alara_r once wrote a post about this tendency a couple of years ago; in her case, it was about the use of rape and/or torture, which in various sci fi fandom we share had (and has) a tendency to be used independent from the villain's character, on that same justification - X is a villain who did Not Rape Evil Deed, therefore he'd also commit rape. I don't remember what she called this, so. It was, and is, incredibly annoying to me when I find it in fanfiction.
That is the kind of fanfiction I avoid. I feel like if I'm going to read something someone else wrote based on a story I enjoy it should be about more than the writer playing out their darkest fantasies without regard for context.
Black-and-white thinking: absolutely. If the summary of a story gives away it's this type, I avoid it as well, but unfortunately it doesn't always. I'm usually a bit sceptical about warnings, but in that sense they serve their purpose. Back when I first came across the phenomenon, ten, fifteen years ago, they weren't nearly as common, and the summary wasn't always a giveaway, either, so when I found a story about a Babylon 5 character who didn't get many, and the summary only said a far more popular character would encounter him (who never met him in canon), I wasn't yet wise enough to the ways of fandom to guess what "encountered" might mean.
To use a Buffy example: imagine a fanfic scenario where the Mayor would for some reason meet Jenny Calendar and would promptly proceed to capture and rape her. Never mind that it would be completely ooc for the Mayor, never mind that the Buffyverse offers enough villains who would serve the purpose if you absolutely want to write a story where Jenny gets
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I don't read a huge amount of fanfiction, so I generally only read fanfiction that's either been recommended by someone, or if it's by an author I'm familiar with. I get irritated when people say fanfiction isn't as good as professional fiction, because it so very much can be. But of course professional fiction has barriers that fanfiction does not have, which keeps out the worst and the weirdest. So I let other people go first and bring back recommendations.
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That is the kind of fanfiction I avoid. I feel like if I'm going to read something someone else wrote based on a story I enjoy it should be about more than the writer playing out their darkest fantasies without regard for context.
It's very black-and-white thinking.
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Black-and-white thinking: absolutely. If the summary of a story gives away it's this type, I avoid it as well, but unfortunately it doesn't always. I'm usually a bit sceptical about warnings, but in that sense they serve their purpose. Back when I first came across the phenomenon, ten, fifteen years ago, they weren't nearly as common, and the summary wasn't always a giveaway, either, so when I found a story about a Babylon 5 character who didn't get many, and the summary only said a far more popular character would encounter him (who never met him in canon), I wasn't yet wise enough to the ways of fandom to guess what "encountered" might mean.
To use a Buffy example: imagine a fanfic scenario where the Mayor would for some reason meet Jenny Calendar and would promptly proceed to capture and rape her. Never mind that it would be completely ooc for the Mayor, never mind that the Buffyverse offers enough villains who would serve the purpose if you absolutely want to write a story where Jenny gets ( ... )
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