Things you *hate* to see in fanfiction

[lwf58]

This is veering off topic, so this is my last comment about it. It wouldn't matter if the story was pre-Akari. Yes, Ryouga would get depressed and angry. He might or might not blame Ranma (contrary to fanon, Ryouga didn't always blame Ranma for everything that happened) if he'd failed to save her. But his affections were always very shallow and easily diverted. Long-time depression leading to suicidal tendencies just isn't his style. His answer was always "I'm going to go away and never come back", a vow that guaranteed his next stop would be Nerima.
Getting back on topic again, another peeve is one that just appeared in this forum this week. The author posted a foreword that explained all of the major plot points before the story even started. Okay... now what's the payoff for reading? And in that vein, the story was filled with deus ex machina solutions to all of the Nerima problems (Ranma is rejected by Akane and his mother and father, gets locked into girl form voluntarily and Shampoo just wants to be friends now, Kasumi suddenly and inexplicably decides to dump her family and go running off to permanently babysit girl-form Ranma wherever she may go, and much, much more!). No build-up, no foreshadowing.

[GenocideHeart]

Getting back on topic again, another peeve is one that just appeared in this forum this week. The author posted a foreword that explained all of the major plot points before the story even started. Okay... now what's the payoff for reading? And in that vein, the story was filled with deus ex machina solutions to all of the Nerima problems (Ranma is rejected by Akane and his mother and father, gets locked into girl form voluntarily and Shampoo just wants to be friends now, Kasumi suddenly and inexplicably decides to dump her family and go running off to permanently babysit girl-form Ranma wherever she may go, and much, much more!). No build-up, no foreshadowing.

Agreed. I generally only reveal future plot twists if I'm iffy on them and absolutely NEED a second opinion. Otherwise, it defeats the whole purpose of writing the fic. I mean, I already know what's going to happen! Why bother?

[MC80a Liberty]

Another peeve of mine that I just recalled is the pointless highschool fic. Most often seen in Naruto ff, the author takes a series where a concept like highschool doesn't exist and writes an entire story where the characters are ordinary people in an ordinary school full of people named John, Bill, Mary, etc.
If you're going to write a highschool fic use series where that's possible or use completely original characters in your fic instead of slapping the names and physical descriptions of a series' characters on to your OCs, otherwise it almost always comes across as a "I'm going to school with the Rookie 9! Lolz!" style self-insert.

[J. St.C. Patrick]

The missuse and overuse of flashbacks.
There is one fic I started to read where every other paragraph seemed to be a flashback.
Why did the author bother? why not tell that story chronologically if you're just going to us flashbacks.
Also to add to the list of words (though having the list won't help - dictionaries and spellcheckers exist but people don't bother to use them -- and spellchecks are useless when the word is a homophone.)
summery for summary. summery is warm weather in August in the northern hemisphere. Summery describes a dress a young woman might wear in August.
summary is a brief description of your fic.

[TerraEpon]

Another peeve of mine that I just recalled is the pointless highschool fic. Most often seen in Naruto ff, the author takes a series where a concept like highschool doesn't exist and writes an entire story where the characters are ordinary people in an ordinary school full of people named John, Bill, Mary, etc.

This was noted before in the one about "using characters names when they aren't that character."
And I've noticed that almost universally so-called Ranmafics like this ALWAYS have Ranma and Akane falling in love.
-Joshua

[MC80a Liberty]

This was noted before in the one about "using characters names when they aren't that character."

True, I'd forgotten that, but it's still exccedingly irritating even when the characters are somewhat faithful to the originals, such as in the numerous bad Naruto and Harry Potter crosses, which, come to think of it, also tend to exhibit the aforementioned "all male characters are in unexplained homosexual relationships with random characters" idiocy.

[lwf58]

And I've noticed that almost universally so-called Ranmafics like this ALWAYS have Ranma and Akane falling in love.

This is simple bashing on your part. More often than not, Ranma is portrayed OOC in fan fiction when trying to match him up with a non-canonical character. The fan authors try to come up with a reason why he'd decide to throw away everything he'd done in the series to devote himself to their favorite girl, and in doing so, they usually change his character to make him seem a helpless victim of circumstance that runs away the "the one who really cares about him", and show Akane as a heartless, hysterical bitch. Neither one is true. It is true that fiction which portrays Ranma as becoming very sensitive and romantic towards her is also dead wrong, though. He never did that in the series either.
I earlier looked up the Ryouga-Akari story arc in the manga for this thread, and in it I noted that Akane almost never hit Ranma, was completely supportive of Ranma's efforts to help Ryouga and Akari start dating, and was essentially calm and collected throughout the arc, which had episodes in two or three manga volumes. The only time she hit him was when he insulted her directly, and that only happened once or twice.

"all male characters are in unexplained homosexual relationships with random characters" idiocy.

Yeah. Just read an HP story where Harry finds out a character named Seamus is gay, and then starts showing bisexual tendencies himself just because Seamus is supportive of him. Someone needs to explain very carefully to the writer that homosexuality is not a trait that just rubs off on people. I spent years in the company of openly gay people when I was younger, and never even once did I have even the slightest temptation to engage in any form of intimacy with them. I never felt any need to criticise them for their preferences, but for me to even think of acting that way was revolting.

[TerraEpon]

This is simple bashing on your part. More often than not, Ranma is portrayed OOC in fan fiction when trying to match him up with a non-canonical character. The fan authors try to come up with a reason why he'd decide to throw away everything he'd done in the series to devote himself to their favorite girl, and in doing so, they usually change his character to make him seem a helpless victim of circumstance that runs away the "the one who really cares about him", and show Akane as a heartless, hysterical bitch. Neither one is true. It is true that fiction which portrays Ranma as becoming very sensitive and romantic towards her is also dead wrong, though. He never did that in the series either.

That's not really related to what I was saying, at all.
I'm talking about the fics that have NO relation to the series at all, save the fact that they have the same names and similar appearences. Often Ranma and Akane are already in the same school, no martial arts or fiancees or curses involved, etc. etc.
-Joshua

[TerraEpon]

Oh, and to get off the Ranma thoughts for a bit, how about "heatless bitch Pluto" (Haruka and Michiru are moreso than Pluto ever is in the anime when it concerns Hotaru and at times the inners), "sexual knowledge innocent Ami/Usagi", "Rei-romantic-loves-Usagi" (disclaimer: Unless it's an erotic story, in which case it never matters who likes who). Also, SM fics where the enemy is for unknown reasons more powerful than depicted in canon.
-Joshua

[lwf58]

That's not really related to what I was saying, at all.
I'm talking about the fics that have NO relation to the series at all, save the fact that they have the same names and similar appearences. Often Ranma and Akane are already in the same school, no martial arts or fiancees or curses involved, etc. etc.
-Joshua

Ah. My apologies then, if I was harsh. Still, however much I look at the statement, it still seems very easy to interprete it as bashing the canon R/A match. Still say that I see more fics that do that in attempts to get Ranma into non-Akane matches, though. The stories have to come up with reasons, and they are usually very bad ones and the characters don't behave at all like they do in canon or the anime.
Agree fully with your complaint about Pluto, although she did behave badly in Sailor Moon S. Even if we grant that she doesn't have that all-knowing bit going for her, she knew who Usagi was from having met her in SM-R, and yet she disrespects her in SM-S, and gives bad advice to Haruka and Michiru.

[MC80a Liberty]

Fics with summaries that consist of "what if?", "what would?", "Did you ever wonder?" and "Read on to find out!". Besides being irritating it's often the first sign that the fic is lacking minor things such as grammar, spelling, an actual plot and any semblance of effort.

[Anchoku]

Here is my list of things that bug me.
1. Horrific grammar and spelling (although, few fics fall into this category)
2. Long-winded speeches explaining and justifying every single plot point
3. Idealistic, black-and-white characters and story-telling
4. One-dimensional characters (see number 4, above) which all talk, act and think the same (either "black" or, "white" hat characters)
5. Stories published which are really outlines
6. Trite dialogue
7. Excessive use of fandom (and obvious plagiarizing from other authors)
8. Extreme character behavior (Takahashi's characters are already extreme enough)
9. Excessive and often ridiculous power-ups
10. Getting canon facts blatantly wrong (as well as real-world facts)

[Anchoku]

For the record Canadian English is distinct from American English.

It's true. Canadians grow up much closer to Europe than Americans.
They often use mustard or vinegar on their "freedom fries."
They watch the BBC on their tely until they finally get some of the weirder stuff as "funny." (They call their dollar a "looney" and have a "twooney".)
They have one of, if not the, largest, independent French population outside of France.
And they converted, smartly, to metric units before buying a hundred trillion dollars worth of manufacturing tooling and other infrastructure in the old English standard.
Of course, living in the new world hasn't been easy for our feisty northern freinds and I'd have to say they're better for it.
They're not affraid of mosquitos large and swarmy enough to drain a man dry in seconds before flying off with his dog.
The annual seal bludgeoning often draws a crowd of Californian tourists who take pictures in horror, posting them on the internet before denouncing the violence.
And, let's not forget the great tolerance Canadians have for their neighbors. They'll let almost anyone in the country, don't pick new wars to fight (loosing Detroit sucked enough... or, did it?) and, they wave, friendly-like, at happy Americans returning home after dropping a load in a casino.

[Sunshine Temple]

Now, Anchoku as nice as your post is.... it doesn't have anything to do with the subject at hand.
Show some restraint. Or I'll restrain you myself.

[Atlan]

Now, I personally agree with almost every post everyone made about what ruins a fanfiction.
But:
Almost anything (in my oppionion) can be excused. If the writing and the other ideas are good enough.
As an example- i generally hate fics where ranma gets cured, or doent get cursed at all.
But Black Dragon's Guardian, that had ranma getting cured, and that fic ruled. So did Heir to the Empire. So does Relitivly Absent.
Another Example: I hate Ranma going to another dimenson, cause he always becomes allknowing, powerfull, and basicly a god-like self insertion.
But The Shaddow Chronicles: On a Clear Day You can See Forever has ranma in another dimension, and that was the best fic i ever read.
EVen if, like Genma's Daughter, they turn into something barely Ranma, if it's still entertaining and well written, then it can be excused.
When it comes to over done Cliche's, if they are done well, who cares?