Does Glaurung's evil know no bounds, exposing the oh-so-innocent children of Hurin to- *gasp* PINECEST? :::OOO
Thing that drives me up the wall: finding fic where the author definitely has a good idea with a solid concept, but they're very inexperienced so the execution is Dick Van Dyke slapstick levels of clumsy and it just... I CAN SEE THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH HERE, AND I WANT TO LEAVE REAMS OF SUPPORTIVE CON CRIT SO YOU, DEAR AUTHOR, CAN UNEARTH IT, BECAUSE I KNOW YOU HAVE IT IN YOU, BUT I DON'T WANT TO OVERSTEP BOUNDARIES AND HURT FEELINGS!!!
I get the urge to tell bad ficcers what they're doing wrong all the time but can't because I don't know them, whereas with a friend's writing I rarely see flaws beyond SPaG. Gripe; the fact that total strangers who aren't really involved in the fanfic community and thus don't get it don't appreciate feverish and sleep-deprived me making Cloud Mows the Lawn jokes.
Ugh, I completely understand! I've gotten pretty good at Nice Concrit, but I still don't do it enough because, well, it's fanfiction and tbh sometimes I like Dick Van Dyke execution because it feels more Charming and Real. please note that this isn't all the time, it's just when I'm looking for idfic on ff.net because I'm depressed. (also, do you like Dick Van Dyke??? Dick Van Dyke is awesome.) but I got concrit when I was a kid on ff.net and though in some ways it hurt, it really helped me. however, I am also a Delicate Flower who actually learns more from knowing what people LIKE about the stuff I write, with mild concrit. so a lot of the time if I think something has a lot of potential, I tell the person what I like about it and insert things that could maybe be better within that. like, 'this is great, but you know what would make it EVEN BETTER?' I have also offered to beta fic that had good ideas and writing but was written by someone without a beta who was definitely ESL or just needed a beta more for SPaG than anything. but I am a really unreliable beta so I always end up feeling bad about it even if I help with at least a couple of stories. but when someone says they're okay with concrit, I think it's okay to Go There, except for in certain situations. for example, one time I prompted something on a kink meme, and got two fills. they were really fun, and I said that. one of the fillers did say 'well, if there was anything you didn't like, tell me', etc. I didn't realize that this was just a 'gee, no, of course not! loved it!' thing, and so I found something to criticize because I thought that's what the filler wanted. their response made it super obvious that their feelings were hurt, I felt really bad, and, in short, that's how I found out that it's generally bad form to criticize fills you get on kink memes, and that sometimes people aren't REALLY asking for concrit. (also one time on a kink meme, I actually saw an OP tell the second filler that they liked their fill more than the first one for X reasons, and I was horrified. that was mean.)
It's less that I can't give concrit- I think I'm pretty good at it actually!- and more that I have no way to gauge if it would A) be welcome at all or B) be welcome from me if they don't specifically say they're open to it in author's notes. Especially in an archive setting like Ao3 where the only way to contact the person is through leaving a publicly visible review which... could be kind of humiliating, even when it's done in the nicest, most supportive and encouraging way possible. This particular fic that set it off this time isn't anything to do with SPaG or formatting or what have you, but rather the author jumps round a lot and has extremely short chapters that could simply be scenes in one longer single chapter fic... Heat fic, character A kicks out character B from friend time without explanation because OH NO, I'M GOING INTO HEAT then abruptly ends. Next chapter is character B complaining to character C about sudden booting and character C points out what is probably the problem, at which point character B is like "oh duh, I'm an idiot. I should take character A supplies and be a Good Supportive but non-invasive friend person because I know that this stuff sucks" which we then jump to them at character A's house and doing just that then leaving. Then chapter the 3rd is B and C back to talking and C is expositing on the biology involved while B acts totally fascinated and clueless, even though they were completely with the program the chapter before. It's got good idfic elements and would be a totally fun romp to read, but the stumbling block seems to be a lack of focus and direction, with scenes that could be used to build plot or character being way too short, and others that should be tidbitted about instead taking up chucks of paragraphs. Definitely in, "a half way decent beta will go a looooong way" territory. (Also, yes, I freaking love Dick Van Dyke, he's awesome!)
Update from YOI badfic friend: "Yurio is surprised to learn Russia is homophobic but understands the concept of genderfuck well enough to use the word in a sentence."
that thing in m/m fanfics where a group of grunts that are in canon a pretty even blend of dudes and chicks suddenly becomes all dudes. I guess I've mostly seen it in smutty stuff, so that the topic of m/f attraction never has to be even mentioned in passing, if you're doing a thing like a dude is parading his naked slave down the corridor or whatever. But you see it sometimes in sfw stuff, where it feels like the entire point is just to not have to put a single unnamed woman anywhere near your hot yaois and it's. Annoying. I'm defensive about lady soldiers, sue me. also lady pervs and sadists.
Also, I'm really annoyed at the notion that all the Knights of Ren are dudes. Entirely fuck off with that, please. You have the choice to fill out this mystic dickhead order as you please, and you make it a fucking sausage party?? Fuck you, I want lady knights and lady darksiders and sadistic creepy force worshiping lady monks. I swan to jon if at least one of those fuckers ain't a lady in canon i'm gonna be so fucking mad. More generally, just stop defaulting to dudes, authors of the world.
my issue with star wars both canon and fanon wise an inordinate obsession with humans, especially males, even in groups that are noted for their openness to all types
I know, and somehow that makes it worse when I do find one that's just "hey no they're all white human men, entirely dudes who are human and also white, all of them, yep".
This reminds me that the thing that is keeping me from watching the Clone Wars is that the Mandos we see in group shots are all white. All white and blond haired blue eyed motherfuckers. The race that has for years been known for accepting anyone into its ranks is Aryan as fuck looking. Why? Why is this? See I could stand the pacifist Mandos. "Pacifist Mandos? Makes me puke." Ni balyc ner vod! Me too! But what's truly infuriating? Making them all white. I'm up for pacifist Mandos because the Mandalorians have a history of various regimes and weird splinter groups vying for power. And given what was done to Mandalore prior to the New Mandos real rise to power it makes sense why that sect would gain power when it did. As it would make sense that the Death Watch would get really fucking uppity. but all white mandos? Nuh uh. No deal. Can't do that. I can handle maybe all human Mandos. I have to deal with mostly human Mandos, really. But all white? No. Fuck you you chakaaryc shabuire.
(YOI Badfic Friend update: they're considering word-replacing "the alpha" and "the omega" because a/b/o + epithet abuse = pain. I suggested the replacements be "teh sexx0rz seme" and "teh hawt uke." :::PPP )
Hey fic uh. Theres no such thing as an angst free au where one of the characters is a human brainwashed, modified, and controlled by a fucking app down to emotions and personality who is given to the other character as a sex slave. Thats not a fluff situation.
Everybody loves that Stepford/Pleasantville/Dollhouse vibe in their totally-not-horror fluff fic. /sarcasm but no really that kind of thing is great when the horror is acknowledged and skin crawling when it isn't
Spoiler: FFXV spoilers probably there's a reason I have been reading every MT!Prompto au I can get my grubby hands on.
