Reading Fanfic When Also Adult

[kat_lair]

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Three reasons I have noped out of a fic within the first chapter this week despite the pairing and trope/concept being firmly in my likes list:

1. Concept: Childhood bffs to lovers. Reason I noped out anyway: Fic started with the characters being five and four, talking in long sentences with several conjunction words, and with high level of empathy and awareness of second order emotions. Analysis: Author has never been around small children and did no research about child development, which would be fine if childhood scenes would've been like short or just described but when including extensive dialogue that would've sounded stilted from adults it's a problem and I have no patience for it.

2. Concept: University AU. Reason I noped out anyway: A casual mention that a character's friend had written their assignments for them, no indication that this was anything ethically questionable or that the character felt bad about it. Analysis: Author has probably done this themselves. I am highly biased here but that's a hard limit. Back button.

3. Concept: Roommates AU. Reason I noped out anyway: The characters moved in and there was a reference of them going to sleep in their beds without any mention at all about them putting said beds together, or having to unpack to find bedding. Analysis: Author has never moved house. I don't need a blow by blow but if your whole fic premise hangs on 'they moved into a new place together' then I'm going to need at least some throwaway sentences about the pain of screwing furniture together and hunting boxes for sheets, like c'mon.

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Comments

[corvidology]

I'll admit I'm not a fan of AU at all -- basically never read it as I want more of the characters in the canon world due to my odd habit of having to fall for their canon world as well, be it ever so dodgy -- but a lot of my attempts at reading AU have been sidelined by such things and my thinking 'no, that's not how that works.'

In part, I think it's because we all know what happened in the canon world but the moment AU kicks in, people are often writing about things they really know nothing about, like the English school system, US colleges, bookstores, even coffee shops. Hey, the distances between places and how long that actually takes given the geography of the country. That distance in Europe may be shorter but thanks to the fact a lot of our roads don't follow a grid pattern it's going to take a lot longer to get there.

[pushkin666]

Lol. Your comment about distance in Europe always makes me think about Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, and how Robin got to Nottingham from the white cliffs of Dover, up past Hadriens Wall, and then back down again to Nottingham - like nope! Also, I saw the premiere in Nottingham and the whole audience shouted at the screen when Nottingham Castle was shown basically going "that's not Nottingham Castle"

I do like a good AU, but I'm not a massive fan of university/school AUs set in the UK when they've written by non-British writers who clearly have no idea how the education system is in this country, or of course vice-versa. Even such things as names for items of clothes will throw a fic out.

[corvidology]

I'm not a massive fan of university/school AUs set in the UK when they've written by non-British writers who clearly have no idea how the education system is in this country

It's there in professional writes as well. There's a very popular American crime writer who sets her novels within the UK police/detective system and is always praised to high heaven by American critics/fans for how accurate she is... Erm... no.

Let me give you just one stunning example. An English police sergeant is embarrassed that she only ever got a grammar school education. Erm... probably helps to know that 'grammar school' in the US is another way of saying primary school.

[pushkin666]

Wow - yeah that's a definite mistake. A grammar school education would be something not to be embarrassed about1

[kat_lair]

I can suspend belief about a lot of things, especially if I'm not an expert and if things are not described in detail, but when it comes to something that feels like, how shall I put it, basic adult experiences (though yes, I am aware there is no consistency here), it's trickier. There's a way to bullshit your way through a lot of things by just not describing the detail because often it's not necessary though there's always a reader who is upset they don't get the detail. Like I'm poking at a space opera story where I will absolutely not be explaining how intergalactic space flight has been achieved. It just exists. I might talk about a character tinkering with the engine or whatever as a background for a scene but I will not be describing exactly what they're doing. Because if I'd attempt, I would absolutely aggravate readers with any idea of those things :D

[kitarella_imagines]

You are the sort of reader I like. Because I'm always thinking about things like this. 'If the office is ten miles away, how did she travel there and how quickly?' 'If they move in together, who does the cooking, the laundry, the cleaning? Do they share it or argue about it?' 'What insect and animal noises would you hear outside in the countryside at night?' 'How do assault rifles' safety catches work and how severe is their kickback?'

I appreciate readers who notice little details like that 👍

[kat_lair]

Hee, that's both the kind of detail that provides depth to the writing but it's also easy to keep it broad enough if you don't have time for detailed research. Like just saying 'night was full on insect noises' is fine as it is and I don't necessarily need to know exactly what insects they are. Unless one of your characters is an entomologist and then yes, I'd expect there to be more detail if we were in their pov.

[kitarella_imagines]

Oh yes, I just wrote It was silent, apart from the crickets chirping like a constant percussion in the background. You're right, there was no need to go into more detail than that 😊

And you can just add a bit of dialogue or argument clarifying who will do which tasks when people are living together, can't you.

[pushkin666]

I hope you liked the Shetland ones I recc'd - if you've had chance to read them yet that is.

[kat_lair]

Not yet, it's on the liiiiiiiist.

[apiphile]

1. Bad writing.
2. Bad behaviour.
3. Bad writing.

Consensus: yeah fuck that shit

[kat_lair]

These were all in the context of a particular fandom and pairing I was checking out for the first time and we are fast approaching the point of 'fandom is not providing me the thing i want to read, do i fucking need to write it myself?' with it. Ugh.

[apiphile]

You *know* the answer to that is always yes

[lunabee34]

Ah, yes. My two pet peeves about writing children: they are abnormally and precociously adult OR they are five and behaving like one year olds (see Wyatt on OG Charmed).

[kat_lair]

I don't remember the kid at all though I definitely saw OG Charmed... And don't remember examples of it other way around in fic so now I'm fascinated :D

[lunabee34]

I have definitely seen it but I don't remember where now. Lol

[sewn]

Aw, that roommate AU sounds like it's wasting good shippy opportunities besides. The characters assembling Ikea furniture together (exasperated banter), lifting boxes (all those glimpses of skin), getting flushed and out of breath... Maybe the fight against Ikea takes all the wind out of them before There Is Only One Bed and they crash.

[kat_lair]

IKR! Those are absolutely viable tropes to exploit, like where is my character being Competent With Power Tools and my other character doing Cute Nesting? Fail.

[annathecrow]

Reader knowing more about a topic than the writer is such a curse, from both ends of the equation! I think I'm lucky, because I don't have personal experience of areas writers tend to write about (US/UK universities, coffee shops, medicine, military). I have suffered from a good number of terrible hacking and general technology scenes, though.

Also, I have read one fic that went the other way: it was so extremely accurate it was unpleasant to read. I felt Seen and not in a good way XD

[kat_lair]

Haha yeah, but like I said in an earlier comment, you can keep things broad enough to keep it acceptable and free of details that might trip you up, especially if said details aren't crucial for the plot.

That's really funny about the fic being Too Accurate. Like was it the case of 'oh shit this author has definitely done some hacking themselves' or '...this was written by someone I work with'?

[annathecrow]

Not the second, thankfully! :D The story took place at an IT company, and it absolutely dripped with loathing for the environment and the people. I work in the same field and while I'm pretty critical of it myself, I do like it, so it made me feel sort of attacked. XD

[kat_lair]

Ahh, that's a particular flavour of yikes. Author was clearly working through some issues... Which, TBF, we've all done in fics on occasion

[wenchpixie]

YES. This. I'll take a bit of handwaving, but at least acknowledge that the handwaving is required!

[kat_lair]

Also, I can suspend my morals to read a fic about hitmen but students cheating? HARD LIMIT.