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Ways to make a bad fic
Jan. 14th, 2008 12:18 amI finished Star Ocean 3 the other day (and the Maze of Tribulations not long after; working on the Urssa Cave Temple now), and I decided to peruse FFnet (oh gawd, what was I thinking?!) for some good Albel x Nel or Fayt x Sophia, my preferred pairings of choice for this game (I like Cliff x Mirage, too, but Mirage hardly got any characterization, so...), and I just see the same sort of lousy things that get me clicking the "back" button.
I think these particular things, while not necessarily alone, will make a fic go "bad." How many of these do you agree with? How many do you have to add? And how many does it take to truly make... a bad FIC?
I'd like to think most of these are self-explanatory. Anyone wanting an explanation as to why I feel a particular thing makes a fic lousy, feel free to ask.
* Use things like "flashback" and "Character A's POV" in your text
* Inserting author's notes into your story text
* Random Capitalization
* "Author's Choice" of spellings, especially for names (e.g. Fayt spelled as Fate or Fayte)
* Poor grammar: this includes bad spelling, lack of punctuation (or overuse, which even I've been guilty of at times), and "wrong word" syndrome, where people can't seem to figure out the difference between where/were, they're/there/their, your/you're, and so forth. Also, misspelling "summary" as "summery." Guess what, brainiacs?! Two DIFFERENT WORDS MEANING TWO DIFFERENT THINGS!
* Rampant OOC or disregard for canon without explanation (and no, "I was on a sugar high!" or similar does not count; if you can write a story where the character names can be fill-in-the-blank, then what's the point of calling it fanfiction and posting it to a place where people expect to be able to recognize the characters and, at least sometimes, the situations they're in!?)
* Summaries that don't tell you anything about what the story is about (e.g. filled with R&R, no flames, rated E for Everyone, I suck at summaries, etc. etc.)
Anything else? I wonder what might be an indicator of bad fic right away for people-- for any fandom, any genre-- all across the board. What could get you to click YOUR back button within ten minutes of reading a fic?
I think these particular things, while not necessarily alone, will make a fic go "bad." How many of these do you agree with? How many do you have to add? And how many does it take to truly make... a bad FIC?
I'd like to think most of these are self-explanatory. Anyone wanting an explanation as to why I feel a particular thing makes a fic lousy, feel free to ask.
* Use things like "flashback" and "Character A's POV" in your text
* Inserting author's notes into your story text
* Random Capitalization
* "Author's Choice" of spellings, especially for names (e.g. Fayt spelled as Fate or Fayte)
* Poor grammar: this includes bad spelling, lack of punctuation (or overuse, which even I've been guilty of at times), and "wrong word" syndrome, where people can't seem to figure out the difference between where/were, they're/there/their, your/you're, and so forth. Also, misspelling "summary" as "summery." Guess what, brainiacs?! Two DIFFERENT WORDS MEANING TWO DIFFERENT THINGS!
* Rampant OOC or disregard for canon without explanation (and no, "I was on a sugar high!" or similar does not count; if you can write a story where the character names can be fill-in-the-blank, then what's the point of calling it fanfiction and posting it to a place where people expect to be able to recognize the characters and, at least sometimes, the situations they're in!?)
* Summaries that don't tell you anything about what the story is about (e.g. filled with R&R, no flames, rated E for Everyone, I suck at summaries, etc. etc.)
Anything else? I wonder what might be an indicator of bad fic right away for people-- for any fandom, any genre-- all across the board. What could get you to click YOUR back button within ten minutes of reading a fic?
