Well, after doing a bit of reading, I discovered I've never actually posted in one of these 'pet peeves' threads, so why the hell not. Here are Silens Cursor's ten pet peeves:

1. As already mentioned, 'trap-fics'. Fics that begin well, with passable characterization and a decent story arc... and descend into slash, surprise Twilight-crossover, or abominably bad storytelling. And given how many times this has happened to new fics I've started, I'm starting to think this is a trend - given the relative slowdown of fanfic, authors seeking reviews have no choice but to turn to the always-virulent teenage fangirl crowd.

2. Senseless gratuitous sex scenes outside of smutfics. Yeah, there's a reason I excised the Harry/Tonks/Fleur threesome idea from Renegade Cause - because considering the story arc I was pursuing, it wouldn't work. Hell, that probably wouldn't even work in the context of the majority of fics that aren't pure smut. The point is that smut is actually quite difficult to write well, and it really destroys the immersion of a story if the quality takes a dive with the smut scene.

3. Poorly executed manipulative!Dumbledore. It ruined most of the R-Series for me, and it really throws me out of a lot of fics, including most Indy!Harry. Yes, I'm mildly aware of elements of hypocrisy here (some have tended to call Dumbledore in some of my works 'manipulative', although I'd disagree to a point), but we're not talking about me here. We're talking about the hundreds of Independent!Harry fics where Dumbledore is held up as a strawman-'Greater-Good' icon that's defeated by the independent Harry Potter and his loyal team... I'm looking at Perfect Lionheart here.

4. Dumbledore can fix everything. Yes, I fully agree that Dumbledore is awesomely powerful. Yes, he's the only one Voldemort ever feared. Yes, he is a master of obscenely powerful magics. But that does NOT mean he's perfect - not by a fucking long shot. It doesn't mean he's going to go and tell the Ministry or the International Confederation of Wizards to shove it just because he's DUMBLEDORE. He's not omnipotent, he's not omniscient, and furthermore, he has principles. That means there's a concern for collateral damage, and people losing their lives. And yes, while it is canon he manipulated Snape's emotions and drove him into the service of the Order, he certainly didn't ENJOY it. He did it because he needed Snape in the future and because Snape allowed himself to be manipulated. If Snape had decided to say 'Fuck it, I'm outta here' and left for the Cayman Islands, Dumbledore wouldn't have stopped him.

I dunno, it seems that the deification of Dumbledore by certain people has gotten a little out of hand - and those people know what I'm talking about. I think this stands to be said: while Dumbledore may disregard some laws when he absolutely must, he would never be convicted by a jury of his peers, and ultimately respects the laws he helped create. In short, DUMBLEDORE IS NOT BATMAN.

And on the topic of Snape...

5. Snape without depth. Yes, I know Snape is pretty hated here - for justifiable reasons - but to not acknowledge the character is in fact multi-dimensional is just lazy. And while he did die in an unbelievably lame way in DH doesn't mean the man isn't powerful or dangerously intelligent. And since nobody writes mastermind!Snape, many authors either use him as slash fodder or Death Eater #298 to be killed off to either spite Dumbledore or Voldemort. If you don't want to involve him in the story, that's just fine - he's not easy to write - but if he is included, try to at least give the fucker some personality.

And while we're on the subject.

6. Bad Lily/Snape. I realize that this pet peeve nobody shares on DLP, but as one of the few heterosexual males and writers who actually read and write this stuff, I can tell you there's a LOT of bad here. It ranges from pussifying Snape and making Lily into a bitch, making Lily a lovestruck teen who 'never understood Snape' and Snape as the 'perfect gentleman', or making them both hapless lovestruck morons who join up with Dumbledore's little army to take down Voldemort.

It's as sickening as it sounds. And I haven't even gotten to the villainization of the Marauders (it's all over Lily/Snape fics, and it's gotten really bad), manipulative!Dumbledore (yeah, it's here too), or the sheer warped reality of how - SOMEHOW - Lily and Snape end up together. It's a problem I have with most romance fics, but it's particularly emblematic here - too often the two fall in love far too quickly and without definite, probable cause.

And let me be quite brutally honest as a shipper here for a second: one of the best things about this ship is that it is fucked up. Snape's a ugly caustic possessive little turd even as a teenager (too many Lily/Snape fics tend to forget this), and he's not going to win Lily if he doesn't grow up, shape up, or prove he's not a spineless snivelling bit of cunt discharge. If he actually does pull his shit together and win her heart legitimately... well, there's actually a real romance story there.

Then again, she could just reject him again, if the author wanted to be needlessly cruel (some of the best Lily/Snape fics I've read ended in a vein to this).

7. Bad combat scenes. Let's be honest, a lot of authors can't write action well. And even more of them can't block a decent scene with emotional impact even if they're just talking. And most authors who can write action well STILL fall into Narm-territory.

Let me be honest. If I can't see or picture what's going on in the fight, it's not worth my time to keep reading.

8. Hermione-OOC - everyone here knows I'm not a fan of Hermione in character, and particularly as a love interest for Harry. But there are no fics that piss me off more than the Super!Hermione genre of fics, where she plays mcguffin/love interest/asskicker - when in reality she shouldn't be playing ANY of those roles.

9. Incompetent Death Eaters/Voldemort - I see this way too often all over the damn place - a Voldemort who isn't nearly intelligent or clever enough to outsmart the heroes - and for me, that kills 90% of the dramatic tension right out the damn door. Same with the Death Eaters - there's a reason these fuckers were feared, and not because they wore scary masks! And on that note:

10. Incompetent Ministry. Unlike most, I actually believe the Ministry as a whole - including both Hit Wizards and Aurors, however you separate them - should be competent to some degree. Keep in mind that most of the Order at one point or another worked for or were affiliated with the Ministry.

And yet in so many fics, I see the Ministry being treated as a bumbling group of incompetent nincompoops and slack-jawed dickweeds, who when they aren't royally fucking everything up, they're scheming relentlessly (once again, I'm aware of the mild hypocrisy, but bear with me here). Yes, there are corrupt or incompetent members of the government - but they aren't ALL that way. Hell, Aurors like Moody and Shacklebolt and Tonks were all good people, and so was Arthur Weasley. And as for competent, shit, Barty Crouch was willing to fight Voldemort to a standstill with as much fire as he could summon.

I'm sure I'll come up with more, but I'll start with these.

 

Bravo Bruno Bravo

Now go write more RC

 

You know, something along the lines of this:

These stories also usually come accompanied with unnecessary recapping of the books

 

Nearly anything can be done well if the author is talented or creative enough.

It's a pet peeve, not because it should never be done, but because it crops up all the time and it isn't done well. I cannot think of a fic utiliizing Parselmagic where said plot device is not a pile of massive fail. It general, it is a lazy, contrived and utterly ridiculous way to quickly power-up Harry. 9.9/10 times, it's an indicator of fail, hence its status as a pet peeve.

EDIT: Thanks Pers. I'd forgotten nonjon used it. I shall amend my statement to non crackfic stories where it works well.

 

While I agree in general, there are a few exceptions.

 

Fair enough. Way you phrased it was 'it should never be done' rather than 'it hasn't been done well', but as I said, it hasn't been explored enough by many talented authors.

Aside from nonjon's ventures, courtesy of Pers, and though the fic itself is shat on daily, Flairgold's ASCaL series is one of the only pieces I'm aware of with a decent venture into Parselmagic, using a healing angle if I remember correctly, though without a lot of actual usage - Harry's just an expert. I definitely prefer the use of it as a tool along the journey rather than a plot device (or just plot) in and of itself and I agree that a lot of the time the use of it is poor.

 

When entire communities vilify an overused plot point it isnt a pet peeve just a shitty method to inject drama and substance into a story. A pet peeve is something that annoys you specifically, often to an irrational degree. Listing off every cliche known to fanon in a thread like this is a pet peeve of mine because it completely ignores the meaning of the phrase 'pet peeve'.

A Fanon pet peeve of mine is referring to the fight against Voldemort as a War. Then proceeding to call the Order Of The Phoenix a Vigilante organization. Militias fight Wars, Vigilantes fight Crime.

Also, I twitch every time I read a character call the Cruciatus Curse 'The Crucio Curse.'

 

The Order of Fried Chicken.

 

Fanon depiction of Dumbledore.

"I must regain control!" or some derivative from Dumbledore's point of view, when Harry in a story displays a backbone.

Also, Dumbledore wanting to control Harry in an 'iron grip' in fan fiction storylines: whilst he is somewhat manipulative in canon (and note: his methods aren't how 99% of fan fiction writers describe), the extent of which fanon!Dumbledore goes to is just so extreme, it's both character breaking and one dimensional writing. His methods are also usually due to circumstance - finding out that Harry is a horcrux roughly around fourth/fifth year, and the revelation that he must be sacrificed in order to finally defeat him, etc - and for getting things done, no matter what the cost is (including his own life, in the end).

People usually just jump over that sort of thinking/reasoning when it comes to his character, in favour of him 'wanting the glory of Voldemort's defeat', or 'wanting the wealth in the Potter/Black vaults'.

The Weasleys are also targets of this sort of thinking, too: marriage contracts, love potions, etc.

 

Whenever I read this line (or some of its variations):

"I like -suddenly realized love interests name- hair/laugh/smell/etc. Woah where did that came from?"

 

@Jormungandr

There are exceptions to this of course. IP82's stories were full of these sorts of cliches and still are 5/5 material.

Speaking of IP82, whatever happened to him?

 

YES! This, SO much.

"Where did that come from?" Yes, author, tell us: where the hell did it come from? :facepalm Like, please, let's try some foreshadowing or character development instead.

 

I'd hazard a guess that it came from the author's (poor) attempt at showing (telling?) us how suddenly love (interest? sexual attraction? rape fantasy?) can appear. Maybe.

 

Woah, where's that quote from, Socialist?

 

Blood of the Phoenix » by midnightjen

 

Y'know I didn't even remember till HoS pointed it out. I remember using it cause it sounded vaguely lulzy at the time.

 

Interesting. Is the fic any good?

 

Guilty pleasure, 'almost recommendable' read.

Cut so much of the fifth book's storyline/series background out, such as Umbridge and the Ministry being douches and Ginny being over her crush on Harry (when in reality, she never gave up, apparently) for favoring an obvious Mary Sue self-insert, but some elements of it are...alright, and somewhat refreshing. The lack of Dumbledore and his motivations/actions is also somewhat annoying.

The prologue is craptastic, but the technical quality improves somewhat next chapter.

 

The same. There are some funny parts and interesting parts but not so much...

 

I admit, I did like the whole 'Hermione realising that she's fucked up with Ron and has lost him' angle; don't think I've seen that much compared to Ron fucking up with Hermione in ff.

Strangely enough, I did like 'Ruby' as a character; maybe because she's similar to Tonks?