The Common Flaws and Failures of HiE Fanfiction · 11:59am May 30th, 2017
The Common Flaws and Failures of HiE Fanfiction
By MidnightChaos
To understand why HiE has fallen flat recently and why many people no longer write it or give up on their fic, the flaws of these kinds of fics must be examined under a magnifying glass.
To begin with, Human In Equestria should be exactly what it sounds like, but far too many people place themselves or a so called “flawless” version of themselves in the fiction. When this is done, it means one of two things; the fic is a wish-fulfillment or that the author is narcissistic. Either of these actions lead to the downfall of a fic quicker than one can even say the name of the story. Wish fulfillment is fine and dandy, but self-insert is a painful thing to read as the author ignores their own flaws or heightens their pros in order to place them in the shadows. Realism tends to hit the nail on the head like one could with a sledgehammer whilst Self-Inserts, and Anons, are like trying to smack it in with a rock. One is the right tool for the job and the other isn’t.
Another commonly expressed flaw is dramatization of existing canon character traits, see Twilight in particular or even Fluttershy. Rainbow is brash, loyal to a fault, and stubborn. More often than not, she is portrayed as the average high school jock; a complete and utter dick with little to no care for others. This often happens in other fics, but is more commonly found in HiE fics than anything.
Romance. Yet another flaw, but this one in particular may make you consider jumping off the Empire State Building just to escape. Many young and inexperienced writers seem to believe that romance is an essential part to any fic when the truth is the exact opposite, Many fics actually shine brighter for the lack of HumanxPony. Even the language or species barriers have no meaning in the romance genre, despite the fact that the average Joe would likely prefer to nut a female Minotaur than a small horse. Just because you might be okay with it does not mean everyone is.
That brings us to the next topic; Anthro. This tag in and of itself has literally never truly meant anything for the linear progression of a plot line. Anthro exists merely to skip the need for the Human to cope with the differences, for the human to be okay banging a biological incompatibility, or so the author can be lazy in their descriptions and not have to worry. Anthro stories are used for one thing and one thing in particular; clop, clop, and more clop. Simply adding the tag gives the expectation there will be some lemon inside these words. A good anthro story, in which none of these flaws are present is like finding the fountain of youth.
Another aspect is that, more often than not, the desire for the human in Equestria to go home or figure out why they are there simply doesn’t exist. The majority of HiE fanfiction completely and utterly ignores the idea that the human had friends or family back home, or that the idea known as curiosity exists. Some will explain the issue but these are often the better of the genre. Some stories even give the human magic, no questions asked, or the human gains some phenomenal garbage despite that he is human and not from this world.
For those writers wondering if you’ve added one of these flaws and that’s why your story failed, a small list will be below. Please make a mental note of how many you’ve made and then below there will be marks for you to see if you need to rewrite or just scrap it.
Check the O if the Flaw is Present:
O: Self-Insert/Anon
O: Wish-Fulfillment (Superpowers, foreknowledge, getting every girl, harems, etc)
O: Dramatization of Positive Traits
O: Plot-Detrimental Romance (Deters the plot progression due to romantic scenes)
O: Focal Romance Shift (Sudden Romance)
O: Anthro
O: Sexualized Anthro
O: Non-Existent Curiosity
O: Ignored Homesickness
Some flaws are more severe, and others are not 100% detrimental at all times.
If you scored a 0, congratulations.
If you scored a 1-3, patch the flaws if you can or even want to.
If you scored a 4-7, try revising the story.
If you scored an 8 or higher, scrap the story and completely start anew.
Readers: If a writer has executed these flaws, then this may explain why their story has suffered, as many of these flaws cannot be ignored. Some writers may consider you an arse if you point it out, some may blow you off, some may try and get rid of you, or even attempt to ban you. Writers like this - and this is a fact - are never going to succeed.
Writers: Criticism will help you improve but acting immature when facing it will not help you. Acting like a spoiled child who thinks they know what they’re doing will not help. Tossing in the towel after receiving criticism is yet another way immaturity can peak.
As an author, I prefer to be told what I have failed at or where I went wrong, do you?
Insightful post, here.
This is nice.
One thing I have to make a question. The Anthro thing, do you mean this only in connection to HiE storys or all Anthro storys?
Everything else I can't agree more.
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In general
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I don't know much Anthro, but to be honest, but I plan one that has no porn. I just need all characters with fingers. So maybe it is just one of this bad stereotypes.
Well this is handy to have since I'm already rewriting my main HiE project.
Ya forgot that HiEs also tend to be Crossovers and Displaced nowadays, Middy. Might wanna cover them, too.