40th Blog Post Special: What I Dislike in Fanfiction · 1:52am Aug 10th, 2021
Hello my fellow bronies,
In my various blog posts, I've made various comments about what I dislike in both fanfiction and mass media. But in my 40th blog post, I will directly address what I dislike reading the most in fanfiction:
1. Show Don't Tell.
This is also one of the major commandments of all writing, whether convetional or otherwise: never comment or summarize the supposed mood of the story or the disposition of the characters: express these things through thoughts and actions. This is especially tedious in fanfiction for a couple of reasons:
* A person who reads fanfiction may already be aware of what story elements you're referencing. If they are reading fanfiction of a previous work, they must already be fans of that work, and so talking about background details of that work is superfluous at best and a plain waste of writing at worst.
* The goal of any good fanfic writer is to capture what makes the canon work so good. Summarizing those things you ought to express will automatically make the story utterly bland and boring, and so no one will read it.
2. Adding a new character to an already existing story.
This is a trope I see a lot in fanfiction: throw in an OC or new character into a story that is already canon.
One example is this Simpsons fanfic I read, where Bart, Lisa, and Maggie have another older sister. A lot of plots were basically old SImpsons episode, but with another sister tapped into them. And while the character herself isn't a bad one, throwing her in does nothing to actually change the plot of the story, or even improve upon it. It's worse than repetitive or derivative: it is basically like throwing an unwanted ingredient into an already perfect dish, or implanting a non-compatible organ into a person.
3. Characters who are overtly idealized or over stigmatized.
I will not use the term "Mary Sue." That term has been used so many times, it has lost all meaning and its context is forgotten. An accomplished character can still be a good character with deep flaws, as having an idealized image around you can be a hindrance: Olga Pataki from Hey Arnold is a good example: she's pretty, popular, and is a top student, but her success brings with it loads of expectation and attention she can't stand, and she's oblivious to Helga's own dislike of her.
It is when a narrative seemingly goes out of its way to favor a certain character that grinds me gears, so to speak.
Sunset Shimmer is an example of this, especially in Anon-A-Miss stories, which usually go like this: Sunset is presented at this harmless victim of the evil Canterlot High Student Body, and the two-faced Rainbow Dash, and the story ends with Sunset finding a new group of people who will always have her back, and will always be better people than the Rainbooms.
Yes, I understand Sunset had a reformation that was better than most, and she became a genuinely lovable protagonist. But many writers forget that once upon a time, Sunset was cruel enough to hold a dog hostage and trash a prom for her own gain. I think not showing Sunset's genuine flaws is not only bad writing, it hurts Sunset as a character, because Sunset loses the qualities that make her good and sympathetic character: namely that she has issues she needed to overcome.
On the reverse side, I think overtly stigmitizing a group of so-called antagonists is lousy writing as well. A good story has a good antagonist: not one who is necessarily kind or sweet, but whose actions are understandable if not excusable. Like Joaquin Phoenix's Joker, you detest their actions but you empathize with their motivations.
In many of these stories, especially Anon-A-Miss, anybody who hates or hurts Sunset in any way is automatically a bad person: the CMC are treated as soulless monsters, the Rainbooms and Canterlot High are cast as heartless bullies, and characters like Gilda are made into heartless monsters. In one Sunset story, her antagonist is a bland dudebro who has no other characterization beyond "testosterone-addle maniac", and his only point is harass Sunset badly enough to make her look good.
I try and resolve this in Look In the Mirror to Find the Truth and its sequels: they feature Gilda and a group of dudebros as antagonists who mistreat Sunset, and are in the wrong for doing so. But in the story, I portray them as people who are only lashing out at Sunset because she threw the first punch and hurt them in the past, and can be decent fellows when not being tormented by a huge asshole. And when Sunset does prove her redemption is genuine, both Gilda and the dudebros come around to her and one of them becomes her boyfriend.
In general, nuance in morality is very important, because life features people who can be good or bad depending on the situation.
4.When themes of friendship are forgotten
Let me be clear: sometimes a dark story is a what the doctor ordered. Sometimes tragedy can be as important to consume as comedy or action. Tragedy can teach us good life lessons, like Romeo and Juliet teaching us how damaging family feuds and arranged marriages are. But pure darkness is not inherently better than optimism, because real life isn't completely dark: it is a seesaw between hope and despair.
The Simpsons is a good example: while the show a brought maturity to animation not seen in decades, it also shows you that life can be tough, but it is worth living: Homer Simpson is a clueless dope, but he's a man who puts the pictures of his daughter at his workplace to remind himself of why he sacrifices.
In a lot of MLP stories, there is often descents into darkness: Twilight becoming Joseph Mengele, or Celestia as pure evil. And while these stories can be good, they are out of touch with the theme of the show: that friendship can help a person out and that good can still triumph.
Remember this equation: edgy =/= equal good.
Conclusion
Let me be clear: I'm not writing any of this to bash a single author or make them question themselves. I say this because I want you guys to improve at your craft. Criticism, when done properly, should be taken as a sort-of-praise: I gently tap you on the shoulder because I believe you can do better.
Sincerely,
Redandready45.
Huh.
Damn it, where's the like button for this journal post?
Hmm, this happens.
One friend of mine says he hates Anon a Miss very much, and I have to be obliged to concur with him, because Anon a Miss main issue antagonist could've have be easily dismissed if the CMC actually talked to their sister's friends especially Sunset Shimmer asking a time for them being together like. Make a day asking to all their friends to not call their sister as they planned to pass the time together.
The problem I have with Anon a Miss was the motivation of the antagonist which is CMC, the issue went from a simple don't talk to a web bullying with possible many sues appearing at school. It doesn't make sense. And causes and consequences would be undeniable if CMC would get scoot free from such absurd, maybe the comic itself made a lot of fans hate CMC more than everything. But the motivations about the other students I agreed, and making they as villains wasn't that great.
Number's 1 are probably the hardest to achieve. Yes what I wrote is mostly something I wanted to see from a show but trying to make it canon work style is tricky. I have a difficult time making most of the characters in character while having little knowledge of doing the showing part. I don't usually take inspiration from fanfic writers because I barely read fanfiction nowadays.
As for the rest, I can easily avoid doing those. OCs maybe something for readers to be judgmental towards but it's possible to make them likable, as long as they're not a Mary Sue.
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The problem is this: while G4 has been a notch above what has been expected for what is considerd girl's entertainment, it is still at the end of the day glorified marketing for kids' toys.
Thus, a nuanced storyline featuring one of Sunset's victims getting back at her for justifiable reasons, or Sunset having to accept that hurt someone in a way she can't take back, is not on the cards.
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I don't think I have done anything this strange if I have I haven't noticed. Since I do my best not to do the stuff you posted.
Well said big guy, well said.
I don't necessarily think that just having an OC already makes a fic bad. That being said, I can't deny that most OCs are written in a way that doesn't really add anything to the story, short of simple wish fulfilment. Generally, when a fic with an OC is written, I'll only consider it good if they both serve a clear purpose I'm the story, and have their own flaws and make their own mistakes. So essentially, it also has to follow everything else in this post.
More generalized for the last point, of course. Although even then, changing the theme of a fic from the original setting can still work, depending on the source and new theme. Some combinations just don't work, but others can make for an amazing story.
This is BEAUTIFUL dude.
Good points, and you're not the only one saying stuff like this.