. Week/month vanishing isn't so bad, because things can come up in life.)

Edited March 12, 2009 by aoisuiren

[Guest sylvir]

I hate bad grammar and spelling errors expecially the ones that are easily fixed with a trip through spellcheck. It is almost as if they typed with their eyes closed and posted without even reading it.

When there is no spacing between anything and the story is one giant run on sentince.

Writers post a chapter multiple times.

Text messaging slang in diologue. Ex: WTF, OMG, and LMFAO ect.

One of the great things about this site is you can see your chapters right away. So it you forgot to close a tag and everything is bold or italic or the formating didn't come through and it is one big block you can fix the problem right away.

[JCullen]

But mostly, when someone has committed at least a couple tens of thousands of words of a story.... then stops, vanishes, leaving unresolved plot and tension... with no explanation. (The people who vanish for years, never to be seen again. Week/month vanishing isn't so bad, because things can come up in life.)

Gr. I get so annoyed with that as well, especially if the story is good and you want it to continue.

Another thing that annoys me is when the story was clearly written by someone who does not speak English as first language. Don't get me wrong, I applaud those who make an effort to write in a foreign language but they should also make an effort to make sure the grammar and connotation is correct. If anything, they could have an English speaker proof read it for them.

[Guest sylvir]

(sp?) When this is put next to a word I want to hurt someone. I understand that some crappy free word document programs have stupid spellchecks, in fact, I use one. To post you have to be on the internet. If you google the word 'Dictionary' you get 227 MILLION results. I know I did it.

[Guest Sidhe Panther]

When authors randomly put romaji into their fanfics, especially when the vast majority of the rest of the fic was written in plain English. Example: With a grin, Anzu waved goodbye and turned to leave, only to meet the broad chest of Seto Kaiba. "Oh, sumimasen Seto!"

Now, what, what, is the point of that? Yeah sure I get it's an anime/manga, and they're Japanese. And yeah I even get it's set in Japan. But it just looks silly when we speak English, and your readers are expecting to read English, to try and make yourself look cool or smart inserting your teeny knowlege of the Japanese language that you more than likely picked up from other bad fanfics. It also looks bad if they mark the romaji words with asterisks and have the footnotes at the end of the fic explaining what the word means; makes it look cluttered.

...Sorry. That is probably one of my biggest pet peeves ever.

[Guest sylvir]

When authors randomly put romaji into their fanfics, especially when the vast majority of the rest of the fic was written in plain English. Example: With a grin, Anzu waved goodbye and turned to leave, only to meet the broad chest of Seto Kaiba. "Oh, sumimasen Seto!"

Now, what, what, is the point of that? Yeah sure I get it's an anime/manga, and they're Japanese. And yeah I even get it's set in Japan. But it just looks silly when we speak English, and your readers are expecting to read English, to try and make yourself look cool or smart inserting your teeny knowlege of the Japanese language that you more than likely picked up from other bad fanfics. It also looks bad if they mark the romaji words with asterisks and have the footnotes at the end of the fic explaining what the word means; makes it look cluttered.

I HATE that. Expecially when there are whole sentences. Then if it is a long chapter you have to go all the way down to the bottom of the page to get the translation then back up to where you left off. My text books have foot notes keep that shit away from my fanfiction.

Some people will go to the trouble of putting the translation right next to the Japanese. So why the fuck write it in the other language first. If I wanted to read a different language I'd learn it but I don't so I want to read in English.

[Melrick]

They do that to make themselves look smart, so people can gaze in wonder at their multilingual skills.

[knight]

All of the above!!

Thoughts on some of those:

While I do have/write about non-con/rape...there isn't that many really, mostly just

implied.

Chat/message speak: ACK!!! nothing gets my back button working fast enough.

Minors: no...no...no...any person under 17, forget it. I will read 17 and up thought. 16

yrs old going on 17 in a month, is still pushing it.

The constant use of description for the main character, wheather in dialogue or just standing around thinking or doing absolutely nothing.

I've tried writing with the British accent, some can pull it off, but...if you can't write it the way it sounds, then don't. I don't think a British person writes it the way it sounds, they don't drop the second t in little when they write it. lit'le

[katrine3334]

Mary Sue/ Gary Sue HATE HATE HATE them!!!

Adult Fics With Bondage in Them- (but the writer has obviously done no research what so ever on bondage.) & Rape fics

See, I'm one who likes rape (in stories) and bondage and such but HATE it when it's written wrong or when people don't understand what what is and if they use a toy wrong for the things they want to do, or stuff like that...

Traumatizing Experiences = cliché (in my mind... sometimes it is never inportant to the story and sometimes you think what-the-fuck...)

Overused Romance Clichés &

The Constant Happy Fairy Tale Ending They are predictable and most of the time very nice or cute or just plain good to have but not EVER story has to have one of those. But I also don't really like when they use the last two chaptures on everybody dying or the last two chaptures that should have been eight or more... (unless you have done that throughout the story)

Typical Bad Guy\Good Guy People are gray, never black or white... But the people who change from the bad guy to the good guy... Lets put it this way "There's a right way and there's a wrong way"

[hanyou-elf]

i hate reading stories where people refuse to do research before they write. they decide that they want to write about BDSM, but they don't look up anything or study anything at all about what living a BDSM lifestyle is all about. and what really irritates me is the shocking number of scene fics where nothing but the sex is explained. BDSM is about so much more than what you can put another person through and so many people refuse to address that part of the lifestyle.

i hate reading crappy romance. don't get me wrong, people borrow from others all the time. it's part of progress ('how can i make something better?' thinking.) but there is a limit to what should be borrowed. i don't need to see fifteen stories that feature character A obsessing over character B but really trying to hide the fact and pretend that character C is really right only to find out that characters A and B were both fascinated and in love with each other and they end up happily ever after. doesn't make much sense. but that's the basic plot line for far too many fics.

i hate reading rape fics where the raped character instantly falls in love with the rapist. that wouldn't happen unless the raped character was subjected to months and months of torture so that they come to believe that what is happening to them is love. not because of some one time thing. if it's a one time thing, it's more than likely not rape, it's consensual non-con. there are exceptions, but of course there are exceptions to everything.

i hate reading fics where people assume they have to use capital letter TO EMPHASIZE SOMETHING. it looks stupid, and if you were writing it well enough, the emphasis is there without needing to capitalize everything around it, you know? it looks block-y and it's irritating. and if i see it, i back out of it.

i hate author's comments and explanations listed throughout the story. if you feel the need to explain something, make it part of the story. integrate it into the descriptions and make me imagine it without alluding to something completely different. i don't want to know what you were thinking while writing the story, not unless i ask for it. and if i do, save it for a personal response or put it in an author's note separated at the end of the story.

i hate reading stories where the authors continually mope about how crappy the story is. or give warnings about the lack of talent they possess before you read the story. i don't need to know that you think the story is crap, if i do and i decide to try to read it anyway, i'm going to pinpoint things that are wrong with it much more readily. don't tell me you don't like the story. save it for your closest friends and accept the critique or praise that's coming to you.

i hate reading stories where people change the gender of the main character. take naruto for instance. naruto is male, he's all male and purely male. yes he does his fun little buxom blond impersonation, but he's a man. if you're going to put naruto into a relationship with another male character, don't make him a female pretending to be a man just because you can't handle the yaoi factor.

i hate reading stories where people just don't try. they come up with crappy story lines and use crappy grammar and offer crappy excuses. (this is my first fanfic; english isn't my native language; i'm not really familiar with the characters; i don't really know anything about xx... ) crappy excuses are for people who don't want to try, who've given up before they've started. it's stupid and it's irritating and they usually make me back out. i've read plenty of stories by people who speak english as a second language but they manage to put out beautiful work.

i hate mary-sues/gary-stus. there's no reason for any one character to be all powerful, all knowing, and generally all beautiful. no one person is perfect, no one character should be perfect either. even superman had his flaws. your fanfic character will have flaws too.

i hate magical lube that appears from nowhere. or characters being able to magically take a dick up the ass without any kind of preparation. and i don't know about you, but shoving my penis into a tiny hole without any kind of preparation or lubricant isn't going to happen. it'll hurt me too!

[Velvet D Coolette]

I hate stories where we are introduced to an OC, the OC and a canon character meet, they fall in love, settle down... and that's it. It happens a lot in Cats fanfiction and is utterly, unreservedly pointless. That's a fantasy, not a story!

Other than that, I hate reading content by someone who's not researched what they're writing about, or is trying to write that much outside their sphere of knowledge. A small step from knowledge to deduction is fine, but just taking a wild guess? No.

Apart from that, there are some stories out there that have no storyline but are just an outlet because the author fancies writing something, anything. But I don't hate them: I just don't start reading in the first place.

[Guest sylvir]

Songfics:

I don't mind songfics as long as the song words are just in the background and seperated so I can easily skip or ignore it. I hate when someone specificly refers to the song and uses it as a character definition.

Ex) "I turn on my CD player to blast 'Closer' by Nine Inch Nails. This song speaks to my soul..." blah blah blah.

[RumEskimo]

I hate it when author's deem it necessary to put their authors comments about what's going on inside the content of the chapter. If you want to have an authors note then put it above or below the chapter. I'm sure I could of gone on reading the chapter perfectly fine with out the commentary.

I also hate it when authors use half the chapter to reply to reviews. I understand you want to thank your readers and reviewers but don't bloody well use half the chapter to do it in. I'm sure there is another way to say thank you with out taking so much space in the chapter.

I think every story is worth giving a chance. If someone took the time and energy to write it out, even if it is crap, then it's worth a shot. As time goes by most authors get better at writing. If you don't like the story tell the author what they could use for improvement and move on. One bad review can make an author stop writing. I've seen it happen.

If you want to write your story in Japanese then do so! If not then write your story in english and be done with it.

[marley_station]

Gratuitous use (or, more to the point, mis-use) of the word 'rather' makes me want to beat something with a bat. Come on, folks, stretch your minds a bit.

Fanfic writers who take themselves too seriously--we're not getting paid to write fanfiction. If you're a writer who's written some great fanfiction and have developed a fan base as a result, then congratulations. But don't get ahead of yourself. Your obnoxious attempts to extort more reviews from readers because you think that they think that you are the sun in their universe is just trifling. Just because you can write a great story does not mean that anyone owes you anything. If writing fanfiction is something you do to stoke your ego, then perhaps you need to consider changing the way you interact with your audience. Whoever said that you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar wasn't just whistling Dixie.

[Harley Quinn hyenaholic]

Assumptions: Like, when people assume that a character is going to be a Mary Sue just because it's original. Or that all Mary Sues are bad. Or that Litmus Tests work.

I think there is no such thing as a bad Mary Sue. There is, however, such a thing as a bad writer.

[Penumbra]

The phrase "masterbated him/her"

Just makes me want to burn!

Although, given the entire "fanfiction" component of this site, I'm not surprised that some mary suing is going on. In fact, I'm quite sure it could be far worse.

But how the story is framed and the very nature of the piece, really make the difference, if its a two chapter PWP jaunt that's about one to two canon characters blow-sorry- breezing through some graphic material and half his/her conquests just happen to be highschool seniors with bodys like pornstar barbie, I don't really care. However, if we're dealing with some traumatic, attempet serious mass of phony literature revolving around some magical character that hapily defys the rules of whatever universe, I'm not even going to bother finishing it.

Then there's the total AU marvel that you wish was updated weekly and pour over several times a month, those are just fun.

There was a beyblade fic on FF titles Hallowwen something that neatly fulfilled the later, and "Takato's sluts" was a good case of the former.

[spunkyfloflo]

It drives me a little nuts when the title of a story is a complete sentence with punctuation and all.

Maybe I'm just neurotic.

[marley_station]

It drives me a little nuts when the title of a story is a complete sentence with punctuation and all.

Maybe I'm just neurotic.

No, you're not neurotic. That's illiteracy.

[Clockwork_Knight]

Fics with Japanese names or words shoved in where they don't belong in the first place. I see this in RPs as well and its irritating as all hell. Giving an OC a Japanese name just because it sounds cool isn’t' going to float.

Non human characters that are shown behaving in entirely human ways. Give an anthro tiger human intelligence but make it behave as if it was entirely human is irritating. It's going to behave like a predator. Black Waltzes are not going to behave like humans, they are by nature aloof, predatory and powerful. They lack many human morals and ways of thinking. Same goes for elves or any non human race or character.

It just irritates the piss right out of me.

Fics that a OC and CC meet, fall in love, settle down and worse completely ignore all cannon martial. It's as bad as when a screaming fangirl forces a sue OC with the CC.

[DodgeSuperBee]

Non human characters that are shown behaving in entirely human ways. Give an anthro tiger human intelligence but make it behave as if it was entirely human is irritating. It's going to behave like a predator. Black Waltzes are not going to behave like humans, they are by nature aloof, predatory and powerful. They lack many human morals and ways of thinking. Same goes for elves or any non human race or character.

This is such good advice, whether your non-human character is an alien, a mythical being, a furry, a robot or even an anthro vehicle. It can be fun to draw comparisons between anthro characters and humans, but if you can't imagine them being significantly different in at least some aspects then you're better off just writing about humans. And since this is AFF, they definitely aren't going to have sex exactly like humans. Writing them doing so takes all the pervy fun out of it.