Annoying literary devices · 6:03pm Mar 10th, 2018

Since discovering the existence of fan fiction, and by extension, FIMFiction, I've noticed that there are a lot of different writing techniques that literally annoy the piss out of me. In no particular order:
1. The moment killer.
Found in many romance fics, or other media that prominently features characters who harbor a sercret affection for each other, or are trying to develop whatever relationship they may possess, but every time they are about to confess their feelings, or kiss, another character bursts in like a SWAT TEAM with some stupid, mundane question, and completely kills the moment. Also known as cockblocking. It can be inadvertent, or deliberate. Either one is infuriating, and if done repeatedly in a fic, makes it really difficult to want to continue reading it. The only thing that makes up for it is if one of the victims of said moment killing turns around and bitch slaps the idiot that came in so obliviously. This annoys me because it's like a literary version of blueballs, it builds up until just before the climax, then just as you think you're gonna get your happy ending, bam, some idiot bursts in and destroys it. All so the author can add a few thousand extra words to their fic.

2. Dues Ex Machina
Translates to 'God of the Machine' and is where the problem or evil foe is defeated by something that magically solves everything in one fell swoop and seemingly comes out of nowhere, or is basically the one solution to which the characters turn to to solve all their major problems (The Elements of Harmony in their various forms throughout the series is a pretty strong example in my opinion.) They're annoying because it basically means that the character wasn't strong enough to win, or would have to be a Gary Stu in order to do so (more on that later), and the author didn't want his character to die, or lose. Well, either you need to work on character development, or plot development, or just accept that tragedies happen, and sometimes, the good guy doesnt live, or win.

3. Gary Stu/Mary Sue
This is where the main character is TOO perfect, while somehow still not being some all powerful god. Has enough charisma to talk anyone/pony into bed, is sexy af, all that horseshit. Basically the guy/girl that everyone thinks they want to be, but in reality is the guy I would want walking in front of me if my car ever experienced brake failure.

4. Anonymous/Anon
We all know that most of these are being written as a guise for a self insert. I'll be honest. My story Culture Shock was more or less a self insert. (I'm a construction worker, specifically working in concrete and rebar in real life, and prior military, just like the main character, along with most of his other traits). This is actually quite a common practice, so much so that FIMFiction actually has a tag for it now. Yes, I am fully aware that the original purpose of Anon was so that the reader can basically make up their own character as they read, hence him having a green head with a question mark as a nose. To me, that just means being lazy, almost as much as the Dues Ex Machina. Some Anon fics are ok, but generally speaking I find that I would rather stuff the guy's head into a toilet.

That's pretty much it. I kinda flipped my lid for a minute because it seems that everywhere I turn, there is a large amount of fics that incorporate one or more of these. Yes, you could say that I'm guilty of it myself. (There's a certain part of my own fic where I more or less inserted a Dues Ex Machina.) but it's something Im not intending on doing ever again. I'm sure there are people out there that think that these types of things are just fine. That's ok, whatever tickles your pickle. I just hope you don't do the moment killer thing to people in real life because you think it's funny, because honestly, that's just mean.

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