Firefly Fanfiction: What Are Your Pet-Peeves?
POSTED BY: Xeyra
UPDATED: Friday, November 30, 2012 02:57
VIEWED: 59700
PAGE 15 of 17
People talking or acting out of character. I know it's completely subjective as to what's in character (especially in the longer fics) but some attempt to explain why certain out of character moments happen would be nice.
As for comments, I seem to be the only person alive who actually loves getting negative comments. I get a lot of really nice, positive reviews, so negative ones are always a pleasant surprise and help me improve. Though saying that I'd still prefer a 'that was great but...' to a 'that sucked, and this is why'
-------------------------------------------------
Pimping my fanfic:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/sunroomitem.asp?i=8267
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by Annabelle43:
Ok, I don't write fan fic but I read plenty of it so here goes. I don't mind most pairings but the idea that Jayne might reproduce with anyone is disturbing to me... I hate it when somebody starts a story and doesn't finish it, if you have a long story write the entire thing and post it one chapter a day (and I mean CHAPTER not paragraph. Don't get half way through a story and start writing something else; more than likely you wont finish either.
But my main peeve is this.
Simon Tam is not stupid, he is not weak, he would not panic in a dangerous situation. He is a Trauma Surgeon for Gods sake, he would have washed out the second day if he behaved the way he appears in most fan fiction. He walked into an Alliance facility and stold his sister risking both of their lives, I don't think Mal, Jayne, Badger or Zoe on a bad day (ok maybe Zoe) would scare him.
The above definitely needed to be reiterated. I couldn't agree more Annabelle.
"A government is a body of people usually notably ungoverned."
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by Leiasky:Quote:
Originally posted by Annabelle43:
Ok, I don't write fan fic but I read plenty of it so here goes. I don't mind most pairings but the idea that Jayne might reproduce with anyone is disturbing to me... I hate it when somebody starts a story and doesn't finish it, if you have a long story write the entire thing and post it one chapter a day (and I mean CHAPTER not paragraph. Don't get half way through a story and start writing something else; more than likely you wont finish either.
But my main peeve is this.
Simon Tam is not stupid, he is not weak, he would not panic in a dangerous situation. He is a Trauma Surgeon for Gods sake, he would have washed out the second day if he behaved the way he appears in most fan fiction. He walked into an Alliance facility and stold his sister risking both of their lives, I don't think Mal, Jayne, Badger or Zoe on a bad day (ok maybe Zoe) would scare him.
The above definitely needed to be reiterated. I couldn't agree more Annabelle.
Hear hear. Simon suffers so much in fanfiction. His characterization is so often over-the-top-prissy or whiney-coward. I've read some REALLY good Simon characterization. And some really bad.
Another problem I've come across (but this more of a personal rant than anything else) doesn't relate so much to the author but the reviewers. Some fans of certains ships involving River tend to bash Simon quite a lot because he gets in the way of his sister's relationship with A or B. I've seen this happen a lot in Jayne/River fics. Not so much here, on FFFnet, but on livejournal the reviewers tend to really bring Simon down because he doesn't want his sister with Jayne.
I love Jayne! Really. I love his character to pieces. But people, try to imagine River was your younger sister or daughter and would you ever act any differently than Simon if she was getting it on with a man old enough to be your father and who, not so long ago, wanted to sell you to the feds? Why does Simon have to be the villain in Rayne fanfics just because he acts like any of us would in his situation?
Sorry for that little rant...
*******************************
Wash: This landing is gonna get pretty interesting.
Mal: Define "interesting".
Wash: [deadpan] Oh God, oh God, we're all going to die?
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
If you think about it, Jayne was hired because he wasn't stupid. OK, partly he was hired because it was a way out of a deadly situation that didn't involved inconvenient new holes in mal or Zoe, but Mal's interest was peaked after Jayne mentioned he found them easy enough.
Jayne is simple-minded. Not to say he's dumb, or slow, but he has a very simple world-view of what's important, i.e. Jayne. When things pertain to that world-view he's as fast as anyone and a good deal faster than most. What he doesn't do well is understand other people's points of view and that's where he slows up.
_________________
Big Red Button - Buttons, bumper stickers, and more, for the discerning browncoat
http://www.cafepress.com/bigredbutton
SerenityStuff.com - if it's made for a browncoat, I want to know about it!
http://www.serenitystuff.com
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I hate it when somebody starts a story and doesn't finish it...
OK, OK, I'll post another chapter... 
_________________
Big Red Button - Buttons, bumper stickers, and more, for the discerning browncoat
http://www.cafepress.com/bigredbutton
SerenityStuff.com - if it's made for a browncoat, I want to know about it!
http://www.serenitystuff.com
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by CABridges:
I hate it when somebody starts a story and doesn't finish it...
OK, OK, I'll post another chapter...
Your legion of fans (okay, me) await it eagerly. :)
*******************************
Wash: This landing is gonna get pretty interesting.
Mal: Define "interesting".
Wash: [deadpan] Oh God, oh God, we're all going to die?
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Annabelle43 wrote:
One last thing don't be so hard on the spelling and gramar. Quite a few of the authors here are not native English speakers/writers and English is a tricky language for non natives to learn. I know there is one writer that is a Norwegian school girl. I could not only not write a sentence let alone an entire story in Norwegian I don't think I could identify a single word. Give people a break its supposed to be fun.
lol, you wouldn't happen to be talking about me would you? (though I think of myself more as a college student than a school girl... lol)
Okay, so I've read people's pet peeves and here are mine:
Jayne/Kaylee - No, No, NO! It's NOT believable, never in my life will I want to read it. It's straight out disgusting, even the teasers gives me the creps. Come on people, even Jewel winced at the idea!
Simon/River - Another BIG NO! They're brother and sister and it's called incest, okay?
The grammar comes a second to this. I'm always astounded how I being a foreigner have a lot better grammar than a lot of native english writers. Seriously, were they taught in sloppy-school? At least when I make a grammar mistake it's justified with me not being native english.
Original characters that are clearly Mary Sue's irritates me. If you're making an original character then make it a character that would've been worthy of the show. Give them flaws as well as some hidden quality.
I can't think of what else bugs me... lol...
*~*~*
"Joss, if you kill him now I'll stuff a compression coil up your ass sideways!"
~ Kaylee, "Serenity in 2000 words or less"
Kaylee's the perfect woman!
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I have read the majority of this thread and I thought I would add my own $0.02 to the mix. I am a writer as well as a reader of fanfic.
Grammar/Word Usage: If you can't run your story through a simple spell checker, don't write fanfic. Easy words getting mispelled in ways that boggle the mind make me instantly close a story. Homonyms irritate the hell out of me too, learn which version of there/their/they're to use. Someone who repeats the same word over and again gets on my nerves a bit too, as a thesaurus is just as easy to use as a spell-checker. Reading your story aloud before you post it, make sure it sounds like something you would want to read yourself.
Pairings: I honestly cannot see River paired with anyone. Her character throughout the series and movie doesn't even begin to suggest any sort of non-platonic relationship to me. I also have problems seeing any of the males paired together on the ship, based on their personalities and character traits. Jaylee is slightly believeable only if it is set before the series, before Simon ever came on board the ship. Simon/Kaylee is of course a canon pairing, but reading a series of fics wherein they do nothing but 
like rabbits in every different room of the ship just doesn't seem likely to me, and if that is all your series revolves around (ie, PwoP), then stop writing now. Though Simon is a stong person, I don't think his timidness and awkwardness would instantly vanish just because of his revelation to Kaylee before the Reaver battle. As for Mal and Inara, I don't see that happening nearly as soon after the BDM as most people make it happen. Finally, I honestly don't think there is enough Zoe/Wash smut out there, which is something I intend to correct, however slightly.
Babies: It is very hard to do children onboard Serenity no matter who the parents are. Most folks want to give these kids voices, which means advancing the timeline much farther than necessary and/or making them completely unbelievable. I also don't think that if Simon and Kaylee were to get it on as much as most people make them, they would want to start having children right away. I haven't really read much of pregnant Zoe but that too is a thin line to walk.
AUs: Not gonna happen. Aliens, time travel, crossovers with other series, weird pairings, none of it works for me. Extrapolating a character's qualities due to advancing the timeline is one thing, but I just don't see them meeting up with, well, anyone.
Readers: This is a bit of a touchy subject with me. I firmly believe, based on the conversation early in Objects in Space, that no one is born as a Reader. The Alliance and the Blue Hands made River into one by the cuts they made into her brain. I have seen no evidence to suggest otherwise, though I would love to hear about it if there is some.
OCs: These are another touchy subject (though I did use one in my shorter series). I have seen a lot of fics wherein people write themselves into the 'verse to be the hero and get down with one or more of the crew. NO! Part of the charm of this wonderful story is that we are not a part of their world and can therefore enjoy it more by being outside observers.
Yes, I tend to whinge on and on, but I am pretty passionate about the subject.
~Jimi
jimi dot spettel at gmail dot com
Self-Proclaimed Grand Vizier of Georgia
- Animation by DesktopHippie
"Marijuana not only should be legal, it should be manditory." - Bill Hicks
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
theres one thing i hate in fan fics, male slash, its just not happening, exept maybe simon and jayne.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
we are THE FORSAKEN and we aim to burn!
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Oh, this is going to be long...
People not portraying characters correctly.
I absolultely HATE it when people don't analyze what's coming out of their characters mouth. Or doing something a character would never do/act like, unless it is the rare desperate situation.
Bad Formatting
I don't like it when people put a big story in one paragraph.
Grammar
Okay, I'll admit mine is pretty gorram bad at times, but when I'm writing I'll proofread and rewrite. Sometimes even have a friend proofread.
Names spelled wrong!
Hate it when people spell names wrong --- not really an issue with Firefly Fics, but it is on other show's fics.
Slash
Not gonna happen. Except with Inara and clients. Most agitated I would be with is my friends concept of the Simon-Jayne-Mal love triangle. ick.
Non-realistic/non-canon/impossible hookups
River sort of teases Jayne in Trash with that cute smirk on her face. Does this mean she's romantically interested in him ... no. Kaylee jokes with Jayne but does she like him ... no. And then there's Book/River, which I'm not getting into.
Children/marriages of werid hookups!
River Cobb always gets to me. The
ALternate Universe.
It upsets me when people write fics like, 'Okay, in this fic Simon and RIver arn't siblings and he and Jayne are fighting over her!
CSI
Crazy Space Incest.
River having romantic interest, sex, etc.
River loves her brother. Causes he's her brother. She likes Kaylee. She's a friend. Mal teaches her lessons about ... love! But I hate it when people throw RIver in the sack with Kaylee, Simon [CSI], Mal, or worse of all - JAYNE!
RIver is the only character that has no romantic interest. ALL characters of ALL shows have some kind of romantic interest/involvement.
See, Mal has Inara, [and certain one-nighters] Simon has Kaylee, Zoe has Wash, and Jayne has Vera [and whores], and Book has ... God!
okay, I'm done.
---
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME