What are your personal "red flags" before reading any fanfic?

Basically any story where someone has the ability to talk to animals works like that. I can't even think of any examples offhand where the animals aren't sentient.

Anybody else want to revive the "green flags" thread, balance this one out?

DO IT.

In the spirit of this thread, I have two new red flags: Pokemon fics that takes place in the anime universe and shitty world building.

edited 29th Aug '15 1:31:43 AM by heliosKAISER

Yeah, I don't read anime-verse Pokemon fics either. I haven't cared about the anime since middle school, so I don't have any desire to read about the characters.

I don't have any problem with the fics being there or anything. I just don't read them myself.

One of my many issues with the anime verse is that the Nurse Joys and Jennys being Inexplicably Identical Individuals is always played straight, and that's not a trope that should be played straight unless you give cloning as an excuse. It only really works under Rule of Funny, which the anime itself hasn't even used for years.

It just kills my immersion when you have a semi-serious narrative, bring up the Joy/Jenny thing, and don't do anything with it. I've seen it happen quite a bit.

edited 29th Aug '15 1:33:29 PM by Karxrida

I don't think I've ever seen a fic author treat the issue of the Jennys and Joys being Inexplicably Identical Individuals seriously, which is a shame, since it seems like great fuel for a fanfic.

What would it be like being in a family where every woman is not only expected to go into the same profession but tolook similar? How would it feel like for people to treat you like you're interchangeable with everyone else in your family? To have people define you by your profession while ignoring that the members of your family have wildly different personalities and interests outside of work? (I've had the idea for a fic starring a member of the Jenny family for awhile. Can you tell?)

A red flag for me on Pokémon fics is shipping. I'm not a huge fan of shipping fics to begin with, but when people are writing about a cast of characters who are mostly underage, it makes me uncomfortable if a fic starts delving into sexual situations. Aging up the cast helps a bit, but it can still end up being squicky if the characters act exactly the same at age 18 as they did at age 10.

To be fair... that only happens when you use the Anime.

When it comes down to the games, the protagonists' status as Heroic Mimes makes it so that you can get away with aging them up and still acting like when they were 10. I mean, nobody's gonna balk at you if you have a 20 years old Red still be the strong silent type. (Also, I like to think of Red as the single most apathetic main character in the entire franchise. Kinda like the MC from Persona 3. They just do not give a single fuck, and it shows, a lot.)

edited 29th Aug '15 8:10:24 PM by IAmNotCreativeEnough

True. I was mainly referring to the anime.

I thought most Pokemon fanfics just used OC trainers anyway.

I guess there's all kinds of fanfics.

There is quite a few OC Pokemon fanfics yes. They usually take place in a combination of both the anime and the game world or they take place in one of them.

The problem I see with a lot of the anime fics is that they completely flip the issues that canon has aka Ash being a Idiot Hero by making him into a ridiculously competent Canon Sue that attracts girls and Pokemon to a ridiculous degree.

This might be a personal red flg but my god when it comes to Pokemon fanfics can people give there characters some different Pokemon other then yet another freaking Lucario or Gardevoir? I see those two specifically appear a lot in the fanfics. I rarely see any Ghost pokemon or Dark pokemon (other then the common Absol and Zoroark).

The lack of variety in Pokemon line-ups for a lot of Pokemon fandom's character's is ridiculous all things considered.

I'm kind of the opposite. Despite playing the games avidly and only being relatively interested in the anime, fics actually about the game verse don't interest me much except for the occasional exception (largely because of it's mostly OC stories - it's why fics about stuff like Skyrim don't interest me much either), whereas I'm much more open to trying out fics from the anime universe.

I imagine it'd be because the protagonists of the games aren't really characters, they're mostly just vessels for self insertion.

They do have some very basic traits, but that is mostly resumed as 'being a good and kind person'.

Or faffing about and walking into walls as the case may be.

But inserting OCs into a canon blank slate character is pretty much inevitable.

Not necessarily, you can keep their character as minimalistic as canon did. It's just difficult, and since most people who write fanfic aren't exactly putting in a lot of effort...

@Bleddyn I'm curious about how the other authors portray their Lucarios. I'm writing a PMD fic, and I wanted to portray most of my Lucarios as a clan of isolated, and apathetic Social Darwinists who deliberately tell their Riolu young "The world is a great place of joy!" and make them feel happy enough to evolve into Lucario, and then turn around and go "JK the world is shit."

edited 30th Aug '15 3:12:42 PM by Nate-of-a-Hundred-Things

Practically most of the authors that I have seen in the Pokemon fandom write there Lucarios as The Stoic and there Riolus as The Cutie or The Woobie of the group (and said Riolus end up evolving in bad situations to protect whomever). I don't really mind Lucario at all, hell I like the Pokemon. I just find it ridiculous just how much it appears in a fandom with lots of variety and choices. The authors themselves always seem to choose the same exact personality types which confuses me as the games and the anime makes it clear that Pokemon can have vastly different personalities even if there from the same sub-species

Your idea is a interesting twist to how I have seen Lucarios being written. I would read it to see how that works out.

While Pokemon can have differing personalities, it's implied that some species lean towards one that's pervasive for them. For example, Blissey are said to be compassionate.

I recall planning for a PMD fic once, in which the main character was an arrogant, cocky Riolu that was a tad more interested in fame and recognition, at least initially.

Huh, my Riolu protagonist is more of a "shoot first, ask questions later" Idiot Hero who's always the first in trouble.

Damn, Riolu and Lucario should actually get their own fanfiction genre.

edited 31st Aug '15 6:19:40 AM by Nate-of-a-Hundred-Things

As well they should.

Never really figured out an actual plotline for that story, though. I just wanted an excuse to have Riolu, Plusle and Minun together. Oh, and also assure the world that Charizard is awesome, probably.

If I read the first chapter and find I have no idea what... traits the protagonist supposedly has.

Is it better if I introduce a character, and show all their traits in that chapter; or introduce the character with at least 1 or 2 primary traits, and then show more as the story progresses?

Think of how Game of Thrones introduces Ned Stark executing a deserter and explaining to his son why he did so. Think of how Casino Royale opens with James Bond killing two dudes.

That should be the basic standard.

Establishing Character Moment essentially...

edited 31st Aug '15 1:32:14 PM by Bleddyn

It also depends on the type of character. Some characters work better when they are introduced in a more normal way and then slowly get more and more of themselves revealed as the plot goes on - especially certain kinds of supporting characters.

However, if not necessarily as soon as they appear, main characters should get scenes that encapsulate their characters fairly early - though those still shouldn't tell you everything about them.

Fanfics, however, can sometimes (but shouldn't always) get away with assuming the audience already knows about the character's personality beforehand.