6:23 I read a fic recently that had a character who was known for talking quietly in canon, and to represent this the author wrote all of his dialogue in lowercase. I didn’t even realize until later in the fic when the character became loopy from medication, started shouting, and the fic described it as “which was concerning, because he was speaking at a volume high enough to warrant capital letters” Absolutely sent me, one of the funniest fics I’ve ever read XD
that reminds me of how I've written my character's dialogue in comic sans whenever he's drunk, and I rather enjoy my 4th wall joke with it: “How much alcohol’ve you had already!?” “Oh I’ve barely even started! We’re still in Arial font, baby!” And later that night in the next chapter when the character has since gotten very drunk, he out of nowhere states “Wait a minute… this isn’t Arial… it’s Lucida Grande…” (which is the AO3 default font, although he naturally says it in comic sans. No one else in the fic knows what the heck he's talking about of course)
I love the idea of two characters meeting and interacting when they don't in canon, even if you have to make up events or even completely break canon for it.
I agree! I'm in one fandom that has a TON of characters, most of which have never met each other on-screen, and I really enjoy thinking of ways they would interact with each other through fanfiction.
@@tonkajoey08 I'm definitely guilty of this one. I had a whole AU that I was originally gonna have centered around one character, but then there were two different characters who were similar yet never had the chance to meet in canon, so I deviated from that one character and added that scenario to the AU.
Yes! Like I ship two(or many people) that are from different fandoms, which I know that they will never interact with since they're from different places. And I love making events on what they do. And I ship them because they have some things in common, which surprised me at first. So kinda a multi fandom AU, you can say but they all knew each other, yk?
I actually hate when fan fiction sticks too close to canon. It makes me wonder why I’m reading someone copy/pasting the story when I could just be consuming the original media.
@@Hewasnumber1 Yep, I feel that too! I once read a Tangled fic where everything was exactly the same except for, like, three new lines of dialogue per chapter for an OC, and it annoyed me to just basically get the scenes that I could watch myself if I wanted to, and have to sift through just to find what was new. It had I don't know how many chapters and I quit after the third one or so. Part of why I wanna read fanfic is to see the creativity of the writer :)
@@Hewasnumber1Literally, I honestly feel like this only works if it’s an au where a desired ship is canon either from the start or happens some point, and even then they should gloss over the canon bits they don’t need to change
Honestly? I love song lyrics as titles. I know many people get annoyed. But I don't listen to a lot of popular music on my own and those titles actually make me hear new songs every once in a while
Especially when it intertwines two of my current hyperfixations. I recently read a Psychonauts fanfic titled "Flowers Gasping Under Rubble" and I think the combination between Psychonauts and The Mind Electric / Miracle Musical made me love it more than I would've if it didn't combine them.
I was not aware people didn't like lyric titles. I use them because A: I have a stupid need to have a title before I start; B: sometimes the title will influence where the story goes; and C: I like using songs as inspiration and I like it to be clear when I do that.
@@darkacadpresenceinblood I think it could be because that word is overused. Nearly all the characters in a story only **smirk** to any amusing situation and not grin, smile, laugh, etc, etc... P.S. This word became my pet peeve but honestly I really don't care anymore, lol
@@nyx6879 The best uses of those words though are when the POV character contrasts a character's different types of smiles: "That wasn't his smug smirk or mischievous grin. No, that was his genuine, kind smile." Not many stories do it, but when done well, it can add a lot to characterization.
i personally live by the tumblr quote "you come into my house uninvited and tell me how to arrange my furniture?" because like you *chose* to read/watch the content. the world doesn't revolve around you and your prefrences. like it's so damn easy to find the content you like so why waste time to indulge in the content you don't?
I'm personally a big believer in not just ignoring canon, but also filling in gaps in canon. Like when the protagonists explore a tiny bit of the fictional world, just use your own imagination to flesh it out. This also applies to characters who don't get much personality. Write them with whatever personality you prefer. Is it correct in canon? Probably not. But it fills out your fics in a believable way.
yeah!! for example in the canon of ace attorney: spirit of justice not a lot is explained about the kingdom of khura'in and its inhabitants so i love reading khura'in-centric fics and seeing what everyone has come up with, sometimes i wish i had the patience to write because i have a lot of headcanons that i'd love to share but last time i tried to write anything i wrote things that have been permanently seared into my brain in a very bad way ("he slammed the door with the force of a narcissistic bodybuilder" really? is that seriously the best sentence you could come up with, past me?) and as such i no longer trust myself with google docs
@aromanticfranziskavonkarma This is exactly what I mean! I understand why series focus on the more important bits and handwave everything else, but it doesn't stop me from being interested in the minor details. P.S. That sentence is hilarious, and I would absolutely read a fic with it.
YES! I prefer canon compliance, but in situations where it isn’t possible, I’ll make creative liberties and fill in gaps in the canon where appropriate.
People complain about that? I'd say one of the best aspects of fanfiction is that the world you know is getting fleshed out more. I'm typically careful not to retcon the canon while I "extend the lore" so to speak.
@Blockinstaller12 There are some people who want their fics to stick to what is explicitly found in canon. No hate to those people, but I prefer to expand on canon myself.
I feel like fandoms have forgotten the concept of different people having different tastes. I personally don’t like when characters are OOC, but some people in this thread love it. I love short fics, but there are a lot of people who won’t pick up a fic unless it reaches a certain length. None of us are wrong for our opinions, and just because you don’t like something doesn’t necessarily make it bad. Write what you want to write, read what you want to read, and don’t be mean to people whose tastes don’t match up with yours.
as many squiks as I might have for writing styles and execution, I find it near impossible not to enjoy a fic where you can see the author is just... overwhelmingly fond of at least one character. They're aren't doing it to be smart, or funny, or give a balanced narrative - they just really, really like this one guy. I feel like it adds a lovely rose tint to any fic
right! id much rather read a fic where the author is clearly projecting their crush than one where they’re projecting their hatred onto one character…*cough cough uraraka hate fics cough*
i think it's particularly great when the favorite little guy is also a very minor character in the fic itself. like they're only here for one scene, but for the whole duration of the scene you can just HEAR the author cheering their blorbo on from the sidelines it's so cute
As someone who recently had it pointed out to me that one of my POV characters is a _lot_ more fleshed out than any of my others and is seemingly being spotlit in the plot, this makes me feel a little bit better lol. I didn't really intend for him to become the borderline main character, but I can't really help it. He's one of the characters we know the _least_ about in canon, and I really love the version of him I've built up in my story. He's just a lil smug, sarcastic guy who may or may not be a pyromaniac :D
Yeah! Like the story may not be as good as other fics I've read, but the love the author has for a character or the media is usually obvious and it's so nice to read something born out of fondness ❤
honestly a lot of the time i _only_ read short fics lol, they can be a mixed bag because sometimes they're so short it feels unsatisfying, but also i like being able to read something in one sitting
I really don't mind OOC as long as it remains somewhat plausible. In fact, I really enjoy the type of OOC that expands on a character, like even though the character isn't shown in canon to behave a certain way doesn't mean they never would. OOC can often times actually just be character exploration. Canon divergence is most of what I read. I love the canon, but I'm not reading a fic to relive those exact events.
I love character explorations like that! As you said, OOC doesn't mean, "Totally different character with the same name or face," it often just means they're more fleshed-out with the author's ideas of how they'd behave.
I agree. I mildly change characters in my fics; I just try not to make them act completely out of place. I especially do this when I really want to like a character and I see what could've been done, but I don't like how they turned out.
This! I actually had a reader tell me that they didn’t like that the love interest of the MC of one of my fics was “too submissive” at one point. If they wanted a canon compliant portrayal, they could just go and read/watch the source material
To me, OOC isn't "the way they act in the fic isn't something specifically mentioned in canon" but more "the way they act in the fic goes against how they canonically act". Like, expanding on their canon character traits wouldn't be OOC imo, unless it was done in a way that contradicts some of said traits.
I love AU fics purely because i like seeing how plot points in the original canon have been changed/referenced/inserted into the new universe its always so interesting to see! I also think it serves as a really fun way to do foreshadowing. Oh youve introduced the villain, who we the audience know was originally the villain, but the cast dont know that and we dont actually know what theyre going to do
Honestly as someone who’s written AU’s, trying to retell canon events but the the context and severity that works with the AU is one of the best parts.
Would an AU with a roughly derived plot but having original elements count? I'm an AU freak myself. I enjoy merging universes together, especially when they are so different but still have so much in common.
I’m currently writing an AU and it’s great. The whole concept behind it is that one of the mc’s saves someone from a horrible fate that happened in canon and doesn’t tell her about it. It’s so interesting to write about something that no one fully knows about except one person. AU’s are great but can’t seem to find a lot in the fandom I’m in or maybe I’m not searching hard enough. The only ones I’ve seen so far are with the same two characters but different plots. Partially read two and have a lot more backed up since I never have the time and life in general.
I love referencing canon in my AUs. Like I have one that rewrites Canon so Kaiba was promised in a business marriage to Kisara's reincarnation when they both were children. His first Duel to get his first Blue-Eyes White Dragon card was chock full of references to Yugi and Kaiba's first Duel, casting Kaiba in the heroic role. And in the middle of the duel Kaiba wonders why on earth the life point total is 2000 and internally complains that its too low, giving a reason for why his super expert rules in Battle City increased the amount to 4000 in this AU.
its absurd how “dont like dont read” has ESCAPED fandom somehow, like i dont wanna read incest, so i wont! not that hard!!! i dont harrass people for writing it!!!!
Exactly!! Like, I understand people being mad if an author didn’t tag something important, but assuming that they did tag everything major, then it’s on you if you wasted time reading something you didn’t like. I would hope that that would be common sense for fanfic readers, but sometimes it really doesn’t seem that way, unfortunately.
Second person POV is either the best, most introspective fic you will ever read or something so incomprehensible it could be considered a man-made horror.
I enjoy when the oc’s are like small characters that the main characters meet. Like, a shop keeper but you can just SMELL the lore behind them and it’s great!
Personally I really like 2nd person. I've heard alot of people say that they don't like it but for me I love it and love writing in it I think it mostly has to do with the fact I write Undertale fanfics and since it's a video game it's very fitting to write it in 2nd person, y'know when a video game is like "You found a gem!". I try to achieve that sorta style with my writing
@@BlindStarLily I actually haven't read a fanfic in awhile but I really wanna again lol But one that I liked was A Failing Lazarus by SquareFriend on AO3. It only has one chapter but I remember liking it alot (Also pls give me suggestions for fanfics. I'll take ones from AO3, Wattpad, or Quotev as long as they aren't NSFW/18+ lol)
1st, 2nd, or 3rd person narration is fine by me. I've been in some communities where the members chased out anyone who wrote in a certain POV the community decided they didn't like. But different fandom communities insisted on different POVs. It got to the point where I felt like I was being gaslit no matter what POV I chose to write in. Once witnessed a fan try to shame another fan for writing in 1st person because "nobody publishes books in 1st person! 😡" (yes 1st person, not 2nd, which would have made more sense), but this person was ADAMANT no publisher would ever dare publish a book in 1st person... which is... a hot take... I guess?
I have been writing a long time(not fanfiction just in general, although I have been getting into fic writing recently) and one of the first projects I did was a collaborative project with friends. In one paragraph, I misspelled “Remember” and “Rember” in a really dramatic scene and people I wrote that with who I’m still friends with now STILL mention it. I will never escape the Rember.
if you ever feel bad for that, rember that Ace Attorney itself had a typo in the game in the final case of game two where you have to make a crucial, extremely high stakes decision where people's lives are at stake, and if you fail and make the horribly tragic choice, the final line of the bad ending cutscene is "The miracle never happen."
@@ladymoragsbootlaces8059i had to find this out from the fandom bc in my version of the game it was already fixed💀 i pretty much cried my eyes out on that steel samurai ballad and then went online only to find out that part was a meme lmao
Purple prose is so cool, I'm a sucker for it as a reader and also as a writer (although my prose was definitely more purple when I was a teen). I also love the much loathed gemstones to describe eye colors! Nothing better than emerald, amber, sapphire, amethyst and so on irises while I read, as well as literally any other metaphor you can use for someone's eyes. Love them so much and again, guilty of it as a writer too :'D
I tend to be a very visual thinker, so I'm with you on that! I love indepth descriptions and the wide range of vocabulary that some writers use to describe appearances, outfits, or environments.
Yeeeesssss!!! I’ve always loved gemstones to eyes so much. Especially because there are some specific shades that can’t be described in any other way like amber. I like using figurative language to describe somebody’s appearance too. One character I have that I write for has hair a very specific shade of brown. Hazelnut. I can’t use any other descriptor because it wouldn’t work. Also when people use less common descriptors. I got my favorites out of Deltarune fics, one of which that was written as a joke. There was: “He had hair white as snow. Ooh, sparkly as snow too.” And: “A human with straight hair the color of cinnamon.”
On the gemstone thing: my mother has a cool form of heterochromia, where her irises are green with a white/light blue ring around the outside. Any work pulling to gemstones for eye comparison immediately puts that sort of imagery in my mind. Emerald eyes would have speckles of white or gold in, and I love it. It helps add depth and stops me from imagining just one colour
Add some old-timey word choices and that's just my jam. I've noticed many people seem to get annoyed of flowery prose but I just love when characters have a way with words.
Lol, agreed! I've grown up with a mother who always made her kids write grammatically correct, so it bugs me so much when something's not right; however, just like you, I find purposely badly comedy writing really funny, lol. Like, the "I can has cheezburger" lolcats, 😆
Tonal deviation. Some people don’t like it when really serious movies and stories get silly, stupid fanfics written about them. I don’t care. If I wanna read a story about Arthur Fleck and Bruce Wayne sword fighting in a Denny’s parking lot, I’m gonna.
Also fits well in the opposite direction. Touhou for example is usually so fucking silly but I’ve experienced some of the most hurt from fan works of that series
I once made an off-handed joke about the crossover movie of the century is literally just Ashley "Ash" Williams fights Kevin McAllister. This is hilarious in concept, yet the more I thought about it the more I realized it was peak fiction. And yet it is so, so stupid. Let the goofy goobers be goofy goobers!!!
I have this reader who REALLY engages with my story. They tell me their ideas, and get really excited when I post. Once, I posted a chapter, and they told me what a certain character should have done. I loved their idea so much that I wrote it in the next chapter. It’s now one of my fav things in my story
a lot of people dislike love triangles, but you know what I like? love triangles where it ends in polyamory. why choose one when you can have both (or MORE?)
Honestly, I love it when books or fanfictions have lengthy descriptions of the clothing the character is wearing, a la Ebony d'arkness Dementia Raven Way. I have a special interest in fashion, so I just love imagining all of the outfits the characters could wear in different situations, but it also helps me imagine the character better for some reason. It keeps me in the story, ya know?
A lot of people seem to think chatfics are cringe, but I really enjoy them because they're funny (at least the ones I read). I also read lots of unfinished fics, even if they don't have a regular update schedule, when the premise interests me. Oh and funny tags make me more likely to read a story if they aren't overdone and have enough other description for me to understand the plot of the fic. Some of the other things listed in here I don't particularly care for, but I think it's great that people do, because there are just as many kinds of readers as there are writers, and there should be something for everyone. No one should be shamed for liking a certain trope or writing feature.
I enjoy chatfics too, however I dont read them that often, since they can get pretty same-y and I have a hard time with remembering which name correlates to which character
Chatfics are often pretty divisive for me. Often they have very little substance so the author has to be extremely funny, and also be able to convincingly portray different characters’ tones over text, in order to pull it off. I find too often that the authors have two or three good jokes in them and the fic gets stagnant and boring very quickly. On the flip side good chatfic can be hilarious - it’s a very economical format for cramming in as many good jokes as you can and when done well it’s an absolute goldmine. I think it works best when it’s got a fairly simple plot (not too complicated for its structure but not directionless), doesn’t drag on for too long, and never loses its sense of humour.
This might be a common one but I think first person can actually be great if it's done right. It just gets a bad reputation because it can be hard to do well.
First person tends to read like a journal sometimes, and I love getting the personal thoughts and experiences of a character in a given situation. It's neat when authors change to different characters so you have another POV of the same event. It's especially cool to get unreliable narrators because it makes you question what they're telling you sometimes. Think Holden Caulfield from "Catcher in the Rye."
@@dannyfoxboi I really love when first person reads as a journal! I don’t think I could write it myself (as an exclusively third person limited writer, it doesn’t really fit my style of writing), but it’s so fun to read.
Oh, it absolutely can be great! I mostly write in first person because of the possibilities for dramatic irony. The trick with it is to make sure that a really perceptive reader would be able to pick up on the narrator's biases. Readers don't like feeling as if they are being lied to, they want to know what is "really" happening. But you can do this in dialogue: that one character the narrator always dismissed? Yeah, they were right all along. Love that trope and it is not used nearly enough. Also, I find that first person POV makes misunderstandings a lot more believable to the readers.
Hard agree. I think the main reason that good first person is so hard to come by is that it’s very uncommon outside of OC-centric and reader-insert fic, and lots of people just aren’t interested in those or don’t take them as seriously. OOC behaviour is also a lot more obvious and jarring in first person in my experience.
@@goldie1943 I see a lot of first person that’s more.. low-quality, in the nicest way I can say that. I think a lot of newer writers default to it, and they seem to think that first person is the only tense that can indicate a point of view, because sometimes I see chapters in a first person fanfic beginning with the phrase “no one’s POV”, which proceed to be written in third person omniscient POV. I think stuff like that is why I’ve become deterred from reading first person (not in all cases though, I’ve seen some genuinely good first person stories as well)
As a person who just started writing, I can confirm that not getting much interaction from readers and or not that many readers definitely makes me feel like what I'm writing is bad, and with me being very insecure already it possibly makes it worse. And I have also been feeling very unmotivated. I also write 1st and 3rd person and have no problem with 1st person
As a writer who is so hellbent on sticking as close to cannon as possible, to the point where my goal is that that my fics feel like actual episodes, it is super refreshing to hear that some people love AUs that are nothing like cannon. I always put myself under so much stress with trying to stick to cannon. "Would this character say this? Do I have to rewrite this dialog to make it more in character? Is this action OOC? Would this be a storybeat that would actually happen in the show? Would this character actually do that in the show? Does this concflict make sense considering the characters traits, flaws, mannerisms and stregnths? How do I keep this character's mannerisms in character?" And honsetly it gets very stressful thinking about all of that when writing lines. Sometimes even one line. I'm so afraid of being OOC or making a story that doesn't line up to cannon because since I started writing fics I've always preferred cannon-like fics, and so that ended up making me write that way as well. And the better I got at writing like cannon, the harder I got on myself and the more I stressed about every little thing. There was a fic that I wrote where I wanted a character to get into an arugement with their adoptive father. Typically they have a very healthy relationship, and in the show the character comes from an abusive background with the main villain being his abuser. So this character is very afraid of upsetting people and often backs down when getting scolded. So I was really stressing about this whole arugement seen being OOC for the son. That was until I realized that back in a real episode, when the kid was still in his abuser's background, he stood up to his future adoptive father to save his new friends. And this was back when the father openenly disliked him and if the main villain found out, the son would be in huge trouble. That made me realize that the kid is willing to stand up to authority if he thinks its best for his friends. So him arugung with his adoptive father makes sense, since they were aruging about something the kid was doing for his girlfriend that the adoptive father didn't approve of. If you thought that was a long, drawn-out explanation and I completely agree. That was an example of just HOW MUCH I stress about cannon compliance. This was literally one fucking scene in one fucking chapter of a 7 chapter fic and it really really stressed me out about not being cannon compilant until I realized it could work. Another thing about my stress about cannon compliance is that older fics I made back when the show I make fics for were still airing eventually became irrelevant as the show went on. And, despite the fics actually being good for what they are, I honestly lost a lot of my liking towards them simply because they became irrelevant to cannon. And when the show was still going on, if I was writing a fic and the show came out with an episode that made the fic irrelevant, I'd IMMEDIATELY lose interest in the fic. (This goes for my comics, too). And never finish it. Tbh, I think the reason I ended up so worried about cannon compliance is because the online friends I made as a kid were all so adamant on keeping things cannon compliant, and that reflected on me, and as an adult I ended up becoming so hard and strict on myself about it, never really letting myself divert from cannon. And even in the AUs I have made, I still try to stick to cannon as much as possible. But seeing that people are there actually LIKE completely non cannon complianct stories honestly really makes me feel better about that. I honestly might try making AUs that aren't even close to cannon now. I always thought that most people hated non-cannon compliance fics, but seeing people like them really honestly made me have such a huge realization that I NEVER would've have if I never saw this video. Lone redditor out there, and youtuber who made this video, I must thank you.
I write extremely canon compliant fics and I've never found it that stressful. I even enjoy doing massive amounts of research and character studies to get things right. But most of the best media was far less fun to create then they are to consume.
"And the better I got at writing like cannon, the harder I got on myself and the more I stressed about every little thing." Oh, geez, that hit HARD. For me, at least, that goes for perfectionism in general: the better I get at something, the harder I DEMAND to be perfect. "If you're good at this, you have no excuse to be bad at it." That type of thing. I didn't know other people experience this exact thing, too.
I love unifinish fics, every time thats finish i can unlease my creativity trying to continue or creating a ending for me, it's satisfactory because it's basically my bed time stories.
0:43, this is so true was reading a fanfiction that seems to be the talk of the fandom I am in and it was really good but it was still incomplete. The author said that an epilogue is currently on the works... It's been 3 years now.
Yes! As long as its not a substitute to proper warning tags tho. I'd be excited about the nastiest sht but I gotta know WHAT I'm excited to be getting into
I don't personally agree with/like most of these but I can definitely see where people are coming from! It's nice to know that communities like the fanfiction community are not hive-minds, people have their own opinion and even if I write something I think most fanfic readers won't like, there will be some that actually really do :D
1:10 I agree with this person I LOVE AUs (as long as they go along with my vibe). In fact I didn’t even know this annoyed people because AUs are kind of _encouraged_ in like, almost *_every_** fandom **_ever._* I mean I knew people might not like certain types of AUs, either because something happened that they didn’t like, the AU was actually problematic, or they were just being a little b-word about it bc it exists. But I’ve never heard of people being mad about ANY/ALL AUs existing _at _*_all._* 😐🫥 1:23 I also agree with this because my favorite show only has two fracking seasons 😠😠 I won’t say I like AUs _more_ than the canon, but sometimes the AU is just better 9:04 ALSO AGREED (my baby boys are to be protected) 😤😤
Original Characters. As long as they suit the setting or scenes, I find them refreshing. besides, I like reading about them when they have a specific role no canon characters can fill. First Person Perspective. The amount of emotions and internal thoughts a good writer can fit in this perspective is insane. some of my all-time favorite fics are written in first person.
omg both of these for me too! honestly i prefer oc x canon stories the most. x readers just aren't my thing and i can almost never read canon x canon because i have very specific interpretations of the canon story + characters that can never really match up with the fics lol. and as long as the story is written well i don't care what perspective it's written in 🤷♀️
4:26 this is so reassuring bc I will literally spend hours researching something just for one scene. sometimes its not even a whole scene, its just something mentioned once or twice and usually its not even that important. yet I will spend hours freaking out about the plausibility of a single sentence. the stupidest part is that I don't even let other people read it
“Cross-posted from Wattpad” Also, on the topic of canon divergence, I’ve recently gotten into musicals (I was watching a Book of Mormon slime tutorial before watching this) and one musical that is in my top 3 is Be More Chill (I’m basic, I know). So the plot is that the protagonist, Jeremy, takes a pill with a supercomputer in it to become popular and get with his crush, Christine. However, things end up going horribly wrong. Now, in the fandom, the most popular ship isn’t Jeremy and Christine; it’s Jeremy and his best friend Michael. And I just have to say; I _LIVE_ for the Boyf Riends rewrites of the musical. I love them SO FREAKING MUCH.
I haven't come across any reader inserts in the fandoms I read that aren't like romantic shipping with a character and I find that uncomfortable as an aroace person but I do like fics where canon gets thrown out the window at a certain point, like "this is a stupid plot point and I'm going to fix it" because you then have to decide what happens next and the domino effect of that one moment
I totally agree with the "no romantic pairing" one, and while I am totally in love with romantic pairings, sometimes you just want to read about two characters being best friends and having each others backs, there doesn't always have to be romance.
1:09 As a Clone Wars fan and one of the clones in particullar, where "canon compliant" is a warning more than anything else and you need AUs to stay sane, i couldn't agree more xD
Multi fandom crossovers. I don't see a reason for my hyper-fixations to not interact. Also it's funny when completely different characters and tones mix!
One thing I see a lot of people hating on for some reason is "Starting by describing the weather" I really don't get why people dislike it but personally, I put a *lot* of importance into visualising what the fic is describing, that's like 90% of the experience for me- So I actually kinda like it when authors start a fic off with describing the weather or season or setting etc, cuz then right from the get go, I can already imagine the scene and sort of get a feel for the background even if it doesn't add anything to the story or character itself
I completely agree with canon deviation! It makes it more exciting in my opinion, especially if you're making an au. And even if you're leaving some things canon, if you don't like what happened, you can just change things. Another thing i personally like are shorter fics. Not to say i dont like longer ones, but i hear many people say they don't like or prefer short fics but i honestly enjoy them.
Honestly, shorter {especially one-shot} fics that have a really good story fit into a few hundred to only a couple thousand words are my jam. I don't really read longer ones 'cause when I read those, things in the real world tend to need me before I can finish them and then I'm not immersed in them anymore, lol. But yeah, I see lots of complaints against one-shots/shorter fics and I don't know why.
I love long rambling notes! My favorite author TrashcanWithSprinkles always has the longest notes and it’s so fun to read, especially when the grammar is improper and the writing is silly, it shows their personality and you get to see the authors authentic self. I personally find them just like an extra to read from the story. Learning their thought process, planning, etc is interesting and fun to read
i'm a rambler and i just *know* i'm going to write notes this way if i start posting my fics haha, so thanks for saying this it'll probably save me from typing out fun rambles and then deleting them thinking noone cares :D
4:01 YES THIS!!! theres a fic i rlly love that has miscommunication as a source of conflict - its a oneshot where one character, jon, overhears his crush martin partway through reciting a poem that sounds incredibly violent and assumes martin wants to kill him. Jon then steals the recording of the poem and listens to it from the start, only to discover it was a… rather *passionate* love poem. the miscommunication aspect of it made total sense because at the point in canon this story was set, jon had discovered that his predecessor had been murdered and was paranoid about her murderer coming after him (a completely justified fear, given he was later proven right that there was a threat in the workplace) so him coming to the conclusion that martin wanted to kill him made complete sense given his mental state at the time, as well as the violent sounding imagery he used in his poem. it also made sense why jon wouldnt want to go to martin to ask for clarification about what he heard, and thankfully the misconception was cleared up within the same day (and ended with them snogging)
Massive crossover fics. Even when the source choices don't seem to make sense. Dug from Up meeting the Phantom of the Opera, Rabbit from Steam Powered Giraffe, Mondo from Danganronpa, and Hollyleaf from Warrior Cats in the middle of the Hunger Games is definitely something I'd read. It sounds absolutely wild and honestly I love when people take characters they enjoy from different things and just play with them like they're a kid in a sandbox having their Power Rangers action figures and their Star Wars action figures fight each other. So what if it doesn't make sense that Luke Skywalker and Cecil Palmer would be having a conversation- the whole point of fanfics is that they aren't canon! What are you gonna do? Tell the fiction cops on me for having the Doctor show up in places he logically shouldn't? Have fun with that, I'll just be in my corner watching my favorite characters exist near each other.
I found a 'fic that's just a bunch of characters (A BUNCH, EVERYONE IS HERE) from a lot of fandoms all trying to beat a bunch of villains (idk most of the characters tbh) It's in my library now because the confusion and fun combined makes my heart happy
i didn't know some of these were commonly hated, like purple prose? cannon divergence? rambling notes? lack of romance? short fics? whats there to hate about any of these? i can understand disliking some of the things mentioned in the video, to each their own and all that, but hating especially these ones just fully confuses me
Those jokes that were like Inuyasha: wait why am I here (•_•) Author: CAUSE IT’S IN YOUR CONTRACT! **revs chainsaw** They’re so endearing and legitimately funny.
Honestly? I agree. While I never have the guts to do it myself, something about silly stuff like that is just really charming. I find it can be really refreshing too if the chapter its at the end of is a more serious one too, if done right.
Normally I do this in the form of a self-insert For example, if I have feelings for a character, make my OC "pretend flirt" with them. This means that the OC does not actually like the character, but they pretend to so they can get a reaction out of them and others as a joke. So far I've only done this once but it's so funny to me so far
Unfinished, abandoned, and/or dead fics. It's less that I'm not annoyed and more that I just learned to deal with it. I frequent niche and obscure fandoms like Kantai Collection and Hot Wheels Acceleracers, and there's not a lot of completed fics that satisfies my already niche tastes; most of the time I just have to suck it up and deal with fics that stopped dead right in the middle of a climax or something like that. You learn to smile because it happened instead of crying because it ended early.
I love. LOVE LOVE LOVE. Redemption arcs that are heavily connected to romance. Beauty and The Beast type stuff. It's the peak of "To be loved: is to be changed". When a character manages to get under a villain's skin in the best way possible and gets them to really start reconsidering things it's really *chefs kiss*.
Honestly, the things said about unfinished fics is so true, as an author on ao3 who has never finished any story, it's quite refreshing to see people comment positively on it instead of hating on us or rushing us to finish it! The 'when are you going to update' comments get annoying after a while and it can push you deeper into burn out, it's quite unfortunate that authors can't catch a break. But it's aways good to know that supportive people will always exist to give advice, help or just in general give criticism, it's a bittersweet feeling, being an author is a strange experience. Especially if you're working for free with only your passion for fandoms fueling you, no money, nothing. Just passion. And i sort of find that bittersweet as well, it's so sweet that people are able to form a community in the comments or join writing servers, yet will that ever be enough for the lack of respect writers get on the internet or even the lack of payment, the time spent and more? That's a question i'll never get an answer to! But i sure hope it sparked a discussion!!
You got comments? I got over 200 kudos and no comments at all. I never finished the fic, because screw that. If someone took the time to write something you like, bloody well SAY something.
@@FunkyLittlePoptart the thing with comments is that they're actually pretty rare, like even my fic with 4000+ views got 23 comments (mine included) so it's a bit difficult to get them except if you're very popular as an author, maybe make it so that not just people with accounts can comment bc most of my comments have been from guests!
Oh, it was totally open to anyone who cared to comment. And everyone in that fandom knows damn well there aren't many writers in it. There's been conversations about supporting the people writing the fics, so all of them can DIAF for all I care. I'm a human and if you can't be bothered to acknowledge my effort, then you can screw off. Go back to whining about how there's not enough fics for your pairing. @@YourUnofficialOchako
I have like random reading bursts so short fics are my everything. once I get bored I don’t have to worry about coming back to it or it rotting in my tabs like I do with longer fics.
For me it's a side character being the portagonist of the fanfic. Like mha is a bit infamous for being crowded with characters so it's nice to see a fanfic focus on let's say shoji instead of deku,shoto or bakugou because we can see what the side character life is like because we don't really see them often
5:43 My personal favorite instance of this happening in a fic was where the character knew about the original version but the fanfiction was of an adaptation that they didn't know anything about, so some things were still just as surprising to them as to the canon characters. The fic is an Ultimate Spider-Man (2012 cartoon not the 2000s comics of the same name) fic and the oc knew a lot about the 616 comics, and iirc the fic is called Ultimate Symbiote Adventures if my comment piqued anyone's interest.
I love it when characters cry just like cry and scream and vent to another character or they cry so much because they’re so happy it’s just so interesting! I love it when the writing gets a lot more detailed during serious moments it’s like I can picture the scene perfectly which makes it even better! I LOVE short fics! I don’t know why but there’s some monkey part of my brain that loves reading short stories Also something that doesn’t have to do with fics but still something I love is when the story purposely leave off on a cliff hanger because that’s what make’s fics happen!
I have a thing for writing stories with only friendship in them. I'm not into romantic relationships, so this stuff doesn't come up in my stories. I appreciate fics that keep friends as friends, or what was romantic in canon as just friends. I love fanfics that follow up on the story of role playing adventure games. Because the characters stories are continued. I've started writing one for one of my Fable 3 playthroughs, but through the eyes of characters from a different land, mentioned in a side quest. It's been a fun ride so far, but haven't had a lot of time (until recently) to write more. The characters get powers from the Guild Seal that aren't seen in Albion at all, so they have to earn the trust of the people of Albion. They're also dealing with the trauma left behind by the events of ending of 2 and all of 3. And it's written from all of their perspectives, to help people understand motivations behind their actions.
Love reading queerplatonic relationships, especially if people are like, "so you're friends but extra?" And the characters are like, "sure bud, whatever helps you. Don't care."
Reader inserts. I adore them, favourite fanfic genre. There are good, serious y/n novels, and there are some fun crack y/ns too. I love them sm, and they make up most of the fics I read
I like reading unfinished fics too! It's especially fun when the story isn't that far along when you first pick it up. As well as when the author updates it regularly. It like watching your favorite TV show and getting excited when a new episode gets released!
I like purple prose when used judiciously. A whole fic of purple prose with little to no plot usually bores me, but a good plot-driven fic with some purple prose passages sprinkled in can be wonderful
I personally love purple prose because I am SO FREAKING BAD at describing things. I will write three chapters and suddenly realise I never even said where these people are at, so reading some beautiful description of something is like heck yeah!!! Wish I could do that as well as you!!
I like second person fics. I think they're immersive in the way video games are. I'm going on an adventure, not simply witnessing the adventure. What I don't like is named main characters and OCs in the "Reader Insert" tag. If the main character has a name, really specific experiences, and unique traits, that's not a "reader insert" fic. That's just your OC that you wrote in second person. There's a difference.
I love in-progress series, especially as someone who likes to interact with writers. I didn't even know people avoided them lol. Fanfic is a labor of love and it's something special to follow its creation, yknow? I like to speculate about the new chapters and point out my favorite bits etc., and it's so sweet how excited the authors get about engagement. Even in simple or poorly written fic s, it's so much fun to just gush back and forth about every new development. It just makes fandom so much more engaging idk lol
i LOVE miscommunication, yes sometimes they can seem implausible but you would be surprised just how easily miscommunication is irl. (example: Trash Taste washing machine/fridge bit. if ykyk). long author notes explaining lore and thoughts about the fic. there's this one author i read that names all their fics after poems and they always explain exactly where it's from and why they named their fic after it. it's so fun. also citations! I've read two fics where tje author has added citations and it's so nice to either learn more about the thing or little detail they couldn't add into the actual story. (for actual books that include this, Good Omens, mwah) crossovers, I love crossovers especially if the two fandoms have nothing in common. also, when it's obvious the author has a fixation on both of the fandoms and manage to intertwine both worlds, gah, it's so good! extreamly rare pairs, they have like three fics and one fanart and the authors are always absolutely amazing. i do not care if the characters have never met or don't make sense, it's fun!
3:41 feel very validated with this one. Miscommunication done right can be sooooo fun and popcorn-worthy. And sometimes it's not even all that serious, or it develops into something serious after initially being harmless. It's great
Use of headcannons. Some people really dislike them considering their lack of canonisity (?) but I love peoples’ interpretations of characters, especially if the headcannons expand on the character/their trauma. But honestly I even love if the headcannon is completely off the walls and doesn’t connect that much to canon. Characters are meant to be molded into something a person can connect to, and if that means that ‘Character A has ADHD’ or ‘Character B enjoys knitting’ then by god they will. As long as the character has some semblance of their canon personality (not even required to be exact) then I’ll read it.
Personally I’m a massive fan of AUs! I adore seeing people take these characters and morph them. As for pov, while I can’t stand first person in fic, I’ve grown a lot more attached to second person ever since I started reading homestuck fanfic.
Chatfics! I always enjoy seeing things like those, as they seem to give a more varied insight into how characters would interact who maybe wouldn't (or couldn't) in canon. Also, over-descriptiveness. When done right it can show a lot about how characters view one another (like someone with a crush analysing their appearance, or an enemy calling their hair stupid) and can be somewhat entertaining at times.
As a Danny Phantom Phan, we have to fix so much of cannon that if you’re not paying super close attention, all the fannon stuff looks like cannon. We have ghost cores, obsessions, tripped on a wire, those never happened in cannon but they’re so intrinsic to phandom culture and lore that we don’t care that they never existed in cannon cause in truth, we don’t like cannon. We got the og show from 2004 and said “Fuck you Butch Hartman, we’ll take it from here”.
Also a Phan here (have been since childhood), and I know so many tropes and fanon creations that it's not even funny. Valerie? Never once officially referred to as the "Red Huntress" in canon. Wes Weston? A character in the background with a personality built from the ground up by the community, and likely a joke on Sam's "Who's Wes" comment when handed the ring. All the unique ship names? I love the creativity of them. While I'm definitely one that's WAAYYY more tolerant of the source material than most people, I definitely understand why they don't like it and often throw it out the window entirely. I haven't read the Graphic Novel, yet, (I absolutely plan to,) but I've been spoiled on a few details, like a certain massive retcon that I'm a little suspicious of, but I'll have to see how it's handled. I seriously don't mind S3 or Phantom Planet, and it admittedly bums me out sometimes when I see people bashing them. I get it, the writing is subpar compared to S2, but Amorpho is one of my favorite villains, even if he's a one-off. Nocturn? I think he's pretty cool, too! Undergrowth was neat, and I loved "Plant Queen Sam." I like all of it for what it is, and I can see the better aspects of it. There's people that prefer Grey Ghost over Amethyst Ocean; do I mind? Of course not, but that doesn't mean I want to be bashed over my own preference of the canon pairing. You get me? Anyway, sorry for such a long ramble, I understand if you don't want to read all of that. It's just nice to talk to someone else who knows about this kind of thing.
@@dannyfoxboi no I love talking to other phans and hearing their rambles! I was never raised on nickelodeon since I’m not American and I’ve only been in the phandom since last year so I haven’t interacted with the community a whole lot outside of tumblr and Ao3. And while I do like cannon, I like fannon way more cause in the decades the phandom has been a thing, we’ve grown our own culture and stuff like making our own character that has a defined personality and interests that everyone agrees upon, is why I like fannon more. Cannon gave us the tools but we got the materials and made something ourselves and I think that’s really beautiful and unique in a fandom, we’ve deviated so far from cannon yet we stay so close that you can’t tell the forest from the trees is something wonderful! And since we’re an older fandom there aren’t a lot of annoying phans around anymore since they get disinterested after a time and stop interacting which means you don’t really see anyone getting angry at someone for liking Amethyst Ocean or Gray Ghost or even UFO (Also I just wanna say I love our ship names, fuck smushing peoples names together, give me more stuff like Amethyst Ocean), cause what’s the point of yelling at each other over ships when we can yell at each other over vivisection vs dissection instead? I just love our phandom culture and well kept traditions like Invisobang and Dannypocalyspe and Ectoctober, plus a lot of fandoms these days don’t really feel like a community, the phandom does and I love it.
@@astoroidea6502 Your points are valid, and I agree with quite a few, (especially the community and culture part,) but I was just specifically talking about those that ignore canon altogether because of how "trash" it is (at least in the last season, or the finale specifically), and I tend to feel like an outcast every time someone talks about how bad it is because, yes I acknowledge it's not the best-written ending in the world, yet I personally still enjoyed it, regardless. I see so many people collectively agree that PP "didn't happen", or at least make huge alterations so that it's barely the same story (I don't mind this one too much because at least they aren't denying it outright, even if it still hurts a bit.) It just... Makes me feel like I'm wrong for liking what a vast majority of others hate. I'm just expected to agree with them, and I'm afraid of speaking out in fear of backlash, or people thinking I'm "some child/new fan that doesn't know any better" or just an idiot that can't tell the difference between gold and feces. I know the paranoia is mostly in my head, but it's no less isolating on a few occasions. There's so few phans like me (if any at all), and I've never found someone who had the same opinions, ever.
Hard agree on the in-progress fics thing at 10:55. I love reading something in-progress and the anticipation of waiting for the next bit, and I love when other people read my in-progress stuff (on the occasion when I write chaptered things, which is not always) and theorize and let me know they're paying attention. -Even the person who was reading my current fic for a while who did Not Get the direction I was going.-
Author notes that catch me off guard before of after the fic. Sometimes they apologize for things that aren’t their fault, but it’s also either hilarious to see what situations or ‘WTF’ moments like getting both their hands broken. Also, I like ‘what if’ AU’s. A whole different setting, of what if this happened or what if this guy never (insert something that happened in canon). It’s fun to see what could happen alternatively.
OCs and second person POV are something that I personally quite like (though not necessarily go out of my way to find). Like I go into a fic to read a cute story about a ship from the original media but come out loving the author's OC so much, they become my fave character. And all of the second (and first) POV fics that I've personally enjoyed tend to be really angsty (usually Hurt/No Comfort or Unhappy Endings) and it just puts you directly into that headspace.
I’m glad there are people that like silly tags, lol. One tag on a book (I’m hesitant to call it a story) of mine on Wattpad is ‘anthropomorphism’, which is normal, but I then proceeded to follow it up with ‘yes, there’s a word for this, lol’ and ‘does that mean I’m not weird?’ The last two don’t have spaces in between the words though, because the app doesn’t allow that for some reason.
"The last two don’t have spaces in between the words though, because the app doesn’t allow that for some reason." oh gosh that sounds like a _nightmare..._
As someone who enjoys the white collar tv/ Batman crossover, it’s impossible to not love short fics due to 90% of all the ficus being under 5000 with only 1-5 chapters
Some of the best Fanfics I know were written before the series in question was actually finished, so they can sometimes be radically different from Canon. I feel like creativity is somewhat limited as a series gets closer to being finished, so it would be nice to see more fics that just completely disregard canon past a certain point.
I agree with the person from 1:15 100000%. In fact, if a story is straight retelling with very little or no canon deviations I will get bored and stop reading the story. After all, I already know how the story ends. I might as well go back and revisit the source material. Also person from 8:33 is super right. There is a reason why Twain's “I apologize for such a long letter - I didn't have time to write a short one.” is so often quoted.
I live for canon deviation in fanworks. I mean, it's my fanwork. If I want my favorite character to still be alive just because, I can do that. It's not canon deviation in my mind so much as it is an AU with only one or two things different. I love creating and reading different versions of stuff I'm familiar with. Keeps things fresh and fun. And as a proprietor of long author's notes, I'm aware people don't usually read them, but I like having them for those who do. I don't ramble like I used to, but I do like to talk about my thought process behind certain decisions, parts I greatly enjoyed writing, and also thank people for continuing to read despite how long it can take me to update sometimes. Part of the fanfiction writing for me is how much I personally enjoy it, so of course I'm gonna talk about my favorite parts and what I was thinking. It's part of the fun for me. :) If anyone were to get mad at me for using the word "smirk" in a fic, my response is... it's not awkward; it's a perfectly good, descriptive word. I can use it if I want to. Also I appreciate 7:48 as someone who just doesn't enjoy writing shipping fics. I've been complimented on some of my fics for not shipping anyone for the heck of it. If you read my fics, you're there for the story, not the romance. And I like that a lot. :) Not reading in-progress stories is the big one. I'm a slow writer and it can be disheartening when people don't check out your fic just because it's unfinished. Like... it's like the whole world already gave up on you and you're your only motivation to keep going. Honestly there's nothing that gets me interested in a story again like someone commenting on one of my backburnered fics about how much they like the story so far. It usually results in me pulling up the next unfinished chapter, re-reading it, and writing more. One time I actually finished a chapter the next day thanks to a commenter getting me interested in the fic again. Also one of my favorite fics in my fandom is unfinished. I still re-read it sometimes and hope the author stopped working on it to turn it into an original dystopian book.
There's so much infighting over what's a good or bad thing in fanfic, but honestly, it doesn't matter. The author should be writing for themselves, what they like, what they want to read, anyone else liking it is kinda a bonus. Personally, I'm very picky when it comes to fanfic, but just because I can't stand reading first person or main character oc or Y/N fics, doesn't mean anything to someone else. Read and enjoy whatever you want to, the only wrong way to read or write fanfic, is to read or write something that you don't want to.
It's a tie for me between reading the same cliched situations in different ways and xreaders/reader inserts. The second one mostly because that's what I've mostly been writing.
social media/ chafics their always so funny/ goofy and never take themselves srsy, and sometimes i need that funny stuff, as i read primarly hurt/comfort and angst
6:23
I read a fic recently that had a character who was known for talking quietly in canon, and to represent this the author wrote all of his dialogue in lowercase. I didn’t even realize until later in the fic when the character became loopy from medication, started shouting, and the fic described it as “which was concerning, because he was speaking at a volume high enough to warrant capital letters”
Absolutely sent me, one of the funniest fics I’ve ever read XD
ok that's good ngl
That's amazing 🤣
Okay, that description made me laugh. I love almost fourth-wall-breaking lines like that, honestly.
that reminds me of how I've written my character's dialogue in comic sans whenever he's drunk, and I rather enjoy my 4th wall joke with it:
“How much alcohol’ve you had already!?”
“Oh I’ve barely even started! We’re still in Arial font, baby!”
And later that night in the next chapter when the character has since gotten very drunk, he out of nowhere states
“Wait a minute… this isn’t Arial… it’s Lucida Grande…”
(which is the AO3 default font, although he naturally says it in comic sans. No one else in the fic knows what the heck he's talking about of course)
@@ladymoragsbootlaces8059 That is so funny actually, based comic sans moment right there
I love the idea of two characters meeting and interacting when they don't in canon, even if you have to make up events or even completely break canon for it.
I agree! I'm in one fandom that has a TON of characters, most of which have never met each other on-screen, and I really enjoy thinking of ways they would interact with each other through fanfiction.
@@tonkajoey08 I'm definitely guilty of this one. I had a whole AU that I was originally gonna have centered around one character, but then there were two different characters who were similar yet never had the chance to meet in canon, so I deviated from that one character and added that scenario to the AU.
Yes! Like I ship two(or many people) that are from different fandoms, which I know that they will never interact with since they're from different places. And I love making events on what they do. And I ship them because they have some things in common, which surprised me at first. So kinda a multi fandom AU, you can say but they all knew each other, yk?
Yes! That’s really fun stuff! There’s so many interesting things they’d do together.
Does interaction between characters from two entirely different shows count too?
I never got why “deviation from canon” annoyed people. Isn’t that the point of fan fiction?
Actually, yeah.
I actually hate when fan fiction sticks too close to canon. It makes me wonder why I’m reading someone copy/pasting the story when I could just be consuming the original media.
@@Hewasnumber1 completely understandable
@@Hewasnumber1 Yep, I feel that too! I once read a Tangled fic where everything was exactly the same except for, like, three new lines of dialogue per chapter for an OC, and it annoyed me to just basically get the scenes that I could watch myself if I wanted to, and have to sift through just to find what was new. It had I don't know how many chapters and I quit after the third one or so. Part of why I wanna read fanfic is to see the creativity of the writer :)
@@Hewasnumber1Literally, I honestly feel like this only works if it’s an au where a desired ship is canon either from the start or happens some point, and even then they should gloss over the canon bits they don’t need to change
Honestly? I love song lyrics as titles. I know many people get annoyed. But I don't listen to a lot of popular music on my own and those titles actually make me hear new songs every once in a while
Idk if it's the same thing, but I sometimes use lyrics as chapter titles since I'm pretty bad at coming up with good originals.
Especially when it intertwines two of my current hyperfixations. I recently read a Psychonauts fanfic titled "Flowers Gasping Under Rubble" and I think the combination between Psychonauts and The Mind Electric / Miracle Musical made me love it more than I would've if it didn't combine them.
I had no idea people hated this, I usually find these neat.
I was not aware people didn't like lyric titles. I use them because A: I have a stupid need to have a title before I start; B: sometimes the title will influence where the story goes; and C: I like using songs as inspiration and I like it to be clear when I do that.
I love these as well
Agree with the person talking about the word "smirk". Few words give me a clearer picture of an expression
i had no idea people hated that?? like bruh are we not allowed to describe facial expressions with... the words that mean them, now?
@@darkacadpresenceinblood
I think it could be because that word is overused. Nearly all the characters in a story only **smirk** to any amusing situation and not grin, smile, laugh, etc, etc...
P.S. This word became my pet peeve but honestly I really don't care anymore, lol
@@nyx6879 huh, i'm apparently on the quality side of ao3 then bc i haven't experienced people overusing it... but yeah that has to be annoying
@@darkacadpresenceinblood It's been a while since I've read any fanfic (because school sucks) so who knows🤷🏻♀️
@@nyx6879 The best uses of those words though are when the POV character contrasts a character's different types of smiles: "That wasn't his smug smirk or mischievous grin. No, that was his genuine, kind smile." Not many stories do it, but when done well, it can add a lot to characterization.
i personally live by the tumblr quote "you come into my house uninvited and tell me how to arrange my furniture?" because like you *chose* to read/watch the content. the world doesn't revolve around you and your prefrences. like it's so damn easy to find the content you like so why waste time to indulge in the content you don't?
I'm personally a big believer in not just ignoring canon, but also filling in gaps in canon. Like when the protagonists explore a tiny bit of the fictional world, just use your own imagination to flesh it out. This also applies to characters who don't get much personality. Write them with whatever personality you prefer.
Is it correct in canon? Probably not. But it fills out your fics in a believable way.
yeah!! for example in the canon of ace attorney: spirit of justice not a lot is explained about the kingdom of khura'in and its inhabitants so i love reading khura'in-centric fics and seeing what everyone has come up with, sometimes i wish i had the patience to write because i have a lot of headcanons that i'd love to share but last time i tried to write anything i wrote things that have been permanently seared into my brain in a very bad way ("he slammed the door with the force of a narcissistic bodybuilder" really? is that seriously the best sentence you could come up with, past me?) and as such i no longer trust myself with google docs
@aromanticfranziskavonkarma This is exactly what I mean! I understand why series focus on the more important bits and handwave everything else, but it doesn't stop me from being interested in the minor details.
P.S. That sentence is hilarious, and I would absolutely read a fic with it.
YES! I prefer canon compliance, but in situations where it isn’t possible, I’ll make creative liberties and fill in gaps in the canon where appropriate.
People complain about that? I'd say one of the best aspects of fanfiction is that the world you know is getting fleshed out more.
I'm typically careful not to retcon the canon while I "extend the lore" so to speak.
@Blockinstaller12 There are some people who want their fics to stick to what is explicitly found in canon. No hate to those people, but I prefer to expand on canon myself.
I feel like fandoms have forgotten the concept of different people having different tastes. I personally don’t like when characters are OOC, but some people in this thread love it. I love short fics, but there are a lot of people who won’t pick up a fic unless it reaches a certain length. None of us are wrong for our opinions, and just because you don’t like something doesn’t necessarily make it bad. Write what you want to write, read what you want to read, and don’t be mean to people whose tastes don’t match up with yours.
as many squiks as I might have for writing styles and execution, I find it near impossible not to enjoy a fic where you can see the author is just... overwhelmingly fond of at least one character. They're aren't doing it to be smart, or funny, or give a balanced narrative - they just really, really like this one guy. I feel like it adds a lovely rose tint to any fic
right! id much rather read a fic where the author is clearly projecting their crush than one where they’re projecting their hatred onto one character…*cough cough uraraka hate fics cough*
i think it's particularly great when the favorite little guy is also a very minor character in the fic itself. like they're only here for one scene, but for the whole duration of the scene you can just HEAR the author cheering their blorbo on from the sidelines it's so cute
whenever i write its because this one character is making me froth at the mouth and i cant think of anything else
As someone who recently had it pointed out to me that one of my POV characters is a _lot_ more fleshed out than any of my others and is seemingly being spotlit in the plot, this makes me feel a little bit better lol. I didn't really intend for him to become the borderline main character, but I can't really help it. He's one of the characters we know the _least_ about in canon, and I really love the version of him I've built up in my story. He's just a lil smug, sarcastic guy who may or may not be a pyromaniac :D
Yeah! Like the story may not be as good as other fics I've read, but the love the author has for a character or the media is usually obvious and it's so nice to read something born out of fondness ❤
For me, it's short/unfinished fics.
Because if I didn't like them, that'd make me a hypocrite because I never finish mine.
Same here! It's either short, or I'm taking 3+ years to finish writing it!
honestly a lot of the time i _only_ read short fics lol, they can be a mixed bag because sometimes they're so short it feels unsatisfying, but also i like being able to read something in one sitting
my favorite thing is when fics dont take themselves seriously and can be silly while telling a good story
I really don't mind OOC as long as it remains somewhat plausible. In fact, I really enjoy the type of OOC that expands on a character, like even though the character isn't shown in canon to behave a certain way doesn't mean they never would. OOC can often times actually just be character exploration.
Canon divergence is most of what I read. I love the canon, but I'm not reading a fic to relive those exact events.
I love character explorations like that! As you said, OOC doesn't mean, "Totally different character with the same name or face," it often just means they're more fleshed-out with the author's ideas of how they'd behave.
@@dannyfoxboi Yes! I do this exact thing when writing fanfics.
I agree. I mildly change characters in my fics; I just try not to make them act completely out of place. I especially do this when I really want to like a character and I see what could've been done, but I don't like how they turned out.
This! I actually had a reader tell me that they didn’t like that the love interest of the MC of one of my fics was “too submissive” at one point.
If they wanted a canon compliant portrayal, they could just go and read/watch the source material
To me, OOC isn't "the way they act in the fic isn't something specifically mentioned in canon" but more "the way they act in the fic goes against how they canonically act". Like, expanding on their canon character traits wouldn't be OOC imo, unless it was done in a way that contradicts some of said traits.
Fanfiction is love, fanfiction is life
Yes!!! 🎉🎉🎉
I love AU fics purely because i like seeing how plot points in the original canon have been changed/referenced/inserted into the new universe its always so interesting to see! I also think it serves as a really fun way to do foreshadowing. Oh youve introduced the villain, who we the audience know was originally the villain, but the cast dont know that and we dont actually know what theyre going to do
Honestly as someone who’s written AU’s, trying to retell canon events but the the context and severity that works with the AU is one of the best parts.
Would an AU with a roughly derived plot but having original elements count? I'm an AU freak myself. I enjoy merging universes together, especially when they are so different but still have so much in common.
@@chimebell8237 oh definitely! It's familiar enough that it's easy to sink in, but with a different plot, it makes it really fun to read!
I’m currently writing an AU and it’s great. The whole concept behind it is that one of the mc’s saves someone from a horrible fate that happened in canon and doesn’t tell her about it. It’s so interesting to write about something that no one fully knows about except one person. AU’s are great but can’t seem to find a lot in the fandom I’m in or maybe I’m not searching hard enough. The only ones I’ve seen so far are with the same two characters but different plots. Partially read two and have a lot more backed up since I never have the time and life in general.
I love referencing canon in my AUs. Like I have one that rewrites Canon so Kaiba was promised in a business marriage to Kisara's reincarnation when they both were children. His first Duel to get his first Blue-Eyes White Dragon card was chock full of references to Yugi and Kaiba's first Duel, casting Kaiba in the heroic role. And in the middle of the duel Kaiba wonders why on earth the life point total is 2000 and internally complains that its too low, giving a reason for why his super expert rules in Battle City increased the amount to 4000 in this AU.
its absurd how “dont like dont read” has ESCAPED fandom somehow, like i dont wanna read incest, so i wont! not that hard!!! i dont harrass people for writing it!!!!
THIS
Exactly!! Like, I understand people being mad if an author didn’t tag something important, but assuming that they did tag everything major, then it’s on you if you wasted time reading something you didn’t like. I would hope that that would be common sense for fanfic readers, but sometimes it really doesn’t seem that way, unfortunately.
Second person POV is either the best, most introspective fic you will ever read or something so incomprehensible it could be considered a man-made horror.
😂
honestly thats so true. they either live in my mind rent free for the rest of eternity or summoning cthulu wouldve been less horrifying
As a common 2nd-person writer, you're totally right
Tbh I didn't do super good on my first few 2nd-person fics but I'm getting better
I enjoy when the oc’s are like small characters that the main characters meet. Like, a shop keeper but you can just SMELL the lore behind them and it’s great!
Personally I really like 2nd person. I've heard alot of people say that they don't like it but for me I love it and love writing in it
I think it mostly has to do with the fact I write Undertale fanfics and since it's a video game it's very fitting to write it in 2nd person, y'know when a video game is like "You found a gem!". I try to achieve that sorta style with my writing
Second person is _amazing_ when done well, it always makes me sad when people write it off
When done right second person fics are my favorite things ever!!
Some people may be getting ptsd from the Homestuck times XD but I love second person too
Oooohhh! UTDR is my biggest hyperfixation right now. What fic of yours would you suggest? I wanna give it some love
@@BlindStarLily I actually haven't read a fanfic in awhile but I really wanna again lol
But one that I liked was A Failing Lazarus by SquareFriend on AO3. It only has one chapter but I remember liking it alot
(Also pls give me suggestions for fanfics. I'll take ones from AO3, Wattpad, or Quotev as long as they aren't NSFW/18+ lol)
1st, 2nd, or 3rd person narration is fine by me. I've been in some communities where the members chased out anyone who wrote in a certain POV the community decided they didn't like. But different fandom communities insisted on different POVs. It got to the point where I felt like I was being gaslit no matter what POV I chose to write in. Once witnessed a fan try to shame another fan for writing in 1st person because "nobody publishes books in 1st person! 😡" (yes 1st person, not 2nd, which would have made more sense), but this person was ADAMANT no publisher would ever dare publish a book in 1st person... which is... a hot take... I guess?
I guess they've never read "Catcher in the Rye" or "To Kill A Mockingbird" then.
“Nobody publishes books in first person”??? God, I do prefer third person, but I’m sorry? Honestly, write in whatever tense you want
second person works for homestuck fics because that’s how it’s like in the comic, i never really understood the hate.
don't mind perspectives changing either feel like people get overly confused
I usually write third person in fanfics, but I'm writing an original work that uses all three and I'm really excited about it :D
I have been writing a long time(not fanfiction just in general, although I have been getting into fic writing recently) and one of the first projects I did was a collaborative project with friends. In one paragraph, I misspelled “Remember” and “Rember” in a really dramatic scene and people I wrote that with who I’m still friends with now STILL mention it. I will never escape the Rember.
if you ever feel bad for that, rember that Ace Attorney itself had a typo in the game in the final case of game two where you have to make a crucial, extremely high stakes decision where people's lives are at stake, and if you fail and make the horribly tragic choice, the final line of the bad ending cutscene is
"The miracle never happen."
@@ladymoragsbootlaces8059”rember” oh god the curse never ends.
Guess you could say they’ll always Rember the incident
@@ladymoragsbootlaces8059i had to find this out from the fandom bc in my version of the game it was already fixed💀 i pretty much cried my eyes out on that steel samurai ballad and then went online only to find out that part was a meme lmao
You gotta rember.
Purple prose is so cool, I'm a sucker for it as a reader and also as a writer (although my prose was definitely more purple when I was a teen).
I also love the much loathed gemstones to describe eye colors!
Nothing better than emerald, amber, sapphire, amethyst and so on irises while I read, as well as literally any other metaphor you can use for someone's eyes. Love them so much and again, guilty of it as a writer too :'D
I tend to be a very visual thinker, so I'm with you on that! I love indepth descriptions and the wide range of vocabulary that some writers use to describe appearances, outfits, or environments.
Yeeeesssss!!! I’ve always loved gemstones to eyes so much. Especially because there are some specific shades that can’t be described in any other way like amber. I like using figurative language to describe somebody’s appearance too. One character I have that I write for has hair a very specific shade of brown. Hazelnut. I can’t use any other descriptor because it wouldn’t work. Also when people use less common descriptors. I got my favorites out of Deltarune fics, one of which that was written as a joke. There was:
“He had hair white as snow. Ooh, sparkly as snow too.”
And:
“A human with straight hair the color of cinnamon.”
On the gemstone thing: my mother has a cool form of heterochromia, where her irises are green with a white/light blue ring around the outside. Any work pulling to gemstones for eye comparison immediately puts that sort of imagery in my mind. Emerald eyes would have speckles of white or gold in, and I love it. It helps add depth and stops me from imagining just one colour
@@BlindStarLilywho had the white hair?
Add some old-timey word choices and that's just my jam. I've noticed many people seem to get annoyed of flowery prose but I just love when characters have a way with words.
I usually am quite peculiar about grammar, but if bad grammar adds to the comedy of the fic I am absolutely obsessed with it
Lol, agreed! I've grown up with a mother who always made her kids write grammatically correct, so it bugs me so much when something's not right; however, just like you, I find purposely badly comedy writing really funny, lol. Like, the "I can has cheezburger" lolcats, 😆
THERE IS WORSE OUT THERE THAN ORBS???
I have officially learned true fear
Yeah I gotta know what these are I'm scared
"Member"
@@ioan.c8868 imo they're equally terrible, but fair point.
Ocular Organs
ive seen optics too many times to count
Tonal deviation. Some people don’t like it when really serious movies and stories get silly, stupid fanfics written about them. I don’t care. If I wanna read a story about Arthur Fleck and Bruce Wayne sword fighting in a Denny’s parking lot, I’m gonna.
This is why I love crackfics
Also fits well in the opposite direction. Touhou for example is usually so fucking silly but I’ve experienced some of the most hurt from fan works of that series
I once made an off-handed joke about the crossover movie of the century is literally just Ashley "Ash" Williams fights Kevin McAllister.
This is hilarious in concept, yet the more I thought about it the more I realized it was peak fiction.
And yet it is so, so stupid.
Let the goofy goobers be goofy goobers!!!
Hurt no comfort. I don’t mind just pure, plain angst 🤷
SAME
Angst is my comfort honestly
I have this reader who REALLY engages with my story. They tell me their ideas, and get really excited when I post. Once, I posted a chapter, and they told me what a certain character should have done. I loved their idea so much that I wrote it in the next chapter. It’s now one of my fav things in my story
Which fic was that, if you don't mind me asking?
@@catbatrat1760 One of us is dead by writer_2033 on ao3
a lot of people dislike love triangles, but you know what I like? love triangles where it ends in polyamory. why choose one when you can have both (or MORE?)
Y E S
Honestly, I love it when books or fanfictions have lengthy descriptions of the clothing the character is wearing, a la Ebony d'arkness Dementia Raven Way. I have a special interest in fashion, so I just love imagining all of the outfits the characters could wear in different situations, but it also helps me imagine the character better for some reason. It keeps me in the story, ya know?
A lot of people seem to think chatfics are cringe, but I really enjoy them because they're funny (at least the ones I read). I also read lots of unfinished fics, even if they don't have a regular update schedule, when the premise interests me. Oh and funny tags make me more likely to read a story if they aren't overdone and have enough other description for me to understand the plot of the fic.
Some of the other things listed in here I don't particularly care for, but I think it's great that people do, because there are just as many kinds of readers as there are writers, and there should be something for everyone. No one should be shamed for liking a certain trope or writing feature.
I enjoy chatfics too, however I dont read them that often, since they can get pretty same-y and I have a hard time with remembering which name correlates to which character
I did not know people thought that. I absolutely love them! They're usually hilarious.
@@lucydale3214 yeah that's fair, they kind of are all the same lol but fun every once in a while
@@aliciam6145 yeah! if i read them too often, i get bored, but its nice to read them every once in a while
Chatfics are often pretty divisive for me. Often they have very little substance so the author has to be extremely funny, and also be able to convincingly portray different characters’ tones over text, in order to pull it off. I find too often that the authors have two or three good jokes in them and the fic gets stagnant and boring very quickly. On the flip side good chatfic can be hilarious - it’s a very economical format for cramming in as many good jokes as you can and when done well it’s an absolute goldmine. I think it works best when it’s got a fairly simple plot (not too complicated for its structure but not directionless), doesn’t drag on for too long, and never loses its sense of humour.
This might be a common one but I think first person can actually be great if it's done right. It just gets a bad reputation because it can be hard to do well.
First person tends to read like a journal sometimes, and I love getting the personal thoughts and experiences of a character in a given situation. It's neat when authors change to different characters so you have another POV of the same event. It's especially cool to get unreliable narrators because it makes you question what they're telling you sometimes. Think Holden Caulfield from "Catcher in the Rye."
@@dannyfoxboi I really love when first person reads as a journal! I don’t think I could write it myself (as an exclusively third person limited writer, it doesn’t really fit my style of writing), but it’s so fun to read.
Oh, it absolutely can be great! I mostly write in first person because of the possibilities for dramatic irony. The trick with it is to make sure that a really perceptive reader would be able to pick up on the narrator's biases. Readers don't like feeling as if they are being lied to, they want to know what is "really" happening. But you can do this in dialogue: that one character the narrator always dismissed? Yeah, they were right all along. Love that trope and it is not used nearly enough. Also, I find that first person POV makes misunderstandings a lot more believable to the readers.
Hard agree. I think the main reason that good first person is so hard to come by is that it’s very uncommon outside of OC-centric and reader-insert fic, and lots of people just aren’t interested in those or don’t take them as seriously. OOC behaviour is also a lot more obvious and jarring in first person in my experience.
@@goldie1943 I see a lot of first person that’s more.. low-quality, in the nicest way I can say that. I think a lot of newer writers default to it, and they seem to think that first person is the only tense that can indicate a point of view, because sometimes I see chapters in a first person fanfic beginning with the phrase “no one’s POV”, which proceed to be written in third person omniscient POV. I think stuff like that is why I’ve become deterred from reading first person (not in all cases though, I’ve seen some genuinely good first person stories as well)
As a person who just started writing, I can confirm that not getting much interaction from readers and or not that many readers definitely makes me feel like what I'm writing is bad, and with me being very insecure already it possibly makes it worse. And I have also been feeling very unmotivated. I also write 1st and 3rd person and have no problem with 1st person
As a writer who is so hellbent on sticking as close to cannon as possible, to the point where my goal is that that my fics feel like actual episodes, it is super refreshing to hear that some people love AUs that are nothing like cannon.
I always put myself under so much stress with trying to stick to cannon. "Would this character say this? Do I have to rewrite this dialog to make it more in character? Is this action OOC? Would this be a storybeat that would actually happen in the show? Would this character actually do that in the show? Does this concflict make sense considering the characters traits, flaws, mannerisms and stregnths? How do I keep this character's mannerisms in character?"
And honsetly it gets very stressful thinking about all of that when writing lines. Sometimes even one line.
I'm so afraid of being OOC or making a story that doesn't line up to cannon because since I started writing fics I've always preferred cannon-like fics, and so that ended up making me write that way as well. And the better I got at writing like cannon, the harder I got on myself and the more I stressed about every little thing.
There was a fic that I wrote where I wanted a character to get into an arugement with their adoptive father. Typically they have a very healthy relationship, and in the show the character comes from an abusive background with the main villain being his abuser. So this character is very afraid of upsetting people and often backs down when getting scolded. So I was really stressing about this whole arugement seen being OOC for the son. That was until I realized that back in a real episode, when the kid was still in his abuser's background, he stood up to his future adoptive father to save his new friends. And this was back when the father openenly disliked him and if the main villain found out, the son would be in huge trouble. That made me realize that the kid is willing to stand up to authority if he thinks its best for his friends. So him arugung with his adoptive father makes sense, since they were aruging about something the kid was doing for his girlfriend that the adoptive father didn't approve of.
If you thought that was a long, drawn-out explanation and I completely agree. That was an example of just HOW MUCH I stress about cannon compliance. This was literally one fucking scene in one fucking chapter of a 7 chapter fic and it really really stressed me out about not being cannon compilant until I realized it could work.
Another thing about my stress about cannon compliance is that older fics I made back when the show I make fics for were still airing eventually became irrelevant as the show went on. And, despite the fics actually being good for what they are, I honestly lost a lot of my liking towards them simply because they became irrelevant to cannon. And when the show was still going on, if I was writing a fic and the show came out with an episode that made the fic irrelevant, I'd IMMEDIATELY lose interest in the fic. (This goes for my comics, too). And never finish it.
Tbh, I think the reason I ended up so worried about cannon compliance is because the online friends I made as a kid were all so adamant on keeping things cannon compliant, and that reflected on me, and as an adult I ended up becoming so hard and strict on myself about it, never really letting myself divert from cannon. And even in the AUs I have made, I still try to stick to cannon as much as possible.
But seeing that people are there actually LIKE completely non cannon complianct stories honestly really makes me feel better about that. I honestly might try making AUs that aren't even close to cannon now. I always thought that most people hated non-cannon compliance fics, but seeing people like them really honestly made me have such a huge realization that I NEVER would've have if I never saw this video.
Lone redditor out there, and youtuber who made this video, I must thank you.
Hear, Hear!
I write extremely canon compliant fics and I've never found it that stressful. I even enjoy doing massive amounts of research and character studies to get things right. But most of the best media was far less fun to create then they are to consume.
"And the better I got at writing like cannon, the harder I got on myself and the more I stressed about every little thing." Oh, geez, that hit HARD. For me, at least, that goes for perfectionism in general: the better I get at something, the harder I DEMAND to be perfect. "If you're good at this, you have no excuse to be bad at it." That type of thing.
I didn't know other people experience this exact thing, too.
I love unifinish fics, every time thats finish i can unlease my creativity trying to continue or creating a ending for me, it's satisfactory because it's basically my bed time stories.
0:43, this is so true was reading a fanfiction that seems to be the talk of the fandom I am in and it was really good but it was still incomplete. The author said that an epilogue is currently on the works... It's been 3 years now.
I don't know much about the fanfiction/reading community, but when I see "dead dove: do not eat" in the tag, that's my green light
Yes! As long as its not a substitute to proper warning tags tho. I'd be excited about the nastiest sht but I gotta know WHAT I'm excited to be getting into
Exactly. Love reading the most vile stuff imaginable with my favorite chars. Immediately reading fluff right after provides a fun tonal whiplash
Same
What does it mean?
If ex. Gore is tagged, you need to prepare yourself for really vile gore stuff. @@KozirDuck
I don't personally agree with/like most of these but I can definitely see where people are coming from! It's nice to know that communities like the fanfiction community are not hive-minds, people have their own opinion and even if I write something I think most fanfic readers won't like, there will be some that actually really do :D
1:10 I agree with this person I LOVE AUs (as long as they go along with my vibe). In fact I didn’t even know this annoyed people because AUs are kind of _encouraged_ in like, almost *_every_** fandom **_ever._* I mean I knew people might not like certain types of AUs, either because something happened that they didn’t like, the AU was actually problematic, or they were just being a little b-word about it bc it exists. But I’ve never heard of people being mad about ANY/ALL AUs existing _at _*_all._* 😐🫥
1:23 I also agree with this because my favorite show only has two fracking seasons 😠😠 I won’t say I like AUs _more_ than the canon, but sometimes the AU is just better
9:04 ALSO AGREED (my baby boys are to be protected) 😤😤
Original Characters. As long as they suit the setting or scenes, I find them refreshing. besides, I like reading about them when they have a specific role no canon characters can fill.
First Person Perspective. The amount of emotions and internal thoughts a good writer can fit in this perspective is insane. some of my all-time favorite fics are written in first person.
omg both of these for me too! honestly i prefer oc x canon stories the most. x readers just aren't my thing and i can almost never read canon x canon because i have very specific interpretations of the canon story + characters that can never really match up with the fics lol. and as long as the story is written well i don't care what perspective it's written in 🤷♀️
4:26 this is so reassuring bc I will literally spend hours researching something just for one scene. sometimes its not even a whole scene, its just something mentioned once or twice and usually its not even that important. yet I will spend hours freaking out about the plausibility of a single sentence.
the stupidest part is that I don't even let other people read it
“Cross-posted from Wattpad”
Also, on the topic of canon divergence, I’ve recently gotten into musicals (I was watching a Book of Mormon slime tutorial before watching this) and one musical that is in my top 3 is Be More Chill (I’m basic, I know). So the plot is that the protagonist, Jeremy, takes a pill with a supercomputer in it to become popular and get with his crush, Christine. However, things end up going horribly wrong.
Now, in the fandom, the most popular ship isn’t Jeremy and Christine; it’s Jeremy and his best friend Michael.
And I just have to say; I _LIVE_ for the Boyf Riends rewrites of the musical. I love them SO FREAKING MUCH.
This video actually got rid of my 2 month long writer's block! Oh I have so many ideas for my fic I can actually write again
I'm so happy for you! Best of luck with it :)
I love reader inserts and ignoring canon fanfictions! Always a joy to read 😁
I haven't come across any reader inserts in the fandoms I read that aren't like romantic shipping with a character and I find that uncomfortable as an aroace person but I do like fics where canon gets thrown out the window at a certain point, like "this is a stupid plot point and I'm going to fix it" because you then have to decide what happens next and the domino effect of that one moment
I totally agree with the "no romantic pairing" one, and while I am totally in love with romantic pairings, sometimes you just want to read about two characters being best friends and having each others backs, there doesn't always have to be romance.
1:09 As a Clone Wars fan and one of the clones in particullar, where "canon compliant" is a warning more than anything else and you need AUs to stay sane, i couldn't agree more xD
Multi fandom crossovers. I don't see a reason for my hyper-fixations to not interact. Also it's funny when completely different characters and tones mix!
One thing I see a lot of people hating on for some reason is "Starting by describing the weather" I really don't get why people dislike it but personally, I put a *lot* of importance into visualising what the fic is describing, that's like 90% of the experience for me- So I actually kinda like it when authors start a fic off with describing the weather or season or setting etc, cuz then right from the get go, I can already imagine the scene and sort of get a feel for the background even if it doesn't add anything to the story or character itself
That's because "It was a dark and stormy night" is the first sentece of _the_ example of overly-dramatic writing.
This.
I get extremely frustrated when I'm confused, so the way I see it, clarity is THE most important thing.
I completely agree with canon deviation! It makes it more exciting in my opinion, especially if you're making an au. And even if you're leaving some things canon, if you don't like what happened, you can just change things.
Another thing i personally like are shorter fics. Not to say i dont like longer ones, but i hear many people say they don't like or prefer short fics but i honestly enjoy them.
@@yeahbutwhy8788 One shot is the correct term.
And that's completely understandable.
Honestly, shorter {especially one-shot} fics that have a really good story fit into a few hundred to only a couple thousand words are my jam. I don't really read longer ones 'cause when I read those, things in the real world tend to need me before I can finish them and then I'm not immersed in them anymore, lol. But yeah, I see lots of complaints against one-shots/shorter fics and I don't know why.
I love long rambling notes! My favorite author TrashcanWithSprinkles always has the longest notes and it’s so fun to read, especially when the grammar is improper and the writing is silly, it shows their personality and you get to see the authors authentic self. I personally find them just like an extra to read from the story. Learning their thought process, planning, etc is interesting and fun to read
i'm a rambler and i just *know* i'm going to write notes this way if i start posting my fics haha, so thanks for saying this it'll probably save me from typing out fun rambles and then deleting them thinking noone cares :D
4:01 YES THIS!!! theres a fic i rlly love that has miscommunication as a source of conflict - its a oneshot where one character, jon, overhears his crush martin partway through reciting a poem that sounds incredibly violent and assumes martin wants to kill him. Jon then steals the recording of the poem and listens to it from the start, only to discover it was a… rather *passionate* love poem. the miscommunication aspect of it made total sense because at the point in canon this story was set, jon had discovered that his predecessor had been murdered and was paranoid about her murderer coming after him (a completely justified fear, given he was later proven right that there was a threat in the workplace) so him coming to the conclusion that martin wanted to kill him made complete sense given his mental state at the time, as well as the violent sounding imagery he used in his poem. it also made sense why jon wouldnt want to go to martin to ask for clarification about what he heard, and thankfully the misconception was cleared up within the same day (and ended with them snogging)
Omg pls I need the link to the fic, seems sooo interesting!!!
Massive crossover fics. Even when the source choices don't seem to make sense. Dug from Up meeting the Phantom of the Opera, Rabbit from Steam Powered Giraffe, Mondo from Danganronpa, and Hollyleaf from Warrior Cats in the middle of the Hunger Games is definitely something I'd read. It sounds absolutely wild and honestly I love when people take characters they enjoy from different things and just play with them like they're a kid in a sandbox having their Power Rangers action figures and their Star Wars action figures fight each other. So what if it doesn't make sense that Luke Skywalker and Cecil Palmer would be having a conversation- the whole point of fanfics is that they aren't canon! What are you gonna do? Tell the fiction cops on me for having the Doctor show up in places he logically shouldn't? Have fun with that, I'll just be in my corner watching my favorite characters exist near each other.
I found a 'fic that's just a bunch of characters (A BUNCH, EVERYONE IS HERE) from a lot of fandoms all trying to beat a bunch of villains (idk most of the characters tbh)
It's in my library now because the confusion and fun combined makes my heart happy
i love 2nd person when the "you" is not actually me. something about it just feels so raw and real to me.
i didn't know some of these were commonly hated, like purple prose? cannon divergence? rambling notes? lack of romance? short fics? whats there to hate about any of these? i can understand disliking some of the things mentioned in the video, to each their own and all that, but hating especially these ones just fully confuses me
Those jokes that were like
Inuyasha: wait why am I here (•_•)
Author: CAUSE IT’S IN YOUR CONTRACT! **revs chainsaw**
They’re so endearing and legitimately funny.
Honestly? I agree. While I never have the guts to do it myself, something about silly stuff like that is just really charming. I find it can be really refreshing too if the chapter its at the end of is a more serious one too, if done right.
Normally I do this in the form of a self-insert
For example, if I have feelings for a character, make my OC "pretend flirt" with them. This means that the OC does not actually like the character, but they pretend to so they can get a reaction out of them and others as a joke.
So far I've only done this once but it's so funny to me so far
Unfinished, abandoned, and/or dead fics. It's less that I'm not annoyed and more that I just learned to deal with it. I frequent niche and obscure fandoms like Kantai Collection and Hot Wheels Acceleracers, and there's not a lot of completed fics that satisfies my already niche tastes; most of the time I just have to suck it up and deal with fics that stopped dead right in the middle of a climax or something like that. You learn to smile because it happened instead of crying because it ended early.
I love. LOVE LOVE LOVE. Redemption arcs that are heavily connected to romance. Beauty and The Beast type stuff. It's the peak of "To be loved: is to be changed". When a character manages to get under a villain's skin in the best way possible and gets them to really start reconsidering things it's really *chefs kiss*.
Honestly, the things said about unfinished fics is so true, as an author on ao3 who has never finished any story, it's quite refreshing to see people comment positively on it instead of hating on us or rushing us to finish it! The 'when are you going to update' comments get annoying after a while and it can push you deeper into burn out, it's quite unfortunate that authors can't catch a break. But it's aways good to know that supportive people will always exist to give advice, help or just in general give criticism, it's a bittersweet feeling, being an author is a strange experience. Especially if you're working for free with only your passion for fandoms fueling you, no money, nothing. Just passion. And i sort of find that bittersweet as well, it's so sweet that people are able to form a community in the comments or join writing servers, yet will that ever be enough for the lack of respect writers get on the internet or even the lack of payment, the time spent and more? That's a question i'll never get an answer to! But i sure hope it sparked a discussion!!
You got comments? I got over 200 kudos and no comments at all. I never finished the fic, because screw that. If someone took the time to write something you like, bloody well SAY something.
@@FunkyLittlePoptart the thing with comments is that they're actually pretty rare, like even my fic with 4000+ views got 23 comments (mine included) so it's a bit difficult to get them except if you're very popular as an author, maybe make it so that not just people with accounts can comment bc most of my comments have been from guests!
Oh, it was totally open to anyone who cared to comment. And everyone in that fandom knows damn well there aren't many writers in it. There's been conversations about supporting the people writing the fics, so all of them can DIAF for all I care. I'm a human and if you can't be bothered to acknowledge my effort, then you can screw off. Go back to whining about how there's not enough fics for your pairing. @@YourUnofficialOchako
I have like random reading bursts so short fics are my everything. once I get bored I don’t have to worry about coming back to it or it rotting in my tabs like I do with longer fics.
3:18 one of the things that i miss from old wattpad days is Q&A in the end of a fic. PLEASE writter, explain to me every bit of your creation
For me it's a side character being the portagonist of the fanfic. Like mha is a bit infamous for being crowded with characters so it's nice to see a fanfic focus on let's say shoji instead of deku,shoto or bakugou because we can see what the side character life is like because we don't really see them often
5:43 My personal favorite instance of this happening in a fic was where the character knew about the original version but the fanfiction was of an adaptation that they didn't know anything about, so some things were still just as surprising to them as to the canon characters. The fic is an Ultimate Spider-Man (2012 cartoon not the 2000s comics of the same name) fic and the oc knew a lot about the 616 comics, and iirc the fic is called Ultimate Symbiote Adventures if my comment piqued anyone's interest.
OCs in fics! I love to see people putting themselves into their writing or putting their characters into their writing. I think it’s fun!
One of the best fics, if not the best fic, that I’ve ever read was written in first person. It worked really well and made it way more impactful.
I love it when characters cry just like cry and scream and vent to another character or they cry so much because they’re so happy it’s just so interesting!
I love it when the writing gets a lot more detailed during serious moments it’s like I can picture the scene perfectly which makes it even better!
I LOVE short fics! I don’t know why but there’s some monkey part of my brain that loves reading short stories
Also something that doesn’t have to do with fics but still something I love is when the story purposely leave off on a cliff hanger because that’s what make’s fics happen!
I have a thing for writing stories with only friendship in them. I'm not into romantic relationships, so this stuff doesn't come up in my stories.
I appreciate fics that keep friends as friends, or what was romantic in canon as just friends.
I love fanfics that follow up on the story of role playing adventure games. Because the characters stories are continued. I've started writing one for one of my Fable 3 playthroughs, but through the eyes of characters from a different land, mentioned in a side quest. It's been a fun ride so far, but haven't had a lot of time (until recently) to write more. The characters get powers from the Guild Seal that aren't seen in Albion at all, so they have to earn the trust of the people of Albion. They're also dealing with the trauma left behind by the events of ending of 2 and all of 3. And it's written from all of their perspectives, to help people understand motivations behind their actions.
Same! There will probably never be romance in my fics.
@@Theawesomeninja_XD it's also, in some way, expected. Especially of facfics.
It's good to break out of that once in a while XD
Love reading queerplatonic relationships, especially if people are like, "so you're friends but extra?" And the characters are like, "sure bud, whatever helps you. Don't care."
Character death doesn’t annoy me, it just destroys me
purple prose, all lowercase writing, 2nd person, rambling in the tags, are all stuff i personally do, and adore to see in others works
Reader inserts. I adore them, favourite fanfic genre. There are good, serious y/n novels, and there are some fun crack y/ns too. I love them sm, and they make up most of the fics I read
I like reading unfinished fics too! It's especially fun when the story isn't that far along when you first pick it up. As well as when the author updates it regularly. It like watching your favorite TV show and getting excited when a new episode gets released!
I like purple prose when used judiciously. A whole fic of purple prose with little to no plot usually bores me, but a good plot-driven fic with some purple prose passages sprinkled in can be wonderful
I also really love short fics, writing and reading.
Deviations from canon are FROWNED upon?? That shit slaps
i love short fics i do not have the attention span for anything longer than like 10 chapters lmfao
I personally love purple prose because I am SO FREAKING BAD at describing things. I will write three chapters and suddenly realise I never even said where these people are at, so reading some beautiful description of something is like heck yeah!!! Wish I could do that as well as you!!
I like second person fics. I think they're immersive in the way video games are. I'm going on an adventure, not simply witnessing the adventure.
What I don't like is named main characters and OCs in the "Reader Insert" tag. If the main character has a name, really specific experiences, and unique traits, that's not a "reader insert" fic. That's just your OC that you wrote in second person. There's a difference.
I almost only read reader-insert, I get to fly away from my problems and hang out with the characters I love
I love in-progress series, especially as someone who likes to interact with writers. I didn't even know people avoided them lol. Fanfic is a labor of love and it's something special to follow its creation, yknow? I like to speculate about the new chapters and point out my favorite bits etc., and it's so sweet how excited the authors get about engagement. Even in simple or poorly written fic s, it's so much fun to just gush back and forth about every new development. It just makes fandom so much more engaging idk lol
First person fics, I love them so so so much it puts me in the characters shoes and i feel in the story instead of watching
Wow, this is the first time I've heard of people having an issue with first person narrative!
i LOVE miscommunication, yes sometimes they can seem implausible but you would be surprised just how easily miscommunication is irl. (example: Trash Taste washing machine/fridge bit. if ykyk).
long author notes explaining lore and thoughts about the fic. there's this one author i read that names all their fics after poems and they always explain exactly where it's from and why they named their fic after it. it's so fun. also citations! I've read two fics where tje author has added citations and it's so nice to either learn more about the thing or little detail they couldn't add into the actual story. (for actual books that include this, Good Omens, mwah)
crossovers, I love crossovers especially if the two fandoms have nothing in common. also, when it's obvious the author has a fixation on both of the fandoms and manage to intertwine both worlds, gah, it's so good!
extreamly rare pairs, they have like three fics and one fanart and the authors are always absolutely amazing. i do not care if the characters have never met or don't make sense, it's fun!
3:41 feel very validated with this one. Miscommunication done right can be sooooo fun and popcorn-worthy. And sometimes it's not even all that serious, or it develops into something serious after initially being harmless. It's great
Use of headcannons. Some people really dislike them considering their lack of canonisity (?) but I love peoples’ interpretations of characters, especially if the headcannons expand on the character/their trauma. But honestly I even love if the headcannon is completely off the walls and doesn’t connect that much to canon. Characters are meant to be molded into something a person can connect to, and if that means that ‘Character A has ADHD’ or ‘Character B enjoys knitting’ then by god they will. As long as the character has some semblance of their canon personality (not even required to be exact) then I’ll read it.
Personally I’m a massive fan of AUs! I adore seeing people take these characters and morph them.
As for pov, while I can’t stand first person in fic, I’ve grown a lot more attached to second person ever since I started reading homestuck fanfic.
I really like 1st person,like I feel like the character is telling me a story or I am in their mind it is just nice
Chatfics! I always enjoy seeing things like those, as they seem to give a more varied insight into how characters would interact who maybe wouldn't (or couldn't) in canon.
Also, over-descriptiveness. When done right it can show a lot about how characters view one another (like someone with a crush analysing their appearance, or an enemy calling their hair stupid) and can be somewhat entertaining at times.
As a Danny Phantom Phan, we have to fix so much of cannon that if you’re not paying super close attention, all the fannon stuff looks like cannon. We have ghost cores, obsessions, tripped on a wire, those never happened in cannon but they’re so intrinsic to phandom culture and lore that we don’t care that they never existed in cannon cause in truth, we don’t like cannon. We got the og show from 2004 and said “Fuck you Butch Hartman, we’ll take it from here”.
Also a Phan here (have been since childhood), and I know so many tropes and fanon creations that it's not even funny. Valerie? Never once officially referred to as the "Red Huntress" in canon. Wes Weston? A character in the background with a personality built from the ground up by the community, and likely a joke on Sam's "Who's Wes" comment when handed the ring. All the unique ship names? I love the creativity of them.
While I'm definitely one that's WAAYYY more tolerant of the source material than most people, I definitely understand why they don't like it and often throw it out the window entirely. I haven't read the Graphic Novel, yet, (I absolutely plan to,) but I've been spoiled on a few details, like a certain massive retcon that I'm a little suspicious of, but I'll have to see how it's handled.
I seriously don't mind S3 or Phantom Planet, and it admittedly bums me out sometimes when I see people bashing them. I get it, the writing is subpar compared to S2, but Amorpho is one of my favorite villains, even if he's a one-off. Nocturn? I think he's pretty cool, too! Undergrowth was neat, and I loved "Plant Queen Sam." I like all of it for what it is, and I can see the better aspects of it. There's people that prefer Grey Ghost over Amethyst Ocean; do I mind? Of course not, but that doesn't mean I want to be bashed over my own preference of the canon pairing. You get me? Anyway, sorry for such a long ramble, I understand if you don't want to read all of that. It's just nice to talk to someone else who knows about this kind of thing.
@@dannyfoxboi no I love talking to other phans and hearing their rambles! I was never raised on nickelodeon since I’m not American and I’ve only been in the phandom since last year so I haven’t interacted with the community a whole lot outside of tumblr and Ao3. And while I do like cannon, I like fannon way more cause in the decades the phandom has been a thing, we’ve grown our own culture and stuff like making our own character that has a defined personality and interests that everyone agrees upon, is why I like fannon more. Cannon gave us the tools but we got the materials and made something ourselves and I think that’s really beautiful and unique in a fandom, we’ve deviated so far from cannon yet we stay so close that you can’t tell the forest from the trees is something wonderful! And since we’re an older fandom there aren’t a lot of annoying phans around anymore since they get disinterested after a time and stop interacting which means you don’t really see anyone getting angry at someone for liking Amethyst Ocean or Gray Ghost or even UFO (Also I just wanna say I love our ship names, fuck smushing peoples names together, give me more stuff like Amethyst Ocean), cause what’s the point of yelling at each other over ships when we can yell at each other over vivisection vs dissection instead? I just love our phandom culture and well kept traditions like Invisobang and Dannypocalyspe and Ectoctober, plus a lot of fandoms these days don’t really feel like a community, the phandom does and I love it.
@@astoroidea6502 Your points are valid, and I agree with quite a few, (especially the community and culture part,) but I was just specifically talking about those that ignore canon altogether because of how "trash" it is (at least in the last season, or the finale specifically), and I tend to feel like an outcast every time someone talks about how bad it is because, yes I acknowledge it's not the best-written ending in the world, yet I personally still enjoyed it, regardless. I see so many people collectively agree that PP "didn't happen", or at least make huge alterations so that it's barely the same story (I don't mind this one too much because at least they aren't denying it outright, even if it still hurts a bit.) It just... Makes me feel like I'm wrong for liking what a vast majority of others hate. I'm just expected to agree with them, and I'm afraid of speaking out in fear of backlash, or people thinking I'm "some child/new fan that doesn't know any better" or just an idiot that can't tell the difference between gold and feces. I know the paranoia is mostly in my head, but it's no less isolating on a few occasions. There's so few phans like me (if any at all), and I've never found someone who had the same opinions, ever.
Hard agree on the in-progress fics thing at 10:55. I love reading something in-progress and the anticipation of waiting for the next bit, and I love when other people read my in-progress stuff (on the occasion when I write chaptered things, which is not always) and theorize and let me know they're paying attention. -Even the person who was reading my current fic for a while who did Not Get the direction I was going.-
i dont know if people avoid this but authors putting their own thoughts in parenthesis in the story.
Author notes that catch me off guard before of after the fic. Sometimes they apologize for things that aren’t their fault, but it’s also either hilarious to see what situations or ‘WTF’ moments like getting both their hands broken.
Also, I like ‘what if’ AU’s. A whole different setting, of what if this happened or what if this guy never (insert something that happened in canon). It’s fun to see what could happen alternatively.
OCs and second person POV are something that I personally quite like (though not necessarily go out of my way to find). Like I go into a fic to read a cute story about a ship from the original media but come out loving the author's OC so much, they become my fave character. And all of the second (and first) POV fics that I've personally enjoyed tend to be really angsty (usually Hurt/No Comfort or Unhappy Endings) and it just puts you directly into that headspace.
I’m glad there are people that like silly tags, lol. One tag on a book (I’m hesitant to call it a story) of mine on Wattpad is ‘anthropomorphism’, which is normal, but I then proceeded to follow it up with ‘yes, there’s a word for this, lol’ and ‘does that mean I’m not weird?’ The last two don’t have spaces in between the words though, because the app doesn’t allow that for some reason.
"The last two don’t have spaces in between the words though, because the app doesn’t allow that for some reason."
oh gosh that sounds like a _nightmare..._
tbh i love short fics and character death, both really help me relax after a long day
As someone who enjoys the white collar tv/ Batman crossover, it’s impossible to not love short fics due to 90% of all the ficus being under 5000 with only 1-5 chapters
I like ooc if it makes the character more fitting to the story, but not enough to be unrecognisable and make you mad
I actually like it when characters are eo overloaded with headcanons they might as well be OCs
Some of the best Fanfics I know were written before the series in question was actually finished, so they can sometimes be radically different from Canon. I feel like creativity is somewhat limited as a series gets closer to being finished, so it would be nice to see more fics that just completely disregard canon past a certain point.
I agree with the person from 1:15 100000%. In fact, if a story is straight retelling with very little or no canon deviations I will get bored and stop reading the story. After all, I already know how the story ends. I might as well go back and revisit the source material.
Also person from 8:33 is super right. There is a reason why Twain's “I apologize for such a long letter - I didn't have time to write a short one.” is so often quoted.
I live for canon deviation in fanworks. I mean, it's my fanwork. If I want my favorite character to still be alive just because, I can do that. It's not canon deviation in my mind so much as it is an AU with only one or two things different. I love creating and reading different versions of stuff I'm familiar with. Keeps things fresh and fun.
And as a proprietor of long author's notes, I'm aware people don't usually read them, but I like having them for those who do. I don't ramble like I used to, but I do like to talk about my thought process behind certain decisions, parts I greatly enjoyed writing, and also thank people for continuing to read despite how long it can take me to update sometimes. Part of the fanfiction writing for me is how much I personally enjoy it, so of course I'm gonna talk about my favorite parts and what I was thinking. It's part of the fun for me. :)
If anyone were to get mad at me for using the word "smirk" in a fic, my response is... it's not awkward; it's a perfectly good, descriptive word. I can use it if I want to.
Also I appreciate 7:48 as someone who just doesn't enjoy writing shipping fics. I've been complimented on some of my fics for not shipping anyone for the heck of it. If you read my fics, you're there for the story, not the romance. And I like that a lot. :)
Not reading in-progress stories is the big one. I'm a slow writer and it can be disheartening when people don't check out your fic just because it's unfinished. Like... it's like the whole world already gave up on you and you're your only motivation to keep going. Honestly there's nothing that gets me interested in a story again like someone commenting on one of my backburnered fics about how much they like the story so far. It usually results in me pulling up the next unfinished chapter, re-reading it, and writing more. One time I actually finished a chapter the next day thanks to a commenter getting me interested in the fic again.
Also one of my favorite fics in my fandom is unfinished. I still re-read it sometimes and hope the author stopped working on it to turn it into an original dystopian book.
There's so much infighting over what's a good or bad thing in fanfic, but honestly, it doesn't matter. The author should be writing for themselves, what they like, what they want to read, anyone else liking it is kinda a bonus. Personally, I'm very picky when it comes to fanfic, but just because I can't stand reading first person or main character oc or Y/N fics, doesn't mean anything to someone else. Read and enjoy whatever you want to, the only wrong way to read or write fanfic, is to read or write something that you don't want to.
It's a tie for me between reading the same cliched situations in different ways and xreaders/reader inserts. The second one mostly because that's what I've mostly been writing.
social media/ chafics
their always so funny/ goofy and never take themselves srsy, and sometimes i need that funny stuff, as i read primarly hurt/comfort and angst