I came in here to complain about how all the angst revolving around my jokey, insecure faves either make them a moe blob or makes their internal monolouge just 24/7 maudlin, bitter self pity but then I realized that I am the jokey, insecure one and that is in fact my exact internal monolouge so I guess I can't complain. I reserve the right to be annoyed at how in hurt/comfort the comforter character always gets their whole character stripped away so that they can exact only the most route, tumblr approved comfort, completely ignoring how they may how their own coping mechanisms or not know exactly what to do in this scenario or anything about the character in question.
SAAAME HAT. I was actually meaning to come in here and whine about how all the anxious, angry, joking characters I like get reduced to weepy ukes because... you're not allowed to be funny or angry when Sad Things Have Happened. The angry one really gets me, because I'll see characters that are canonically extraordinarily violent just... get reduced to teary-eyed pacifists because a violent survivor is a bad survivor. Only morally pure survivors here, no violence or outbursts or rage allowed.
Oh God that's why I never read hurt/comfort fics, I also hate how the comforter always has to be a perfect saint. At the same time, I get why most of those fics have this trope. 1) it's easy to write, especially if your sole focus is the comfortee's pain, and 2) very tempting wish fulfillment. It's nice to imagine being comforted perfectly by someone else when you have no one irl to turn to.
Actually... I think you've just made me realize where I get like 90% of my starscream characterization. From pure, unadulterated spite. But also, it's so boring to write these characters if you take their personality away, even if you think characters should be weepy, precious ukes, like. How do you stay entertained writing that? I honest to god don't understand.
(This isn't exactly a fanfic gripe, just me wtfing about something, but this seemed like the best thread for it.) So I read a fic just now, and it was okay; nothing special, kind of an overdone plot in the fandom and had lines like "A smirk birthed itself onto his lips", but whatever. Then I scroll down through the handful of comments and… I…am genuinely unsure if this person is serious or not. I mean, if they really liked the fic that much, uh, I guess they saw something I missed? 'cause dang. eta: lemme know if the image is too big, my monitor's gigantic so I can't really tell.
Eh, could go either way. It definitely is possible that someone with a slightly passive-aggressive sense of humor is having a bit of a laugh, it's also possible that this is someone very new to fanfiction and online writing in general- I can remember being a baby fan and being in absolute raptures over works that, in retrospect, were fairly mediocre. You've been around long enough to consider the plot overdone, but someone who's just encountered it for the first time (and is probably still not done with fourth grade yet) is thinking it's genius.
or maybe they like the fic but don't think it's that good, and are only giving it such overwrought praise in the hope that it will encourage the author to update. or maybe the fic hit them in the id somewhere, in a way that it didn't for you.
Well, it was pretty clearly a oneshot (ended with a death), so I hope they weren't expecting an update. And if it really spoke to them that much, that's great! I was just taken aback by that level of effusiveness, especially in what is nnnnnnot a very…touchy-feely fandom. (On the other hand, it makes me feel better about my fic, sooooo. Also I feel like signing your name "Fursnitalah" kind of makes you hard to take seriously.) And oh God, the things I read when I first got into fandom. I shudder to think.
This. Also people ask for updates or sequels for finished chapter fics too. 70% of the reviews on the final chapter of one of my fics are OMG SEQUEL PLEASE. Which. Guys. Everyone fucking died except for two people. There was really no story to continue! They escaped! That was the point!
Man I really wish A/B/O didn't usually get either a) gross as hell or b) boring ass mpreg fluff or c) both because I really like fic that has interesting social structures. Like I really like pack relationships/kinship groups and the kinda blending of the two but I can usually take or leave the heat shit and most of it is so boooring
I wish the popularity of a/b/o was swapped with the popularity of straight-up werewolf AUs tbh, werewolves are just so much better in every way
A friend of mine really wants to write an a/b/o fic where nobody gets laid and it's just the two characters sitting on opposite sides of a locked door and complaining to each other because heat is The Worst. :::PPP
Agreed, because I am not here for porn, but I could ABSOLUTELY be here for werewolves, and the far more interesting array of weird variations you could have on that. (I'm attached to the idea of a werewolf infection that can turn people into any of a wide variety of woofs, so a werewolf can infect three people and one becomes a were-other-species-of-wolf, one becomes a werelabrador, and one becomes a werecoyote.)
Me: *is enjoying a fic* Fic: "...spineless, soulless woman who always seemed to find work that focused on her breasts more than her face." Me: *closes fic*
I mean, I guess I wish I were into A/B/O. I keep trying it, like a confused science pigeon pressing the wrong button and examining the absence of food with a confused science pigeon head tilt. Yo birdbrain, this button was never hooked up to the food dispenser, and surprisingly, it still isn't. But so many people apparently like it, and I'm almost personally offended that I don't get it. Spoiler: very mild NSFW, possible mild TMI Maybe it's a good thing I'm pretty ace. Can you imagine how that would work out with a partner. "Ugh, honey, I'm sorry but that didn't work for me at all. To be honest I'm really uncomfortable. Let's try it again tomorrow." Werewolves aren't something I'd actively seek out. I am just thoroughly a cat person in all ways. But if someone specifically gives me a werewolf story to read, I usually enjoy it.
I'm generally okay with werewolves in the context of a greater fantasy setting, but anything that is mostly werewolves or like 'a-modern-AU-with-werewolves' makes me lose interest immediately. I think maybe I just can't take the concept seriously, I keep asking myself if just humans can be werewolf or if, say, an unlucky horse got in a fight and now gets confused and hairy once a month. Or if 'wolf' is the only transformation option, I'd pay Actual Dollars for a were-Chihuahua. Were-Corgi. Either way between Daggerfall (lore contains were-sharks, were-tigers, were-rats) and Discworld (remember the reverse werewolf? Wolf who became a human on the full moon) I can't give the concept the respect it probably deserves.
