Entire song lyrics taking up one-third of a chapter! Fucking. Song. Lyrics! Are you fucking kidding me?! That's just goddamned lazy! Are writers so brain-dead that they can't come up with actual substance to fill out their word count? Worst of all, they're not even good songs half the time, either! To me, this comes across as the ultimate way of saying "fuck you" to a reader.

I know this probably sounds like some out of the blue bitch-fest, but this has been a slow burn with me for a long time. It just makes me sick how often I see it. A couple hours ago I read a chapter of a story that had three songs worth of lyrics in it. Wasting my time, literally. And I know, "I don't have to read it", right? Well, that's not the fucking point. The point is, it should have never been there to begin with! Ugh.

I can't be alone on this. Can I?

1478757
I dislike songfics in general.

I've never seen a fic like that, but yeah, you can't just have a song lyric page and then no content. That would get annoying, fast.

1478757 I don't really care, as long as there is a good reason for the lyrics.

well you got one thing right...... But yes I see your point.

1478757 No I hear you. Especially those stories that just have song after song and the songs aren't relevant to the plot.

1478757

Well, I can't react since I like songs(that are good), and I haven't read a songfic

But of it takes up half or even THE WHOLE BUCKING CHAPTER... Now that's just lazy as TARTARUS!

1478777
bro/girl I LOVE your pic, where did you get it?

1478757
I have seen only very good songfics so I don't think they are all bad. But I do get your point, just lyrics is a waste of time.

1478782 Deviantart. Just Look up Ruby from RWBY on there and you should find it.

1478796
cool thanks

Doesn't it kinda depend on the story?

I mean... Songs are not only entertainment, but culture as well.

Thing's like first contact stories, HIE and similar. In those cases II think they can be used with great effect.

...Granted, Sturgeons law still applies, but the theory is sound.

But lyrics for lyrics sake is unbelievably annoying, I will grant that though.

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Songfics aren't really my issue. If there's a reason for the songs in the context of the story, then fine. What pisses me off is when songs are used as padding for the word count. That's garbage, and needs to seriously die.

They're annoying as shit. The second I spot them I usually turn away from the story immediately.

1478934
That's totally fine with me. What makes me upset is when the songs are in place purely for the sake of padding. As long as there's an actual reason why the song is in the story, you'll get no complaints from me.

1478757 agreed

*Reads the comments*
Hmmm.... This would explain why I get so little views to my Parappa crossover.

1478757 I avoid stories like that out of principle. Because all they essentially are is mostly an overly elaborate rick-roll thinly veiled under some kind of crappy plot, if any.

1478809

Not die, but extremely discouraged.

I mean a short song is okay, and if the song has any meaning to the fiction being told then it's also okay, but if the song just COMPLETELY takes over the fiction... feels like High School Musical to me e-e. (In general, I probably won't like it)

they're like mamma mia
yeah it's a musical. but If it gets in the way of the actual story don't just put in another song because there wasn't one for a whole twelve seconds.

1478757 If the song advances the story, and highlights that the ponies seem to react strongly to music/singing then it's good. I usually put interaction/reaction in with the song. Which is more typical of the show.
If all a chapter is, is a song, that's bad/lazy.

1478803
Personally, my issue with songfics is that written text is really the wrong medium for music. Yes, the show has songs, but the show is primarily an audio/visual medium. That just doesn't translate to written text. There's no real good way to 'read' a song in a story.

1478757 well then, guess I won't be putting songs in my stories anymore then.

I'm a musical person. That said, I'm also a very rational one. If a song pops into my mind, depending on context, I will either link to it or write partial lyrics in, rarely whole songs, in my self insert Crashing Equestria series. It's just part of who I am and would be dishonest if I didn't include in.

I would do the same with a Pinkiefic.

Or a crazy crackfic like What the Heck.

1478757 No I agree, it's just a way to buffer word count. Having them sing a verse of the song is fine, and more than likely sufficient. You rarely if ever need the whole god-damn thing. If it's not a song fic then limit yourself on the whole, copy, paste in song lyrics. My two cents.

1478757
It can be irritating, (i don't mind links to songs, but leave out the lyrics unless you've actually got the characters singing them, and don't make it the main focus of the story. We can find those out on our own if we want.) but you know what annoys me more? A story that starts out as one, then divulges and has a story-within-a-story. like the 'Wake up and see this. What do?' story with Twilight Sparkle as the 'what do' focus. If he wants to do two stories at once, fine, but could he at least separate them? Then, of course, the fics that advertise other fics directly saying 'read this one! It's a great fic!' or maybe it will have some unrelated artwork in it. Or maybe it's an entire chapter devoted to Pinkie Pie or Surprise breaking the 4'th wall with no actual relevence to the story.
THAT is what annoys me in fanfics.

1478766
Griffin the Griffin, while entertaining, has several chapters where he's singing. Granted, it does not make up the majority of the chapters that they're in, but it does it.

You know what song lyrics I wanna see in a fic?

Death Grips.

Armored cop open fire Glock
On some kid who stepped so
Fast was hard to grasp
What even happened til you seen dat head blow
Off his shoulders in slow mo
Rewind that, is so cold
Rewind that, is so cold
I seen footage... I stay noided
Seen crazy shit, man crazy shit...
I seen footage, I stay noided... I seen footage [repeat]

1478757
If I ever came across a story that did that, I'd be tempted to report it. If it were a truly original song-fic, and the lyrics were original, then I'd just want to take a piss in the comments for wasting my time, and move on.

According to the rules:

DONT POST:

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• Stories in chat or script format. This includes stories in which characters speaking is indicated similar to this: "TWILIGHT: I sure do love books!"

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• "Manuals" or "User Guides." (example)

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• Stories with barely any punctuation. We don't judge stories on their content, but stories without a basic level of grammar will be failed

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I'm divided. Generally? I hate songfics.

Generally? I hate filling in a story with song lyrics.

That said, I've seen a few good exceptions, where a song is actually ponified, and there's a legitimate REASON for the inclusion.

These tend to be the exception, rather than the rule. In my opinion, that's why we have a 'dislike' button.

1479832

Well, there are such a thing as musical-notes and You-tube... But I see your point.

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Not easy to say/type you're right. There's a lot of fics with song lyrics in them. We can't really judge the whole.

You do have a point there, though. Only a few of them were really ever necessary.

It can be annoying sometimes. I don't mind it at all if the lyrics are original though.

~Have a good one.