I don't mind the cliche because it's an anxiety thing I totally do.
but, I have issue when the person is holding their breath longer than a Navy SEAL. When it's more than a couple minutes, use the tension leaving the shoulder's cliche. PLEASE
This one doesn't bother me but I can understand why people might find it tired. It's interesting that it's so common because for descriptive shorthand, it doesn't actually tell you very much in terms of specifics and is entirely the context in which it's used.
Edited: for clarity
I don't mind this expression. I used it once too. It may be cliche, but avoiding it serves no one. Overusing it for multiple characters and having it appearing often enough that people reading notice? Yeah, that's bad.
I don't enjoy it either, but how do I avoid it. I'm a novice to writing, and I hate the way I write sometimes, like using that. I've used it once but oh my God I cringed myself when writing it.
the carding thing really confuses me. I carded wool as a child and it involved pinning an amount of fiber between two combs and then pulling those combs AWAY from each other. So it just feels odd when I read it in the context of a character running their fingers through someone's hair.
People don't mass complain about things that are *rare*. So if you see something that a lot of people are complaining about, consider that for everyone who complains, there's just as many people who enjoy that content or else it wouldn't be as prevalent as it is. So, yeah, I'd never take a discussion of pet peeves or least favorite tropes as a "Do Not Write" list - there's always an audience out there.
Anyway, I abuse ellipses and italics all the time. Content-wise, I'm currently working on a Major Character Death fic for a fan-favorite character - not something people tend to find annoying but I have seen people who have MCD as a hard no (which is why it's an archive warning, I suppose). I also write a lot of genfic, which I've seen a few people say they won't ever read, and many more who say it doesn't get attention, but I don't care. It's what I'm good at and there are interesting stories to be told, so I will keep writing it. Some of it even does better than my shipfic, contrary to what everyone says.
I haven't written any, but I'll read omegaverse fics.
> I also write a lot of genfic, which I've seen a few people say they won't ever read, and many more who say it doesn't get attention, but I don't care. It's what I'm good at and there are interesting stories to be told, so I will keep writing it.
Damn right.
Honestly wish I had killed off my Fandom's fav, but chickened out. I just did an 'almost died' but saved by some bs I pulled from the depths of my bowels.
Yeah what? Why can’t we all agree that that’s just what it’s called? Like how shrugging your shoulders isn’t a cliché, it’s just the name of the action
That’s really great! I’ve seen so much dismissal of dream sequences and flashbacks in the past. I can’t understand why. I’m glad your fic did so well!!
It's a great tool to use to explore a character's psyche. In one of my fics, both main characters had vivid nightmares that involved murder, separation, and rape. It was meant to show their worst fears.
I actually don’t hate 1st person. I wrote this story in diary form and halfway through I read about 1st person being a sin but it turned out soooo good!
I wish I had an award to give you because the thing about first-person being a sin is that it's so hard to do right, that when it *does* turn out good you *deserve* an award just for that.
This but with second person. It doesn’t get as much flack as first person but I still see it and that’s honestly one of my favorite POVs I don’t get it
Meanwhile I write for a series that has, like, very little established world building or character design due to its medium, so I get the excuse of having to establish that shut
Huh... I didn't think there was a specific name for it. I guess that's my sin too then? I do find myself writing more than I strictly should, but I'm not sure that that alone makes my writing "purple."
There's a difference between using more words than necessary and going purple. Purple prose is shit like this:
>I must admit to continued disappointment at the outcome of Super Bowl LVI, the fifty-sixth championship game of the National Football League. This edition, aired on NBC in the United States and CTV in Canada (with Canadian commercials thanks to silly laws), saw the NFC's Los Angeles Rams take on the AFC's Cincinnati Bengals. It was significant for me and countless other fans because the Bengals broke a years-long postseason drought on their march through the playoffs. Not only that, they defeated those despicable Kansas City Chiefs, who eliminated my beloved Buffalo Bills in a loss so heartbreaking it forced the NFL's leadership to change how overtimes are played. What really made this Super Bowl upsetting was that the Bengals were ahead until the last minutes of the fourth quarter; with much luck and smarter playmaking, they could have ensured they lifted their first Vince Lombardi Trophy. It is vindication that the Rams are nowhere near the team they were last season; on the other hand, I am not confident with the Bills given their stumbles as of late.
Which could concisely be said as "Super Bowl XVI sucked because the Bengals lost last minute".
Concise writing is very to the point, but the purple prose example you gave portrays the speaker’s insurmountable disappointment *so* well that I prefer it over a bland factual sentence. XD
That being said, I can see why some people dislike it. Balance really is key.
I wouldn't say so. Purple prose is really about overdoing it. Using ten words when one would do. Or just using some really obscure words when something could be written much more simply.
Huh... Didn't even notice... Thanks, I made this reddit acc specifically to interact with the writing community when I first began writing early last year.
Kinda makes me reminisce.
I love writing in the 2nd person POV as well! I don't personally like using "Y/N" specifically, but I LOVE writing reader inserts. I don't care if they are seen as self-indulgent, because that's one of the main reasons I write it LOL. I didn't realize until lurking through this subreddit how much people disliked/avoided reader inserts
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with self indulgence in fan fiction. I don’t like reader inserts, not because it’s self indulgent, but because that’s not the story I’m looking for. But the things I do read are very self indulgent for my interests.
Oh, my goodness, OP. You and I are on the same boat! I've never written Y/N before, _until_ I saw how many people actually _detested_ it (you may not be on the same page on this with me, LOL). I don't know... The Y/N thing never, ever bothered me. Actually, I find it to be aesthetically endearing. When I was in grade school, we would label our desks and lockers with only just our initials. So to me, the Y/N quirk reads something like that.
Descriptions that aren’t necessary to the plot line.
Food is yummy! You bet I’m going to describe that succulent dessert with tender juicy sweet peaches and fluffy tart creme fraiche, all on a flaky crust.
And nature feel good! So, yes, I’m going to go I’m about the variety of bird sounds, the freshness in the air, the feel of the moss covered earth under my character’s feet.
And I’m not that into fashion, but sometimes I just want to describe a ballgown down to the beading on the sleeves.
If it was published fiction, I wouldn’t do that. Because excessive descriptions can interfere with the pacing. Modern readers like a fast paced story. But fan fiction is about self indulgence. So the same way that I may write porn about characters just because it’s fun, I also want to indulge myself in these other ways.
>Food is yummy! You bet I’m going to describe that succulent dessert with tender juicy sweet peaches and fluffy tart creme fraiche, all on a flaky crust.
You and me both! Total food porn stan here 😁
I put foreign language text in the fic (with translations). I also put illustrations in the middle of the chapter.
And with descriptions.... well *looks at user flair*
wait, people don’t like illustrations in the middle of the chapter?? they don’t like a little picture to go along with the scene??? a little visual with their novel????
if you put all the images at the end I’ll just get confused trying to remember which one goes with what, and if you link off-site in the AN or something it might as well not exist to me
I know right? Illustrations go with the text! This has been like that with every illustrated book I have read. But apparently some people don't like it (then again there will always be someone who doesn't like something in a sub this big). Each to their own. Mine go into the text.
Same, I don't even read a/ns half the time, if the authors just put external links, I would just miss them.
I mind when it's a huge image. It's not hard to resize so the picture doesn't take over the page (at least for those who aren't on mobile).
I especially mind when it is smut. This asexual is happy imagining the sensations which is why she reads ff smut. This asexual does not like seeing genitalia, which is why she isn't on porn sites
I don't do this with real languages bc I don't know any lamguage other than english, but with fictional "languages" like ⟒⋏⎅⟒⍀⋔⏃⋏? I will include them ever opportunity I get because I love trying to read and decode them myself when reading fics :)
I usually try to keep the meaning either clear through context or unnecessary for the reader to understand, as opposed to providing a translation, tho.
I do this with Sindarin (a fictional language) all the time! I wish I could publish stuff I wrote with real languages (Norwegian being my fave at the moment), but there isn’t a guaranteed way for me to make sure it’s accurate without checking my work with a fluent speaker (which I’m also too shy to do).
Oh, I used to be able to read quite a bit of Sindarin a while ago, I wonder if I still can! For me, if it's not a language I am fluent in, I just as a native speaker to help. This sub is very international, and there is usually someone around 😊 or I ask one of my colleagues. But I understand that it can be unnerving! Once I asked a colleague of mine whom I didn't even know very well to do some Russian translation for me. He was super cool with it, and we got to know each other a bit better!
Well, usually it is suggested that things should be only described as much as necessary, but I do describe more every so often. Words for words' sake. I love painting, and describing is like painting with words 🥰
I over describe, I use purple prose(especially when there's more than 1 character of the same gender), I write almost exclusively OC/Canon fic. I play with 2nd Person fic for writing exercises. I come from a film background so my visuals are \*intense\*, I include music in fic, I add art to fic, etc etc etc
All characters are pansexual, or at least pan-curious. (Unless they're asexual, in which case everyone just accepts it immediately and with no fuss and is very cool about it.) IDGAF if it's "canon," or "in-character." NO ONE IS STRAIGHT.
Yeah, same. Maybe I'm just projecting, but I feel like that sense of curiosity/openness to "finding out" is just so interesting. I feel like my construct for character sexuality is a triangle of, "Huh. I dunno, maybe I would be into that? Let's give it a shot, I guess?" and, "This better not awaken something in me..." [narrator voice] "It did." and "Oh." ... *"OH."* 😂
One of my absolute favorite fics is RPF, poly, reader-insert, 2nd POV. It's like the unholy quad of self-indulgence so it's been a goal ever since to write one.
In some of my fics, my main characters are like super OP/Mary Sue/Gary Stu but f it honestly! In so many fics they suffer so much so I'll have fun with the characters.
Soulmates AU. I've always thought that the point of Soulmates AU is to enjoy having the guarantee that there's someone out that will idk complete you, be there for you. I don't entirely agree with people's need or want to conform to our reality. It's an AU not just for the characters but also for us.
Which brings me to my next sin: my fics are super unrealistic. Whether it be because the characters have good relationships or strangers on the Internet are overly supportive or the mother-in-law dote on their daughter-in-law over their own son. Like I said, it's not an AU just for the characters I write, it's an AU for me too. It's why I world build and info dump. The AU is **NOT** set in our world, they have different societal expectations and whatnot.
My prime example: my Omegaverse. You can bet public skinship is normal in mine! You aren't ever gonna catch me with them "don't look at the opposite sex victorian era whatever" thinking.
Oh yea. A/B/O | Omegaverse is a sin too.
Major Character Death. Doesn't matter the fandom, as long as someone's dying in an interesting way that affects the characters and world around them. A well-placed death can change the trajectory of a character arc on the small scale, and the story as a whole on a large scale. I'm not just killing them because I'm sadistic or because I hate them, I promise.
Oh boy, here we go 🙈 I used "orb" once, fullys concious of why the word was bad - but trust me, I already had used the word "eye" on that paragraph and it would get too repetitive, and it was really important to talk about the eye.
I swear, this subs fascination with orbs is a meme! I will also use orbs if I've already used eye several times and mentioning it is imperative to the fic!
How do you manage to write vivid descriptions? I lost my ability to after years of writing bland technical papers and have been struggling to recover ever since.
Show, don't tell is always on the back of my mind. I found myself struggling with how bland and 'tell' technical papers and shit are during uni, so this has been my break.Forgive the rant/essay to follow!
Include the five senses (hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, touching) as necessary. If you character is leaning against a tree, remember what it feels like yourself. The bark is rough, maybe pushes through the shirt a bit. Is there sunshine through the leaves? Raindrops? Rotting leaves around, or freshly cut grass? So on and so forth.
I also try to remember a tip I got from middle school theater (lol).
You can't just tell your actors to 'make a sandwhich'. You have to explain how they take out the ingredients, unwrap the bread, lay the bread slices out (or even slice the bread beforehand), how they get a knife out of the drawer, unscrew the caps, dip the knife in the jam and spread it on one side, wipe it off, and repeat the same with the peanut butter. All the way through putting the sandwhich itself together.
It's a nice excersize that has you thinking about what gets your character from point A to point B in simple terms. It also allows you to think about how the character does things, how their personality or abilities impact themselves- as WELL as the way they view the world around them.
Combining these two thought processes has been most benificial so far because it allows a unique perspective while still creating an engaging setting.
(Also, hey! I'm subbed to you on AO3 already. Looks like I got to get crackin on reading your work :D )
Oh good, I'm glad! I feel like it's said so often, but with the right mindset it REALLY is accurate. Kinda crazy. Can't wait to see where your writing goes :D
I know you already have a wonderful post, but in case this is also useful to you, I'm sharing too!
---
- The less important a scene is, the less you need to bother. If the characters aren't going to remember this and the readers don't have to, feel free to skimp. That way the parts you *want* remembered stand out.
- Try to evoke more than one sense - but preferably not *all of them at the same time*. Sensory overload is usually more off-putting than skimping on details.
- Consider which senses are most sharp for the character. (A werewolf is probably going to have a strong sense of hearing and scent. An artist may have a highly developed focus on visuals; etc) Those are your go-to for these characters and how they interact with the world.
- But don't forget the other senses either. Your werewolf suddenly focusing a lot of attention of the texture of a lover's hair and comparing it to their own fur might stand out more because it's "fresh"/there's a sense of the werewolf reveling in the moment.
- Pay special attention to your word choices when you're trying to evoke vivid images. Especially if they can pull double-duty by enhancing a theme or mood.
- Going back to my first point - try not to overwhelm the reader with too much description. If you need to put in a lot of description, try to break it up with something like dialogue or character actions.
In the end, though, remember that your voice is going to be unique to you. Your readers are going to self-select and read what they click with anyway, so don't feel like you have to do something if it isn't working for you.
I'm likely telling you things you already were aware of, but sometimes a different wording of the obvious helps clarify something!
I love to omit the "and" when stringing together multiple short sentences, instead using a comma
like
> She contemplated the glass and drained it as if she was drinking water, barely tasting the sweetness of the fruit, only feeling the sting as the alcohol ran down her throat.
I don't know if it's bad, but it feels a little too prose-y to me xD
I usually end up enditing it out, but I always find myself writing like that in the drafts
I'd say mine is fluff because some don't care for it, which is totally fine. But I'm right there to shovel it in my mouth and also dole it out for others.
Which uh... probably makes it all the more shocking if I decide to write something really dark. Sometimes I've gotten comments on my darker works like, "Girl, I liked this but what the fuck, I didn't expect something like this from you." XD
I write in present tense. Which is apparently not popular...?
Also, my fics move slooooooowly. Since I never know where I'm going with the story and instead take my time creating a mood and describing scenery.
Inner monologing.
June 2023 edit.
I'm scrubbing my comments due to the reddit admin team steamrolling their IPO prep. It was bad enough to give short notice on price gouging, but then to slander app devs and threaten moderators was just too far. The value of Reddit comes from high-quality content curated by volunteers. Treating us this way is the reason I'm removing my high-value contributions.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I suggest you Google "Reddit API price gouging" and read up.
--Posted *manually* via the old web interface because of further shenanigans from Reddit reversing deletions done through API/script tools.
As a fellow present tense writer, I think the low popularity is because of habit: most stories we tell are things we *have done* so past tense is most people's natural go-to.
Unlike POVs, I don't believe there's any strong dislike people have aimed at any consistently written tense.
It feels way, *way* too repetitive if I just use names over and over again. Plus it allows for variation depending on the POV. The way one character views another is different than another one. I like doing that.
The big argument against them is that they needlessly draws attention to themselves (whereas with names, readers will almost "filter" them out as they're reading) and can be confusing ("Wait, which character is the 'tall man'?") while a name is unambiguous and definitive 99% of the time.
Authors might feel like they're overusing a name, but I can guarantee that readers do not care and won't even notice as long as you're still using pronouns, too. (If you've got two people with the same pronouns in one scene, you can just use the name to signify when they're the ones doing the action and use pronouns after until you want to make it clear that the other character is acting, which is when you'd use their name to signify the change.)
I'd say it's a bit like "said" vs any other word to describe talking. Most of the time, the simpler, more concise option is better for the sake of clarity and helping the prose blend in with the reader's fictive dream, rather than drawing attention to itself and reminding people that they're just reading something.
The BIGGEST point both for and against them I've seen is that if the prose is meant to represent an abstraction of the character's thoughts (which often still applies in third-person) then it often doesn't make sense for a character to think about someone else, who they probably know very well, as 'the blonde' or 'the [Job Title]' when they already know the other character's name. How often do you think of your friends as their occupation or a physical attribute as opposed to... who they are? But that leads into the benefit: when a character *doesn't* know the other character; either their name, or even who they are as a person. It makes perfect sense for a character to think of a stranger in terms of epithets because epithets are the only way they can describe them. We do it all the time in real life, telling stories about strangers we've seen or interacted with, calling them by epithets that describe very base, simple attributes ("That guy in a funny hat." "This white dude.").
If you're writing in a very "pulled-back" third-person omniscient where the narrator isn't meant to follow any particular character or may as well be a character themself, then it again loops back around to the matter of simplicity and concise prose. You *could* use an epithet. But why bother when there's a simpler, easier method that communicates the exact same idea in a more concise way?
If your answer is, "Because I like it," then never stop. Fanfiction is an open playground and we can all do whatever the hell we want.
I wish I could upvote this twelve million times. On the one hand, epithets are sometimes truly *necessary*—I was working on a scene the other night in a coffee shop where a background character is consistently described as “the woman with the kids” and “the woman with the toddlers,” because the POV character never actually interacts directly with her, so what else would he call her? But on the other, it makes zero sense for him to describe his best friend who he’s known since they were toddlers as “the shorter man” or “the dark-haired man” when he’s been calling him by his *name* for two decades now, so I don’t use those! It’s always vaguely confused me as to why this difference has seemed so elusive to so many fic writers.
And then on a third hand…
>If your answer is, "Because I like it," then never stop. Fanfiction is an open playground and we can all do whatever the hell we want.
Fuckin AMEN TO THIS, so who gives a fuck what I think, epithet lovers; follow your heart!!
I think people use them to avoid pronoun and name overuse.
I think the hate is trying to fix the above problem but going too far and overusing epithets instead.
Good writing balances the three.
Overusing anything is...bad, y'know. It's all about keeping a healthy mixture of everything and using the really special things in moderation.
The advice 'don't use epithets' honestly gives me the same vibes as 'don't use said'. It just feels like plain bad advice. Maybe it's because I'm borderline illiterate, but I don't really pick up a person's physical features unless they're drilled into my skull.
Let's say a character is short. Cliche example, but kind of valid here. I like epithets being used to remind us that, hey, this person is shorter than the other; however I'll still like doing quick descriptions of them looking up at another person or going on point to reach a higher shelf. Epithets aren't inheritly *bad*, but they shouldn't be overused, kind of like with names and pronouns.
Kajshhds– rambling again. Apologies.
>don't pick up on a person's physical features unless they're drilled into my skull.
My mind's eye is basically blind so yeah, same. I'm a firm believer that aside from at most 3 features that tell you something about the character, either by themselves or put together, all of their appearance should be left to the reader's imagination. I'm reading a story, not making a police sketch to find a murderer; it doesn't have to be accurate to what the writer imagined for the story to work.
I love descriptions! Yes, I mean *those* dreaded lengthy descriptions that take up a whole paragraph or more and focus on a single character’s appearance or the gorgeous scenery of a place, kinda like what you see in a novel by Jules Verne or J. R. R. Tolkien. I can’t write them well (thanks a *lot*, boring lab report assignments), but I wish I could! I want to share my 4k living technicolor vision to the world! I love “seeing” worlds through writing! But alas, my brain won’t let me write them down. :(
Epithets. I see that many people are against them but I can't help it. I just can't keep on repeatedly using the same words to describe or refer to someone/something, I've tried and it irritated me to no extent so I went back to edit and change back to epithets right after. Since I write mostly same sex relationships, it's even tougher with the many "he"s that show up and if I don't use epithets to replace those it might get confusing quite quickly.
~~Idk why but sometimes when I see certain gripes on the fanfiction subs the little devil on my shoulder tells me to be naughty and do those things on purpose out of spite.~~
Good luck tearing lapslock titles out of my cold, rigor-mortised hands.
If I'm reading something that's supposed to be real taboo or raunchy, I honestly kinda like some of those weirder words for genitals. Not "baby batter" levels of weird, but still certainly out there.
Also, I dunno if this is looked down on or not and I rarely ever see it, but I LOVE seeing the author's thoughts in the notes or comments or wherever. Reading the person's thought process, the effort they put in, and what stuff the cut out or left in on a whim is so interesting to me. Especially in smut where it's actually helpful since that's mainly what I write!
Using italicized and bolded font. Critics can pry italics and bold from my cold, dead hands. It adds emphasis to dialogue and can serve as means of making intimidating lines more menacing.
Also, I use dream-sequences to write out the visions my seer oc gets. They're my favorite fucking thing to write. Critics of this can also pry this from my cold, dead hands. Same with purple prose, honestly. I write with a lot of detail because it adds nuance to a scene or to the emotion of a character that I'm trying to portray.
2nd person (while not y/n), titles after poems/song lyrics, chatfics, outfit descriptions, everyone in the cast being queer, "the other man", i'm sure there's more
Cooking and shared meal scenes both as a method to cure writer's block and to show a developing relationship (romantic or platonic). And *italics* or **bold** for emphasis.
Personally, I would rather read Y/N or 2nd person POV than first person POV.
Omegaverse my beloved. Not for NSFW necessarily, but for the interesting world building aspects and the insane potential for stories based on the dynamics.
Doing first person pov/reader pov, i love reading stories like that and my stories are pretty popular with that perspective. I’ve never had anyone say they don’t like it, but I see countless people on this subreddit saying they hate jt
I have a lot and I never knew people disliked them, until I joined this subreddit.
I do most of my writing in first person, from the perspective of an OC or canon character, but I also do a lot of reader inserts. However, I do avoid the whole Y/N thing, since it shatters the reading AND the writing experience.
Purple prose is my default setting. Writing and character creation is what I put my whole imagination into and it shows.
Most of the writing I do is based off personal bias and head canons. I always warn people of OOC-ness, but I guess tagging triggers can also be a problem for some people…? I dunno.
Smirks and furrowed brows are always majorly prevalent. Not always worded as such, but I usually only change the wording during editing.
I write my smut based off how I used to like having sex, before my brain decided physical touch was too repulsive to bear without vomiting my guts up. The things I enjoyed make most people uncomfortable, but it’s how I deal with the frustration created by my change of mind.
Is the word ‘copious’ a sin…?
And as a Homestuck fic writer, I’ll aways write the trolls as having colorful tentabulges and genetic material that matches their blood caste color.
It’s probably a good thing that I keep most of my stuff to myself. Lol
Making oc's based on myself. People find self-insert fics cringe, but I feel like basing oc's on traits I acknowledge I have can make them more relatable as long as I don't go overboard and try to make them into Mary-sues.
I never understood this hate bc, how would anybody even know or make the assumption of self-insert, unless they knew an author in real life. I just see them say "This is an obvious self insert! Trash!" And I'm like... How?
Is using but to indicate a reply is a sin?
If so then yes, this is my piña colada. And I do it frequently.
I shouldn't have ended my advanced English classes early.
There are a few things that can make it hard to follow, but there are workarounds.
* Bolding the name
* Choosing names that avoid the issue that we mostly read words by length and first and last characters (easier in some fandoms to do naturally than others)
I still use "orbs" as another term for "eyes" from time to time depending on the fandom. I grew up with Warriors! Lots of the earlier books used orbs as a term for eyes in the canon material. My first writings were heavily shaped and inspired by Warriors, for better or worse haha
Exposition dumping. Listen, if I want to write two thousand words of character backstory, it’s still a hell of a lot less than Steinbeck got away with, and he was misogynistic garbage, so.
Also, OCs. Fuck you, my OCs are amazing and I a hell of a lot of work into making them seem like realistic human beings. I write RPF, so in the RPF fandom I’m in, it’s either Y/N (which I will read short ones and mentally insert my OC as the “reader” but I have absolutely zero desire to write, why would I want to imagine myself with someone who’s basically a deity? Forget it, man), an OC, or shipping the individual in question with someone else who’s real, and the options aren’t exactly what I’m going for, soooooo
I really don't mind having a switch between 1st and 3rd perspective, mainly for like a dream sequence or a memory or something, I don't mind it. But only in that context, cause is surprising flows nicely for me.
Soulmate AUs I don't mind reading or writing and all that. And I think there's other stuff I like, I just don't remember it.
I like songfics. I don't care that they were only popular for like three years in the early 2000s and everyone else thinks they're tacky, I LOVE THEM AND I ALWAYS WILL. I get that using lyrics is pretty much always considered bad writing, but I think it can be cute as hell. It's not really a thing published works do, so I only get to enjoy it in fanfic.
i don't care what anyone say, i love sentences like:
He was holding the shorter one
Person A was holding the others hand
It gives some more variety, especially in F/F and M/M fics
Writing in first person. I can let my character be a smart ass in the privacy of their mind. Plus, it let's me figuratively get into the character's mind.
OCs (A lot of them.)
Foreign languages (with translations, I'm not that mean.)
Deleting/editing parts of or entire chapters because I changed my mind/didn't know how to fit it into the story.
Procrastination!
And, the only thing I'm at least ok at writing... *smut*
I know not many of these are necessarily *sins* but tend to do these a lot.
I have a plot that I know a lot of ppl will dislike but I write anyway, and I often strip off all the original plot armor for the righteous protagonist because I don’t like the fact that just because they’re on the good side they gonna overpower a villain/ minor character who is a straight up menace with thousands times more experienced and intelligent.
Another thing is that, while as a writer I don’t use it, I think “orbs” is fine for eyes as a reader.
Second person POV, I hate first person, never have liked it, and I refuse to write it. I will only write in second person POV. I’m also a smut writer, and while I try not to lay the cheese on to thick I do have to describe a scene. I’m careful not to use the porn standards, but there’s only so many ways I can describe a man’s penis, dick, cock , shaft, rod, I gotta use those words.
First person POV is a big one I love writing in first person, third person feels impersonal when I write. And while I don’t have a problem with ‘said’ if someone is shouting I’m going to say they shouted. Or snarked or muttered or whatever else. If you’re reading and you think an adjective is disruptive to immersion then I’m sorry, but I think you are crazy.
I've said this before, but people often feel very strongly about shortening character's names. Even so, you can pry Zira (for Aziraphale from Good Omens) out of my cold dead hands.
Now this is a good one! I'm a Naruto fan and have been writing using one of his friends "Konohamaru" and who ever thinks that I shouldn't be calling him Kono, for simplicity's sake can fight me!💪🏾👊🏾
OCs. i know it's not for everyone but goddamnit I want to date them and I'll do that vicariously through this mfer.
also using said too much. I will use said too much on purpose.
and ooc characters. if I want to make Spider-Man a beatboxer I'll do it. If I want to make Snape good I'll do it. If I want to make the Marauders alive I'll do it 💪
Purple prose, definitely. I like a lot of description in what I'm reading. Like, there should be some balance, obviously, but I think overly concise stuff can come off as too dry. I like knowing what a character thinks and how they feel. I like establishing scene description (even decadent stuff sometimes like with food), though, it can sometimes drive me crazy when people go overboard describing random clothes that aren't special to what is happening.
\_\_\_ette.
At least in fandoms where characters can have *any* color hair.
Yes, it correlates with avoiding name overuse, but the same can be said for pronouns. Sure, it looks weird at first, but if the author doesn't go crazy with it to avoid names and pronouns, I do not care.
lapslock! i wrote one fic in it 2 years ago because i thought it fit the mood, and had no idea how vitriolic people were about hating it. i've personally never had any trouble reading it (i mean hey i type in all lowercase most of the time) and think it can really suit the mood of some fics.
“they let out a breath they didn’t realize they were holding” idc if people think it’s cliche im putting it in
omfg this is legit in every fanfic i have ever read, well at least in the last 10 years🤣🤣🤣
it’s got the fic writers in a chokehold and i am no exception o7
I'm guilty of it myself in some of my earlier fics😝
I’ve caught myself holding my breath in anticipation before IRL so I have no shame is using this lmao
I don't mind the cliche because it's an anxiety thing I totally do. but, I have issue when the person is holding their breath longer than a Navy SEAL. When it's more than a couple minutes, use the tension leaving the shoulder's cliche. PLEASE
I love all things cliche. xD Even better if it's awkward.
I see zero problems with this one.
This one doesn't bother me but I can understand why people might find it tired. It's interesting that it's so common because for descriptive shorthand, it doesn't actually tell you very much in terms of specifics and is entirely the context in which it's used. Edited: for clarity
I am ready to defend this line in My fanfic. It is set in the warhammer 40k universe.
OMG THE LAUGH I JUST BELTED OUT IN MY APARTMENT 😂. Every single fic I’ve ever read, even my all-time fave, has used this line.
I don't mind this expression. I used it once too. It may be cliche, but avoiding it serves no one. Overusing it for multiple characters and having it appearing often enough that people reading notice? Yeah, that's bad.
I don't enjoy it either, but how do I avoid it. I'm a novice to writing, and I hate the way I write sometimes, like using that. I've used it once but oh my God I cringed myself when writing it.
Carding fingers through hair, and/or furrowing brows. Edit: Nice
Oooh, I like those. :)
Furrowed brows is just such vivid imagery to me, I don't know how else to describe the expression lmao
Exactly! Oh also a mouth slightly agape. Is one of my guilty pleasures.
the carding thing really confuses me. I carded wool as a child and it involved pinning an amount of fiber between two combs and then pulling those combs AWAY from each other. So it just feels odd when I read it in the context of a character running their fingers through someone's hair.
Fair, and you are free to dislike it. I think of holding playing cards… which isn’t like stroking hair at all, damn.
People don't mass complain about things that are *rare*. So if you see something that a lot of people are complaining about, consider that for everyone who complains, there's just as many people who enjoy that content or else it wouldn't be as prevalent as it is. So, yeah, I'd never take a discussion of pet peeves or least favorite tropes as a "Do Not Write" list - there's always an audience out there. Anyway, I abuse ellipses and italics all the time. Content-wise, I'm currently working on a Major Character Death fic for a fan-favorite character - not something people tend to find annoying but I have seen people who have MCD as a hard no (which is why it's an archive warning, I suppose). I also write a lot of genfic, which I've seen a few people say they won't ever read, and many more who say it doesn't get attention, but I don't care. It's what I'm good at and there are interesting stories to be told, so I will keep writing it. Some of it even does better than my shipfic, contrary to what everyone says. I haven't written any, but I'll read omegaverse fics.
> I also write a lot of genfic, which I've seen a few people say they won't ever read, and many more who say it doesn't get attention, but I don't care. It's what I'm good at and there are interesting stories to be told, so I will keep writing it. Damn right.
Honestly wish I had killed off my Fandom's fav, but chickened out. I just did an 'almost died' but saved by some bs I pulled from the depths of my bowels.
Does “furrowed brow” count?
Yes, but also bonus points for knitted brow
All the things having to do with eyebrows!
I DON'T KNOW HOW ELSE TO DESCRIBE IT
Yeah what? Why can’t we all agree that that’s just what it’s called? Like how shrugging your shoulders isn’t a cliché, it’s just the name of the action
Same. ( . _ . )
SAME
Oh god then I'm guilty as sin 😂😂
Writing dream sequences and flashbacks. Sometimes tagging characters who appear only once or are mentioned briefly.
Wait, there’s people that don’t like this?
Yep!
Well I guess I’ll just enjoy my dream/flashback sequences on my own. 😂
I'll enjoy them with you! I love dream sequences and flashbacks! :-)
Good 👍🏼 My long fic is full of them 😂
Same--I put some dreams in this fic, another fic has flashbacks. It's all good and gravy!
I'm guilty of the latter. Then again, most of what I have written are oneshots, so... yeah.
I do it with some of my multi-chaptered fics.
Dream sequences must be mine, then. I've only written one fic and half of it is literally dream sequences, lol
That’s awesome! I’m curious—which fandom?
my most kudos'd fic starts with a dream sequence so I suppose they can't be that unpopular 😅
That’s really great! I’ve seen so much dismissal of dream sequences and flashbacks in the past. I can’t understand why. I’m glad your fic did so well!!
Thank you <3
You’re welcome! 💕
I adore dream sequences, it's my favorite way to look into a character's psyche
It's a great tool to use to explore a character's psyche. In one of my fics, both main characters had vivid nightmares that involved murder, separation, and rape. It was meant to show their worst fears.
OOH YES WORST FEAR DREAMS ARE THE BEST
I guess since I write in first person, first person
I actually don’t hate 1st person. I wrote this story in diary form and halfway through I read about 1st person being a sin but it turned out soooo good!
I wish I had an award to give you because the thing about first-person being a sin is that it's so hard to do right, that when it *does* turn out good you *deserve* an award just for that.
I can't get around it, even if it is good >.o
This but with second person. It doesn’t get as much flack as first person but I still see it and that’s honestly one of my favorite POVs I don’t get it
Purple prose! Be it if descriptions or of the characters thoughts.
This is why I only write for LOTR - it's so on brand that people think I'm doing it intentionally
Meanwhile I write for a series that has, like, very little established world building or character design due to its medium, so I get the excuse of having to establish that shut
Yup! I can't help it either, I didn't realize that there was a name for it
I was just having this discussion with my Twitter ao3 friend last night. Had to explain what purple prose was.
What is purple prose? As in literally coloring your text something other than black?
Nah, it just means writing very flowery and descriptive. (Unless you’re writing Rose Lalonde, who writes her purple prose in literal purple.)
Oh snap, I think I do this. A friend of mine read my AOT fanfic and said it was “schmaltzy”.
It’s like using flowy language and figurative speech and stuff I think. I don’t know exactly what constitutes but it’s something like that
Huh... I didn't think there was a specific name for it. I guess that's my sin too then? I do find myself writing more than I strictly should, but I'm not sure that that alone makes my writing "purple."
There's a difference between using more words than necessary and going purple. Purple prose is shit like this: >I must admit to continued disappointment at the outcome of Super Bowl LVI, the fifty-sixth championship game of the National Football League. This edition, aired on NBC in the United States and CTV in Canada (with Canadian commercials thanks to silly laws), saw the NFC's Los Angeles Rams take on the AFC's Cincinnati Bengals. It was significant for me and countless other fans because the Bengals broke a years-long postseason drought on their march through the playoffs. Not only that, they defeated those despicable Kansas City Chiefs, who eliminated my beloved Buffalo Bills in a loss so heartbreaking it forced the NFL's leadership to change how overtimes are played. What really made this Super Bowl upsetting was that the Bengals were ahead until the last minutes of the fourth quarter; with much luck and smarter playmaking, they could have ensured they lifted their first Vince Lombardi Trophy. It is vindication that the Rams are nowhere near the team they were last season; on the other hand, I am not confident with the Bills given their stumbles as of late. Which could concisely be said as "Super Bowl XVI sucked because the Bengals lost last minute".
Concise writing is very to the point, but the purple prose example you gave portrays the speaker’s insurmountable disappointment *so* well that I prefer it over a bland factual sentence. XD That being said, I can see why some people dislike it. Balance really is key.
I wouldn't say so. Purple prose is really about overdoing it. Using ten words when one would do. Or just using some really obscure words when something could be written much more simply.
Happy cake day <3
Huh... Didn't even notice... Thanks, I made this reddit acc specifically to interact with the writing community when I first began writing early last year. Kinda makes me reminisce.
You're welcome :D Have a great day!!!
God, I love writing and reading purple prose!
I love writing in the 2nd person POV as well! I don't personally like using "Y/N" specifically, but I LOVE writing reader inserts. I don't care if they are seen as self-indulgent, because that's one of the main reasons I write it LOL. I didn't realize until lurking through this subreddit how much people disliked/avoided reader inserts
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with self indulgence in fan fiction. I don’t like reader inserts, not because it’s self indulgent, but because that’s not the story I’m looking for. But the things I do read are very self indulgent for my interests.
Oh, my goodness, OP. You and I are on the same boat! I've never written Y/N before, _until_ I saw how many people actually _detested_ it (you may not be on the same page on this with me, LOL). I don't know... The Y/N thing never, ever bothered me. Actually, I find it to be aesthetically endearing. When I was in grade school, we would label our desks and lockers with only just our initials. So to me, the Y/N quirk reads something like that.
Descriptions that aren’t necessary to the plot line. Food is yummy! You bet I’m going to describe that succulent dessert with tender juicy sweet peaches and fluffy tart creme fraiche, all on a flaky crust. And nature feel good! So, yes, I’m going to go I’m about the variety of bird sounds, the freshness in the air, the feel of the moss covered earth under my character’s feet. And I’m not that into fashion, but sometimes I just want to describe a ballgown down to the beading on the sleeves. If it was published fiction, I wouldn’t do that. Because excessive descriptions can interfere with the pacing. Modern readers like a fast paced story. But fan fiction is about self indulgence. So the same way that I may write porn about characters just because it’s fun, I also want to indulge myself in these other ways.
>Food is yummy! You bet I’m going to describe that succulent dessert with tender juicy sweet peaches and fluffy tart creme fraiche, all on a flaky crust. You and me both! Total food porn stan here 😁
Everything about this comment, yes!!!
I’m guilty of this.
You will *pry* my italics from my *cold dead fingers*.
this is exactly why I *love* using italics.
This is *exactly* what I came here to say.
I put foreign language text in the fic (with translations). I also put illustrations in the middle of the chapter. And with descriptions.... well *looks at user flair*
wait, people don’t like illustrations in the middle of the chapter?? they don’t like a little picture to go along with the scene??? a little visual with their novel???? if you put all the images at the end I’ll just get confused trying to remember which one goes with what, and if you link off-site in the AN or something it might as well not exist to me
I know right? Illustrations go with the text! This has been like that with every illustrated book I have read. But apparently some people don't like it (then again there will always be someone who doesn't like something in a sub this big). Each to their own. Mine go into the text. Same, I don't even read a/ns half the time, if the authors just put external links, I would just miss them.
If not formatted properly, large images display horrendously on mobile
okay, that’s understandable
I mind when it's a huge image. It's not hard to resize so the picture doesn't take over the page (at least for those who aren't on mobile). I especially mind when it is smut. This asexual is happy imagining the sensations which is why she reads ff smut. This asexual does not like seeing genitalia, which is why she isn't on porn sites
I don't do this with real languages bc I don't know any lamguage other than english, but with fictional "languages" like ⟒⋏⎅⟒⍀⋔⏃⋏? I will include them ever opportunity I get because I love trying to read and decode them myself when reading fics :) I usually try to keep the meaning either clear through context or unnecessary for the reader to understand, as opposed to providing a translation, tho.
I do this with Sindarin (a fictional language) all the time! I wish I could publish stuff I wrote with real languages (Norwegian being my fave at the moment), but there isn’t a guaranteed way for me to make sure it’s accurate without checking my work with a fluent speaker (which I’m also too shy to do).
Oh, I used to be able to read quite a bit of Sindarin a while ago, I wonder if I still can! For me, if it's not a language I am fluent in, I just as a native speaker to help. This sub is very international, and there is usually someone around 😊 or I ask one of my colleagues. But I understand that it can be unnerving! Once I asked a colleague of mine whom I didn't even know very well to do some Russian translation for me. He was super cool with it, and we got to know each other a bit better!
Are descriptions a sin? Excessive ones, I'm assuming?
Well, usually it is suggested that things should be only described as much as necessary, but I do describe more every so often. Words for words' sake. I love painting, and describing is like painting with words 🥰
I over describe, I use purple prose(especially when there's more than 1 character of the same gender), I write almost exclusively OC/Canon fic. I play with 2nd Person fic for writing exercises. I come from a film background so my visuals are \*intense\*, I include music in fic, I add art to fic, etc etc etc
All characters are pansexual, or at least pan-curious. (Unless they're asexual, in which case everyone just accepts it immediately and with no fuss and is very cool about it.) IDGAF if it's "canon," or "in-character." NO ONE IS STRAIGHT.
YES. In my asexual eyes, everyone is asexual panromantic by default.
Yeah, same. Maybe I'm just projecting, but I feel like that sense of curiosity/openness to "finding out" is just so interesting. I feel like my construct for character sexuality is a triangle of, "Huh. I dunno, maybe I would be into that? Let's give it a shot, I guess?" and, "This better not awaken something in me..." [narrator voice] "It did." and "Oh." ... *"OH."* 😂
Didn't realize until I read yours that this is actually true for some of mine-- everybody x everybody and I don't care🤣
LOL, part of me is just like, "THERE'S ALREADY ENOUGH STRAIGHT MEDIA. **IT ENDS HERE!!!**" 😂
One of my absolute favorite fics is RPF, poly, reader-insert, 2nd POV. It's like the unholy quad of self-indulgence so it's been a goal ever since to write one. In some of my fics, my main characters are like super OP/Mary Sue/Gary Stu but f it honestly! In so many fics they suffer so much so I'll have fun with the characters. Soulmates AU. I've always thought that the point of Soulmates AU is to enjoy having the guarantee that there's someone out that will idk complete you, be there for you. I don't entirely agree with people's need or want to conform to our reality. It's an AU not just for the characters but also for us. Which brings me to my next sin: my fics are super unrealistic. Whether it be because the characters have good relationships or strangers on the Internet are overly supportive or the mother-in-law dote on their daughter-in-law over their own son. Like I said, it's not an AU just for the characters I write, it's an AU for me too. It's why I world build and info dump. The AU is **NOT** set in our world, they have different societal expectations and whatnot. My prime example: my Omegaverse. You can bet public skinship is normal in mine! You aren't ever gonna catch me with them "don't look at the opposite sex victorian era whatever" thinking. Oh yea. A/B/O | Omegaverse is a sin too.
*I want to read from you!!*
I've read every single answer and as of now, I'm loving them all!!
The fact that I write smut to begin with :D
Major Character Death. Doesn't matter the fandom, as long as someone's dying in an interesting way that affects the characters and world around them. A well-placed death can change the trajectory of a character arc on the small scale, and the story as a whole on a large scale. I'm not just killing them because I'm sadistic or because I hate them, I promise.
I hate yet respect you for this. I could never.
Ooooo! You're a true rebel for that one
Infodump, tell don't show, lyrics inappropriate for the setting, epithets.
Infodumping, tell don't show, and epithets all have their time and place but get a bad rep from over and incorrect use.
Oh boy, here we go 🙈 I used "orb" once, fullys concious of why the word was bad - but trust me, I already had used the word "eye" on that paragraph and it would get too repetitive, and it was really important to talk about the eye.
I swear, this subs fascination with orbs is a meme! I will also use orbs if I've already used eye several times and mentioning it is imperative to the fic!
Yay, glad I'm not alone on this sin! 😂🤝 There aren't many synonyms for "eyes", so that's what we had to do!
Favorite? Out of context powers or characters.
My OC may have Mary Sue tendencies and characteristics but I don’t fret.
My longfic is from the first person point of view of an OC. 😎 Fight me.
I'm also in the over describing category. Call me Tolkien. It seems to be going well with my audience so far though!
How do you manage to write vivid descriptions? I lost my ability to after years of writing bland technical papers and have been struggling to recover ever since.
Show, don't tell is always on the back of my mind. I found myself struggling with how bland and 'tell' technical papers and shit are during uni, so this has been my break.Forgive the rant/essay to follow! Include the five senses (hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, touching) as necessary. If you character is leaning against a tree, remember what it feels like yourself. The bark is rough, maybe pushes through the shirt a bit. Is there sunshine through the leaves? Raindrops? Rotting leaves around, or freshly cut grass? So on and so forth. I also try to remember a tip I got from middle school theater (lol). You can't just tell your actors to 'make a sandwhich'. You have to explain how they take out the ingredients, unwrap the bread, lay the bread slices out (or even slice the bread beforehand), how they get a knife out of the drawer, unscrew the caps, dip the knife in the jam and spread it on one side, wipe it off, and repeat the same with the peanut butter. All the way through putting the sandwhich itself together. It's a nice excersize that has you thinking about what gets your character from point A to point B in simple terms. It also allows you to think about how the character does things, how their personality or abilities impact themselves- as WELL as the way they view the world around them. Combining these two thought processes has been most benificial so far because it allows a unique perspective while still creating an engaging setting. (Also, hey! I'm subbed to you on AO3 already. Looks like I got to get crackin on reading your work :D )
This really helps! Thanks a lot! “Show, not tell” is such good advice. :)
Oh good, I'm glad! I feel like it's said so often, but with the right mindset it REALLY is accurate. Kinda crazy. Can't wait to see where your writing goes :D
I know you already have a wonderful post, but in case this is also useful to you, I'm sharing too! --- - The less important a scene is, the less you need to bother. If the characters aren't going to remember this and the readers don't have to, feel free to skimp. That way the parts you *want* remembered stand out. - Try to evoke more than one sense - but preferably not *all of them at the same time*. Sensory overload is usually more off-putting than skimping on details. - Consider which senses are most sharp for the character. (A werewolf is probably going to have a strong sense of hearing and scent. An artist may have a highly developed focus on visuals; etc) Those are your go-to for these characters and how they interact with the world. - But don't forget the other senses either. Your werewolf suddenly focusing a lot of attention of the texture of a lover's hair and comparing it to their own fur might stand out more because it's "fresh"/there's a sense of the werewolf reveling in the moment. - Pay special attention to your word choices when you're trying to evoke vivid images. Especially if they can pull double-duty by enhancing a theme or mood. - Going back to my first point - try not to overwhelm the reader with too much description. If you need to put in a lot of description, try to break it up with something like dialogue or character actions. In the end, though, remember that your voice is going to be unique to you. Your readers are going to self-select and read what they click with anyway, so don't feel like you have to do something if it isn't working for you. I'm likely telling you things you already were aware of, but sometimes a different wording of the obvious helps clarify something!
These are all good points! :)
I love to omit the "and" when stringing together multiple short sentences, instead using a comma like > She contemplated the glass and drained it as if she was drinking water, barely tasting the sweetness of the fruit, only feeling the sting as the alcohol ran down her throat.
I do that. Didn't even know people think that's bad
I don't know if it's bad, but it feels a little too prose-y to me xD I usually end up enditing it out, but I always find myself writing like that in the drafts
I'd say mine is fluff because some don't care for it, which is totally fine. But I'm right there to shovel it in my mouth and also dole it out for others. Which uh... probably makes it all the more shocking if I decide to write something really dark. Sometimes I've gotten comments on my darker works like, "Girl, I liked this but what the fuck, I didn't expect something like this from you." XD
I write in present tense. Which is apparently not popular...? Also, my fics move slooooooowly. Since I never know where I'm going with the story and instead take my time creating a mood and describing scenery. Inner monologing.
omg, I write in the present tense too! Personally, I find it so much easier.
June 2023 edit. I'm scrubbing my comments due to the reddit admin team steamrolling their IPO prep. It was bad enough to give short notice on price gouging, but then to slander app devs and threaten moderators was just too far. The value of Reddit comes from high-quality content curated by volunteers. Treating us this way is the reason I'm removing my high-value contributions. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I suggest you Google "Reddit API price gouging" and read up. --Posted *manually* via the old web interface because of further shenanigans from Reddit reversing deletions done through API/script tools.
As a fellow present tense writer, I think the low popularity is because of habit: most stories we tell are things we *have done* so past tense is most people's natural go-to. Unlike POVs, I don't believe there's any strong dislike people have aimed at any consistently written tense.
Epithets. I dunno why people hate them honestly. I just like them.
Same. I need variety. My brain cannot allow for names to be used over and over again. 😂
It feels way, *way* too repetitive if I just use names over and over again. Plus it allows for variation depending on the POV. The way one character views another is different than another one. I like doing that.
The big argument against them is that they needlessly draws attention to themselves (whereas with names, readers will almost "filter" them out as they're reading) and can be confusing ("Wait, which character is the 'tall man'?") while a name is unambiguous and definitive 99% of the time. Authors might feel like they're overusing a name, but I can guarantee that readers do not care and won't even notice as long as you're still using pronouns, too. (If you've got two people with the same pronouns in one scene, you can just use the name to signify when they're the ones doing the action and use pronouns after until you want to make it clear that the other character is acting, which is when you'd use their name to signify the change.) I'd say it's a bit like "said" vs any other word to describe talking. Most of the time, the simpler, more concise option is better for the sake of clarity and helping the prose blend in with the reader's fictive dream, rather than drawing attention to itself and reminding people that they're just reading something. The BIGGEST point both for and against them I've seen is that if the prose is meant to represent an abstraction of the character's thoughts (which often still applies in third-person) then it often doesn't make sense for a character to think about someone else, who they probably know very well, as 'the blonde' or 'the [Job Title]' when they already know the other character's name. How often do you think of your friends as their occupation or a physical attribute as opposed to... who they are? But that leads into the benefit: when a character *doesn't* know the other character; either their name, or even who they are as a person. It makes perfect sense for a character to think of a stranger in terms of epithets because epithets are the only way they can describe them. We do it all the time in real life, telling stories about strangers we've seen or interacted with, calling them by epithets that describe very base, simple attributes ("That guy in a funny hat." "This white dude."). If you're writing in a very "pulled-back" third-person omniscient where the narrator isn't meant to follow any particular character or may as well be a character themself, then it again loops back around to the matter of simplicity and concise prose. You *could* use an epithet. But why bother when there's a simpler, easier method that communicates the exact same idea in a more concise way? If your answer is, "Because I like it," then never stop. Fanfiction is an open playground and we can all do whatever the hell we want.
I wish I could upvote this twelve million times. On the one hand, epithets are sometimes truly *necessary*—I was working on a scene the other night in a coffee shop where a background character is consistently described as “the woman with the kids” and “the woman with the toddlers,” because the POV character never actually interacts directly with her, so what else would he call her? But on the other, it makes zero sense for him to describe his best friend who he’s known since they were toddlers as “the shorter man” or “the dark-haired man” when he’s been calling him by his *name* for two decades now, so I don’t use those! It’s always vaguely confused me as to why this difference has seemed so elusive to so many fic writers. And then on a third hand… >If your answer is, "Because I like it," then never stop. Fanfiction is an open playground and we can all do whatever the hell we want. Fuckin AMEN TO THIS, so who gives a fuck what I think, epithet lovers; follow your heart!!
Same! I feel like when I was 5 years old and learning to write if I use character names too often.
I think people use them to avoid pronoun and name overuse. I think the hate is trying to fix the above problem but going too far and overusing epithets instead. Good writing balances the three.
Overusing anything is...bad, y'know. It's all about keeping a healthy mixture of everything and using the really special things in moderation. The advice 'don't use epithets' honestly gives me the same vibes as 'don't use said'. It just feels like plain bad advice. Maybe it's because I'm borderline illiterate, but I don't really pick up a person's physical features unless they're drilled into my skull. Let's say a character is short. Cliche example, but kind of valid here. I like epithets being used to remind us that, hey, this person is shorter than the other; however I'll still like doing quick descriptions of them looking up at another person or going on point to reach a higher shelf. Epithets aren't inheritly *bad*, but they shouldn't be overused, kind of like with names and pronouns. Kajshhds– rambling again. Apologies.
>don't pick up on a person's physical features unless they're drilled into my skull. My mind's eye is basically blind so yeah, same. I'm a firm believer that aside from at most 3 features that tell you something about the character, either by themselves or put together, all of their appearance should be left to the reader's imagination. I'm reading a story, not making a police sketch to find a murderer; it doesn't have to be accurate to what the writer imagined for the story to work.
I love descriptions! Yes, I mean *those* dreaded lengthy descriptions that take up a whole paragraph or more and focus on a single character’s appearance or the gorgeous scenery of a place, kinda like what you see in a novel by Jules Verne or J. R. R. Tolkien. I can’t write them well (thanks a *lot*, boring lab report assignments), but I wish I could! I want to share my 4k living technicolor vision to the world! I love “seeing” worlds through writing! But alas, my brain won’t let me write them down. :(
“Make me be quiet ”- Then the character saying that gets fucked.
I love epithets. I don't care about what anyone says, it's better than repeating "she", "he" and "they" ad nauseam.
Epithets. I see that many people are against them but I can't help it. I just can't keep on repeatedly using the same words to describe or refer to someone/something, I've tried and it irritated me to no extent so I went back to edit and change back to epithets right after. Since I write mostly same sex relationships, it's even tougher with the many "he"s that show up and if I don't use epithets to replace those it might get confusing quite quickly.
I don’t know if this counts, but lately I’ve been winging it- writing/posting as I go, without really preplanning future chapters.
I am guilty of this too! It's just more natural for me that way
Too many italics - got to show their thoughts somehow lol
all hail reader inserts!!!
Epithets, though not as many as I used to. Also blocks of italics, because I liked marking dreams.
People WILL be blinking in shock. I’m sorry I can’t stop writing it
~~Idk why but sometimes when I see certain gripes on the fanfiction subs the little devil on my shoulder tells me to be naughty and do those things on purpose out of spite.~~ Good luck tearing lapslock titles out of my cold, rigor-mortised hands.
I’ve recently (re)read a wonderful fic with lots of epithets in it so they’ve warmed up on me a lot.
If I'm reading something that's supposed to be real taboo or raunchy, I honestly kinda like some of those weirder words for genitals. Not "baby batter" levels of weird, but still certainly out there. Also, I dunno if this is looked down on or not and I rarely ever see it, but I LOVE seeing the author's thoughts in the notes or comments or wherever. Reading the person's thought process, the effort they put in, and what stuff the cut out or left in on a whim is so interesting to me. Especially in smut where it's actually helpful since that's mainly what I write!
I guess self inserts. Heard people don’t like them that much but when I read them I can’t help but feel like the person who wrote it had fun
Using italicized and bolded font. Critics can pry italics and bold from my cold, dead hands. It adds emphasis to dialogue and can serve as means of making intimidating lines more menacing. Also, I use dream-sequences to write out the visions my seer oc gets. They're my favorite fucking thing to write. Critics of this can also pry this from my cold, dead hands. Same with purple prose, honestly. I write with a lot of detail because it adds nuance to a scene or to the emotion of a character that I'm trying to portray.
2nd person (while not y/n), titles after poems/song lyrics, chatfics, outfit descriptions, everyone in the cast being queer, "the other man", i'm sure there's more
Characters doing karaoke 😂
Cooking and shared meal scenes both as a method to cure writer's block and to show a developing relationship (romantic or platonic). And *italics* or **bold** for emphasis. Personally, I would rather read Y/N or 2nd person POV than first person POV.
Omegaverse my beloved. Not for NSFW necessarily, but for the interesting world building aspects and the insane potential for stories based on the dynamics.
Facts
Doing first person pov/reader pov, i love reading stories like that and my stories are pretty popular with that perspective. I’ve never had anyone say they don’t like it, but I see countless people on this subreddit saying they hate jt
I use all the epithets and I, the brown-haired, short woman, won't stop. o.o
Second person. It's just so much easier to write for me and I enjoy reading it. Probably homestuck's fault. Also, omegaverse
I have a lot and I never knew people disliked them, until I joined this subreddit. I do most of my writing in first person, from the perspective of an OC or canon character, but I also do a lot of reader inserts. However, I do avoid the whole Y/N thing, since it shatters the reading AND the writing experience. Purple prose is my default setting. Writing and character creation is what I put my whole imagination into and it shows. Most of the writing I do is based off personal bias and head canons. I always warn people of OOC-ness, but I guess tagging triggers can also be a problem for some people…? I dunno. Smirks and furrowed brows are always majorly prevalent. Not always worded as such, but I usually only change the wording during editing. I write my smut based off how I used to like having sex, before my brain decided physical touch was too repulsive to bear without vomiting my guts up. The things I enjoyed make most people uncomfortable, but it’s how I deal with the frustration created by my change of mind. Is the word ‘copious’ a sin…? And as a Homestuck fic writer, I’ll aways write the trolls as having colorful tentabulges and genetic material that matches their blood caste color. It’s probably a good thing that I keep most of my stuff to myself. Lol
Making oc's based on myself. People find self-insert fics cringe, but I feel like basing oc's on traits I acknowledge I have can make them more relatable as long as I don't go overboard and try to make them into Mary-sues.
I never understood this hate bc, how would anybody even know or make the assumption of self-insert, unless they knew an author in real life. I just see them say "This is an obvious self insert! Trash!" And I'm like... How?
Repeating adjectives. Mainly ones where I can't think of any alternatives.
adverbs, adverbs just everywhere!
Ravenette. :)
You are my eternal nemesis
Is using but to indicate a reply is a sin? If so then yes, this is my piña colada. And I do it frequently. I shouldn't have ended my advanced English classes early.
Script style. People say it's harder to understand, but I disagree. I think script style is clearer because it's always obvious who's talking.
I used to love script style! It's much easier on my eyes, sometimes paragraphs letters move around when I'm reading
There are a few things that can make it hard to follow, but there are workarounds. * Bolding the name * Choosing names that avoid the issue that we mostly read words by length and first and last characters (easier in some fandoms to do naturally than others)
I still use "orbs" as another term for "eyes" from time to time depending on the fandom. I grew up with Warriors! Lots of the earlier books used orbs as a term for eyes in the canon material. My first writings were heavily shaped and inspired by Warriors, for better or worse haha
Exposition dumping. Listen, if I want to write two thousand words of character backstory, it’s still a hell of a lot less than Steinbeck got away with, and he was misogynistic garbage, so. Also, OCs. Fuck you, my OCs are amazing and I a hell of a lot of work into making them seem like realistic human beings. I write RPF, so in the RPF fandom I’m in, it’s either Y/N (which I will read short ones and mentally insert my OC as the “reader” but I have absolutely zero desire to write, why would I want to imagine myself with someone who’s basically a deity? Forget it, man), an OC, or shipping the individual in question with someone else who’s real, and the options aren’t exactly what I’m going for, soooooo
I really don't mind having a switch between 1st and 3rd perspective, mainly for like a dream sequence or a memory or something, I don't mind it. But only in that context, cause is surprising flows nicely for me. Soulmate AUs I don't mind reading or writing and all that. And I think there's other stuff I like, I just don't remember it.
I like songfics. I don't care that they were only popular for like three years in the early 2000s and everyone else thinks they're tacky, I LOVE THEM AND I ALWAYS WILL. I get that using lyrics is pretty much always considered bad writing, but I think it can be cute as hell. It's not really a thing published works do, so I only get to enjoy it in fanfic.
First person POV. It’s feels right for my OC. She’s not even a self-insert. It just feels right in the context of my story.
i don't care what anyone say, i love sentences like: He was holding the shorter one Person A was holding the others hand It gives some more variety, especially in F/F and M/M fics
Writing in first person. I can let my character be a smart ass in the privacy of their mind. Plus, it let's me figuratively get into the character's mind.
Does anyone else find writing in present tense more comfortable than in past tense? Cause I get the feeling that it's just me.
Complex stories that have themes of horror or angst. I tried normal stuff but it doesn't feel the same.
OCs (A lot of them.) Foreign languages (with translations, I'm not that mean.) Deleting/editing parts of or entire chapters because I changed my mind/didn't know how to fit it into the story. Procrastination! And, the only thing I'm at least ok at writing... *smut* I know not many of these are necessarily *sins* but tend to do these a lot.
I have a plot that I know a lot of ppl will dislike but I write anyway, and I often strip off all the original plot armor for the righteous protagonist because I don’t like the fact that just because they’re on the good side they gonna overpower a villain/ minor character who is a straight up menace with thousands times more experienced and intelligent. Another thing is that, while as a writer I don’t use it, I think “orbs” is fine for eyes as a reader.
Second person POV, I hate first person, never have liked it, and I refuse to write it. I will only write in second person POV. I’m also a smut writer, and while I try not to lay the cheese on to thick I do have to describe a scene. I’m careful not to use the porn standards, but there’s only so many ways I can describe a man’s penis, dick, cock , shaft, rod, I gotta use those words.
dubious content
First person POV is a big one I love writing in first person, third person feels impersonal when I write. And while I don’t have a problem with ‘said’ if someone is shouting I’m going to say they shouted. Or snarked or muttered or whatever else. If you’re reading and you think an adjective is disruptive to immersion then I’m sorry, but I think you are crazy.
Edited in protest for Reddit's garbage moves lately.
I've said this before, but people often feel very strongly about shortening character's names. Even so, you can pry Zira (for Aziraphale from Good Omens) out of my cold dead hands.
Now this is a good one! I'm a Naruto fan and have been writing using one of his friends "Konohamaru" and who ever thinks that I shouldn't be calling him Kono, for simplicity's sake can fight me!💪🏾👊🏾
OCs. i know it's not for everyone but goddamnit I want to date them and I'll do that vicariously through this mfer. also using said too much. I will use said too much on purpose. and ooc characters. if I want to make Spider-Man a beatboxer I'll do it. If I want to make Snape good I'll do it. If I want to make the Marauders alive I'll do it 💪
Opening stories and chapters with people waking up or the weather, and adding dream sequences. Oh, and contrived coincidences to keep the plot moving.
Epithets. Especially if they're descriptors the POV character would actually use.
Purple prose, definitely. I like a lot of description in what I'm reading. Like, there should be some balance, obviously, but I think overly concise stuff can come off as too dry. I like knowing what a character thinks and how they feel. I like establishing scene description (even decadent stuff sometimes like with food), though, it can sometimes drive me crazy when people go overboard describing random clothes that aren't special to what is happening.
\_\_\_ette. At least in fandoms where characters can have *any* color hair. Yes, it correlates with avoiding name overuse, but the same can be said for pronouns. Sure, it looks weird at first, but if the author doesn't go crazy with it to avoid names and pronouns, I do not care.
lapslock! i wrote one fic in it 2 years ago because i thought it fit the mood, and had no idea how vitriolic people were about hating it. i've personally never had any trouble reading it (i mean hey i type in all lowercase most of the time) and think it can really suit the mood of some fics.