What erks you in fandom???

[sandstone]

Why would I take that the wrong way:? That is a very common problem in fan fiction, wether it be inbalanced content, or just a storys structure. Authors arn't nececarily writers and the plotline of a story sufferes severely.
I don't mind some authors who write first storys , I find as time goes on thier storys improve, the first story itself becomes interesting with plotline and better writing style. Unfortunately , many times this isn't the case.
As a reader it is rare to find the story that is well written with depth.

[alexajaye]

True.

And sorry about the inference. I've read stories where the authors are kind of emotional when they're criticized about the content of their story and gripe about said criticism by saying their readers must be too juvenile to understand or even appreciate what they're trying to write.

I've read several in fact, and I try to be different.

[Sylvianna]

I guess this can be to both of you, but have either of you read even a little part of Fifty Shades of Grey?

As I said on another thread, I read the first one when it was fanfic and even read a couple of chapters of the second one when it was a fanfic too. I'm not paying for it. I'd rather throw the 3 pounds or whatever it costs on the street.

My opinion is that it's like many other stories that wanted to emulate the success of The Submissive, which is the one that should have been published if anyone had to publish a Twific about soft BDSM. I don't like the pulling to publish business or even just the pulling; it goes against what I learned back in time when I was a lot more involved in communities of fans about how they work- which is on the basis of people selflessly contributing with material that stays always there available for other fans at present and in the future-, but what can I do?.

Anyway, at least the Submissive was well-writen and Bella was not a moron, even if the rest of the cliches that makes Harlequin novels what they are (Cinderella, powerful and masculine male character who teaches her what love really is, etc. etc.) were in place. I actually keep a copy of both The Submissive and The Dominant. They were quite ok as far as AH Twifics go- though a bit of a stretch in how the pair meets, but well...- and particularly to the standards of Twifics dealing with BDSM (and it's not about the topic because I don't know the first thing about BDSM practices, but how the plot is built, what are the characters like, how well it's writen... that sort of thing).

There was another fic quite similar to 50 Shades in how awful it was, in which Bella needs money to pay for some family member's health bills or something and the only thing she can think of is to sell herself to the highest bidder (seems the author didn't read Emmancipation Proclamation or Katinsky's one shot on sexual slaves) in a club to an unknown person. Since Karma can't ever be a bitch to Bella, the highest bidder turns out to be "a multibillionaire Adonis" named Edward. And, of course, we will discover he is such a softie at heart... Going to a club to buy a person was just one of these mistakes every person can make, nothing to hold against him and for which he will ever pay his debt in prison, no. He'll get a HEA because, you know, every fic has to have a HEA!

Well, once she gets into his mansion and has a taste of what a sexual prodigy he is, the only thing Bella's character has in mind is sex, with Edward of course. Not a single care for her family member dying and needing a lot of money to pay the health bills, no moral problems about the fact that she got to meet Edward because he went to a club to BUY a sexual slave...!!!!! Nope, it's only about wanting to f**k him in the kitchen, on the floor, in the jacuzzi, in the swimming pool, on her knees...whatever.

That fic I could not finish, it enraged me. I was like: hellooooo???? You met him because he went to buy a person in a clandestine circle for human trafficking? If you hadn't been there he would have taken another girl home???? And he just f**ks you a couple of times and you suddenly have no morals, no thought besides how you want to have sex again and don't even remember you had a life before this? And friends and family and someone ill who's waiting for the money to pay the extremely expensive health bills to be able to survive? You just fall in love with a character of, at best, dubious moral standards because he f**cs well??? What sort of character are you? An imbecile?

50 Shades was really bad, although there are things I noticed reading reviews because I'm not a native English speaker, but the one I'm saying to me was much, much worse. In how it portrayed the femenine character (50 Shades Bella is a moron, the other Bella was retarded), about how it portrays the male character (both the stereotype of Billionaire Adonis who are softies deep down- and I would like to challenge these authors to take a look at Forbes and see how many good looking billionaires they find! Hello, Bill Gates!!! What a sexy guy you are! I want you to buy me and use me as a sexual slave!!!-), and an excuse for a plot to justify the porn (with all the variations of adding toys, holes and going through the Kamasutra, because repeating a position is boring stuff, and the orgasms on command and all the other stuff that we've talked about so many times with regards to sex in fanfics).

P.S. I don't use the word f**k lightly- I don't like swearwords when giving opinions-. It's just that it illustrates well that it's not about love, it's not even about having any kind of sexual or passional connection with someone. It's about the mechanical act of stroke here, insert there, the end.

[alexajaye]

Oh, don't worry. I didn't buy it. My cousin, whom I'm still arguing with over the story and she still hasn't told me whether she liked it or not, actually sent it to me. Like I said, I was perplexed about what the big deal was. I'm still a little confused, and I still have no desire to read the second and third books.

In the stories I write, the plot is paramount to me. If there happens to be mature content, so be it, but I try not to focus on it, unless it's a character's affinity for foul language or extreme violence. I don't understand the pull of it to the masses, and I especially don't like the origins of 50 Shades. I didn't read the fanfic, and now, I know why I never wanted to.

Don't get me wrong, having a little excitement in the bedroom is sometimes essential, but I found the dialogue clunky, the descriptions were repetitive, and the characterizations were unrealistic. I tried to argue this to my cousin, but she kept telling me that I wasn't reading the story the right way. In reality, she didn't like that I was putting a lot of responsibility on the wrong character. But that's for another post.

I didn't enjoy the story, and it makes me sad that this is what people want to read. I guess it's just not for me, but to each their own, I suppose.

[Sylvianna]

I wasn't reading the story the right way.

Ok, now I'm going to go a little off-topic but this sentence is something that bothers me whenever it comes up. I mean, I LOVE, absolutely LOVE, The Lord of the Rings. However I've encountered people- particularly before the films- who could not make it to the 5th chapter. I've never said to them "That's because you're not reading it the right way". There is no way to read something the right way. You either find it appealing and keep reading or you get bored and stop reading. Reading is a discovery: sometimes you discover things on your own, sometimes you listen or read other people's opinions and find new things about something you read that you never considered before; on other occasions you just don't agree, you can't see the same thing they see. It's the same with painting and other arts. That is their beauty, they are subjective.

I was subjected to the same sentence when a few years back "Song of Ice and Fire", the book series, was really big in fantasy fiction online communities. I was like "look, there are certain things that are enjoyable but I find this problem and this and this, so I cannot see why you're stating this is the best fantasy fiction series ever". They would answer "you're not reading it right" (if they were feeling kind that morning) and that was something that put me off the book series a lot (I kept reading and have seen the TV show, but I've never been very enthusiastic about the book series and it was its fans attitude as much as the problems I saw in the books).

I don't understand how people are so obsessed about "doing things the right way". That's only useful in Science. In the Arts, there is no right way because you're talking about the subjective. Contemporary Art- as much as I dislike it- proves it. I'd never say that because I dislike it, it's not done "the right way".

[alexajaye]

I agree completely. Sometimes, I wish she (my cousin) would read the few books I have that she's never read -- like Harry Potter. I read all seven books and I absolutely love them. I also love the movies and felt that they really told the story in as focused a way as they could. I found them extremely entertaining and fulfilling, and I wish more books read the way they do. My cousin has only ever seen the movies and got to the end of the series and felt so let down because of the way the last movie ends. I've been telling her since then that she has to read them, but she won't.

I wouldn't feel so confused and misunderstood if she'd just allowed me to have my own opinion, but it was all for naught. I don't even really have a desire to read the two books left over in after 50 shades of Grey, and I don't think I'll feel the same things other people have. But that's me, and I'm okay with that. I had a taste of it, and I've had enough.

The next time I'm around her, I really hope we don't get into another argument about it. But the hope is small.

[Sylvianna]

The next time I'm around her, I really hope we don't get into another argument about it. But the hope is small.

I have a cousin who bought it too. She was telling me how bad it was (but she bought it because she wants to become an author and wanted to see why that book had become a bestseller in Europe, not that she has found the answer after reading it). I only told her off for buying it (which was odd since she's older than me!). You know, voting with your wallet and all that stuff. And all this while trying to avoid telling her that I had read it while it was fanfiction... If she didn't think it was rubbish already, I don't know how would I have told her I thought it was really bad without admitting to having read it, which is not something I'm very keen on doing.

I think I've never been so ashamed about reading a particular book in my life. I'd rather show certain books that I have hidden or my secret Twific folder (with all the M-rated stories it contains) than admit to reading 50 Shades to people I know.

[jujubakiller]

The next time I'm around her, I really hope we don't get into another argument about it. But the hope is small.

I have a cousin who bought it too. She was telling me how bad it was (but she bought it because she wants to become an author and wanted to see why that book had become a bestseller in Europe, not that she has found the answer after reading it). I only told her off for buying it (which was odd since she's older than me!). You know, voting with your wallet and all that stuff. And all this while trying to avoid telling her that I had read it while it was fanfiction... If she didn't think it was rubbish already, I don't know how would I have told her I thought it was really bad without admitting to having read it, which is not something I'm very keen on doing.

I think I've never been so ashamed about reading a particular book in my life. I'd rather show certain books that I have hidden or my secret Twific folder (with all the M-rated stories it contains) than admit to reading 50 Shades to people I know.

I don't admit I read twilight! Imagine if I would ever admit to reading 50 shades! Even if I never finished it, I read most of it.

[alexajaye]

I tell just about anyone who will listen that I can't wait for the last movie to come out so that the whole thing will be over. And I dread the idea of another set of "movies", "tv series" or the like coming out because the company that bought out Summit wants to keep going.

I keep asking myself "Why?", but unfortunately, the answer is already quite clear.

It's all about Money.

And that's sad. Really, really sad. Pathetic. Ridiculous. ABSURD!!

[Sylvianna]

I don't admit I read twilight! Imagine if I would ever admit to reading 50 shades! Even if I never finished it, I read most of it.

I don't either. LOL

So I imagine I would have a lot of explaining to do if I were to show my Twific folder to family and friends... I mean, I sort of admitted to watching the first film once- I've seen worse and my friends know that because they've been with me for many of them, so it wasn't a big deal-, but that's as far as I've gone.

However, they don't know I own one of the books, the first two films and have fics saved from 2008 onwards... I have a secret life!