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[mare]

*Ahem* I think everyone knows what mine are lol

[Rose]

LOL So next question:  What is everyone most critical about when it comes to fanfic?  What's your biggest pet peeve?

You all know mine has got to be grammar and conventions!  I'm one of the biggest Grammar Nazis on the board.  I can overlook little things if the storyline interests me enough, but if everything's in one paragraph, or you don't use capital letters or appropriate punctuation marks, or you misuse homophones or spell commonly used words (like the Boys' names?) incorrectly, I'm out!

Most critical?

Characters. Anyone who's asked for my concrit will tell you that if anything, I harp on characters. It's a thing. I hate one-dimmensional, flat boring characters. HATE THEM lol. And yes, that includes Mary-Sues! If it's blatantly obvious a character is a self-insert (similar features, names sounding the same as the author's real name, and then matched up with her fave Boy and has NO flaws), I will immediately click out. I mean if you're going to do a self-insert, at least don't be obvious about it! If your name is Cary, don't have a female named Carol or Candy or something, hooking up with your fave boy and having the same color hair and eyes as you. Just don't do it!

That, and storytelling, there needs to be a flow to the story, a smoothness to it. If it feels fragmented or jumpy, I tend to click out.

[RokofAges75]

*Ahem* I think everyone knows what mine are lol

Love you, Mare! 

[FrickingKaos]

For me it is punctuation, grammar and the storyline/characters. A few days ago I was being a bit critical of someone's story and it was misconstrued as bullying. The story idea wasn't bad, it was the grammar and writing itself that was a turn off. Like Rose I get annoyed with the self inserts even though I've done it myself...like for example I do have a Tracy in Not The Other Guy that is based on myself with alterations. None of us here are completely perfect.

Also banners with the author's picture on it and loud colors or graphics annoy me as well.

[Rose]

I don't give con-crit unless asked. I find it just leads to a lot of trouble and people can take it the wrong way cause they may not see what you're doing. That, and sometimes people just don't want it.

On that same note, people should never ask for concrit unless they can handle hearing negative things about their writing.

[FrickingKaos]

I take this as another lesson learned. I didn't leave it in a review but a friend of mine showed her what everyone was saying (some were worse than me) and the girl posted a socialcam of herself crying because people were discussing the story. So I've learned my lesson and won't do it again. I honestly wasn't being harsh.

[RokofAges75]

For me it is punctuation, grammar and the storyline/characters. A few days ago I was being a bit critical of someone's story and it was misconstrued as bullying. The story idea wasn't bad, it was the grammar and writing itself that was a turn off. Like Rose I get annoyed with the self inserts even though I've done it myself...like for example I do have a Tracy in Not The Other Guy that is based on myself with alterations. None of us here are completely perfect.

Also banners with the author's picture on it and loud colors or graphics annoy me as well.

Those things annoy me too.  I guess there's a fine line you walk when you express an opinion like that, whether on here or on Twitter, because even if it's just a general observation, not a personal attack on someone specific who does that, you run the risk of offending someone.  Bullying has become such a big deal lately that it's almost like the whole political correctness thing... You feel like you have to watch what you say and censor yourself so you're not accused of bullying when someone gets offended by something you say.

When it comes to fanfic, I think everyone just needs to remember the phrase, "To each her own."  We all like and dislike different things.  That's why I asked what everyone was most critical about, because for those of us who are serious enough about writing to spend so much time on here discussing it, there's probably going to be SOMETHING.  And if someone else's pet peeve is something you do in your writing, you have the choice to either be offended, learn from it and do it differently next time, or be proud of your work while understanding that it's not going to be for everyone.  There's a reason we don't all have the same favorite story!  And if we did, and we all wrote exactly the same way, these Question of the Day discussion threads would have died out a long time ago.  What makes them interesting is that everyone's answers are different!

[RokofAges75]

I take this as another lesson learned. I didn't leave it in a review but a friend of mine showed her what everyone was saying (some were worse than me) and the girl posted a socialcam of herself crying because people were discussing the story. So I've learned my lesson and won't do it again. I honestly wasn't being harsh.

What has me scratching my head about this is, why would her friend show her something that was bound to hurt her feelings?  I don't know the whole story behind this and didn't see what everyone was saying, but if they weren't saying it to her directly and weren't saying it on her timeline where she was going to read it anyway, she never would have seen what anyone was saying and never would have gotten her feelings hurt.  As a friend, I think I would have messaged those people privately and said, "Hey, not cool; this is her first story; go easy on her," before I would show the girl the tweets.  But I guess it's a good reminder that, unless your Twitter is private, you need to be aware that anyone can see what you're saying, even if you don't think they're going to look.

[FrickingKaos]

Yeah I'm seeing that a lot now. I have to watch everything I say. I know none of you here are judging me, just giving your opinions. I will admit that I've done some things that are on your pet peeve list but I've learned from it and am constantly trying to improve myself.

[FrickingKaos]

That made me wonder how she saw what people said. She's not on twitter I don't think. And if this girl was really a friend, you're right. She should have messaged her privately. That's what I would do. No need to make a big thing of it. The girl also picked at some that said something and then posted the girl's video saying "I hope all of you are happy"

[RokofAges75]

Yeah, I feel like sometimes the ones who claim to hate drama the most are the same ones who perpetuate that drama, whether intentionally or not.  If you really hate drama, then stay out of it and say nothing.  It'll die off eventually if people stop feeding into it.

[FrickingKaos]

You pretty much hit the nail on the head there. No need to comment if it has nothing to do with you. I've made that mistake before as well. Ah the joys of being online lol

[Sakabelle]

Biggest fanfic pet peeve?

It's probably a toss up between the wall of text (impossible to read so I don't even bother trying) and... a story that tells you everything straight up. Maybe that second one isn't really a peeve, but I'd much rather read a story with some subtlety, that lets the reader try to figure things out through the character's actions rather than just being told what happens. I also like stories that end with a bit of a grey area, where the reader can sort of fill in their own ending. Kinda like the way The OC ended with Ryan and Taylor. Did they stay together? They gave each other that look, but we don't know, and the viewer can draw their own logical conclusion.

I don't like being told every little thing, I guess. I don't want to read a fanfic that tells me every single thing about the character's lives. Tell me about a story that happened in their life - not their life story, you know?

[mare]

^ I agree with you, Steph. I enjoy reading stories where things are kind of left up in the air. You don't really ever learn what happens to every single character and not every situation is resolved. Just like real life, not everythimgs with a big bow on top. When too many details are laid out, it almost becomes too mechanical to read.

[mare]

Here's another question:

Now that we've talked about our pet peeves etc..

What do you think you do that can be a peeve for some when it comes to your writing? Is there something that you get called out a lot on? And do you tend to agree with them or disagree?