(this probably isn’t anything fic writers are actually doing wrong, just griping about my reaction to a thing) idk if it’s because i usually hide whatever stress/depression/etc. i’m going through from the ppl around me, but sometimes when i’m reading fanfic and a character like, has a panic attack/other trauma response in public or even just in private with other ppl who didn’t know they had Issues, i’m just like noooooo even though i know other chars will probably be able to help. i don’t really know why i react that way, i’m just like oh no. —though in this specific case there’s also the element of, the character in question is a time traveller trying to hide that fact, so having a big ol panic attack might damage that facade, and that makes me go oh no.
I fell into the BNHA fanfic before watching the show and I am... Apprehensive about one of the characters. Spoiler: I don't know if this should be here or the fandom gripes thread? I have seen some crazy shit. I've seen shipwars and BNF catfights and folks trying to declare ownership over fandoms. More to the point, I've seen denial. I've seen plot twists and endings and little bits of canon ignored all the time. Danny Phantom didn't have a season 3, or at least didn't have a finale. I have never seen someone so throughly scoured from a fandom as Mineta from the BNHA. He's just fucking gone. Half the times I see him tagged in something it's like 'Mineta got expelled/Mineta doesn't exist' and when I looked him up on Tumblr I didn't get any fanart. What the fuck does this guy do? What the fuck does this guy do? Edit: I don't want a serious answer to this, I'll find out soon enough. I'm just astounded at how absolutely gone this guy is.
@garden Similar feelings here, I think. In my case, that kind of thing happening isn't necessarily upsetting/uncomfortable to me in and of itself? (Though sometimes it is.) But when it feels like the writer doesn't realize there could be anything genuinely upsetting or undesirable about that experience for the character, or doesn't think it matters, it makes my skin crawl. D: Like, the net outcome may be entirely positive in terms of "the character in question gets supported/everyone is supportive about it", but it's still often a serious blow to the character's privacy or control over their life if they hadn't wanted to put that stuff on display, and that sucks to go through even if it's ultimately for the best. I don't need the story to dwell on the subject or for anyone to be at fault for the situation, but I at least want to feel like the author understands it might be an upsetting situation to be in and that that distress is legitimate.
Yuri On Ice Badfic Friend has a similar complaint about many fan depictions of Yuuri's (canonical) anxiety. Lots of blithe depictions of spectacular public feinting spells, which is nothing like how it manifests in canon.
@garden @keltena @LadyNighteyes apologies for the pings, but I'm curious now... should this be something that should be tagged for? if so, how would one tag it? i ask because it's a trope in a lot of my fics that character A of the pairing usually finds out about character B's self-harm scars completely accidentally, which I understand and write as being confusing and a bit distressing for character B. is this something I should be trying to tag for? :o hop in and let us know when you find out because i think you'll understand why after that lmao
@Maya I'm going to sit out on the tagging question, since for me it's the thoughtlessness of how it's typically done more than the trope itself that significantly bothers me (and that's obviously not something most writers could tag for in their own fic anyway, haha). ... I am now trying to think of there's a good succinct way to describe/refer to that trope, though; it's a really ubiquitous plot device in fiction in general, and fic about Characters Having Issues in particular, but if there's a name for it I'm blanking on it.
I can't speak with 100% certainty for YOIBF, since the conversation was ages ago and my knowledge of gay skaters is almost entirely secondhand from them, but I think the heart of their problem with it in that particular case was that it's part of a major fandom trend of... I don't have a better word for this than uke-ifying Yuuri. Canon Yuuri gets serious performance anxiety and talks down and doubts his own skills; much of the fic YOIBF was complaining about gave him severe social anxiety instead, when canon!Yuuri was like, "Viktor's fans resent me for taking him away from them. Good. Fuck 'em, he's mine now, their spite fuels me."* This fits much more neatly with a Sweet Shy Naive UWU Woobie characterization, and thus things like public panic attacks were usually filtered through a vaguely condescending lens that... sort of operates at one step of thought removed from what it would be like to experience this. It can come off kind of objectifying, feeling like you're expected to pity the character, not empathize with them. *obligatory disclaimer that I know you can have social anxiety and still feel like that sometimes, but point is YOIBF felt they were disregarding the canonical presentation of his anxiety problems
“Involuntary Reveal of Trauma”, maybe? I don’t know if that’s a tag, but it is probably something I’d shove in the author’s note section as a heads up.
Huh! I see, I see! That all makes sense, and that "tag" you suggested or authors notes makes a lot of sense too! I'll definitely consider using a tag like that or notes :3 thank you!! also yeah, for me it's mostly the carelessness, but sometimes it's just this generalized anxiety because of the uncertainty of how it's going to be handled
Yeah, seconding @Maya--for me it depends on how well it's handled, which...actually applies to brainweird portrayals in general for me. Like, I'm writing a therapy AU, and I'm trying very hard to make it realistic and to handle the subject matter well, but I've noticed that a lot of writers just...either they don't try at all or they're going off stereotypes or otherwise-questionable portrayals. It's not impossible to do things like that well--hell, look at Brainbent (the fic, not the subforum)--but a lot of people really fuck it up. Which, ngl, makes me kinda self-conscious that I'm fucking it up, even though I'm drawing very heavily from personal experience with the brainweird shit. But yeah, as someone who has had public meltdowns and panic attacks, they're not something that should be glossed over. You've really gotta be careful with things like that.
Man that is my constant question: why am I not writing? followed by: why did I post TWO works in progress why??
yesterday I read a goddamn incredible legend of zelda triforce ot3 fic that was last updated about a year ago, and today I discovered that the author also wrote my favorite eternally unfinished red vs. blue fic. they are talented and i am suffering
also for some reason it hurts my feelings when an author orphans their works on AO3...it just makes me sad idk why
I can understand the reasoning behind it in some cases, but it is pretty sad, especially when it was actually a really good fic.
The hardest part is now you can't find the other cool shit they wrote, or scour their bookmarks for recs.
i’m actually fine with orphaning, because at least they’re not deleting the entire fic entirely, which you don’t discover until you look through your bookmarks and find like five “This fic has been deleted.” messages with no indication as to what the fic actually was and you’re just like what did i lose
