A Badfic Bingo card to take with you to fanfiction.net! I just read one that almost hit all of these. My face hurts from laughing so much.
I…don’t know how to feel about the fact that I’ve seen all of these. Sometimes on their own, a lone wolf of suck. Sometimes many all in one fic, stacked on top of one another like a pile of dirty laundry that the cat shit in. (WTF metaphor, away!)
And yeah, these all piss me off. Especially “I suck at summaries”. Because at that point you have already failed. (Also OOC warnings. Like seriously, if you KNOW they’re OOC why didn’t you bother to fix it?! If you want to tell a story where someone acts like that, pick a different character! But I could go on for hours about any one of these.)
I know what you’re thinking. “But, Amanda, fanfiction is retarded and there shouldn’t even be tips!” You would be surprised how often my friends online and IRL ask me how to write and post fanfiction. To me, it’s a writing exercise. When my original stories are frustrating me (like my NaNoWriMo novel), I turn to fanfiction for something fun and easy to do. You’d be surprised how writing about already developed characters can get your muse going. I’m currently 21. I’ve been writing since I was five and writing fanfiction since I was 9. I think 12 years is experience enough.
Most of this focuses mainly on posting fanfiction online (on ff.net, AO3, etc). So, here’s list of things that will help you be a better fanfiction writer in the fanfiction community:
1.) Do not, under any circumstances, say “I suck at summaries” or “This is my first fic so I’m sorry if it sucks”. No one wants your excuses. You’re setting readers up to think your work is mediocre. This goes for everything in life. It’s up to the readers to decide if it sucks. You will always think your stuff is horrible, even if it’s fantastic. So just write the best summary you can and stop there. Also, don’t beg for reviews. The whole “R&R” (read and review) plea is annoying and distasteful. People will review if they enjoyed your story. Begging like a child will only deter them from giving you feedback.
2.)Do not fill your A/N (author’s notes) with random bullshit. Keep your notes brief and to the point, preferably at the end of the story, unless you have to explain something before the readers start the story. Make sure to clarify the warnings (13-year-olds get on these sites).
3.)Find a proofreader or a Beta. It’s nearly impossible to proofread your own work. You will keep passing over your own mistakes because your mind won’t notice them. I’m guilty of this all the time. A few mistakes are not the end of the world, but an error in every other sentence is just a turn-off for any reader. Errors can completely overshadow amazing writing.
4.)Always clarify the pairing (if there is one). Even if you choose the characters you want to read stories based on, you won’t always come up with that pairing. Most readers are looking for their “OTP” or whatever. Narrow it down for them so they know what they’re clicking on.
5.) Know your vocabulary! Like every online community, things are shortened and abbreviated. You don’t want to look like an idiot, especially if you’re new to the fanfiction community. Here’s some terms you should know:
Slash, yaoi, m/m: A male/male pairing.
Femslash, yuri, f/f: A female/female pairing.
Het, m/f: A Heterosexual pairing.
Shipping: A pairing that you write/read/support.
OTP: One True Pairing; that one pairing that you ship more than any other.
AU: Alternate universe; taking the characters and putting them in a completely different environment/universe.
Canon: Facts established by the original source of the characters; ex. Kirk being the captain of the Enterprise is canon, Spock being a woman is not canon.
Lemon: Explicit sexual scenes.
Lime: Light sexual scenes.
Crack, crack-fic: A completely nonsensical and ridiculous fanfiction.
Drabble: Normally a 100-word fanfiction, though I’ve seen some with lower word counts before.
Oneshot: Instead of reading a multi-chaptered story, oneshots are self-inclusive stories that function much like short stories. Twoshots and threeshots (two-part and three-part stories) also exist.
Flame: This goes for any site, really. Flaming is leaving plain hateful, rude comments that harbor no constructive criticism at all. Do everyone a favor and just don’t do it.
Pre-slash: Pre-relationship between the characters of a slash pairing.
Plotbunny: An idea for a story that will simply not go away.
Fluff: Usually plotless, shorter fanfictions with lots of sweet affection.
Genderswap, -flip: Exactly what it sounds like; changing the genders of the characters.
PWP: Porn Without Plot
Smut: Shameless porn.
Headcanon: Every fan has this; your own personal canon or way your perceive parts of the show/whatever.
Dub-con, Non-con: Basically, rape.
MPreg: Male pregnancy.
OOC: Out-of-character.
OC: Original character.
Reboot: Completely rewriting what is canon, essentially “rebooting” what was created before.
Songfic: A story based around a song.
A full list of terms can be found here.I hope this was somewhat helpful. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while. If you have any questions, feel free to message me.
Good luck! (:
(via writingweasels)
“Okay, Jack Frost are at hogwarts…nuff said” —Ao3 fic summaryD:
Nooo. Not “nuff said,” that’s not even grammatically said!
but actually, this is really upsetting and no one should do this ever
i like the irony inherent in “author chose not to use archive warnings”
because the tags are all the warning i need
NOTHING needs that many tags. Even if you based a fanfic around a trigger warning list, making sure to hit each and every one, and were considerate enough to warn appropriately, YOU WOULD STILL NOT HAVE THIS MANY FUCKING TAGS. And even then you would actually be TAGGING CORRECTLY OMG NO WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? YOU DO NOT HAVE ENTIRE FUCKING CONVERSATIONS WITH YOURSELF AND POTENTIAL READERS IN THE FUCKING TAGS. Ao3 gives you like, THREE PLACES where you can natter on at length about whatever stupid, taint-chafing shit you find important enough to waste time typing up. You’ve got the summary, the notes at the beginning, and the notes at the end. ANY ONE OF THOSE WOULD BE A BETTER PLACE FOR THIS BULLSHIT. Hell, use all three! PUT THAT STUFF IN THE NOTES FOR THE CHAPTER IT SHOWS UP IN, SO YOU DON’T HAVE AN EVER-INCREASING SHITSTORM OF PISS-POOR LIFE DECISIONS OUTLINED IN METAPHORICAL BLINKING NEON LIGHTS SPELLING OUT “I DON’T KNOW THE PURPOSE OF OR HOW TO USE FIC ARCHIVE TAGS EVEN THOUGH THE ARCHIVE HAS AN EXPLANATION RIGHT THERE WHERE YOU TYPE THEM IN” AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE EXPONENTIALLY EXPANDING LENGTH OF YOUR OWN STUPIDITY!
GOD I wish I could use reaction gifs in a photo reblog! This would be the perfect place for my KarkatRAEG gif. GRARGH!
(Source: theboywhorunswithwolves, via becomedog)
Welp, thanks for letting me know so I didn’t waste my time clicking on your story. :|
LOVED it. Missed a good chunk of the beginning because we were late, but we only had to pay for one ticket because of it, so go us. \o/Unfortunately, because it’s so new, there’s not much fanfic for it. Sure there’s “parapines” (and holy shit, where the fuck did that even COME from? Not that…
Because I also have opinions about things that aren’t Homestuck. Do I have a tag for Mary Sues? I’m calling them Leslies.
THIS! Holy crap, THIS! You have no idea how pissed off I get looking at the Ao3 tag system being abused the way it is SO MUCH.
I may very well start commenting on fics that are guilty of such shitty tagging and just…link them to this. I’m that tired of it. Like srsly, LEARN YA SOMETHIN’!
Rating: Nonexistent.
Warnings: None.
Tags:
Summary: “gay”
…Yep, looks legit! :D
And it looks like no one’s going to make things easier for me, so I had to go fishing for this on my own.
There was John, still garbed in his god tier getup but with his hood down. Rich, luscious wavy locks of raven colored hair draped themselves elegantly around his shoulders and down his back.
Read mores are now a thing in previous posts and will start to be a thing in future posts. I hadn’t realized just HOW wordy I’d been getting in these things.
