I'm not sure if i'm talented enough for this. But what i can do is making a list with things of which i would like to read fanfiction about.
Fanfiction Pet Peeves
- Thread starter WarpTenLizard
- Start date
I'm not sure if i'm talented enough for this. But what i can do is making a list with things of which i would like to read fanfiction about.
I have nothing against "Discovery," but I use "STD" because my sense of humor never left third grade.
I'll go with THOST (The Herpes Of Star Trek) instead from now on.
DIS should be used for Discovery, with STD being reserved exclusively for Star Trek: Into Darkness.
That being Star Trek's obvious std.
STD - Get the clap from Cumberclap
Bad grammar is my biggest turn off.
The other is having an OC behave in a non/canon way. Unless it's explained.
But
My fan fic IS about an OC and from her perspective. But she is Yridian and not an officer. She has a photographic memory and she is an artist.
Since I spend a good portion of my fantasy life on the enterprise, well what can I say.
And of course somehow she ends up with Picard.
But I can't find anyplace out there to post it.
I've asked here even but those sites didn't work for me.
The other is having an OC behave in a non/canon way. Unless it's explained.
But
My fan fic IS about an OC and from her perspective. But she is Yridian and not an officer. She has a photographic memory and she is an artist.
Since I spend a good portion of my fantasy life on the enterprise, well what can I say.
And of course somehow she ends up with Picard.
But I can't find anyplace out there to post it.
I've asked here even but those sites didn't work for me.
Try fanfiction or archiveofourown
I'm not so sure about that, based on what we've seen in canon Trek. I mean, T'Pol was the first Vulcan crewing with humans and she gets into a relationship pretty quickly. Then there's Mirror Soval who's very keen on women, Sarek and Amanda of course, and that Vulcan from engineering on Voyager who really needed to mate (yeah, right). Vulcans pretend they're uptight but really, they're party people.
Just wanna say I love your username and profile picture!
Speaking of profile avatars, @WarpTenLizard, may I say it's nice to see an Andorian with proper antenna?? 
My biggest peeve is a GOOD story that is published before it's done, with a long wait until the conclusion. You can always publish a second edition if suggestions lead you that way or you have new ideas, but incomplete stories are a huge pet peeve.
That said, the suggestions in the poll were all terrific. I hate canon changes, relationships that shouldn't happen, terrible grammar/spelling AND children where none existed. After all, I feel that a fan fiction should be as close to a story that could realistically take place in the universe you are working in.
Of course, one of my favorite bad ideas was when an author wrote a Star Trek story, and inserted himself in the story, as a captain even more legendary than Kirk, and then the author wrote Spock out of character so that this captain with his name could lecture him. It read so bad I actually smiled.
That said, the suggestions in the poll were all terrific. I hate canon changes, relationships that shouldn't happen, terrible grammar/spelling AND children where none existed. After all, I feel that a fan fiction should be as close to a story that could realistically take place in the universe you are working in.
Of course, one of my favorite bad ideas was when an author wrote a Star Trek story, and inserted himself in the story, as a captain even more legendary than Kirk, and then the author wrote Spock out of character so that this captain with his name could lecture him. It read so bad I actually smiled.
I'm also guilty of this and I apologize to anyone that was really into a story that I didn't finish. For me, sometimes you have an idea and you get excited about it and want to share it, but stuff changes. It could be life gets in the way, you get lost in the story, you start seeing a different direction, it starts not working for some reason, and you drop it.
Recently I've completed works before posting them, but the last couple stories I've gone back to posting them as works in progress, in part because I do get excited about what I'm working on and want to share it. That being said, I also have liked posting after I've finished a work because that way I can go back, look at it again, refine it, and then put the completed thing out. The more I think about it, for me, I should probably just complete the longer works before posting them. My issue is that I start out thinking an idea is a small story, but it morphs into something much longer, and then I'm stuck in it, and hopefully can finish it to see where it goes.
I also use some canon characters, but I generally have used them sparingly. And it can make me anxious about getting their voices right. I do prefer using lesser known or fleshed out canon characters (example: Aquiel Uhnari) as well because there's more room to put my stamp on the character, while those characters are still rooted into Trek. As I've been writing for a decade plus now the small universe syndrome stuff doesn't bother me personally. I like being able to tie things together if need be for the sake of my stories and personal tastes. It is the Trek characters and the stories they've been in that drew me to the franchise and inspired my entry into fan fiction writing, so why deny myself a chance to join in and play around with some of those characters and events that I enjoyed watching?
Personally I'm not much into reading Trek fan fiction adventures focused solely on canon characters, and I do prefer reading more about original characters in the Trek universe (insert plug for our excellent United Trek fan fiction universe here), but if there are readers who are into that, if that works for them, I'm cool with that. I mean, Trek fan fiction writers aren't getting paid for this, and readers are also spending their time reading this when they could be reading licensed Trek, watching live-action Trek or TAS, or even reading something else entirely. Because of the informal nature I think there are going to be more bumps in the road, which is unfortunate, but I do hope it doesn't turn people off from continuing to read fan fiction.
I also have no problem with people having criticisms of fan fiction. I believe people should be critical of everything we consume. Though as a fan fiction writer I do prefer constructive criticism more than just being negative or insulting. Thankfully, over the years, the criticism I've gotten has been constructive. I haven't always agreed with it, but for the most part, I think the vast majority was constructive, gave me something to chew on, and ultimately helped make my writing, characters, etc. better.
Sounds like a trollfic. "Star Trek" has some good ones! This one made me laugh my butt off:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7726723/1/Star-Trek-Voyager-Love-and-War
Wow.
Reading this thread I see I've committed at least two thirds of the violations listed here. If any of my readers are out there, I humbly apologize.
All this peeve of yours says about the writers doing it is that those writers have a basic understanding of how to write prose naval fiction. Good for them.
And, by the way, what's so wrong with giving the reader quick references that will let them picture ships in a story without illustrations? We're all trekkies here. We all watch the shows (mostly). Dropping in a reference to a class we might have seen or read about helps move fiction along.
In fact, one of my big peeves (again, this is done in canon and in fanon) is that so many writers seem to think you have to come up with a completely new type of ship for every single new crew that's created. Why? Can you imagine what a navy in real life would look like if its operators designed an entirely new ship for every class that graduated from the Academy and Basic Training? ("The class of 2018 at Annapolis just graduated! Time to design a completely new destroyer for them!") I can understand why Hollywood does it: Hollywod runs on "stupid." Full-tilt "stupid." But it's completely unnecessary in prose fiction. If trek stories are supposed to be about the characters, then making up a completely new ship just for a new set of characters is a misdirection of effort. Just pick a class from one of the ones that already exist and put your crew on it. Reference the class, give it a name, move on with your story.
Like you said, this was purely personal.
Reading this thread I see I've committed at least two thirds of the violations listed here. If any of my readers are out there, I humbly apologize.
"Ensign Generica Blandmuffin." Hah!
Suppose you were actually writing about an admiral working on those fleet deployment plans? Your character's gonna look pretty stupid if he has to explain the composition of task forces by ship type and he has to say "Well this big starship will be escorted by these little starships carrying these microstarships with microtorpedos..." And you'll just piss your readers off if your characters just start spouting unfamiliar starship names ("Well, the USS Whosonfirst will be escorted by the USS Whatsonsecond and they'll rendezvous with the USS Idunnosonthird...") without any class references to go with them, since both canon and fan trek writers alike think naming traditions are just cute ideas made up by guys in tricorner hats back in the stone age.
All this peeve of yours says about the writers doing it is that those writers have a basic understanding of how to write prose naval fiction. Good for them.
And, by the way, what's so wrong with giving the reader quick references that will let them picture ships in a story without illustrations? We're all trekkies here. We all watch the shows (mostly). Dropping in a reference to a class we might have seen or read about helps move fiction along.
In fact, one of my big peeves (again, this is done in canon and in fanon) is that so many writers seem to think you have to come up with a completely new type of ship for every single new crew that's created. Why? Can you imagine what a navy in real life would look like if its operators designed an entirely new ship for every class that graduated from the Academy and Basic Training? ("The class of 2018 at Annapolis just graduated! Time to design a completely new destroyer for them!") I can understand why Hollywood does it: Hollywod runs on "stupid." Full-tilt "stupid." But it's completely unnecessary in prose fiction. If trek stories are supposed to be about the characters, then making up a completely new ship just for a new set of characters is a misdirection of effort. Just pick a class from one of the ones that already exist and put your crew on it. Reference the class, give it a name, move on with your story.
Like you said, this was purely personal.
I don't actually read that much ST fanfic, but I have read a LOT of BtVS stuff (and occasionally some other stuff).
As most people said, by far the worst is bad spelling and grammar. I honestly don't even understand why you would post that sort of thing. This is a *verbal* medium. If you're posting stories that are barely legible, that's the same thing as CBS putting out a new show filmed on blurry security cameras with FX made exclusively from paper plates.
Beyond that, I'm pretty permissive. I hate bashing, obviously, but it can be funny when it isn't meant so seriously. Major out of character stuff gets annoying, but I understand that that's just hard for some people to get right. I will give almost any ship a chance as long as its well written. I'm guessing the 'captain has a teenage son' thing is a particular TrekFic trope that's way overused? Because I wouldn't even blink an eye at that description, having never read anything like it before. But if its the star trek equivalent of 'Xander with hyena powers', then I understand where you're coming from.
I don't really get the problem with ocs or deviating from canon at all. Obviously, like everything, it needs to be well written. But OCs can be fantastic, and it seems to me the Star Trek universe is practically begging for OC fanfic - moreso than most fandoms available. As for canon - sure you can't just snap your fingers and say 'Vulcans are evil now', but starting where you want to start and taking things in a different direction is kind of half the point of fanfic for me. And if where you want to start is with Surak and you tell an engaging, fun story about how something happens that corrupts his teachings and turns Vulcan into an evil empire, then more power to you.
One big one that does bother me a lot - this probably doesn't even apply that much to Trekfic, I don't think? - is colloquialisms. For some reason, i've seen SO many (especially british) fanfic authors who seem literally incapable of recognizing their own colloquialisms. They just let the words flow as if they were the ones talking and suddenly you've got an entire story filled with American teenagers who always address their mom as 'mum' and talk about people's 'flats', etc. I'm sure it goes for plenty of others, too, I just seem to find the british ones most often. (I did once find someone who had Hermione Granger calling herself 'preggo' which... eh. But it was actually a pretty good story if you could look past the language, and the sequel was nearly perfect.)
As most people said, by far the worst is bad spelling and grammar. I honestly don't even understand why you would post that sort of thing. This is a *verbal* medium. If you're posting stories that are barely legible, that's the same thing as CBS putting out a new show filmed on blurry security cameras with FX made exclusively from paper plates.
Beyond that, I'm pretty permissive. I hate bashing, obviously, but it can be funny when it isn't meant so seriously. Major out of character stuff gets annoying, but I understand that that's just hard for some people to get right. I will give almost any ship a chance as long as its well written. I'm guessing the 'captain has a teenage son' thing is a particular TrekFic trope that's way overused? Because I wouldn't even blink an eye at that description, having never read anything like it before. But if its the star trek equivalent of 'Xander with hyena powers', then I understand where you're coming from.
I don't really get the problem with ocs or deviating from canon at all. Obviously, like everything, it needs to be well written. But OCs can be fantastic, and it seems to me the Star Trek universe is practically begging for OC fanfic - moreso than most fandoms available. As for canon - sure you can't just snap your fingers and say 'Vulcans are evil now', but starting where you want to start and taking things in a different direction is kind of half the point of fanfic for me. And if where you want to start is with Surak and you tell an engaging, fun story about how something happens that corrupts his teachings and turns Vulcan into an evil empire, then more power to you.
One big one that does bother me a lot - this probably doesn't even apply that much to Trekfic, I don't think? - is colloquialisms. For some reason, i've seen SO many (especially british) fanfic authors who seem literally incapable of recognizing their own colloquialisms. They just let the words flow as if they were the ones talking and suddenly you've got an entire story filled with American teenagers who always address their mom as 'mum' and talk about people's 'flats', etc. I'm sure it goes for plenty of others, too, I just seem to find the british ones most often. (I did once find someone who had Hermione Granger calling herself 'preggo' which... eh. But it was actually a pretty good story if you could look past the language, and the sequel was nearly perfect.)
Bad grammar is my biggest turn off.
The other is having an OC behave in a non/canon way. Unless it's explained.
But
My fan fic IS about an OC and from her perspective. But she is Yridian and not an officer. She has a photographic memory and she is an artist.
Since I spend a good portion of my fantasy life on the enterprise, well what can I say.
And of course somehow she ends up with Picard.
But I can't find anyplace out there to post it.
I've asked here even but those sites didn't work for me.
I post my stuff on Archive Of Our Own (AO3). You can post anything you want, no matter how mature or explicit, as long as you tag properly for content.
I say write what makes you happy, and to hell with other people's pet peeves. If what makes you happy is writing a self-insert, know-it-all, super-talented OC who somehow ends up a Captain by 30 and married to Picard and Crusher at the same time, so be it.
People write fanfic for all kinds of reasons. Sure, some writers are trying to learn how to be 'proper' authors. Others write as a form of therapy, to cope, to escape, to process trauma, to bring some fun into their lives, or just because they're madly in love with a character and want to see XYZ happen to them. Not everyone wants constructive criticism, especially when it's not constructive, and actually just plain criticism. Some writers are writing in a second language. Some writers are brand new, and desperately trying to figure out how to express themselves creatively and coherently at the same time. Yeah, proper grammar and spelling is great, but sometimes we just need to cut people some slack and not take it so seriously.
If a story makes even one reader happy, then IMHO, it was worth writing, and it's good.
I write fic for several fandoms, and Trek is the ONLY fandom where I've received hate mail for what I've written. Which is interesting. The fandom likes to thing it's a huge, happy, friendly (or at least polite) family, but that is not always so...
Me too. My attitude is eh, whatever :-) I've written ~80 fics over several fandoms, most of them crack / humour / silly situations. I have no ambitions of becoming a published author. Sure, I'd like to be able to express myself more proficiently, but I also want writing to be something I do for fun instead of (yet another) constant source of angst and stress.
I've written 11 Trek fics, many of which feature the same OCs. Some readers have told me they don't like crack. That's too bad, cus I'm gonna write it. Some readers have told me one of my OCs is a Mary Sue and they hate her. She probably is, but so friggin' what? If I want to write a blatant, self-insert story with a thinly-veiled version of me that's an Amazing Human Being, that's my prerogative. It's in the story description - people who don't like can just not read.
Writers should write whatever they enjoy. Readers and viewers should remember that not everything writers or artists produce has to be specifically for them.
My advice would be to give it a try - you never know what might happen :-)
I actually started writing fic because I was DESPERATE to read more stories for a particular fandom crossover, but one that had such a tiny fanbase, hardly anyone was interested in it, much less writing for it.
My first 'story' was 700 words. It was present tense, had about 50 words of dialogue, and 650 words of pompous, overdone internal exposition. It took me four painful, angst-ridden days to write it.
And it was a piece of sh*t. Although, it now has about 100 likes on AO3, so go figure...
My second story was 1100 words, and slightly better. My third story was 2500 words, and better again. Story by story, I gradually learned the basic rules - dialogue tags, always write in the past tense, have a consistent POV, show instead of tell.
To quote Mahatma Ghandi - "Be the change that you wish to see in the world". To quote Wayne Gretzky - "You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take".
You might be the next great fanfic writer. Or you might be just another average fanfic writer. That's totally okay. If you do it, and you find you enjoy it, and it gives you the chance to write the stories you want to see written, it's all good.
Such a lovely, supportive thing to say, and I heartily agree.
One other thing we all have to remember is that fanfic writers are not professionals, and they're not paid for their efforts. Some of them may be trying to become professional, but many are not. They pour blood, sweat and tears, and hours of their personal time into creating something they love, and we get to share in that something for free.
I have had trouble finding a decent Trek OC fic. The OC fanfic pet peeves I see often are:
- The OC is the child (usually daughter) of the captain or canon crew
- The OC is a complete Mary Sue/Gary Stu
- Relies too much on romance (to the point were it's gross)
- The fic is filled with typos, poor grammar, bad syntax, etc. which makes it hard to read.
- The fic gets characters wrong (i.e. Seven of Nine isn't speaking like Seven of Nine, Janeway doesn't sound professional, a Vulcan character's dialogue sounds illogical, etc.)
- The OC gets treated like a queen right off the bat. "I know you just graduated from Starfleet Academy with top marks, but here's a first officer position aboard the Enterprise!"
- The OC has a perfect romantic relationship with the captain (ewwww!), who listens to the OC's every whim
