Pet Peeve

[Christopher Robin]

Do you know what I'm getting REALLY tired of seeing in fanfics? Pairing votes.

First it's almost always for a pairing I don't want, because everyone knows large groups of people are stupid, and the majority aren't usually right.

Second, it means you have no clue what the hell you're doing with your story, and the romance part is so unimportant that you can sub any character out for any other. Either that, or you had so little clue what to write about that you let the readers decide for you.

Come to think of it, I hate voting at all. If you need ideas for your story, ask a friend or something. Have you SEEN the readers on ff.net? Don't ask them for help, 9/10ths of them are total morons who I wouldn't trust to tie my shoes for me, let alone decide how my story should be written.

 

[Moshulel]

This could have gone well here . Letting others decide the poairing isn't usually recommended unless you are 100% sure you can pull any possible pairing of (Offcourse depending on the fandom you do have some insight on what the wining pairing is going to be)

 

[DhampyrX2]

Or, you do what I do...ask for reader opinions just to get feel for what people are thinking, but still write what you feel works no matter what. You can't please everyone, but asking for votes usually increases your feedback and can be helpful. For every few morons out there, you get one or two good reviews.

 

[nuclear death frog]

Do you know what I'm getting REALLY tired of seeing in fanfics? Pairing votes.

YES.

Can't possibly agree more.

 

[GenocideHeart]

Well, in my fic I did ask for pairing suggestions besides the main ones, but to be honest, it was mostly curiosity...

 

[SimmyC]

I completely agree. Everytime I see a pairing vote I'm thinking, "UGH! This story is going to suck now since you haven't decided on the freakin pairing!" It takes time and development to to make a pairing both believable and not seem forced. While it is always possible to do so when you get the 'most' for that pairing early on, that is typically not the case.

Suggestions are another thing entirely. I could suggest what pairing you should make and why I think it will rock! But... that doesn't mean you will have to take it. Especially if you have another pairing in mind.

 

[Christopher Robin]

I don't mind when an author asks for suggestions, or just wants to know what people think.

But I see a lot of fics suddenly outright ask for the readers to decide what happens. It always annoys me, as it means the author doesn't have a strong direction for the fic, which might be okay, except it also means they can't make up their own mind. It's one thing to ask maybe a small group of people you actually know (like say, if you asked the people here for help), it's another to ask everybody who reads your story on ff.net to decide FOR you.

Also, I like unconventional pairings usually, and since the majority of people will vote for the most popular pairing, it tends to end up being a matchup I don't usually like. Some people say if the writings good enough you can read a story about a pairing you don't like anyway, but it tends to get really annoying anyway.

 

[Fatuous One]

...Yeah, I'm in agreement with the majority here... nothing new to add.

 

[Hawk]

Voting in general, not just for pairings, is one of those things that'll really annoy the crap out of me.

Requests for xx number of reviews before posting the next chapter is also one of those things that makes me wish that the writer was living next door to me, so that I could pop on over with my trusty baseball bat and rearrage the writers face... At least once a day...

It must be some sort of tell for a *major* mental disfunction or a severe self-esteem problem of sorts.

If twenty buggers told me in reviews for a story that they'd like to see a Naruto/Anko pairing, my instinctive response would be "Me too!", but I'd never let something like that affect what I'm writing in any way, shape or manner. And actually begging for votes/reviews/whatever?

No.

Fucking.

Way.

While I'm only very rarely sure of what exact route I'm going to take with my fics, I've always got a very good idea of where the goal of the trip is. And changing that because a bunch of 12-year old Sasuke fans want something other then what I've got planned is such a moronic idea that the transfer of an *obscene* amount of money to my bank account would have to be involved for me to even consider it.

 

[Dark Knight Gafgar]

Voting is bad. Period. Totalitarianism is the way to go!

 

[GenocideHeart]

I don't mind when an author asks for suggestions, or just wants to know what people think.

But I see a lot of fics suddenly outright ask for the readers to decide what happens. It always annoys me, as it means the author doesn't have a strong direction for the fic, which might be okay, except it also means they can't make up their own mind. It's one thing to ask maybe a small group of people you actually know (like say, if you asked the people here for help), it's another to ask everybody who reads your story on ff.net to decide FOR you.

Also, I like unconventional pairings usually, and since the majority of people will vote for the most popular pairing, it tends to end up being a matchup I don't usually like. Some people say if the writings good enough you can read a story about a pairing you don't like anyway, but it tends to get really annoying anyway.

Well, there are instances of authors actually having planned two different outcomes, and being unsure of which one to pick. It happened a lot to me, again with Twisted Fates. Just ask Fatuous how many different paths I planned for it. :snigger:

 

[hawker_748]

I've asked for feedback and reviews in my stories, but I've never made the release of further chapters conditional on it.

That just limp, man. Fuckin' limp...

Wanting feedback is good for an author.

Demanding it...

NO.

 

[Israfel]

Oh yah, there are authors who will hold the next chapter hostage until they recieve a certain number of reviews and will not release the next chapter until they get them.

 

[SimmyC]

I admit that sometimes, I'm disappointed with the number of reviews a certain story gets when say, I typically get 10, and suddenly, I only get 3 for the next update.

However...

I will NOT demand reviews like certain authors. That just plains sucks! If they review great! If not, so what?! Looking at the hit list, that must mean that they are still reading it at least? Maybe they just don't have much to comment on this chapter or something. :flameon:

 

[SMWhat]

What I can't stand is people who get all pissy because they don't get reviewed. That's just so...immature. And...immature. And...I'm choking on my own rage here. Hold on.

That's better. Anyway: immature.

 

[Moshulel]

That's better. Anyway: immature.

What can you expect from authors that think fics like this are great:

Naruto lubes Sasuke.
Highschool fics are great.
Alternative universe where the characters keep only the name are great.

Bash!

 

[Mighty Bob]

Like F-one said, I agree totally with what you're all saying. If you're going to write a story don't be so weak willed as to let all the small minded mentally deficient nitwits out there direct how you write the story. If they don't like how you're writing the story it's not like you're twisting their arm to read it.

I like a good pairing in fics as much as the next reader, but lately it seems like thats the sole driving force behind writing a fic anymore. Several pairing neutral (or at least for the main characters) fics I've read always seem to be flooded with people saying it sucks because it lacks such and such a pairing. Heaven forbid someone actually decide to concentrate on plot and character develoment over (poorly written) romance.

 

[SimmyC]

I get that... even when I specifcially say what pairing it is in the story. -_- But yeah. Good fics are good fics no matter what the pairing is. Heck, I might even handle a Naru/Keitaro fic if the overall fic itself was good. Now, they are not fics that I would actively go out and read, but hey, if they start good, and remain good, even with said pairing, I'll continue reading it no matter what.

 

[Moshulel]

I get that... even when I specifcially say what pairing it is in the story. -_- But yeah. Good fics are good fics no matter what the pairing is. Heck, I might even handle a Naru/Keitaro fic if the overall fic itself was good. Now, they are not fics that I would actively go out and read, but hey, if they start good, and remain good, even with said pairing, I'll continue reading it no matter what.

Unfortunatly lately we don't get too many good fics with pairing votes.

Most are already with one leg in the coffin and pairing votes just add the last nail to it.

Anyway just seen a Naruto fic with pairing votes, more than half of the options were guys :sweat:

 

[SimmyC]

I agree. No way am will those fics be a 'good fic' when said author can't even decide what pairing to go for! Much less, the direction of the story. -_-

 

[nuclear death frog]

I agree. No way am will those fics be a 'good fic' when said author can't even decide what pairing to go for! Much less, the direction of the story. -_-

The only case in which I can see pairing votes as being worth anything are in stories like the Eternal Lost Lurker's Ranmadate, where there are a bunch (30, I guess) of candidates and ELL was accepting votes on who Ranma would end up with, and presumably* he was going to write only the winner.

That is the only sort of situation where I see them as acceptable.


*: I don't know this for a fact

 

[Moshulel]

That fic comes to reinforce our oppinions... i mean look at the date it was started, lately there are no fics like that.