Things that piss me off in fanfiction
Nov. 15th, 2007 12:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azuriteIt sucks when you get into a new pairing (this is the second in so many months) and you might find ONE or TWO fics that have a decent plot and spelling and grammar that doesn't make you cringe. Maybe the copy-editor in me has set standards too high, because I went through ALL of the M-rated fics in a C2 community devoted to Albel x Nel from Star Ocean 3 (TTEOT) and I was lucky to find anything halfway readable. Nothing worth reviewing, though, and thus, nothing to "write home about."
Why is it I keep seeing the same carelessness in fics? Whatever happened to showing your love of canon, your pride regarding your pairing (crack or not), and basic rules for clarity? I mean, even if you write just to get a plotbunny out of your head, you're still posting for the public- everyone knows there's the potential for reviews, or why else post it online in the first place, especially at a place like FFnet? Why else say things like "R&R" or "No flames!"? (And frankly, I find the last one stupid. Unless you've written something you know will "warrant" flames, why say it? You're basically asking for it when you say "Don't flame me!" because it really translates to: "Don't say anything if it's not mindless praise and useless drivel! I can't take constructive criticism and will tell you of all my illnesses and tragedies if you accuse me of forgetting to spell-check!")
It bugs me to no end when I see not just some simple, scattered spelling and grammar errors, but constant, repeated things within the first few paragraphs. In what I've seen lately with AlNel fics, it's stuff that's not specific to the fandom in any way, and could affect anyone, any time:
* Tense shifts. It's really, really jarring. I honestly think a simple proofread would solve this. Why don't people ever re-read their fics before they post? I do that many times over with my fics; it's how I catch most of my errors before I send the chapter off to a beta!
* Wrong word, wrong spelling, bad grammar. I saw "hallowed" instead of "hollowed." Yes, I know it's just a letter of difference, and from context, I understood the proper meaning, but still, since it's so easily FIXABLE, why not? A spell-checker won't catch it; you need to be diligent as a writer or have a beta who knows English! Why? Because something with an empty inside is much different from something that is considered sacred and respected. And of course, mixed up words like your, you're, their, they're, there always piss me off. GET THEM RIGHT! I also hate seeing it's or its used improperly. I'm just glad I have yet to see anyone use its'. And people who mix up words that should just LOOK wrong automatically like in this phrase: "They where sitting down next to the grapebind tree." What's wrong with that phrase? If you can't tell me, you fail. (And no, it's not the "grapebind," part, that's actually the name of a variety of tree in SO3. This is obviously something grammatical.)
* OOC. It bugs me when people say "yeah, they're a little OOC," and then they apologize, bitch about it, or say "fuck off" to the readers in some form or fashion. With most pairings, OOC means they're not the characters we're reading FOR anymore. Albel Nox and Nel Zelpher have such distinct personalities, to make them OOC in the slightest detracts from any quality the story may have had in its plot, writing style, etc. It's like cheapening a fine wine with seltzer water.
For those unfamiliar with the pairing, Albel Nox is the captain of a military power's infantry branch, known as the Black Brigade. He's a feared, ruthless killer with an incredible prowess with the katana and an ego that matches his reputation. But he's got a dark past and a thirst for bloodshed that are his weaknesses.
Nel Zelpher works for the country on the other side of the war, a country called Aquaria. She's a loyal woman, hard-working and strong, but she can occasionally come off as cold. She's also got a biting attitude sometimes. Her father died (technically without her knowing), so she, too, has a bit of a sad past. Unlike Albel, she's not missing any limbs or anything, but her ego's not as huge, even though she is well known as a spy and as the fierce edge of the renowned "Crimson Blade."
To take any of that away from them is to lose what makes them unique, tough characters, and then what's the point of writing fanfiction about them (or people with their names, at least) at all?
* "Guide to my writing." I used to do this when I was younger. But seriously, why the hell do people feel the need to mention that speech will be in "double quotes," thoughts will be 'italicized and in single quotes,' and things like lyrics, other languages, text messages, etc. will be bold/enclosed in brackets/marked off with asterisks, etc.? Ninety percent of the time, it's understood from context! I don't need someone instructing me on basic writing/English! (And for the record, I've written and even enjoy some songfics, but nowadays I'm seeing very little need to include lyrics --or at least huge chunks of them-- in fics. It's much easier to say "This fic was inspired by/has a scene inspired by XYZ by Artist A." Plus, you're not breaking copyright infringement by reprinting lyrics, then. And as an added bonus, there are no extra parts to bold/italicize/whatever to mark them off as lyrics (assuming your reader was too dumb to figure it out otherwise).
* High School fics/Movie or TV-based fics - I really wish this would end. When you take characters from a sword-and-sorcery-based world and try and dump them into a modern high school, modern hospital, or any other "modern" situation, it just ruins their characters. Albel Nox IS WHO HE IS because of WHERE HE WAS BORN, HOW HE WAS RAISED, AND WHAT HE HAS GONE THROUGH. You can't call him "Albel the Wicked" if he's pretending to be House, M.D. Nel wouldn't be who she is if she were years younger and some floozy at Aquios High. Parodies, yes, I can understand that, but... a real fic? It's one thing to dump the characters in a universe that the characters can still somewhat be fit into, but for a game like SO3, it's just not possible with these. Yet I've seen House, M.D., Cast Away, high school fics... ugh.
* Earth-based... - Okay, there's off-worlders like Fayt, Cliff, et. al. in SO3, but that doesn't mean that they're going to introduce a holiday like Valentine's Day/Christmas/etc. to Elicoor. And even if they did introduce it to Nel, Albel, or a city/a country, there's no telling if it would take, or if there wasn't already some sort of similar holiday in place! Consider the circumstances under which holidays developed on Earth. Without the same meaning on Elicoor, what's the point? Why would anyone place any significance to them, or care? Why would anyone ACT on them? It's stupid. It's MUCH easier, if you must have an excuse to write seasonal romance or whatnot, to invent a brand-new holiday. You can take elements of Valentine's Day, for example, and modify it to make something brand new. Even around the world, holidays aren't the same. So why not start with bits and pieces of one holiday and how it's celebrated around the world, and mush them all together? Or take multiple holiday traditions and mush them together? What if people on Elicoor celebrate a day of love in their coldest month, and partake of a chocolate treat after lighting candles on a tree? And what if it's called Eyun, or Rashul Day? It doesn't have to be "Valentine's" or "Christmas," or anything like that. (BTW, remember that Earth in SO3 is several centuries ahead of "modern time" anyway, so who's to say that holidays like those are even celebrated anymore, or if they are, that they're celebrated in even the remotely same way? Christmas now isn't celebrated like it was originally, that's for damn sure.)
* "Bad at summary's. Read." Er, no, I'll pass. Seriously, all a summary is: a single sentence briefly describing the plot of your story. And you know what? It can come in different forms. I know one summary that was a line from the story, but it was so unusual, it drew me in. It can be one of those standard "questions," where you put a character in a situation and then ask if they can get out of it somehow. BUT IT SHOULD NOT BE: a string of pairing names, emoticons, ellipses, references to friends/inside jokes, re-hashed information from canon, song lyrics, or a single word/short phrase having nothing to do with your story (again, such as the pairing name). Same goes for the title, too. MAKE IT RELEVANT. It's not hard.
Summaries also don't need to include irrelevant details (unless it's what makes your story unique, and frankly I DOUBT IT) like whose POV the story is written in, what there are spoilers for (seriously, that's what author notes are for), why it's rated the way it is, etc. It CAN include things like the fact that a chapter is new or revised, if the story is on hiatus or will never be finished, and so on. But it should basically give the reader a reason to read, a reason why your story should be picked out of the trash that is FFnet these days.
There are a ton of other things, too, like eLiTE caps, Random Capitals in the Middle of a Phrase or sentence!, misspellings of canonical things (Airyglyph, not Airigliph, Airygliph, etc.; Fayt, not Fate, Elicoor, not Elicloor, etc.), lack of/bad punctuation (thats, well for we'll, etc.), too much punctuation (*!*!*!xxStoryTitlexx*!*!*!)
I hate to say it, but it's not that much better on most private archives I found. That makes me sad that either writers of this pairing are so lazy, the good writers are so few and far between, and/or the moderators of outside archives aren't stringent. This is why I have an approval queue for Dragonfayth, and why I beta things that are on the verge of being good, but just need some (hopefully minor) changes. Sometimes I'm too nice and I really overhaul a story rather than rejecting it-- I've done it multiple times now with an author who apparently doesn't read the explanations I make an effort to include in my rejection letters.
I'm thinking that contribution to fandom is multi-fold:
* How-To articles on what makes the best fanfiction for X pairing or Y fandom-- just the basics, like what I mentioned above, not things like "The plot must be Z!" or "Character A should act exactly like THIS, all the time!"
* Contribution of your own work.
* Recognition and recommendation of others' work, because it can't be all that bad.
All of the above makes me want to get Epiphany up that much faster, because all of that can be in place with Epiphany. If only I didn't feel so damn tired and busy all the time. Playing SO3 lately has been my only relief, even though I know I tend to procrastinate when I play (e.g. sorting B&G's bills, working on my J371 project which is due next week, etc.)
*SIGH!* This entry has too many asterisks in it.
Why is it I keep seeing the same carelessness in fics? Whatever happened to showing your love of canon, your pride regarding your pairing (crack or not), and basic rules for clarity? I mean, even if you write just to get a plotbunny out of your head, you're still posting for the public- everyone knows there's the potential for reviews, or why else post it online in the first place, especially at a place like FFnet? Why else say things like "R&R" or "No flames!"? (And frankly, I find the last one stupid. Unless you've written something you know will "warrant" flames, why say it? You're basically asking for it when you say "Don't flame me!" because it really translates to: "Don't say anything if it's not mindless praise and useless drivel! I can't take constructive criticism and will tell you of all my illnesses and tragedies if you accuse me of forgetting to spell-check!")
It bugs me to no end when I see not just some simple, scattered spelling and grammar errors, but constant, repeated things within the first few paragraphs. In what I've seen lately with AlNel fics, it's stuff that's not specific to the fandom in any way, and could affect anyone, any time:
* Tense shifts. It's really, really jarring. I honestly think a simple proofread would solve this. Why don't people ever re-read their fics before they post? I do that many times over with my fics; it's how I catch most of my errors before I send the chapter off to a beta!
* Wrong word, wrong spelling, bad grammar. I saw "hallowed" instead of "hollowed." Yes, I know it's just a letter of difference, and from context, I understood the proper meaning, but still, since it's so easily FIXABLE, why not? A spell-checker won't catch it; you need to be diligent as a writer or have a beta who knows English! Why? Because something with an empty inside is much different from something that is considered sacred and respected. And of course, mixed up words like your, you're, their, they're, there always piss me off. GET THEM RIGHT! I also hate seeing it's or its used improperly. I'm just glad I have yet to see anyone use its'. And people who mix up words that should just LOOK wrong automatically like in this phrase: "They where sitting down next to the grapebind tree." What's wrong with that phrase? If you can't tell me, you fail. (And no, it's not the "grapebind," part, that's actually the name of a variety of tree in SO3. This is obviously something grammatical.)
* OOC. It bugs me when people say "yeah, they're a little OOC," and then they apologize, bitch about it, or say "fuck off" to the readers in some form or fashion. With most pairings, OOC means they're not the characters we're reading FOR anymore. Albel Nox and Nel Zelpher have such distinct personalities, to make them OOC in the slightest detracts from any quality the story may have had in its plot, writing style, etc. It's like cheapening a fine wine with seltzer water.
For those unfamiliar with the pairing, Albel Nox is the captain of a military power's infantry branch, known as the Black Brigade. He's a feared, ruthless killer with an incredible prowess with the katana and an ego that matches his reputation. But he's got a dark past and a thirst for bloodshed that are his weaknesses.
Nel Zelpher works for the country on the other side of the war, a country called Aquaria. She's a loyal woman, hard-working and strong, but she can occasionally come off as cold. She's also got a biting attitude sometimes. Her father died (technically without her knowing), so she, too, has a bit of a sad past. Unlike Albel, she's not missing any limbs or anything, but her ego's not as huge, even though she is well known as a spy and as the fierce edge of the renowned "Crimson Blade."
To take any of that away from them is to lose what makes them unique, tough characters, and then what's the point of writing fanfiction about them (or people with their names, at least) at all?
* "Guide to my writing." I used to do this when I was younger. But seriously, why the hell do people feel the need to mention that speech will be in "double quotes," thoughts will be 'italicized and in single quotes,' and things like lyrics, other languages, text messages, etc. will be bold/enclosed in brackets/marked off with asterisks, etc.? Ninety percent of the time, it's understood from context! I don't need someone instructing me on basic writing/English! (And for the record, I've written and even enjoy some songfics, but nowadays I'm seeing very little need to include lyrics --or at least huge chunks of them-- in fics. It's much easier to say "This fic was inspired by/has a scene inspired by XYZ by Artist A." Plus, you're not breaking copyright infringement by reprinting lyrics, then. And as an added bonus, there are no extra parts to bold/italicize/whatever to mark them off as lyrics (assuming your reader was too dumb to figure it out otherwise).
* High School fics/Movie or TV-based fics - I really wish this would end. When you take characters from a sword-and-sorcery-based world and try and dump them into a modern high school, modern hospital, or any other "modern" situation, it just ruins their characters. Albel Nox IS WHO HE IS because of WHERE HE WAS BORN, HOW HE WAS RAISED, AND WHAT HE HAS GONE THROUGH. You can't call him "Albel the Wicked" if he's pretending to be House, M.D. Nel wouldn't be who she is if she were years younger and some floozy at Aquios High. Parodies, yes, I can understand that, but... a real fic? It's one thing to dump the characters in a universe that the characters can still somewhat be fit into, but for a game like SO3, it's just not possible with these. Yet I've seen House, M.D., Cast Away, high school fics... ugh.
* Earth-based... - Okay, there's off-worlders like Fayt, Cliff, et. al. in SO3, but that doesn't mean that they're going to introduce a holiday like Valentine's Day/Christmas/etc. to Elicoor. And even if they did introduce it to Nel, Albel, or a city/a country, there's no telling if it would take, or if there wasn't already some sort of similar holiday in place! Consider the circumstances under which holidays developed on Earth. Without the same meaning on Elicoor, what's the point? Why would anyone place any significance to them, or care? Why would anyone ACT on them? It's stupid. It's MUCH easier, if you must have an excuse to write seasonal romance or whatnot, to invent a brand-new holiday. You can take elements of Valentine's Day, for example, and modify it to make something brand new. Even around the world, holidays aren't the same. So why not start with bits and pieces of one holiday and how it's celebrated around the world, and mush them all together? Or take multiple holiday traditions and mush them together? What if people on Elicoor celebrate a day of love in their coldest month, and partake of a chocolate treat after lighting candles on a tree? And what if it's called Eyun, or Rashul Day? It doesn't have to be "Valentine's" or "Christmas," or anything like that. (BTW, remember that Earth in SO3 is several centuries ahead of "modern time" anyway, so who's to say that holidays like those are even celebrated anymore, or if they are, that they're celebrated in even the remotely same way? Christmas now isn't celebrated like it was originally, that's for damn sure.)
* "Bad at summary's. Read." Er, no, I'll pass. Seriously, all a summary is: a single sentence briefly describing the plot of your story. And you know what? It can come in different forms. I know one summary that was a line from the story, but it was so unusual, it drew me in. It can be one of those standard "questions," where you put a character in a situation and then ask if they can get out of it somehow. BUT IT SHOULD NOT BE: a string of pairing names, emoticons, ellipses, references to friends/inside jokes, re-hashed information from canon, song lyrics, or a single word/short phrase having nothing to do with your story (again, such as the pairing name). Same goes for the title, too. MAKE IT RELEVANT. It's not hard.
Summaries also don't need to include irrelevant details (unless it's what makes your story unique, and frankly I DOUBT IT) like whose POV the story is written in, what there are spoilers for (seriously, that's what author notes are for), why it's rated the way it is, etc. It CAN include things like the fact that a chapter is new or revised, if the story is on hiatus or will never be finished, and so on. But it should basically give the reader a reason to read, a reason why your story should be picked out of the trash that is FFnet these days.
There are a ton of other things, too, like eLiTE caps, Random Capitals in the Middle of a Phrase or sentence!, misspellings of canonical things (Airyglyph, not Airigliph, Airygliph, etc.; Fayt, not Fate, Elicoor, not Elicloor, etc.), lack of/bad punctuation (thats, well for we'll, etc.), too much punctuation (*!*!*!xxStoryTitlexx*!*!*!)
I hate to say it, but it's not that much better on most private archives I found. That makes me sad that either writers of this pairing are so lazy, the good writers are so few and far between, and/or the moderators of outside archives aren't stringent. This is why I have an approval queue for Dragonfayth, and why I beta things that are on the verge of being good, but just need some (hopefully minor) changes. Sometimes I'm too nice and I really overhaul a story rather than rejecting it-- I've done it multiple times now with an author who apparently doesn't read the explanations I make an effort to include in my rejection letters.
I'm thinking that contribution to fandom is multi-fold:
* How-To articles on what makes the best fanfiction for X pairing or Y fandom-- just the basics, like what I mentioned above, not things like "The plot must be Z!" or "Character A should act exactly like THIS, all the time!"
* Contribution of your own work.
* Recognition and recommendation of others' work, because it can't be all that bad.
All of the above makes me want to get Epiphany up that much faster, because all of that can be in place with Epiphany. If only I didn't feel so damn tired and busy all the time. Playing SO3 lately has been my only relief, even though I know I tend to procrastinate when I play (e.g. sorting B&G's bills, working on my J371 project which is due next week, etc.)
*SIGH!* This entry has too many asterisks in it.
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-15 02:06 pm (UTC)It all depends on how you do it. Don't diss an entire genre just because most people have no idea how to write one properly.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-15 07:30 pm (UTC)Truly, all of the fandoms that fit the S&S category can't really be made into a believable High School AU without butchering the characters. I'm thinking of other video games (e.g. Star Ocean 1 or 2, any of the Final Fantasies, etc.), movies/books (Lord of the Rings), and so on. If you can name something else that fits into the S&S genre and explain to me how a character can be preserved even by dumping them into an HS AU, I'm all ears. Really. I'm generally not this stringent about things, but EVERY single example I can think of cheapens the character.
Take Tidus and Yuna from FFX, for example. Sure you could make Tidus into the dumb jock and Yuna into either the quiet, fuzzy-sweater-wearing girl or the beloved, intelligent class president, but that just takes away everything that made them who they are, lovable and recognizable in their game. Yuna would not be Yuna if you suddenly took away Yevon, the pilgrimage, or even the fact that she lived on Besaid rather than in Bevelle.
If a character can be changed drastically just by changing nothing more than their hometown IN CANON (e.g. Yuna from Besaid to Bevelle), then dumping them centuries into another time/planet, altering their age and the people that surround them, messing with their friends and family (heck knows Wakka and Lulu are too old for high school, not to mention Auron), their talents/abilities would basically turn them into an OC. Everything that makes them who they are is essentially gone.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-15 07:38 pm (UTC)I can't talk about S&S because the only S&S I know is Seishirou/Subaru from X, and I'm sure you don't mean the same. But I'll go with FFX.
Point the first: Tidus is a jock. But that's not all he is. He's also got lots of daddy issues, came from a bit of a broken home and from another world. The first two can be easily switched into an AU, and the second can be shifted to him coming out of country. He's not exactly the same, but that's the point of an AU, and what he's really defined by in the story is his relationships.
Which would bring me to Yuna. Of course in a high school AU, she wouldn't have the weight of the world on her shoulders, but you can still have her be the quiet, withdrawn, and stubborn girl who grew up with Wakka and Lulu and is trying to live up to her father in some area of her life. And then Tidus could come into her life and switch things around and show her what's really important.
...just like in the game.
There is a lot you can do, and you don't have to have Lulu, Wakka and other characters the same age as Yuna and Tidus. They could be teachers, mentors, or family members. Or you could shift the dynamics around and change their ages.
That's basically what an AU is. Putting them in a high school presents a unique challenge that does have the potential be insightful and amusing. Just because people don't do it well doesn't mean it's impossible.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-15 05:02 pm (UTC)It's been a few years since I played it, but still.
This is why I don't read many fanfics anymore. It involves too much time trying to find something decent that isn't incomplete. :P
no subject
Date: 2007-11-15 07:33 pm (UTC)I don't know why I suddenly started to like them together, but I did. I'm not normally one of those "everyone ought to be paired off!" but the Star Ocean series does it pretty well with most characters, even off-worlders with Elicoorians. Of course, Albel and Nel are both Elicoorians, and are on opposing "sides," so to speak, but I don't know, they seem to have a sort of "chemistry" to me! I'm glad, at the very least, that I'm not alone in thinking that way.
But generally, yeah, much of the fanfic on the web is tripe. I think Discovery Channel has a show called "Dirty Jobs" and certainly wading through the Pit of Voles (although voles can be considered "cute" vs. what I see called "fanfiction" nowadays) qualifies.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-15 09:22 pm (UTC)I mean, Albel is just so far gone (did you fight him in the dragon's lair? Holy crap!) and Nel is just so into fighting for the people. That's why it's so crazy to me.
LOL at the Pit of Voles. It's funny because it's true.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-15 09:47 pm (UTC)Anyway, re: AlNel, yes, it's an explosive chemistry, but I tend to like those pairings-- the kind where the girl ISN'T so submissive and the guy isn't a complete prick (and Albel's not, though he is a few lights short of a chandelier). I suppose any pairing, written well enough, is plausible. I've already got it in my head that Cliff x Mirage is cute, and Fayt x Sophia have been together since the intro (Maria strikes me as a sister-type to Fayt; the fact that she looks so similar to him makes me believe it could be possible). Roger and Peppitta are just kids, Adray's... Adray, and that leaves Albel and Nel! :D Personally I think it takes a driven, strong women to take a guy like Albel down a few notches, anyway. :}
no subject
Date: 2007-11-16 02:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-16 10:22 pm (UTC)I successfully managed to synthesize Nel's Blades of Ryusen with some Orichalchum for a +500 ATK bonus, but I want to keep refining them to get the effect to duplicate. But Synthesizing *AND* the creation of Orichalchum cost a lot of money, and Fol is something I tend to run out of pretty fast...
THANK YOU
Date: 2007-11-16 12:19 am (UTC)Now I shudder to think about all the fishing one has to do to find even a semi-decent fic. Suddenly, everyone thinks they're a writer--like owning a keyboard is the only real requirement. And proper grasp of grammar just doesn't cut it either (although it will certainly make the story easier to digest). Where is the quality ? Where are the real fanfiction writers? You know, the ones who actually care about writing as an art worthy of presentation?
I feel like grandmother telling one of those stories about the good ol' days...but honestly.
Re: THANK YOU
Date: 2007-11-16 10:36 pm (UTC)"When I was your age, Pluto was still a planet!" and "Back in MY day, fanfiction writers had some PRIDE!" instead of something about walking ten miles to school in snowshoes.
I realize that each generation has to grow up and WANT to improve-- that's why I'm still around. I look at the fics I loved so desperately as a kid, and I admit, some of them are pretty cheesy or mediocre. But I don't think there's been anything that I LOVED when I was younger than I can't even look at now. Even back then, I had standards, so it makes me wonder if the current generation of young fic writers (aka the ones that are now what age WE were when we started writing) just doesn't have any. It's like, "Well, why the heck do you write, then?" It seems like work, to me, to write. Whenever I write, I want to do my best, because otherwise, what's the point of doing it at all?
But I guess some people are perfectly okay with half-assing something. They figure, they're not getting a grade for it, so why bother? I have a standard that has me thinking "What if (someone really important) read this? What impression would I want them to walk away with?" Of course, everyone (including that "someone really important") makes mistakes, and those are, of course, forgivable, but I hate it when I see people that are basically like "I wrote this on a sugar hi!!!" or "It's JUST fanfiction, who cares!?!?" *eyeroll*
Quality fic might be harder to come by, but it's instantly recognizable when you do find it.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-16 01:09 am (UTC)And they barely read my story, even said so. D: I need to rant on people in that class lolz.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-16 10:41 pm (UTC)People who "barely read" something don't really have the right to point out supposed errors. (There are lot of circumstances in which I feel people that whine/complain don't deserve the right because of their [in]action).
That's not to say anyone that ever complains won't have merit, but when it comes to things like what you said, it's like... "Yeah, okay, you're wrong, moving on..."
no subject
Date: 2007-11-16 01:43 am (UTC)It's a shame that you can't find good fics for your pairing, though. I guess all you can do is wait for a good one to pop up or just get really creative with your ff.net searches.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-16 10:27 pm (UTC)And of course, the best way to make that known would be to write my own stuff, but I'm not only pretty busy, I'm dedicated to finishing WDKY (Yu-Gi-Oh) before I dash off and do anything else, let alone a multi-chapter fic in a new fandom (at the moment, I don't have ideas for any oneshots for SO3).
What's sad is that sometimes even the best authors let their standards slip in favor of a pairing, especially if there's little written about it in the first place. It's like "Well, I don't REALLY like it, but out of what's there, yeah, I guess it's good." I've never liked that attitude. If something isn't appealing to me, I don't read it, period. I tried to give some of those stories a chance, but they just made me wince.