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

I dont know if starting a new discussion is even appropriate here, but Im gonna ask anyways. Am I the only one who woed never to tuovh a crossover that has the word 'transported' in the blurb? To me it indicates that the writer hasnt even developed their primaty plot device beyond ots function, and probably not mitch can be expected from them.

Why do people ship actors??? That is creepy. They're real. What would they think about fanfics that ship them with other real people! I know, real person fic has already been mentioned, but...

I used to ship musicians... in high school (I was really into musicians at the time). Now that I know better, I look at RPF with squick.

Also, some Reylo shippers have begun shipping Rey's and Kylo's actors and I'm like, "Adam Driver is married! Why must you do this?!"

edited 31st May '16 5:33:40 PM by AshlynNyx

I only think RPF is acceptable if it's made explicitly clear it's only of their public persona, like that of Stephen Colbert, and even then, they can't do squicky stuff, commit infidelity, stuff like that. They are real people, and unlike fictional people, can actually take offense to it. Even then, I just can't bring it in myself to read it most of the time. After all, I can't really tell the difference between historical RPF and historical fiction.

I honestly don't think there is a difference.

Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but why does everyone insist on writing a character a specific sexuality and NEVER trying anything different?

For example, Queen Elsa from Frozen. She's almost ALWAYS a lesbian, or otherwise ends up with Hans.

Another example, Snot Rod from Cars. Back when I was part of that fandom I never saw anything different for him. If there was a fanfic starring him and having him interact with other characters, OCs or not, he WILL be gay for no reason.

I never quite liked the idea of Elsa being a lesbian. Then again I never understood the appeal of lesbians despite being a straight guy......

Doesn't mean I disapprove of a coupling like that if both of the gals have chemistry and are happy with each other. I just don't get the appeal to it that other guys can get into. Elsa never came off to me as someone to be into other girls. She seems more asexual....

Even her sister?

I really do not care for Anna and I don't approve of incest. The only couple I can think of that's an exception is Eren and Mikasa from Attack On Titan because of two reasons

1) They are not blood-related siblings and it shows. Infact the adopted siblings thing is likely just for show as Mikasa was orphaned by a nasty tragedy at a very young age

2) They never treat each other like siblings. Infact they treat each other like very good friends (or an actual budding couple) rather then siblings.

edited 1st Jun '16 7:48:18 PM by Ecrivan

Well, if I understand their backstory, they first met when they were like...I don't know, 8?

I only approve of incest in fanfic if it's depicted as twisted, a la /r9k/Elsa is Suffering

Yeah. It wasn't normal circumstances obviously. Mikasa's parents got killed by sex traffickers and Eren snuck away from his dad after they discovered the bodies. He then manipulated the criminals and killed two of them in her defense. He nearly gets killed by the third one and she gets a sudden burst of determination (and strength and agility) and kills him.

She pretty much gets her crush on him right there (after he gives her his scarf after the whole ordeal is all over) and it lasts for a long long time. Mikasa and Eren don't ever refer to each other as brother and sister at all throughout the manga or anime nor treat each other as such. Infact as I said they act more like close friends or a budding couple.

edited 2nd Jun '16 3:17:57 AM by Ecrivan

I can understand incest when it's Surprise Incest (like Luke and Leia), even if I still find it squicky and probably won't read it unless it's played for laughs. Any other incest tends to be instant red-flag for me (especially in Frozen).

And any ship that goes against a character's canon sexual orientation turns the flag red quite quickly (although I admit I have a tendency to assume characters to be heterosexual unless specified otherwise). This is also goes for characters I view as asexual (like the Elsa example above or the Doctor), even if asexuality is usually a headcanon thing (I actually don't know many characters who explicitly stated to be so).

I dislike fanfics whose only purpose is to give a Ron the Death Eater treatment for characters they really don't like since character bashing is not a good story. (eg. A female character in canon who originally dislike the main character for being a perv before getting to know that person and falls in love with him but a fanfic author doesn't like her so he/she makes her a very annoying bitch and man-hater in his/her fanfic.)

I tend to not care too much about what sexuality a fanfic uses unless it goes again canon in some fashion. Exactly how much of a red flag that is depends on the particular fic.

I'd like to present a passing defence, because in theory I find mundane AUs rather appealing. It's not just the intellectual exercise - sometimes the characters are really enjoyable, but the worldbuilding is stupid or nonsensical in a way I can't overlook and I don't really want to explore the logical consequences because it means the urban fantasy is in flames, all the characters are dead, and I've lost my hat.

Besides, when the characters who aren't human more or less act exactly like humans with a few non-biological quirks, what's the point of them not being human in the first place?

Can you give an example?

I hate to sound like a tumblrina, guy who doesnt get why people want lesbians, but its for representation. I know some people have ruined the cause of representation. But Lesbians are not there to be hot or whatever, they are there because they have a right to exist in fiction.

Would you believe I did a fic about two canonical lesbians because it was an intellectual exercise to write a same sex couple as a straight man and NOT go into explotation? I thought it was a fun way to approach it. I wanted to approach the relationship as that, an actual relationship, not an excuse.

As for high school AU's, I do not get them. You have all these wonderful stories, and you decide to set things in the most miserable place on earth this side of prison. The Korra fics I came across infuriated me for that reason. The setting at this point combines Eastern mysticism, wuxia stories, and steam punk. A fanfic sequel would be a cross between a king fu story and Armored Trooper VOTOMS. WHY would you exchange that for high school?

edited 4th Jun '16 10:04:47 AM by Beatman1

@Noaquiyem: Well, I can't say I disagree with you outright. I think it's just a matter of personal taste here. I understand that a lot of folks would like to divorce the characters they love from a poorly-written setting, but I love world-building and engaging settings, so I personally find it unlikely I'd even get into a work where something about the setting annoys me so much that I'd feel the need to eject the characters from it.

The whole non-humans-being-made-human thing is also a matter of personal taste, I'd say. I just generally enjoy watching or reading about non-humans, whether by themselves or alongside normal humans. Most well-written non-human characters or species tend to, at the very least, have some kind of cultural quirk that makes them engaging to read about. Even an alien appearance and biology makes them interesting to me, which is a big reason I've never been a fan of fictional creatures that look almost exactly like humans but with some bits glued on. It just seems lazy to me. The less human-looking, the better, I say. :V

Of course, this is not to say I'm incapable of enjoying works in totally mundane settings, centred on totally mundane characters, either. That'd be just silly, and very, very limiting on top of that.

edited 4th Jun '16 11:09:07 AM by PresidentStalkeyes

While I don't read high school AU, I have dabbled in it a bit. I see it as a challenge, especially for a fantasy setting. A lot of times its impossible for the characters to have the same backstory so you have to try to come up with something that explains how the characters personality developed while fitting in canon elements in plausible and unique ways.

Basically I think it's fun to try to take a concept that's dull, uninspired, and trite and try to make it interesting.

Now high school AU that's romance-centric? I stay away from those like the plague.

I have seen some good high school AU stuff (one even was more of a high school setting with what essentially was a war going on in the backdrop) but it's few and far between.

Soooooooo the thing that comes to mind is something I did when I was... twelve? Which basically amounted to "What would Carmen Sandiego steal if she didn't have access to time machines or shrink rays or abstract concepts".

The International Prototype Kilogram is a more interesting MacGuffin than the Equator, anyway. :P

I don't think we actually disagree with each other :U The Rubber-Forehead Aliens and Petting-Zoo People and other humans-with-bits-on are exactly the kinds of characters who might as well just be just another human culture because the physical differences that exist are purely superficial anyway. Anthropomorphising Starfish Aliens on the other hand completely defeats the point.

edited 5th Jun '16 3:45:14 PM by Noaqiyeum

Using emoticons in the author's note. I don't know why, I hate emoticons in the author's note.

Maybe playing too much Life is Strange is branding "NO EMOJI" into my brain.

Oops.