What erks you in fandom???

[Longing for Edward]

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Right now what irks me are writers who post Author's Notes, instead of updates, telling you to go vote for their story at The Lemonade Stand.

I visit the site often and vote for my favorite fics and have discovered many great fics/authors there, but when I get an alert expecting a chapter - I don't appreciate finding an A/N and no word on when long awaited updates may be coming.

Well that is one way to decide what to take off my alert list.

[alexajaye]

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Right now what irks me are writers who post Author's Notes, instead of updates, telling you to go vote for their story at The Lemonade Stand.

I visit the site often and vote for my favorite fics and have discovered many great fics/authors there, but when I get an alert expecting a chapter - I don't appreciate finding an A/N and no word on when long awaited updates may be coming.

Well that is one way to decide what to take off my alert list.

Yeah, I think I'd probably have a little bit more respect for a an author who doesn't update for a while as opposed to that.

[Sylvianna]

New stories including all the erks that have been covered extensively on this thread, ALL of them! At least if it was intentional...

As it is, I feel like ticking items on a list:

- Overused plot: check.
- 1D characters being caricatures of the originals: check
- wet panties that need changing: check
- the gay best friend that the female character's interest will be jealous of: check

Etcetera.

[alexajaye]

New stories including all the erks that have been covered extensively on this thread, ALL of them! At least if it was intentional...

As it is, I feel like ticking items on a list:

- Overused plot: check.
- 1D characters being caricatures of the originals: check
- wet panties that need changing: check
- the gay best friend that the female character's interest will be jealous of: check

Etcetera.

This might sound bad also considering that I'm working on several stories for the fandom right now, but I seem to have lost quite a bit of interest in Twilight now that the movies are all over. I feel like maybe my interest should have increased a little, but alas, it has not. I also find that I'm ready to start new fandoms, like the Hunger Games and the Mortal Instruments. I might even start The Host soon.

Is that odd?

[Sylvianna]

Is that odd?

No, it's not. I've been progressively reading less and less. Then I have one of these days when I feel like reading something and, since I don't have many stories on alert any more, I look for a quick fix. That's where problems arise. With the amount of Twifics I've read, the few good authors that write Twifics nowadays, how massive the offer has become and the little time I have to spend searching, most of the time the fix makes me remember why I wasn't very excited about reading Twifics anymore. So I go back to reading other things until the next time I need a "quickie".

I think it's all become a matter of laziness for me, for quite some time now. Because I've been reading more "challenging" things (some of them for courses I was studying, particularly during the past year), there are times when I need something "easy". What's easier than to start a story where you don't have to make the effort to know and learn to appreciate the characters, but go back to the ones you already know and seeing them in different circumstances?

Anyway, I should update my list above and add the benefit gala that even middle class Twilight characters attend to in almost every fic. I know it's completely normal. I attend one or two every year... The collection of dresses and jewelry it's growing pretty fast since, you know, it's not nice to use the same outfit twice. I learned that from my -fictional- sister-in-law / personal shopper. I don't know where she or the rest of my- fictional- husband's family get the money since I'd swear we're all middle class but hey, I'm not going to complain if I get "fabulous" dresses and an amount of jewelry that would make a magnate's wife jealous, more so after my husband finds this diamond/esmerald/whatever earrings or necklace and he spends a fortune bidding behind my back to give me a nice surprise afterwards... Hey! It's all for the children, the sick, the less fortunate than us middle class people, even if it looks like we're only going there so that everyone can admire how perfect we are (and envy us a little bit).

[WithMe92]

I still have the same level of interest but I've become a lot pickier. I read fics from many fandoms and it's really just a pattern. Whatever fic storyline or cliche gets the biggest reactions and reviews gets written over and over. Everyone says they write because they love to but the truth is a majority of these authors just write for attention. The authors who don't are gems.

[Sylvianna]

Everyone says they write because they love to but the truth is a majority of these authors just write for attention.

It's very easy to know those who really like writing and those who are doing it to have their ego stroked and to play author (to get some feeling of self-importance). The first ones would never write or publish something like this: "he has his standers and there high" (extracted from an actual fic I was trying to read... flounced as soon as I read that sentence, which fortunately was in the very first chapter). They'd be ashamed if they ever wrote something like that.

The second group not only is not ashamed, they get angry if you point their mistakes out. The other day an author whose story I was reading said in an AN: "I don't care about mistakes so don't bother pointing them out. This is exclusively about the pleasure of writing." I couldn't stop laughing.

They're not in it for the pleasure of playing with words, worlds and characters. They're only in it for the pleasure of reading "OMG, I love your story, you're a fantastic writer" 1000 times every week.

It also says a lot about the readers.

[alexajaye]

Someone actually said that?? Oh, gosh, am I glad I'm not really reading stories anymore! And I am glad, especially since a lot of my stories that I was following are all starting to be about the same.

Now, if I said I didn't post my stories so people would read them, I'd be lying, but think about what I said. "Post them." I post my stories so people will read them. Do I care if people like them? Yes. I'm a perfectionist, and when I make mistakes, I wring myself out trying to fix them. But I'm also a Leo, and I have a natural tendency to want attention even if I don't always go looking for it.

But why do I write stories people will probably never read? Because I love to write. In this instance, I really think that's the divider between people who are told they should write a story and then do, and the people like me who just start writing because they like it and want to keep doing it to get better.

I know a lot of writers in the fandoms these days are new when before they had staying power. I don't know what this means, but I'm trying to focus on my original stories instead of my Twilight fiction -- or any other fandom fiction. I'm not being very successful, but at least I'm trying.

Sometimes, I wonder what all these "writers" would do if they didn't get all that attention? Would they abandon the fandom or get bitchy because they're not famous? I don't care about being famous. I just want to be published and be able to support myself.

I guess that makes me a dreamer.

[Sylvianna]

So I was wondering... there are literally thousands of fics dealing with the bad boy/good girl topic and all of them end up the same way: they love each other so much that once the "elements have been aligned" and "love conquers all" (Tanya gets out of the picture in an embarrassing way for the pleasure of the reader, misunderstandings are solved and Edward always had a powerful reason to be an asshole that Bella can accept), they never fight again. They're this "perfect" couple that spend the day saying sweet little nothings and the nights in "passionate embraces"

I started wondering why. Why once the plot is resolved one has to keep reading chapter after chapter of unreal fluff or even why the change in Edward must be portrayed in a way that completely strips him of any trace of personality. It got me thinking about canon Edward, how once he just gave up and said "Ok, Bella, my mission in life is clear: say yes to everything you say", he disappears from the book.

It's funny to see how many people get turned on (metaphorically or literally) about bad boys but, in the end, the result is always the same: the boy is tamed, emasculated in fact, stripped of everything that made him who he was and the girl is able to live her HEA after having turned him into a robot. There are no more fights or even disagreements, there is nothing that the girl can do wrong in his eyes anymore, forever and ever until death do them apart. Because everyone knows that love can only exist when you do everything I tell you to.

Once you start looking for the things that made him that boy and particularly the things that Bella could not resist, and only the physical appearance remains. Now the girl can give herself a pat on the shoulder: she got herself a gorgeous husband who sometimes is richer than an entire western country to boot, and who will say "yes" to whatever her heart desires, so that his mistress can pat him on the head and tell him "good boy".

So basically Edward, when portrayed as a bad boy, is just a pet project. Like a puppy. Cute but needs to learn who's boss.

Is this really a healthy fantasy? Because somehow I don't think I'd enjoy being married to an automaton, no matter how sexy he is.

[Ylva]

So basically Edward, when portrayed as a bad boy, is just a pet project. Like a puppy. Cute but needs to learn who's boss.

Is this really a healthy fantasy? Because somehow I don't think I'd enjoy being married to an automaton, no matter how sexy he is.

It's funny you should say pet project, because one of the best HP fanfics out there (that I have found, anyway) is called "Pet Project". It's about Hermione "taming" Snape, except she doesn't.

Anyway, no I don't think it's a healthy ideal. Getting into a relationship with someone shouldn't be about changing them. I mean, yes, people change, and being in a relationship with someone is bound to change you in some way, and that's fine -but it has to be a choice, not manipulation. Real people aren't going to put up with that. Not real people I'd care to hang out with, anyway.