TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

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

Go To

PPPSSC Since: Nov, 2009
#6376: Nov 12th 2020 at 12:23:31 AM

In my experience, it's worse when you're primarily interested in a less popular primary pairing, that nevertheless ends up in the background of a lot of these stories, because then you have to sift through them to find any that are relevant to your interests directly.

Psychedelicate She/Her Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: That's rough, buddy
She/Her
#6377: Nov 12th 2020 at 12:35:00 AM

[up]Yup, that's me! It's very frustrating.

There is a neat little trick on AO3 that can help with that, though. If you go to a ship tag and put "otp:true" in the "Search within results" bar, it'll only bring back fics where the pairing you want is the only ship tagged.

AegisP Kindhearted SSSSSNAKE Man Since: Oct, 2014 Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
Kindhearted SSSSSNAKE Man
#6378: Nov 12th 2020 at 1:47:50 AM

[up]omg omg omg omg! THAT WAS AWESOME! Now I can finally use AO 3!

As long as this flower is in my heart. My Strength will flow without end.
PresidentStalkeyes Eats moldy bread and flies into windows from United Kingdom of England-land Since: Feb, 2016 Relationship Status: Do you like me? (Yes ⎕ Definitely ⎕ Absolutely!!! ⎕)
Eats moldy bread and flies into windows
#6379: Nov 14th 2020 at 3:33:40 PM

TBH I just ignore pairing tags entirely, as long as it's not one of the really squicky ones (you know the kinds I mean). On AO3 at least, pairings are often tagged even when said pairing isn't really the focus of the story; if it is the focus, it tends to be obvious from reading the summary. If it's a good summary. If it's a bad summary, that just makes me less likely to read it anyway.

Otherwise, the mere inclusion of a (not-squicky) pairing isn't, by itself, a red flag for me since I don't tend to get that invested in a character's love life to start with. Character A loves Character X? Sure. Character A loves Character Y instead? Sure, why not? As long as you're not bashing Character X as well. :V

Edited by PresidentStalkeyes on Nov 14th 2020 at 11:37:39 AM

Those sell-by-dates won't stop me because I can't read!
stanleypon Dude from London Since: Oct, 2020 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
Dude
#6380: Nov 15th 2020 at 1:46:39 AM

Anything that [[wouldn't]] make sense in the original material.[tdown]

Edited by stanleypon on Nov 15th 2020 at 7:42:32 PM

I play cool music https://www.piano-composer-teacher-london.co.uk
G2BattleConvoy The Hope, The Hero from Installation 07 Since: Mar, 2017 Relationship Status: What is this thing you call love?
The Hope, The Hero
#6381: Nov 15th 2020 at 5:51:50 AM

Anything that would make sense in the original material.[tdown]

Excuse my inability to not perceive jokes sometimes, but how is that a red flag?

"We all fail. We all make mistakes. That is what makes us human."
PresidentStalkeyes Eats moldy bread and flies into windows from United Kingdom of England-land Since: Feb, 2016 Relationship Status: Do you like me? (Yes ⎕ Definitely ⎕ Absolutely!!! ⎕)
Eats moldy bread and flies into windows
#6382: Nov 15th 2020 at 8:14:19 AM

I'm assuming that was a typo, and they meant to say 'anything that wouldn't make sense'.

Those sell-by-dates won't stop me because I can't read!
stanleypon Dude from London Since: Oct, 2020 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
PresidentStalkeyes Eats moldy bread and flies into windows from United Kingdom of England-land Since: Feb, 2016 Relationship Status: Do you like me? (Yes ⎕ Definitely ⎕ Absolutely!!! ⎕)
Eats moldy bread and flies into windows
#6384: Nov 18th 2020 at 12:55:23 PM

You know, I'm not sure if this even counts as a 'red flag', but I just found a story with a description saying 'this story is just bad, please do not read it', or something along those lines. My obvious thought was 'okay, if it's bad and you don't want people to read it, why haven't you deleted it?' ...Some kind of Bile Fascination ploy, maybe?

Edited by PresidentStalkeyes on Nov 18th 2020 at 8:55:58 PM

Those sell-by-dates won't stop me because I can't read!
G2BattleConvoy The Hope, The Hero from Installation 07 Since: Mar, 2017 Relationship Status: What is this thing you call love?
The Hope, The Hero
#6385: Nov 18th 2020 at 1:45:38 PM

I think it might have something to do with reverse psychology.

Readers keep expectations low, and then if the story actually turns out to be decent, then job done.

I think. I dunno, it's been a while since I actually read a fanfic.

"We all fail. We all make mistakes. That is what makes us human."
SapphireBlue Since: Jan, 2001
#6386: Nov 18th 2020 at 2:05:47 PM

Tags like that can mean one of two things. The first is that the author is really insecure about their writing. They want to warn people that it might be bad - that way, if someone does think it’s bad, at least they were prepared.

I don’t think it’s necessarily fishing for compliments. Sometimes intentional manipulation and being overly self-conscious look a lot alike, even if they come from different places. Some people probably are fishing for compliments, but it’s hard to say for sure if you don’t know the author. Regardless of how it’s intended, it doesn’t paint a good picture of the fic to have “this sucks, don’t read it” in the tags. Seems better to just put it out there and let people decide what to think on their own.

The second possibility is that the fic is really weird, crack-y, shitpost-y, or a troll fic. With those, you can usually tell from the other tags. Those are less likely to be insecurity and more likely to be “I can’t believe I wrote this.” Obviously they’re not too ashamed to post it in the first place, but they want to indicate that they’re self-aware about it.

AegisP Kindhearted SSSSSNAKE Man Since: Oct, 2014 Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
Kindhearted SSSSSNAKE Man
#6387: Nov 18th 2020 at 2:14:56 PM

I have another possibility. Maybe the fic is of acceptable (I wont say outright good) quality...to its fans. For the author its an old shame. I think that's a nice alternative to just deleting it.

I have seen plenty of good fics deleted out of the blue to think its an isolated incident lol.

As long as this flower is in my heart. My Strength will flow without end.
SapphireBlue Since: Jan, 2001
#6388: Nov 18th 2020 at 2:20:29 PM

If the disclaimer is added later, then yeah, that’s a possibility.

DialgaX Since: Jan, 2001
#6389: Nov 26th 2020 at 3:24:22 PM

My main red flag is "POV tags" like this:

[POV 1]


[POV 2]

This usually signals low-quality writing in terms of plot, grammar and other mechanics.

Edited by DialgaX on Nov 26th 2020 at 3:24:33 AM

Lentilles Since: Jan, 2017
#6390: Nov 30th 2020 at 8:11:29 AM

In addition to the usual complaints, my main red flags when looking for fanfiction are:

1) Questions in the summary. Not the mystery-kind ones (Who killed the General? That's what Isabella must find out.), but the what-will-happen ones (Will they survive the storm? And will their love hold true?). It may be snobbish of me, but they make me think of some cheap soap-opera and I'm not into cheap soap-opera.

2) Lampshade hanging of conventions of the genre or restrictions of the medium. Deconstruction, reconstruction, etc. are one thing, but a cheap shot at what is well-known to be a narrative vessel just infuriates me. It doesn't help that I've usually seen the lampshade hanging a thousand times already.

3) Fics which posit as their premise that the original work is lying, à la The Last Ringearer. I don't enjoy the denegation of a story I like enough to go looking for fanfiction of it. Or, to think about it, even of story I do not enjoy. It just feels petty to me.

heliosKAISER The Struggler from Shadow Moses Since: Aug, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
The Struggler
#6391: Nov 30th 2020 at 7:43:52 PM

I hate bashing but I like it when the author takes a look at a trope, plot or even a whole character archetype and dismantle it to show it in a new, if usually negative light.

Finding a balance is hard to see and to write.

If you go too far in pushing a lot into certain direction, especially if it's negative, it can come across as bashing.

You gotta start somewhere.
Psychedelicate She/Her Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: That's rough, buddy
She/Her
#6392: Dec 5th 2020 at 11:10:34 PM

Fics whose titles contain the ship name, specifically with something like "An Alice x Bob Story." They're pretty much always low-quality, in my experience at least.

Edited by Psychedelicate on Dec 6th 2020 at 6:10:44 AM

Ghostninja109 from there, not here. Since: Aug, 2011
#6393: Dec 13th 2020 at 5:08:47 PM

One of the biggest red flags for me is "Human!AU" or anything else that removes the fantastical elements from the characters or setting. Real life poisons us with enough mundanity already as it is and these people want to take fantasy and make that mundane too? Hell no.

Edited by Ghostninja109 on Dec 13th 2020 at 4:09:08 AM

Dr.XXX The Mad Doctor Since: Aug, 2014
The Mad Doctor
#6394: Dec 28th 2020 at 8:31:43 AM

Excess lore in the author's notes. I can deal with you putting why you did something or based this oc off of x character, but I get pretty annoyed when people give lengthy backstories about their characters in the freaking author's notes.

Anasui Le fanfiction dei libri fanno schifo! Le fanfict from Mythlandia Since: Nov, 2020 Relationship Status: A teenager in love
Le fanfiction dei libri fanno schifo! Le fanfict
#6395: Jan 3rd 2021 at 6:43:02 PM

I'm interested in the "Authors that just don't care" and the "All of fanfiction writers are lazy (or however someone said it)" topic/red flags.

And also, these nasty-arsed kinks (Crap, piss, farts, diaper varients, the like). Man, I literally dream of making those and the guy who invented them disappear. Literally the reason why most fandoms (Especially the cartoon section whose underrated fandoms get hit hard the most, like Rbuk) aren't even worth touching, unless you like nightmares and losing your lunch 24/7. Plus, why aren't we taking about the red flags in cartoon fics (I want to know the answer)?

SapphireBlue Since: Jan, 2001
#6396: Jan 3rd 2021 at 7:02:09 PM

Some sections are definitely best browsed with filters. AO3 Savior is...well, a lifesaver, and so are the on-site filters. But fanfiction.net’s filters are so limited they’re situationally useful at best. Section has a ship that aged like milk, and had a lot of stuff written before you could tag ships or characters? Good luck avoiding it if you dig too deep.

At least the stuff I’m thinking of has good stuff mixed in with the gross crap. Sounds like the one you mentioned doesn’t. Sorry to hear that - I’m sure it’s incredibly frustrating.

I don’t think there’s any particular reason no one here brings up cartoon fic red flags specifically. You’re welcome to do that if you have more to say.

Edited by SapphireBlue on Jan 3rd 2021 at 7:35:54 AM

Discar Since: Jun, 2009
#6397: Jan 3rd 2021 at 7:41:46 PM

I pretty much never go on fanfiction.net unless I know a specific fic or author I'm looking for. A03's tags are just so much better that I can't even deal. Unfortunately, some fandoms just use A03 as a dumping ground for their creepy fics. Which I guess is better than the other way around because you can filter them out, but still.

My favorite fanfiction site, though, is fimfiction. The UI is wonderful, the tagging and sorting systems great. And as a side benefit, since it's only one fandom, you don't have to deal with the A03 problem of kudos disparity between different fandoms. The worst Harry Potter fic will have more kudos than the best Glitch Techs fic, and that can cause problems with crossovers and if you sort by kudos and whatnot.

As for cartoon red flags? Most of the posts here are more general than that. Just an observation, it doesn't mean anything specific. You're certainly free to post cartoon red flags.

Writing a post-post apocalypse LitRPG on RR. Also fanfic stuff.
32ndfreeze Since: Mar, 2012
#6398: Jan 3rd 2021 at 11:01:56 PM

I use FFN as well with any pre-2012ish fandom.

After that I find its very rare for stuff not to be crossposted to AO 3 anyway. But with older fandoms than that there's a lot of stuff that's only on FFN.

With newer fandoms there can be a gem on occasion though, although I'd estimate less than 1% of significant fics are on FFN and not AO 3 nowadays.

It's been discussed to death already, but the FFN style of tagging does have some benefits. A couple of days ago I was looking up fics in the My Hero Academia fandom focused on Gentle Criminal. But AO 3 is almost useless when searching his tag.

Edited by 32ndfreeze on Jan 4th 2021 at 6:03:49 AM

Psychedelicate She/Her Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: That's rough, buddy
She/Her
#6399: Jan 4th 2021 at 3:39:55 AM

I feel like AO 3 would benefit from a limit on the number of tags on each story. Overtagging is a pretty big problem there.

SapphireBlue Since: Jan, 2001
#6400: Jan 4th 2021 at 9:51:03 PM

[up][up] I only go to Fanfiction.net for older fandoms and the occasional really good authors who don't crosspost on AO3 The filters aren't terrible, but I wish there were better "without" filters. Preferably including the option to block words from summaries.

And yes, it is really annoying when people tag every single character who shows up in the fic (I've also had that issue in the MHA fandom when searching for moderately important characters sometimes). Or have massive walls of tags.

Edited by SapphireBlue on Jan 4th 2021 at 9:53:19 AM


Total posts: 6,759
Top