Things you really don't care for in fan-fiction

[Crescent Pulsar S]

As for using {This} And ^This^ for other languages, I like that since I can tell that its another language and some characters don't understand what the person said.

Ok?

"Is no okay!" I replied in English with a heavy Chinese accent, before switching to German and adding, "I mean, honestly. How can you, as the author who decides who speaks what when, not tell when one of the characters under your direction is speaking another language? And how does switching the quotation marks with other symbols, which is supposed to be for the supposed benefit of the readers, supposed to have any affect on the characters in the story? Do you understand just how illogically nonsensical your reasoning for all that is?" XD;;

Well, unless you're saying that you're forgetful and symbols are an easier reminder than going back to read things over. If so, their purpose ends once you're finished writing, and there shouldn't be any need for them to carry over into the finished product instead of being exchanged with a proper quotation. Like I demonstrated above, there's really no reason to say that the symbols are so much easier than making mention of the language change, because said mentioning isn't anywhere near so difficult that such an alternative would be necessary.

Unless, of course, you happen to be that lazy and/or just don't care enough about it. In which case: to each their own.

[Spokavriel]

There are some authors though that go nuts with the language modification even when there is no one in the scene that would not under stand everything spoken.

[Drawde]

Ah, appeasement, so common everywhere.

Avoidance, not appeasement. Although it removes some of the tension of the fic (about as much tension as "does the main character of the series survive this time?") it prevents the complaints about "being tricked into reading a bad fic" and "you're writing the character OOC, since they have no nice points at all".

[PCHeintz72]

There are some authors though that go nuts with the language modification even when there is no one in the scene that would not under stand everything spoken.

Some use symbols like that to indicate stuff so their works are more readable in TXT format (my personal all time preferred reading format)... thoughts and talk through phone or radio for example.

I've never liked heavily formatted fics... bold, underline, italics, superscript, strikethrough, etc... the problem is not the formatting in and of itself... t he problem is authors over using them.

[Konsaki]

That said, if there are two or more languages which are being used in a section and swapped between rather frequently, I prefer the [] and/or {} brackets to identify which language isn't the local standard. It's especially useful when using English in a Japanese setting, since you can't just use the true language like you could with Chinese phrases.

"It's no okay!" I replied in English with a heavy Chinese accent, before switching to German and adding, "I mean, honestly. How can you, as the author who decides who speaks what when, not tell when one of the characters under your direction is speaking another language? And how does switching the quotation marks with other symbols, which is supposed to be for the supposed benefit of the readers, supposed to have any affect on the characters in the story? Do you understand just how illogically nonsensical your reasoning for all that is?"

If it were just one paragraph like this example, I could stand it, but if the entire fic was this... I'd drop it like Superman with Kryptonite. As stated above, having specialised brackets layed out in advance for specific language useage is an asset to a piece of written work as long as it's not making it even more confusing to the reader.

[Spokavriel]

Try every use of Japanese and its a Ranma/Sailor Moon/Harry Potter cross. Even after Harry gets a translator ring and the scene is taking place in Japan.

[Noy Telinú]

"What did you do that for?" Jean asked, annoyed… and wet.

"So you are already in your cursed form…" Ranma mused.

"Cursed?" Jean asked. 'Maybe she sees it as a curse. But why did she throw water at me?'

"Our gifts are not curses." Jean lectured.

'She doesn't see it as a curse? What was she before? Wait… gifts? Was she… not a she?' Ranma paled.

"Maybe you wanted to be a girl, but that doesn't mean everyone does!" Ranma fought back.

"What?" Jean was really confused now.

'Wait a second! I wasn't a guy since I was in Japan! She must be talking about… oh boy…' Ranma's thoughts were interrupted by Akane and Scott bursting out the back door.

"What happened? Who's hurt?" Scott asked.

Akane was going to say something different, but seeing Ranma scratching the back of her head nervously made her change her words. {Ranma! What did you do?}

"It was just a misunderstanding!" Ranma blurted.

Jean sighed. "Nothing happened, I'm just wet."

{You threw water on her… What was her curse?} Akane asked.

{She's doesn't have one, she wants to talk about… me being a catgirl.} Ranma answered nervously.

{Ranma you idiot!} Akane facepalmed.

"So, what was the point of throwing water at me?" Jean asked, more confused than upset.

"Umm… nothing, nothing. Just a misunderstanding." Ranma laughed nervously.

"I might as well tell you as well." Jean sighed. "You know her after all."

I used this to differentiate between the languages in America as well as thoughts vs spoken. It really helps because the audience knows immediately "ok, that's English, that's Japanese." before reading it. It clears up a lot. Kinda like the upside down exclamation mark.

Besides, regular text is boring for me. It's why I don't read novels.

[Crescent Pulsar S]

If it were just one paragraph like this example, I could stand it, but if the entire fic was this... I'd drop it like Superman with Kryptonite.

Besides, regular text is boring for me. It's why I don't read novels.

Quoted for silliness!

However, on the note of "entire fic," I'd agree. (Good luck finding an entire fic like that, though. I highly doubt even the bottommost-level of fan-fiction writers could go that far.) But that would be the fault of the author, not the prose. A writer of decent skill should be able to limit how often a language is mentioned when it's actually changed, rather than every time someone speaks. With two characters on the same page, this is no problem. In Noy's example it's also a fairly simple matter, because the language used doesn't need to be mentioned again unless the one speaking changes who receives their words, but it would still come down to the author's skill and what they set out to accomplish.

(A long time ago, I once used sound-effects and symbols, too. Then, one day, I realized that I never saw any professional writers do such things. The reason why was there all along; I just hadn't really noticed because it didn't stand out like a sore thumb (and because I was stupid), because it actually fit in nicely with the rest of what was written. I'm always looking to improve my writing, if not my storytelling: because, even if no one else notices and/or recognizes the effort I put into my work, at least I can. But that's because I'm one of those people who isn't satisfied with mere contentment and tries to go further still, until it's not by choice that I can't progress any further.)

As for another thing that I don't really care about: when a story's summary is dramatic, full of hype and/or pretentious, but when you take a look at the story it's of such a quality that you have to wonder where they got the audacity to say such things, or if they had even tried -- in all seriousness -- to write such a story to begin with. (It can be a good thing, though. Most of the stories I like have modest/low-profile/simple summaries, so...)

[Noy Telinú]

Oh, you mean the ones that hype up so much but just... Suck? Yeah. That's annoying. I try to keep from saying that the fanific is an adjective in the summery.

I don't care for using Kimiko (that's how you spell it... Right?) for the Tendo mother. Mostly because everyone uses it and it's fan made and SOMEONE USE SOME OTHER NAME ALREADY! I just cringe whenever this shows up because it's likely other, more meaningful, things will be messed up stupid in the fic.

[ijp92]

cliche cookie cutter plot bunnies.
Just because something has been done before doesn't mean it can't be done again. But at least try to differentiate yourself from the pack. There are too many fics out there that just sort of bleed together.

OOC AUs.
Just give them original names and post it on fictionpress.

unfinished fanfiction.
number one reason why I haven't really tried writing any of my own fanfic ideas. I don't want to do this. I just can't even come up with a tentative outline.

plot bunny archives/vaults
really more of a love-hate relationship with these. Like the above but at least the author acknowledges it. ...Maybe I should try doing this.

overused fanon.
going back to conversations about originality.

pointlessly replacing canon facts/traits with fanon ones.
Pet peeve of mine. I blame this mostly on ignorance. I don't mind when authors do this intentionally because then the change has a purpose.

authors responding to reviews in the author notes. Especially when they don't bother quoting the review.
The only time an author should write responses like this are when its a topic or question that was popular or when it was anonymous. Otherwise just respond with pm.

having the characters talk/comment/answer questions in the author notes.
luckily its easily skippable.

when the author uses a foreign language for an attack or ability and doesn't bother to translate it.
I'm not just talking about moko takabishas and kagebunshins either. I mean original attacks.

portraying a non-harem anime character as human catnip for girls (unless that is the point of the story).
my one problem with Kenchi618's stories isn't that he likes super-Naruto. i can except a really really old Naruto as being that strong. Its the harems. And the "sleep with them all" solution.

[Spica75]

While advancing the plot is necessary, it's not the exact objective (but still part and parcel). Like the entire story, each chapter has a beginning and ending, with something specific that it needs to cover. Paragraphs work that way, too: depending on what it covers is how you'll know to end it once you have. Multiple chapters in one are like large paragraphs with multiple subjects (a good example being the kind where one contains the dialogue of more than one person and their actions going back and forth, possibly stopping and continuing to do the same thing in the next paragraph with no rhyme or reason to it).

Another thing that I've been caring less about is how authors facilitate sound effects and different languages, as if standard writing were incapable of doing so. I'd really like to know what people are being taught in schools to think that using "*boom*" is the answer to their problem, switching quotations marks with some other symbol for different languages spoken in dialogue, or even using bold or italics for thoughts. They're completely unnecessary.

If events in a story are fast-paced and trying to adapt slapstick from a visual medium, I can forgive the use of sound effects in that manner. As for the rest... no. It's not (nor should it be) hard to tell/show the reader when someone is either using or switching to a different language, and it shouldn't be difficult to express what is verbalized and what is internalized regardless of the perspective being used.

Totally disagree. Making certain that the reader understands nuances, changes in language or reading a sound effect, it´s not just good, it´s simply needed. Used -badly-, of course it can suck, but that´s true of almost any kind of writing.
Using *smack* for sound effects works well and is pretty much standard anyway.

"Is no okay!" I replied in English with a heavy Chinese accent, before switching to German and adding, "I mean, honestly. How can you, as the author who decides who speaks what when, not tell when one of the characters under your direction is speaking another language? And how does switching the quotation marks with other symbols, which is supposed to be for the supposed benefit of the readers, supposed to have any affect on the characters in the story? Do you understand just how illogically nonsensical your reasoning for all that is?" XD;;

That works perfectly fine when doing ONE such little block of text. If you try to do that everywhere in a text that is complicated, you produce text that is most likely horribly annoying to read.

[Spokavriel]

The best way to handle effects is to show how the people in the scene are effected instead of just dumping block effects in. There is an observer in the narrator for a reason. But everyone actually there also observes it otherwise there isn't much point to it is there? Unless say its something no one currently in the plot sees and then you have the narrative prose to present it for the reader. But it never has to be just a dumped in sound effect divorced from the surrounding paragraphs.

[Noy Telinú]

cliche cookie cutter plot bunnies.
Just because something has been done before doesn't mean it can't be done again. But at least try to differentiate yourself from the pack. There are too many fics out there that just sort of bleed together.

OOC AUs.
Just give them original names and post it on fictionpress.

unfinished fanfiction.
number one reason why I haven't really tried writing any of my own fanfic ideas. I don't want to do this. I just can't even come up with a tentative outline.

plot bunny archives/vaults
really more of a love-hate relationship with these. Like the above but at least the author acknowledges it. ...Maybe I should try doing this.

overused fanon.
going back to conversations about originality.

pointlessly replacing canon facts/traits with fanon ones.
Pet peeve of mine. I blame this mostly on ignorance. I don't mind when authors do this intentionally because then the change has a purpose.

authors responding to reviews in the author notes. Especially when they don't bother quoting the review.
The only time an author should write responses like this are when its a topic or question that was popular or when it was anonymous. Otherwise just respond with pm.

having the characters talk/comment/answer questions in the author notes.
luckily its easily skippable.

when the author uses a foreign language for an attack or ability and doesn't bother to translate it.
I'm not just talking about moko takabishas and kagebunshins either. I mean original attacks.

portraying a non-harem anime character as human catnip for girls (unless that is the point of the story).
my one problem with Kenchi618's stories isn't that he likes super-Naruto. i can except a really really old Naruto as being that strong. Its the harems. And the "sleep with them all" solution.

As dammit...

Look, I answer in the notes in the beginning because... Well... It started with laughing at something and wanting to clear it up so that no one asks something like that again. (it was Ranma being with Ryoga cliche.... Yeah)

But now, it's just fun to do. And I've noticed it gets more people to review. -_^

Besides, once again I am not professional and think they are boring anyway. I like the color the BOLDNESS the crazy lettering! It's why I liked AA until the moderator was a jerk.

But I do agree with the occ and naming things without translation.

[Crescent Pulsar S]

Totally disagree. Making certain that the reader understands nuances, changes in language or reading a sound effect, it´s not just good, it´s simply needed. Used -badly-, of course it can suck, but that´s true of almost any kind of writing.
Using *smack* for sound effects works well and is pretty much standard anyway.

You're suggesting that after all these years of the English language's existence that the mechanics of our grammar just isn't good enough? Seriously? What you're doing is promoting stupidity/ignorance in readers by accommodating them rather than taking authors to task for coming up short in their skills as writers. Of course the readers need to understand what's going on, but it's even more important for everybody to understand how something should be written. The last thing I want to read is a story that looks like a teen's instant message; I'd much rather reserve my dignity and integrity as a writer (if I'm sure there's no problem with how I wrote what I wrote, of course) and give disagreeable readers (should there be any) a clue on how to get with the program.

That works perfectly fine when doing ONE such little block of text. If you try to do that everywhere in a text that is complicated, you produce text that is most likely horribly annoying to read.

Like I said before, it is a writer's job to ensure that this sort of thing doesn't happen, even if it happens to be necessary for the spoken language to be switched multiple times within the same section/scene. I can forgive a writer if working with the particulars of a language barrier is beyond their skill, and they substitute the standard punctuation and grammar because it will be an actual improvement over what they would have been able to do otherwise, but it's simply a bad idea to dumb it down without a just enough reason. The quality of so much fan-fiction is sub-par or worse because so many people on both sides -- as writers and readers -- don't take their respective positions seriously enough.

Whether I'm wrong about that or not, that's just how I see it. I'd rather see a writer fail while trying to improve their work than lower the bar for the sake of others who are also in a position to improve themselves.

[Noy Telinú]

I disagree again since it's BORING!

And yes, the English language has failed to bring things across. There's a reason why a picture is worth a thousand words. There's a reason why there are reaction gifs. There's a reason why movies are very popular. There's a reason why language has evolved to be more informal and losing letters to words.

I like it better when it's not boring. Besides, studies shown that more complex and hard to read fonts are more effective for remembering the info on it.

I HATED reading those books for school, not because I hate reading, (I read ahead in social studies all the time) but because purple pose pisses me off! All these words describing stuff that doesn't have any importance to the plot, wasting my time.

Sorry, that'd where we differ.

You say that the language works and I say that it doesn't, so I make things more interesting. And if it pisses you off, well, that just makes me want to do it more. ^_^