fanfiction Most hated fanfic tropes

[Thorn Wilde]

I despise the whole OmegaVerse thing. Every single time I'm browsing a ship I like, like 50% of what I find has this Alpha/Beta/Omega AU going on, and I just don't get the appeal. It's super annoying.

 

Context: OmegaVerse is a fan fiction trope where people are born as either alphas, betas, or omegas. Alphas are high status, betas are subservient, and omegas are basically sex slaves most of the time. There's this whole wolf thing going on where they basically scent mark each other and use pheromones to attract one another and there are like heat cycles, and it's just a mess of mixed lore, most of which makes no sense. Oh, and in many of these stories, omega boys can be impregnated via anal sex. Which is my second most hated trope: male pregnancy. Especially when it's for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

 

So, which trope can you not stand?

Edited November 29, 2018 by Thorn Wilde

[Brayon]

M-Preg and Shifters of any kind. M-Preg is the quickest way for me to toss out a book and never read that author again.

[Myr]

Introducing Gary Stu/ Mary Sue original characters to a FanFiction universe.

 

[Myr]

8 minutes ago, BHopper2 said:

M-Preg is the quickest way for me to toss out a book and never read that author again

I'm never really a fan of mpreg, but there was one story where it was done well.  (Game of Thrones/ Harry Potter Crossover)

 

[Thorn Wilde]

1 minute ago, Myr said:

I'm never really a fan of mpreg, but there was one story where it was done well.  (Game of Thrones/ Harry Potter Crossover)

 

 

There's almost always an exception or two, I'd say. If a story is otherwise well written enough, the author can get away with a lot of annoying tropes.

 

And I thought of another one: gay sex scenes written with neither experience nor research. Though that goes not only for fanfic.

[Krista]

4 hours ago, Myr said:

Introducing Gary Stu/ Mary Sue original characters to a FanFiction universe.

 

 

Yes! I don't like that in Fanfiction, they create a new character and make them 'perfect,' and unoriginal. If you're going to work within your favorite worlds/universes/etc at least make an original character worth reading about. Don't slack off on real character development just because they are surrounded by, "well knowns," we've already read/watched/played. There's no point in reading if the new character isn't worthwhile. Although, if you meant that you don't like reading fanfictions where an 'original' is added to a Fanfiction, that is one of my favorites to read myself, but as you can tell I'm rather picky about the main characters and most fall short.  

 

I personally was a fan, once upon a time, of Real Celebrity fanfictions (there were some good writers on Nifty), but now I can't get into those at all. Also, I agree with the MPreg/OmegaVerse that is just too much for me and I stay well away from stories like those. 

[Thorn Wilde]

8 hours ago, Krista said:

 

Yes! I don't like that in Fanfiction, they create a new character and make them 'perfect,' and unoriginal. If you're going to work within your favorite worlds/universes/etc at least make an original character worth reading about. Don't slack off on real character development just because they are surrounded by, "well knowns," we've already read/watched/played. There's no point in reading if the new character isn't worthwhile. Although, if you meant that you don't like reading fanfictions where an 'original' is added to a Fanfiction, that is one of my favorites to read myself, but as you can tell I'm rather picky about the main characters and most fall short.  

 

I personally was a fan, once upon a time, of Real Celebrity fanfictions (there were some good writers on Nifty), but now I can't get into those at all. Also, I agree with the MPreg/OmegaVerse that is just too much for me and I stay well away from stories like those. 

I hate real person fic, lol! For one, I keep thinking that if I were a public individual and someone wrote fic about me I would just feel really uncomfortable. For another, I just don’t give a crap about celebs. One thing is creating an original character for a novel and basing them partly on real people, we do that all the time. And celebrity cameos can be fun. I did both those things in L&G. But writing whole stories where the main characters are actual real people who have no say just bothers me on a fundamental level.

 

I think original characters should be used sparingly and only for supporting roles, in general. I’m reading a great Yuri!!! on Ice fanfic currently where the authors have made an OC boyfriend for Chris, and he’s fantastic. Original main characters are almost always Gary-stu/Mary-sue self inserts. There are notable exceptions to this, obviously. Some people pull it off really well. But most of the time, blah!

[Krista]

7 hours ago, Thorn Wilde said:

I hate real person fic, lol! For one, I keep thinking that if I were a public individual and someone wrote fic about me I would just feel really uncomfortable. For another, I just don’t give a crap about celebs. One thing is creating an original character for a novel and basing them partly on real people, we do that all the time. And celebrity cameos can be fun. I did both those things in L&G. But writing whole stories where the main characters are actual real people who have no say just bothers me on a fundamental level.

 

I think original characters should be used sparingly and only for supporting roles, in general. I’m reading a great Yuri!!! on Ice fanfic currently where the authors have made an OC boyfriend for Chris, and he’s fantastic. Original main characters are almost always Gary-stu/Mary-sue self inserts. There are notable exceptions to this, obviously. Some people pull it off really well. But most of the time, blah!

 

 

That's the way I feel about them now. To be honest, it was the first M/M stories I read and I guess I thought I could get into the stories better if I knew the characters already. Anyway, I was like a freshman in high school when I read those stories.. haha. Now that I'm more educated on the entire genre, it is cringe worthy for the most part.

 

I also do feel that some universes are better with an OC main. Like Dragonage - I feel it is better to write from the Warder/Inquisitions POVs, putting them into more depth rather than a say... a Zeveran/Alistair romance story where the Warden is just on the fringe... I just wouldn't be invested in that relationship as I would WardenOC/Alistair or something like that. That is what I'm writing (I even posted a chapter on Ao3, but it didn't get a ton of reads so I kinda abandoned it).  Since it is a Hetero-central story I don't think it would be appropriate for GA. But meh. 

[Thorn Wilde]

2 hours ago, Krista said:

 

 

That's the way I feel about them now. To be honest, it was the first M/M stories I read and I guess I thought I could get into the stories better if I knew the characters already. Anyway, I was like a freshman in high school when I read those stories.. haha. Now that I'm more educated on the entire genre, it is cringe worthy for the most part.

 

I also do feel that some universes are better with an OC main. Like Dragonage - I feel it is better to write from the Warder/Inquisitions POVs, putting them into more depth rather than a say... a Zeveran/Alistair romance story where the Warden is just on the fringe... I just wouldn't be invested in that relationship as I would WardenOC/Alistair or something like that. That is what I'm writing (I even posted a chapter on Ao3, but it didn't get a ton of reads so I kinda abandoned it).  Since it is a Hetero-central story I don't think it would be appropriate for GA. But meh. 

 

I don't think of the main characters of RPGs like that as OCs per se, though. I mean, even though you customise them, you still have kind of a basis. The various race and class combos in Dragon Age and Dragon Age: Inquisition have their own backstories. The way you play them, which dialogue choices you make, also makes them individuals within the framework of the game. It's not a fully original character, but more of a hybrid, I guess, and that's very different in my opinion. Gotta say, though, when it comes to Dragon Age I kind of prefer ships that don't involve the player character. There's some yummy Alistair/Cullen fanfic out there (I can't see Alistair being gay with anyone but Cullen)... And in Inquisition, you've got Iron Bull/Dorian, which is canon if you don't romance either of them. Also, I recently discovered Iron Bull/Dorian/Cullen three-way fic (it's a fairly popular ship, actually), which I love. I think a warden or inquisitor lead is more fun to write than it is to read, if that makes any sense, cause everyone will inevitably think about how they would play them. That's just my opinion, though. Dragon Age 2 is kind of different, since Hawke is established and can only be played in so many ways. Same with Mass Effect (I love male Shepard/Kaidan so much), you've got your paragon or your renegade Shepard, and how they're physically described or what their first name is doesn't make much difference to how you imagine them and how they relate to your own playing style, even with the different backstory options you've got.

 

I'd love to give your Warden/Alistair fic a go, though. As I've said earlier in the thread, there are exceptions to everything.  

[Laura S. Fox]

Hmm, that's a really good topic.

 

For me, the number one 'no-no' is - I'm not sure if it really counts as a trope - neverending angst. While I do find it good for emotional spice, too much angst (that also finds no resolution one way or another) is like having too much salt and pepper sprinkled over your food.

[Thorn Wilde]

38 minutes ago, Laura S. Fox said:

Hmm, that's a really good topic.

 

For me, the number one 'no-no' is - I'm not sure if it really counts as a trope - neverending angst. While I do find it good for emotional spice, too much angst (that also finds no resolution one way or another) is like having too much salt and pepper sprinkled over your food.

 

As someone who writes SO MUCH ANGST, I couldn’t agree more, actually. Angst can be super interesting, and can add conflict without the need for overly obvious bad guys, as well as being a good tool for personal an emotional development. But not all the time. Readers and characters need reprieve. There’s got to be some fluff, some humour to balance it out. As well as a plot that actually justifies the angst rather than having been created as merely a vehicle for the angst. If any of that made any sense.  And like you said, it needs to be resolved in one way or another.

[Laura S. Fox]

2 hours ago, Thorn Wilde said:

 

As someone who writes SO MUCH ANGST, I couldn’t agree more, actually. Angst can be super interesting, and can add conflict without the need for overly obvious bad guys, as well as being a good tool for personal an emotional development. But not all the time. Readers and characters need reprieve. There’s got to be some fluff, some humour to balance it out. As well as a plot that actually justifies the angst rather than having been created as merely a vehicle for the angst. If any of that made any sense.  And like you said, it needs to be resolved in one way or another.

 

You explained it very well. I do like angst - actually, what got me started on fanfiction was a super-angsty story and I began reading fanfiction to escape the angst, lol - but, for the reader's satisfaction, it all must happen as you said, with balance, with reprieves, and, of course, with resolution.

[Laura S. Fox]

On 11/30/2018 at 1:04 AM, Myr said:

I'm never really a fan of mpreg, but there was one story where it was done well.  (Game of Thrones/ Harry Potter Crossover)

 

 

I think that's true about most tropes, even the ones you're not really into. As long as it's done well, it can be even enjoyed.

[Thorn Wilde]

4 minutes ago, Laura S. Fox said:

 

I think that's true about most tropes, even the ones you're not really into. As long as it's done well, it can be even enjoyed.

 

It's like with music. I can find something in every genre that I like, even in genres that I can't stand in general.

[Sammy Blue]

I have no idea how m-preg fictions even exist. Maybe a lack of sexual education for teenage (american) writers? In any case, the very definition of "female" is that it is that part of the species that bears children. I'm not sure if the writers of these are aware of the logistics of conception and birth, but the two or three times I got far enough for that I didn't get the feeling they were. Maybe Mary and Jesus are to blame? Who knows.

 

Mary Sue is just boring, not really a hate. It makes me give up a story fast though.

 

Just some examples that really get me to bang my head against the wall: (not sure these are tropes? what exactly are tropes?^^)

 

Harry Potter - Marriage Law - I mean, the concept isn't that far off in terms of fanfic ideas, there is great potential for former enemies to actually work together against a government trying that sort of thing. Only, no writer goes that way! It's more like, "Hey, the government made some stupid law, we really hate it and we really hate each other but, oh, we're suddenly in love." -and that every  time I make the mistake to click that sort of fic. It's generally horribly narrated.

 

Harry Potter - Inheritance - Harry inherits a ton of money/ titles, and all he does with it is going shopping like a kid in a candy store. If I had Voldemort after me and I inherited anything between  20 million - 50 billion galleons, a cool wand and a 7 lock compartment trunk would be the least of my worries. Hired Muscle, buying influence in the government, whatever... it's super rare that a writer actually ever uses the money from Inheritance. Same with the titles/government votes. 

 

Something that's so dumb it's almost funny is a Harry Potter Non Magic AU

It's like... just go call it original fiction and simply use other names for you characters...

 

Harry Potter Magical (creature) inheritance stories are not my thing, but if it also includes having to marry and have sex with your magical creature mate who just so happens to be a very specific person... that's just .... It basically screams "I can't write proper character development and romance so... magic! the characters I want together have no choice!" 

 

Meh. Maybe my expectations are too high...

 

/Rant off

 

I don't read much outside of HP, (though I could probably go on endlessly with these HP abomination of plot ideas).

 

Anyway, great to know that this sub forum exists. Hi everyone

Sammy

[Thorn Wilde]

On 2/18/2019 at 11:08 PM, Sammy Blue said:

 

Anyway, great to know that this sub forum exists. Hi everyone

Sammy

I keep forgetting to come here, but hi, Sammy! *waves* 

 

All good examples. Though teeeechnically, the definition of the female of a species is the one that produces the ovum, not necessarily the one that carries the offspring. See seahorses, lol!  I'm a pedant.

 

Basically any story that forces people to marry for get together for no good reason is, to me, a bad story. Unless it can be properly and rationally justified. Arranged marriages can be an interesting backdrop.

 

I very occasionally read AUs like that for pairings I like, at least if it's a rare pair that doesn't have that many fics about them, but I usually shy away. 

 

Oh, and the definition of a trope is commonly recurring literary and rhetorical devices, motifs or clichés in creative works. So, essentially, overused plot devices, in this context.

Edited February 27, 2019 by Thorn Wilde

[Sammy Blue]

Hey Thorn,

I don't have an issue with arranged marriages in general (as a Trope). There are some good stories with realistic reactions. The characters might learn to love each other, or at least work together to achieve common goals, and that can be a great narration and not all that far away from the reality (and even in modern times there are arranged marriages in parts of this world,  unthinkable though it is to us). But I have a feeling many writers miss that point entirely. Those aren't that horrible though, I was referring more to the whole "the magical world is low on population, so everyone has to marry and procreate, or like, go to Askaban. And it just so happens they pair up all former Griffindors with Slytherins." There is a number of those, and of all the ones I looked at, there was exactly one where all the characters actually got together and took action against the government, which, to me, would be the logical reaction to that generation. In every other, Harry and Co. just bend over and take it. Like... what?

And well, as for females: I still maintain that those writers don't actually know their biology.

[W_L]

Didn't know there were Omega werewolves sex slave boys, but I wonder if the author could actually make it work, similar to the concept of Orion girls from Star Trek. Basically from Alpha Canon and Beta Canon, outwardly their world seems like it's dominated by powerful strong masculine brutes with henchmen in traditional setting and poor defenseless sex slaves. However, in reality, the entire society is actually dominated by these sex slaves, who use their seductive abilities to manipulate the strongest males in their society and are the true oligarchs.

 

@Thorn Wilde If I ever had to write Werewolf fanfic, I'd probably clean that up this way, much more fun than just natural sex slaves and makes these character far more scary.

 

In terms of tropes, I hate:

 

-The hero develops a skill that you never knew he had until the end to save the day, I've seen this in a few HP fanfics. It's a contrivance and the worst kind of Deus ex Machina.

 

-More recently in stories, love polygons with the advent of mainstream LGBT characters. Look you don't need to have characters fighting over one another in order to make it entertaining, if the story devolves into that, then you're just doing a day time talk show. I mean does this sound any good: My best friend is in love with me, his brother is in love with me, I am in love with their cousin, their cousin is in love with my best friend, and my sister is in love with his brother. If you want love triangles fine, but don't make everyone involved in one.

 

-The hostage being your boyfriend/girlfriend situation trope, this one has been around for a long time. I get it, this adds tension to the story to have your lover in jeopardy, but it becomes less interesting if you keep doing it over and over again. A notable example, The Walking Dead made that mistake with several key characters, then when they do die, it is less impactful than it should be, because the writers didn't respect their characters.

[Timothy M.]

I've been struggling to come up with a fanfic trope I dislike - or even a fantasy / sci-fi trope such as M-prg or the Alpha/Beta/Omega matter. But nope, I'm apparently OK with everything, as long as the story is well written.  

I can relate to disliking never-ending angst or non-rational characters, but that's general and nothing to do with fanfic. I guess my main objection to fanfic would be if the author was way off in relation to the original. I.e. if the events or the characters were illogical in that world or went totally against canon. But I'm not sure that's a trope.

Edited July 6, 2019 by Timothy M.

[Thorn Wilde]

3 hours ago, Timothy M. said:

I've been struggling to come up with a fanfic trope I dislike - or even a fantasy / sci-fi trope such as M-prg or the Alpha/Beta/Omega matter. But nope, I'm apparently OK with everything, as long as the story is well written.  

I can relate to disliking never-ending angst or non-rational characters, but that's general and nothing to do with fanfic. I guess my main objection to fanfic would be if the author was way off in relation to the original. I.e. if the events or the characters were illogical in that world or went totally against canon. But I'm not sure that's a trope.

Well, you've got alternate universe fic where the writer just takes characters out of the context of the story and puts them in a completely different setting (modern 'real world' AU for fantasy or sci-fi stories and so on), where canon is just completely disregarded. Sometimes you get to such extremes that you might as well just make it an original story, and the characters become almost inevitably out of character when taken out of their element that way. That trope is similar to what you describe.

[Page Scrawler]

Hmmm....I don't read very much of fan fiction these days. But I think my worst peeve is the lazy writers who don't study the established canon, especially the characters. "What? That's definitely not something Ron Weasley would say!" Or they just make characters who previously hated each other have sex within two or three chapters. (Harry accidentally swallows a Misery Potion, starts spilling his heart to Draco Malfoy about all of the horrible stuff that's happened from the day he was left on his relatives' front step, up until The Goblet of Fire; Malfoy starts feeling sympathetic, which leads to attraction, which leads to sex...all within 15 minutes of reading)   Or they add things that just don't make sense. This was on Nifty: "Harry Potter rather liked his body, which was gaining some muscle tone from lifting weights and general working out with his best friend, Ron Weasley". Huh. I wasn't aware that Hogwarts had a weightlifting room? Also, they're wizards. Aesthetics aside, what practical purpose would that serve? Just wave your wand and say "Wingardium Leviosa!" to lift any heavy objects.   

[BigBen]

On 2/18/2019 at 5:08 PM, Sammy Blue said:

have no idea how m-preg fictions even exist.

The ones I've given up reading in disgust were written by young women for other young women.  My guess is that they find mpreg cute or titillating.

 

On 2/18/2019 at 5:08 PM, Sammy Blue said:

we really hate it and we really hate each other but, oh, we're suddenly in love."

Enemies-to-friends is one of my pet hates.  Also, straight-to-gay.

 

On 2/18/2019 at 5:08 PM, Sammy Blue said:

but if it also includes having to marry and have sex with your magical creature mate who just so happens to be a very specific person..

Haven't seen this in fanfic, but you reminded me of something I've come to dislike in mainstream sf/fantasy:  the adorable fluffy lovable cute special wonderful often-magical creature (did I mention that they are always adorable, wonderful, special, and lovable?) who is psychically bonded to a human being.  From McCaffrey's dragons, to Lackey's Companions, to Weber's treecats, the idea has been done to death.  They are always built up to be wise, wonderful, special people with full agency, but in reality they are dependent on their humans for everything, despite their marvelous special abilities.  And their powers of cuteness are getting on my last nerve.

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by BigBen

[LJCC]

On 1/29/2021 at 11:10 AM, BigBen said:

Haven't seen this in fanfic, but you reminded me of something I've come to dislike in mainstream sf/fantasy:  the adorable fluffy lovable cute special wonderful often-magical creature (did I mention that they are always adorable, wonderful, special, and lovable?) who is psychically bonded to a human being.  From McCaffrey's dragons, to Lackey's Companions, to Weber's treecats, the idea has been done to death.  They are always built up to be wise, wonderful, special people with full agency, but in reality they are dependent on their humans for everything, despite their marvelous special abilities.  And their powers of cuteness are getting on my last nerve.

 

I'd like to find a story with a cute animal companion with ADD or alcohol problems. An opposing character flaw has to juxtapose the fluffy or cute appearance with said animal companion that's relatable. Not everything is cute in actual life, so why can't I find an adorable cat with anxiety issues and have a habit of taking catnip to extremes now and then?

[Rhythminthemind]

Personally, I find the majority of "rape as backstory/rape as drama" trope usage disgusting. It's not an inherently bad concept, and it is possible to do it really well, but there is a tendency among authors to use it really, really badly, either as a cheap way of adding drama, or, even worse, as a way of justifying why a given character has serious character flaws. I feel like using it in this manner, if the writer isn't really careful, gives the implication that being raped or abused somehow makes you worse as a human being, which I find kinda disgusting.

So yeah, not a fan.

[W_L]

22 hours ago, Rhythminthemind said:

Personally, I find the majority of "rape as backstory/rape as drama" trope usage disgusting. It's not an inherently bad concept, and it is possible to do it really well, but there is a tendency among authors to use it really, really badly, either as a cheap way of adding drama, or, even worse, as a way of justifying why a given character has serious character flaws. I feel like using it in this manner, if the writer isn't really careful, gives the implication that being raped or abused somehow makes you worse as a human being, which I find kinda disgusting.

So yeah, not a fan.

While I do agree that sometimes rape gets overused in fiction, there's a reason I believe why authors, in particular gay males, use it in our work. It's not coincidence that many of the authors who write rape in our stories were in fact victims of molestation and rape. To me, it's cathartic personal experience that blends into a story and makes it richer. The difference between badly written rape and well thought out rape issues with characters to me, it should be based on who the characters are in relation to the story and the other characters.

Also, you can apply the same logic to those of us who have attempted suicide and use the subject in our stories, while it might be overexposed nowadays, those are personal demons we faced as human beings and affects us today. Some writers overuse the concept and just throws it into a story without really asking how characters are affected by it, or glossing over the suicide attempt a as "feel good" for life moment BS. I've read more than one author exalting their characters and their individual worth, but it doesn't feel legitimate as a lot of people don't just live happily ever after, they just live.

To me, the best writers portray suicide survivors as people who survive suicide, but aren't saints, we're just people with a variety of issues.

Edited February 17, 2021 by W_L