What erks you in fandom???

[alexajaye]

But off-topic is so much funner than the actual topic! Oh, okay.

Yeah, I don't really usually like virginal Bella unless there's a very good reason for her to be virginal - you know, like she's, oh, I don't know, FIFTEEN or a nun (I've read one). I don't want to sound hypocritical because not everyone loses their virginity when they're sixteen and then starts humping everything that moves, but I don't understand how you can go into your early-to-mid-twenties without having even touched yourself!

And another thing, why does Edward always have to be massive? We hear nothing of this in the books (we all know why), but where did this idea come from? And it's always, ALWAYS the case. I'm not saying he has to have the tiniest pecker out there, but what's so wrong with being a little above average? What's so wrong with . . . not being so huge that Bella actually begins to wonder how the hell it's going to fit?

The sex thing always bothers me. You either get, excuse the pun, an enormously massive amount of it and it's all amazing and mind-blowing and other worldly, or there's a few peeps (before she meets Edward) and it all sucks? Can't Edward and Bella have bad sex just once? They're (supposed to be) Human, right? Especially in AH fics.

Vamp fics and supernatural fics are another issue altogether, but GAH! I like when sex is a part of the plot, but not THE plot!

More off-topic: When does the Hobbit come out?

[Sylvianna]

I think it's the second week of December. It will be the same dates more or less that they used to release each of the LotR films. It's going to be a bit tough for me, I wish they had chosen different dates, but beggars can't be choosers.

With regards to size, I think that the problem is that many women want to keep going on about how size doesn't matter but they actually keep having this idea that size is a sign of virility. And obviously, Edward must be virile. It's funny when you check out the size in Greek sculptures- you know, since Edward is always compared to Adonis- because Ancient Greeks didn't seem to agree and they have some of the most beautiful sculptures of men ever created by humankind. LOL

It's a matter of culture, I think.

[alexajaye]

I also think it's the Cullen men in general who are always described as being, well, massive. Emmett and Rosalie probably would've humped like rabbits if Bella hadn't been around so much, and they probably did before she came along.

Doesn't Edward talk to Carlisle and his brothers about having sex with Bella the first time? How would they know about having sex with a human? None of them have ever done it before!

I guess the size thing is just something to get used to, especially if I want to read through the bad stories to get to the few good ones. Oh, well. I'm sure there'll be something different to irk on next time.

[jujubakiller]

The same thing happens with Edward in relation to the villain in some stories.

I know what you mean. Ok, I'm going to confess I have a thing for sensual scenes (not always ending in a full lemon but some do) when they're both strangers and have barely exchanged a couple of words. I haven't found many that are well-writen and I still demand a good plot but yeah... I mean, there is something there and I don't know how to explain it but for me that's more intense than all the electric currents and whatever other nonsense. But it needs to be consensual and it must show; otherwise I find it repulsive.

However, the other day I started a fic and just in the first chapter I was like "hey, hold on a minute!". Edward basically dragged Bella to a room- after seeing her for the first time- without her even having time to react and started feeling her up. And I was like "OK, maybe you're going for hot but up until now she's basically been acting like a dead fish. I don't like this visual. You know? That has a name and if that was James doing it I'm sure everyone would be thinking of the same name I have in my mind right now..."

So I flounced. That's basically the real test for me. Can I substitute Edward for James and, if so, what would I think of it? The same with all those stories- and there are many- where Bella gets kidnapped to be the slave for vampire Edward and he gets to have her half an hour after she's been presented to him like a sexual object. I put James there instead of Edward and it doesn't look so hot anymore...

I am willing to accept an Edward who is not perfect and makes mistakes and does things that make you want to slap him in the face- and not just willing, I actually find it entertaining which is what I use fanfics for-, but I need to see at least one redeeming quality or I'm out.

Anyway, this reminds me that I find extremely funny how so many authors write in the summary "Don't like it, don't read it". I'm always left like "Huh..." You know, to decide if I like it I NEED to read it FIRST??!!

THAT is a good test. It also proves how much a lot fans let pass because the name of the character is Edward.

[Sylvianna]

Ok, I think I haven't mentioned this one on this thread yet but, since in the past few days I've encountered several instances, here we go:

Authors adopting stories to do basically the same thing: abandoning the story. I mean, what's the point? It's bad enough for readers to have to come to terms with the fact that the original author didn't have enough respect for them to actually see the story through to its end. But then a new author comes along, offers to adopt the story and readers get their hopes up only to see that the same thing happens once more, and usually within a few months of adopting the story.

It makes me wonder how many authors out there are here just for the thrill of getting their ego stroked for a while, and after having experienced the high they moved on, everyone else's feelings be damned. I wish people thought a bit more about those names in the reviews and the list of people who have favourited or are following the story and saw human beings behind them, not just letters and numbers.

[alexajaye]

Ok, I think I haven't mentioned this one on this thread yet but, since in the past few days I've encountered several instances, here we go:

Authors adopting stories to do basically the same thing: abandoning the story. I mean, what's the point? It's bad enough for readers to have to come to terms with the fact that the original author didn't have enough respect for them to actually see the story through to its end. But then a new author comes along, offers to adopt the story and readers get their hopes up only to see that the same thing happens once more, and usually within a few months of adopting the story.

It makes me wonder how many authors out there are here just for the thrill of getting their ego stroked for a while, and after having experienced the high they moved on, everyone else's feelings be damned. I wish people thought a bit more about those names in the reviews and the list of people who have favourited or are following the story and saw human beings behind them, not just letters and numbers.

This doesn't make much sense to me either, especially since I can't imagine ever wanting to abandon any of my stories. Yes, there are some that I might stumble on and not touch for a while, but I always plan to finish them, and if I didn't write them, they wouldn't be the same.

And I was just thinking of what you said earlier about what if you can substitute James for Edward in a story, because I think it could be literally anyone else and people would balk. It's the same with Bella. If it was her leading him on and making him a pushover, they'd probably think she just needed a good night of sex to get it out of her system so she'd realize what a great thing she had.

The things people allow these two characters to get away with astonishes me. And it scares the shit out of me. What is the world coming to??

[Sylvianna]

I'm going to mention this again because, really, this is a huge problem for me even with authors that write correctly. Contrived coincidences. Please avoid them. They look really bad. I flounce a fic everytime this happens. I can't stand the whole "Oh, what a coincidence! My best friend has a brother whom I know nothing about or my best friend failed to mentioned she had a brother in jail for being a drug dealer and con extraordinaire". It's too much! Make that friend an acquaintance, not Bella's best friend. It's as easy as that.

[alexajaye]

I'm going to mention this again because, really, this is a huge problem for me even with authors that write correctly. Contrived coincidences. Please avoid them. They look really bad. I flounce a fic everytime this happens. I can't stand the whole "Oh, what a coincidence! My best friend has a brother whom I know nothing about or my best friend failed to mentioned she had a brother in jail for being a drug dealer and con extraordinaire". It's too much! Make that friend an acquaintance, not Bella's best friend. It's as easy as that.

I completely agree. Especially when it's Alice and Rosalie. No way would they keep their brother a secret from ANY of their friends, in particular Bella.

I was just reading a story that is otherwise very good, but when it was time to name Bella's previous boyfriend who dumped her right after they had sex for the first time where he gave her absolutely no consideration whatsoever, of course, turned out to be Jacob. I get that there are people who don't like him, but why do they have to make him out to be such a horrible guy when all he really did was try to lay claim to her the same way Tanya did to Edward.

It just doesn't seem fair to me. Interestingly, I've been reading a lot of stuff about Fan Fiction as a topic lately, and I seriously think what the outside world perceives to be Fan Fiction is not exactly what those who write it know it to be.

Some of those people are completely clueless.

[Sylvianna]

Interestingly, I've been reading a lot of stuff about Fan Fiction as a topic lately, and I seriously think what the outside world perceives to be Fan Fiction is not exactly what those who write it know it to be.

Some of those people are completely clueless.

What do you mean? What do they say?

Anyway, another one: Authors that include vital information about their story in AN's. And I mean, vital information about how the fictional world works, about characters, etc. That information needs to be explained within the story, not in AN's. If you need to explain that your vampires are different, do so by explaining it within the story; if you need to clarify how old characters are, do so within the storytoo, either using the narrator's voice or by having the characters in a dialogue in which this information is offered.

I don't understand the reasoning in having a huge (20 lines or so) AN where you explain how your vampires are different. How many books have you read that do that? None. You learn about how the world of Twilight, Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings works by reading chapter after chapter. Sometimes the narrator will explain certain things; other times it will by reading dialogues between characters that you learn something new. No author out there includes an AN at the beginning of a story or at the beginning of each chapter stating how their world works or how old their characters are.

Really! This is common sense! How come that people who say they enjoy being a "writer" make this kind of mistakes? I really don't get it.

[alexajaye]

Well, to answer your question about what they're saying, it ranges from everything like how can these talentless people honestly want to spread their nonsense all over the world just because they like something to a lot of misunderstanding about how Fan Fiction works and why it even exists. Some articles are good. They give a detailed look at Fan Fiction and the people who write it, but others are just insulting, like how we (people who write and/or read it) could possibly think what we write is worth anything when it's merely a cheap imitation of the source material. Some of it I agreed with. Most of it I didn't, because I've been practicing and perfecting my writing for more than half my life, and some of what they said was kind of insulting.

On second part of your post. *raises hand shamefully with a smile* I've actually done that once before. When I get an idea for a story, I make a summary of less than 200 words, and then I make a synopsis of a few pages - especially if the story requires a detailed background. It can have anything from birthdays to a time-line, and in this case, a list of things specific to the story and the characters. At first, for this story, I wasn't planning on posting it at all. But there was so much. It would have filled a chapter all by itself, and I wanted to get the story underway without spending too much time on a back story. In retrospect, I probably could've made it a prologue, but I guess that's for another post.

Was it a wise thing to do? Probably not. But it was a choice I had to make so everyone reading would understand that my vampires weren't granite hard nor that they sparkled in the sun.

Would I ever do it for an actual published novel sent to a publisher for editing? No.

But this is fan fiction, and as the author, I get to decide how much I tell my readers before they start reading, and if they don't want to read after they've read all the info, they don't have to.

Has my story suffered because of this? I don't think so.

But again, it was just for this story, and I don't usually do that because I'd be more likely to withhold information instead of give it up.

Some writers, I know, do this because they don't want to waste time for personal reasons. I actually like having the information available, but that's me.