Shit Fic Rant!! Warning.. Caps Lock of Rage Ahead

[trancer21]

Just back from vacation (yay! Jamaica) and, at the beginning of the trip, I was all excited because I'd downloaded a bunch of fic to read during my trip. (I'll be posting a review of the *good* fics I read a bit later). And, you know how when you're reading something and you reach that point where you *know* this is bad and it's not going to get

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[femme_slash_fan]

.... Woah. Well, I know that wasn't my fic.... but I'm kinda bemused as to what the hell kind of person wrote that? I mean... how freaking awful can one fic be? Jesus christ.

[trancer21]

I can say with full authority that it wasn't anything written by you (and should probably clarify that it's not anyone on my f-list.. if I wasn't so damn lazy). I will say that the fandom is a procedural. Which is why, when I saw the 'Rap/NonCon' tag I automatically assumed it referred to the case the characters were working on. I know, my fault for assuming. I mean, seriously, how hard, let alone honest, is it to write in the summary 'X character is assaulted..'. To me, it just came across as writer laziness, ie, 'how can I put X character in danger/put an obstacle between the characters' and the writer thought 'hey, these characters deal with rapists all the time, why not have one of the pairing get raped'. But, yeah, having it happen to the same character twice in the same story [SPOILER ALERT- by both the father and then the son] was a bunch of head-desk banging overkill.

[femme_slash_fan]

I think my icon says it all really. WHY in the name of god above would you not say 'Major character rape' or something? I'm just glad I've mainly quit SVU/CSI/NCIS fandom except reading and then it's only stuff on Ralst's site since I trust that no really awful fic would ever make it there.

Father and Son? WHAT??? I just... WHAT?

Excuse me a second:

WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK ARE YOU DOING WRITER?

.... yes. Well. WTF. Basically.

[mayireadtoday]

I will say that the fandom is a procedural. Which is why, when I saw the 'Rap/NonCon' tag I automatically assumed it referred to the case the characters were working on.

I totally would have thought the same thing. In fact, I have seen that tag used for exactly that purpose.

[ralst]

Erm, welcome home?

You make me glad I haven't had time to read much, if anything, lately.

[trancer21]

Thanks for the welcome home. At least I have three new eps of 'The Great British Bake Off' to perk me back up.

The sad/bad part is, reading bad fics makes me really hesitant to read fics by authors I don't know, or haven't been recced by someone I do know. I mean, it's not going to make me stop reading. I think I've at least learned my lesson as to stopping when I really should!

[ralst]

Ah, the Great British Bake Off, it's been full of tensions and heartache (I have become totally mildly obsessed) and the final is tomorrow!

An SVU series several years ago taught me to stop when a story started to make me feel uneasy, and not read on expecting things to get better, because they only get worse. I think we need a giant scrapbook or something where only people we know have good taste can post recommendations.

[mm_burnttoast]

Hope you enjoyed your vacation. And I think we've all ready our share of just god-awful fics. Can't help but wonder what story it is though..

[trancer21]

Heh, other than the *really* crappy fic I read, the vacation was great. But, yeah, we've all read really bad fics. I think the last time a story made me this viscerally angry was one involving zombie-squirrels!

[trancer21]

In my (limited) internet research, this fic was completed/posted late last year and has never been posted on LJ. The sad part is, particularly in regards to procedurals, having one of the characters raped seems to be the default go-to plot for the sake of 'the dramas'. At least the majority of those fics, which I avoid with a ten-foot pole, have adequate warnings.