89 replies to this topic

[Toasty Warrior]

I don't know if there's been a topic like this before, but I was browsing over FanFiciton.net today and came upon a story that seemed very interesting, it was supposedly a NaruSaku story and it was going well until the end where the author decided to pull a switcharoo and not make the story NaruSaku, it left quite a bitter taste in my mouth and I was wondering, has this happened to you as well?

[Gravenimage]

*Me gazing at my story am I worthy to love you* I dont know.

[jason voorhees]

*Me gazing at my story am I worthy to love you* I dont know.

Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

i don read fan ficks in less recomended here.

Edited by jason voorhees, 18 January 2011 - 05:17 PM.

[Onionhead Attacks]

I think there was a similar thread like this but it served more as a warning thread rather than a disappointed fanfic thread.

There's two but the first is the one I'm talking about HERE and HERE.

[TwinEnigma]

I don't know if there's been a topic like this before, but I was browsing over FanFiciton.net today and came upon a story that seemed very interesting, it was supposedly a NaruSaku story and it was going well until the end where the author decided to pull a switcharoo and not make the story NaruSaku, it left quite a bitter taste in my mouth and I was wondering, has this happened to you as well?

All the time.

And not just with NaruSaku or in the Naruto fandom.

Sometimes, it's the pairings. Sometimes it's characterization. Sometimes, it's the grammar or formatting. And many times, it's all three, colliding into a trainwreck of disappointment.

The worst is when it's a well-written story but utterly awful in terms of characterization and pairings are just thrown in there to pacify others.

[NaruDeeds]

I'm not big on harems. In my little world, it's Naruto and Sakura, that's it. So when stories that look to be promising NaruSaku turn into a harem I tend to put on a sad face. I'll still try to read them, but can't always continue. But that's just my personal taste.

[JoHamSandwich]

I'm not big on harems. In my little world, it's Naruto and Sakura, that's it. So when stories that look to be promising NaruSaku turn into a harem I tend to put on a sad face. I'll still try to read them, but can't always continue. But that's just my personal taste.

i feel the same way.

I was reading Naruto's advice. Started off great, but became A Harem. D:

[Cupcake-chan]

I hate when there's a fanfic that the idea is genius, but then the grammar and typos are too many to keep me from reading until the end.

[JoHamSandwich]

I hate when there's a fanfic that the idea is genius, but then the grammar and typos are too many to keep me from reading until the end.

wilkins75's fics come to mind hahaha

[Cupcake-chan]

I feel ya

[pharix]

I hate when authors try to phase out "minor" characters (relative to the story) by switching teams or something like that

also Naruto randomly discovering he likes Hinata instead of Sakura

Edited by pharix, 19 January 2011 - 11:59 PM.

[harry4e]

wilkins75's fics come to mind hahaha

lol...I feel for you, though his love for animals kind of scares me to.

I've read loads of fics where i've been dissapointed, where they intended the fic to be a certain pairing but changed their mind for some reason or another, or a story where the premise is good, the grammer isn't bad, but they have so much pointless content, and scenes that after reading 10000 words almost nothing has happened, it's a great fic, and you know it, but you end up dropping it anyway because you have to get through too much waffle to get to the good parts.. Also dissapointed when the story starts out great but over the course you notice the charactors, plot etc change allot because the auther listened too much to the reviewers and ended up with a completely different story you started reading.

[BlackLightning]

I think the more accurate question should be: ever read a fanfiction that does NOT disappoint you? seriously, the amount of bad to good fanfic is at least 100:1 in that order.

[Blazing CobaltX]

I've read maany fanfics with a kitten story and/or bad grammar. :/

Edited by Blazing CobaltX, 20 January 2011 - 06:40 AM.

[TwinEnigma]

I think the more accurate question should be: ever read a fanfiction that does NOT disappoint you? seriously, the amount of bad to good fanfic is at least 100:1 in that order.

Yes - a mere handful in four years. And more rarely I've managed to find the odd crossover that doesn't disappoint.

The ratio of badfic to good seems more like 1000:1, though.

[desaix]

The ratio of bad fanfic to good, however, is understandable, when you recognize it's raw slush.

"Sturgeon's Law" states that "90% of everything is crap." However, Sturgeon was referring to professionally edited and published material.

Nothing on FF.net has been professionally edited (some amateur editors are almost as good as professionals, but the very definition of what fanfiction is negates that professional attention would be placed there).

99.99% of raw slush is rejected by publishers.

Which leaves 0.001% of what is on ff.net that might not be crap IF it were professionally edited.

Edit: I think what Toasty is referring to, though, are fanfics which you are drawn into believing they might be in that 0.001%, go on for a while, and then some twist the author writes into the story kills it.

Edited by desaix, 20 January 2011 - 11:18 PM.

[Nick Soapdish]

The ratio of bad fanfic to good, however, is understandable, when you recognize it's raw slush.

"Sturgeon's Law" states that "90% of everything is crap." However, Sturgeon was referring to professionally edited and published material.

Nothing on FF.net has been professionally edited (some amateur editors are almost as good as professionals, but the very definition of what fanfiction is negates that professional attention would be placed there).

99.99% of raw slush is rejected by publishers.

Which leaves 0.001% of what is on ff.net that might not be crap IF it were professionally edited.

Edit: I think what Toasty is referring to, though, are fanfics which you are drawn into believing they might be in that 0.001%, go on for a while, and then some twist the author writes into the story kills it.

He wasn't just talking about professionally edited and published material. It was about all consumer goods. OTOH, I'm not sure if the distinction makes a difference because all consumer goods need to pass some sort of review to get mass produced.

[tricksie]

The ratio of bad fanfic to good, however, is understandable, when you recognize it's raw slush.

"Sturgeon's Law" states that "90% of everything is crap." However, Sturgeon was referring to professionally edited and published material.

Nothing on FF.net has been professionally edited (some amateur editors are almost as good as professionals, but the very definition of what fanfiction is negates that professional attention would be placed there).

99.99% of raw slush is rejected by publishers.

Which leaves 0.001% of what is on ff.net that might not be crap IF it were professionally edited.

Edit: I think what Toasty is referring to, though, are fanfics which you are drawn into believing they might be in that 0.001%, go on for a while, and then some twist the author writes into the story kills it.

That's all well and good, but remember, 100% of writers wrote crap when they started.

I think that, in the grand scheme of things, the community of fanfic writers is very young. The errors are simplistic, plot wandering is huge, the themes are repetitive and the tendency to neglect or drop a story altogether seems high.

But I excuse all this because I think these are writers who are just starting out.

These are not professional writers. So I try not to read these stories as a "professional reader" — meaning I try not to apply what I think about edited/published books to the stuff I read there.

If something interests me, I try to read it with an open mind. Moving past the problem stuff to see what the writer is trying to cobble together. Fanfiction is frontier reading. Not for the faint of heart.

amateur editing - lol. I know what you mean, but it still sounds funny.

I think the vast majority of errors would be caught if the author would simply do a once-over of their story before they post it. (But I remember high school - honestly, I hated to reread what I wrote, even though I was proud of it, if that makes sense.)

On the other hand, I am consistently amazed at how much rampant creativity is on ff.net and deviantart. Artistic communities like this have simply never existed before. In 10 years or so, it will be interesting to see how many "adult" artists/writers credit these sites wth helping shape their creative direction.

Personally, I think they should incorporate fanfiction into schools as a way to spur kids' creativity. The characters, the plot, the setting, etc., are all there, now all the student has to do is tap into his or her imagination and let it flow. Then they can work on sharpening their writing skills and find their voice at the same time.

Anyway, back on topic: What disappoints me most are the drastic shifts some authors take halfway through their story. Hey, I'm going to switch pairings! Hey, I'm going to change plot of the story! Hey, I'm going to let a poll decide the direction of my story! Hey, anyone for a harem? Ugh.

[NaruDeeds]

The ratio of bad fanfic to good, however, is understandable, when you recognize it's raw slush.

"Sturgeon's Law" states that "90% of everything is crap." However, Sturgeon was referring to professionally edited and published material.

Nothing on FF.net has been professionally edited (some amateur editors are almost as good as professionals, but the very definition of what fanfiction is negates that professional attention would be placed there).

99.99% of raw slush is rejected by publishers.

Which leaves 0.001% of what is on ff.net that might not be crap IF it were professionally edited.

Edit: I think what Toasty is referring to, though, are fanfics which you are drawn into believing they might be in that 0.001%, go on for a while, and then some twist the author writes into the story kills it.

Hehe, some professional writers like being grammatically relaxed in their fanfics =P A nice change of pace from the professional world where I make a client look like a complete idiot if I let a single grammatical mistake slip through!

Grammatically, as long as a fanfic at the very least loosely follows grammar I have no problems with it. Most writers I've observed (during my somewhat short foray into NaruSaku fics), get better as they continue to write. After all, practice makes perfect

[BlackLightning]

Ok, there are quite a few things that ticks me of when it comes to fanfic. I admit that I'm quite strict when it comes to quality but I DO have quite a range of bottom line where I stop reading, these are a few of them:

- OOC: Ok, I don't particularly against OOC... as long as they are believable. Hinata being jealous is understandable, Hinata as Yandere is pushing it but depends on the background might make sense, but Hinata as a two-timing wh*** now thats just out of the line.

- OC: I can accept OCs in some fanfics as long as they are done well but I absolutely can NOT accept Mary-Sue or Gary-Stu. I've read some fanfic with promising plot but the existence of the Mary-Sue or Gary-Stu just sticks out like a sore thumb, so much that most of the time they absolutely overshadow the main character (example: an OC guy comes in out of nowhere and does Double rasengan and claim its their weakest jutsu). That...is... unacceptable.

- Names: I know its hard to make a believable OC but AT LEAST give them a proper name: you do NOT name your OC Michael or Jack Sparrow when you're writing a Naruto fic. a fanfic based on Japan should have JAPANESE name and vice versa, period. Oh... one more thing... Naruto's name read backward is NOT Oturan, for the love of god, Naruto's name was originally written in Japanese which if converted into Romaji will become: Na-ru-to. Meaning? Naruto's name backward would be: To-Ru-Na. the same goes for Sakura...or Sasuke... of even Kakashi. (This 1 absolutely makes me wonder if anyone ever attempt to turn Lee's or Gai's name backward... can you imagine? Lee > Eel or Gai > Iag. Dare to tell me that doesn't sound absolutely ridiculous?)

- "Epic": when you describe a story as "Epic" you does NOT finish it in ANY less than 3000 words, period. Why? because any less will mean you don't have enough depth in the story to make it "epic"

thats quite a few that usually ticks me off. there are other but I think this should be enough for now