Fanfic Pet Peeves
There are a few things which will have me quit reading something so fast, that you will have trouble telling I even was there ...
Gender-neutral/Invented/Spivak Pronouns
Be it zie or hir or ne - these letter combinations are as pronouns not part of the English language and using them is, in my book, not showing off how nicely gender-neutral you can write, it shows off you don't know proper grammar. Ostentatiously displaying your political agenda (and it is nothing but) is not what I take kindly to in fanfics.
This is linked tightly to...
Display and Debate of Politics
So you live in a society where there is rampant .... (fill in your brand of -isms or -chies) and you either want to demonstrate your own political/societal stance or you take down others for not doing the same. To me there's a room for such debates, and there are areas where these do not belong. Fanfic is one where this is not the case for me. We are a huge planet. Accusing people, who for instance potentially live in a one race environment and hence don't even "get" the idea of racism, or shoving canon so far up your own alley of lobbyism as to distort it beyond recognition are huge turn offs for me.
There are quite renowned political debate areas on the net. It's even less of a hassle to buy a domain and state your views openly for people to read. But infringing on others, especially - as so often happens - without any warnings, when all they want is an enjoyable read of a fandom not directly linked to any of this is taking it out of the hide of others. Unnecessarily and entirely non-con.
Gender-neutral/Invented/Spivak Pronouns
Be it zie or hir or ne - these letter combinations are as pronouns not part of the English language and using them is, in my book, not showing off how nicely gender-neutral you can write, it shows off you don't know proper grammar. Ostentatiously displaying your political agenda (and it is nothing but) is not what I take kindly to in fanfics.
This is linked tightly to...
Display and Debate of Politics
So you live in a society where there is rampant .... (fill in your brand of -isms or -chies) and you either want to demonstrate your own political/societal stance or you take down others for not doing the same. To me there's a room for such debates, and there are areas where these do not belong. Fanfic is one where this is not the case for me. We are a huge planet. Accusing people, who for instance potentially live in a one race environment and hence don't even "get" the idea of racism, or shoving canon so far up your own alley of lobbyism as to distort it beyond recognition are huge turn offs for me.
There are quite renowned political debate areas on the net. It's even less of a hassle to buy a domain and state your views openly for people to read. But infringing on others, especially - as so often happens - without any warnings, when all they want is an enjoyable read of a fandom not directly linked to any of this is taking it out of the hide of others. Unnecessarily and entirely non-con.