Ragequits · 2:38am Jan 15th, 2013
I am, in general, a rather forgiving fanfic reader. As a writer, I can be and often am rather hard on myself, but as a reader I overlook a lot of problems. Especially if the fic in question is Twidash. What can I say? I really like the pairing; it's why I got into fanfiction in the first place. Twidash, Twidash, Twidash. I've read practically all of what I can find. And of what's there, a surprising amount is really good. But at the same time there is a lot of Twidash that's terrible. And not just against my tastes, but objectively terrible. Characters are so OOC you can't begin to comprehend the writer's choices, stilted dialogue, terrible description, awkward pacing, mechanics that would make a teacher sob, the works. Despite the problems, I tend to read them all. Very few fics have proven impossible to read and they've been rather forgettable so in general I've taken the good with the bad, happily, simply to feed my Twidash fix. The day I found that for the most part I've run out of happy Twidash to read was terrible and I've been stuck rereading a handful of things over and over to get that fix and waiting for new work to come out like a junkie. I thought, in general, that I'd take the bad just as readily as the good; doesn't matter how pure the heroin is, heroin's still heroin. I was wrong and have found myself actually ragequitting a small number of stories. For a long time, there was only one fic I'd ever ragequit. Yesterday, the list grew to four fics. Four. In one day.
I've stopped reading a handful of fics, as I said, because they were impossible to read, boring, what have you. Those have not bothered me, and in general they're all old, painfully short, and forgotten. New stuff comes out like this sometimes, too. God forbid a new fic comes out where an author's note talks about how surprised they were that they wrote a chapter over a thousand words; it's time to run screaming into the night. But those easily-ignored ones are not what I'm talking about (and I tend to read them anyway). That's a meh, not a ragequit. A fic ragequit requires much more bile than simply ignoring the work. It means I found something worthwhile to start with. Something that drew me in. An interesting hook, fun characterizations, good writing, whatever it was, I was reading them. And then I stopped. Why? Because they made me hate them.
I'm reluctant to name names. I'm not trying to be some sort of mean critic here and demand that everyone bow to my opinion, or make out like I'm above someone else's work because I'm so cool and go against popular opinion or something. Not only that, of the three I quit, one is written by the same author as one of my favorite fics of all time. I'm not better than these people. They've just written something that I cannot abide by as a reader. And so I've left their stories behind. They may publish new chapters, the things that caused me to leave may find resolution, and the fics may become some of the most respected work on Fimfiction. I won't know; I'm not going to be reading them anymore.
The fact that I got three in one day is frustrating as hell, though. It's like the universe hates me and wants me to suffer in a Twidash-free hellscape. Then I reread Winter's Warmth and felt better.
Anyone else out their in my still-surprisingly-high number of followers that have ragequit a fic? No need to name names; this is about the experience not denigrating other writers.
Sounds like youve been reading mine and Blue Thunders... XD. Tell me, Have you rage Quit from Best Friends Forever or Dash's Secret? Or my story? I MUST KNOW!
Actually I did just that about 5 seconds before you posted this...
I'm far to picky with what I read to stumble upon anything that would make me rage quit, but in turn I don't read much.
712829
Nope! Not on the list of ragequits.
712851
It's the fics that start off well and barrel into the abyss that earn a ragequit, not the ones that start lamed and hobble for a while.
This has actually happened to me more times than most- three fourths of the time I just decide that I don't feel like reading it anymore, whether it was good or not. One of the only times I've quit reading something because I disliked it at that point was a nice Twidash, it was going on strong at about 50,000 words or so, just near a perfect ending... and then the author had Rainbow Dash cheat on Twilight in a moment that was OOC and almost completely spontaneous at best. The author really didn't know when to end a story, so I quit reading right there and pretended like it didn't happen. So yup, that's the best ragequit story I've got. I'd bet you whatever's in my left pocket that you've read it before too. (My left pocket is empty, by the way.)
I've found myself becoming less tolerant of stuff I used to forgive. For example, whenever I saw the "Blah blah blah, cos I'm the Element of Loyalty" line, I used to just roll my eyes and continue on. Nowadays I visibly deflate (shoulders slumping and everything), like somehow it's just sucked my current emotions out of me, and I start to consider whether I should keep reading. 9/10 times I do, but it's still rather eye-opening.
The only time I've actually really rage quit a fan fic, is when they go from a nice, good story, then BAM, gore and lots of blood out of nowhere. No warning in the tags, no mention of that being the tone beforehand. It's only happened a few times before, and I've long since forgotten the names of those fics, but yeah, so far those have only fit the bill of a proper rage quit.
712877 not on the list... does that mean you havent read them? or you read them and they didn't totally suck?
712896
Haha, if I ragequit every fic that does the DERP IM DA ELEMENT OF LOYALTY I'd have very little Twidash left to read. I grimace every time I see it, then pretend she said something along the lines of, "The Element of Loyalty bonded with me for a reason," and move on, even if it's not something she'd say anyway
.712900
I've read Best Friends Forever, but I've not read the others.
YAY not totally suck... if you decide to read Dash's Secret (sequl to Best Friends Forever) be worned, it is a twidash without romance... foceses on , well, Rainbow Dash's Secret (duh I think they guessed that.)
EDIT: just realized how self promoting that sounds... not intentional...
712953 You know, that's usually the reasoning I use on myself when I'm considering whether to read on or not.
It's my personal policy to never ragequit a fic, no matter what may happen. I may not be a fan of some of the choices made in a few of my favorite fics, but I have an open mind. I'm okay with it. I'm not saying that you don't, I just have a very high tolerance for what I can accept.
Case in point, My Room Mate's a Vampire. Loved the fic, even though I didn't like a few things that happened. Still stuck with it to the end.
Hint, Hint. You punks need to go write more twidash that doesn't suck or complete misery porn. We need D'awwws.
And don't lie bats, I know you sit up there on your pedestal looking down on everyone else.
713229
Quiet Ech, not in front of the commoners! Err...that is to say, the loverly pony people who I respect and admire endlessly.
712884
I think I may know what fic you're talking about here...but I'm not sure because I'm dumb. Was the chapter with the dating scene updated just over the last 2-3 days? I don't really want to name it here...
And yeah I can think of a couple ragequits I've had from stories for the exact reasons (Twidash for the win!). There's one I thought was interesting that I followed for a while but then got surprisingly boring for me (despite the really awesome concept) and the writing/grammar made me want to bash my head against a wall for an hour (note: this is a different fic than the one I mentioned above in replying to Deadpool). I generally have a really high tolerance for that kind of thing, but this just went to far for me
I hate to say it, but I have done it several times. Maybe it's because I have always been a picky reader, but I have ragequit countless stories. I wish I was as picky with my writing as I am with my reading, but I never had been the strongest writer anyway.
Anyway, I know that feel, Bro.
when I see something bad, I run and I run faster, so yes, I ragequit sometimes and I'm not ashamed
I don't think I've ever stopped reading a story for it's content. Though I do tend to start skimming just a little if I'm finding myself undulated by large blocks of text which I'm not sure of the purpose of.
I think establishing a character and sticking to the character can be extremely difficult when you, the author, want something to happen. It's so easy to gently nudge the characters one way or another and hope the readers are willing to suspend disbelief for a moment and accept the tiniest possibility what the character just did is plausible. Even now I'm stressing over the fact that my characters seem a little off from what I feel they should be. Do you have any thoughts (assuming you haven't ragequit on my TwiDash)?
716604
I am actually quite fond of The Winds of Change. You have the benefit, in characterization choices, of having a time-jump between the show and your fic with the added benefit of the world changing drastically. The main cast has had a lot happen to them behind the scenes, and a liberal interpretation is not only acceptable but rather expected. Twilight's still Twilight, but she's had 5 years of loneliness and bitterness towards the industrial revolution to color her outlook. If I have any complaints, it's that I want more Twidash in it and less world-building. But that's my addiction talking, not the critically thinking reader.
716646
That's certainly good to hear. You and many other authors produce so much good content compared to me and at a much faster pace that I often wonder if I'm doing anything wrong. I worry about working with the characters correctly, even with the time-jump, I think I have to maintain the essence of each of the characters and their underlying motivations. To be honest, I really love TwiDash and I would love to write a warm & bubbly scene between them every chance I get. But, it's hard to do in the setting I've created. But it is a TwiDash through and through, so it will only be a matter of time when I can realize those aspirations.
Maybe I should dust off Twilightful and add another chapter of happy TwiDash just to sate my cravings.
Was my story one of the ragequits?
716694
Everyone has a different pace to their writing. I tend to produce about a thousand rough-draft words a day on average over the course of a single week. Some writers are faster than that, or at least more dedicated (I tend to write 2-3 days a week and write 2.5-3k a day on those days). Alternately, some writers are much slower, whether because they need to be in a certain mood to write or agonize over the process of writing. I tend to go fast and loose, writing a scene as quick as I can, and then go back and expand and redraft. I find writing that way is actually faster for me than being careful with each and every paragraph as I go, since I have sort of a typo'd, awkward skeleton to hang all my nicer writing off of and look pretty. But personal writing preferences aside, there's nothing abnormal about approaching work at a slower pace. And as for me, keep in mind that I might seem rather prolific by updating Coming Back once a week, but I've been about a month ahead in my scheduled updates from the start. And I've actually fallen a bit behind; I'm only three weeks ahead at the moment.
Also for warm bubbly Twidash, why do you think I've been writing one-shots just recently? :P
716704
What? No! The only thing wrong with Through Trials and Tribulations is that it's on hiatus.
Everyone, stop asking me if I quit your story, what the fuck am I gonna do if someone asks and they actually are on the list?!
716771 Lie?
