Discovering some of your stories listed there begins a Pavlovian response to rush off and check if anyone's updated the comments or reviews since you last checked...

...And then you lose the obligatory two hours.

Poor-man's Potter Law threads have been done something like a dozen times since I've been here. To add something new, I guess I'm annoyed by the proliferation of blow-up-sex-toy-Luna, the so-called "Luna flakes" trope, where her only defining characteristic is that she's sprinkled onto a stock pairing to make on-demand threesomes. Maybe it was an interesting idea the first time, but now it's tired, demeaning wish fulfillment that doesn't do justice to one of the more interesting characters in the series.

Edit: Ninjaed by World and stuff.

 

- Magical core.
- Magical exhaustion.
- Being born "magically powerful/magically weak."
- Harry Potter, Dumbledore and Voldemort are the most "magically powerful" wizards in the word.
- Pepper-Up Potion as a magical restorative.
- Spells which "cost" a person's magic to use.
- Falling unconscious when running out of magic.

I hate them all. I really do.:x

 

Minor pet peeve and somehow stupid, but I hate when authors make Harry get rid of his glasses. And then he got girls falling all over him because he look "more handsome" without his old glasses.

 

Howabout elf magic pwning wizards?

"Well, Dobby threw Lucius Malfoy away from Harry and got all up in his face!"

Sure- 'Dobby the insane' used a Banishing charm no more powerful than a child's accidental magic. Then he didn't 'cast' anything again- all his magic was done before then, aside from Apparating. Despite his awesome powers that he really wants to share with Harry (though he didn't in canon because... ), he still has to clean things using rags and mop buckets.

That's right up there with goblin magic- if they were any good at Curse-breaking, THEY WOULDN'T HIRE WIZARDS TO DO IT!

What? They'll split the profits with a human because they're lazy or value goblin lives too much? Pull the other one.

 

Well, I can sort of understand the glasses thing: without those horrid and old, broken glasses upon his face, his eyes (which are said to be very vibrant) would be more prominently displayed. Same thing with Harry actually buying some decent clothes for once, or him taking supplements over the course of a long, long period of time (at least a year) that gradually help improve his malnourished physique.

But yeah, having him suddenly become a sex god just because he ditched the glasses, got new clothes, or took a 'miracle potion' that made him Arnold S' Junior in one week? Eye bleeding material.

Magical Core? Oh, man. :facepalm They make it sound like Harry/wizards and witches in general have batteries shoved up their cracks and wired into their nervous systems!

Harry IS magically and somewhat mentally strong, though: he did cast a Patronus, and did have some serious resistance to the imperius, etc.

(Duracell Bunny: "They just keep going and going and going and going and going...")

Edit: also, making Harry 'dark' or 'independent' just by breaking his character, and making him want to hump either Malfoy's, Snape's, or Voldemort's leg.

 

I'd consider him being magically talented rather than strong as it removes the implications of there being power levels. And Harry only managed to cast the corporeal Patronus due to the unique circumstances of the situation (not that I'm discrediting his achievement).

 

My newest pet peeve? Trap stories. You know the ones I'm talking about. Stories that start with an interesting premise, decent grammar & spelling, a plot that seems to flow well ... X number of chapters later, some sort of faggotry is forced down the reader's throat.

Case in point:

Stranger in a Too Familiar Land

(Hey this seems interesting! Harry travels to another dimension! That offers so many opportunities for good drama, action and dialogue~! .. Chapter 6 -> Fucking hell it's all turned to crap so fast. Just another damaged!pussy!victimized!Harry and the plot is becoming contrived at an alarming rate)

Harry Potter and the Temporal Beacon

(Huh, time travel. It couldn't... could it? Ahmagad it's actually readable. And somewhat interesting. Wonder what will happen next .. Chapter 16 -> Fucking shit, it's a closet Harmonian. Harry is completely subservient to Her Intellect. Begone foul spawn of evil!)

And the sad thing is, this is becoming more and more common.

 

Really epic stories that have a great start, and a nice, well thought out plot... that die after chap. ## and are never finished.

and Dramione. That Shit Needs To STOP.

 

Emerald eyes.

They're green damnit, like a toad.

 

Mcgonagall, Mcgonnagall, or anything like that. Also, giving McGonagall a Scottish accent so bad you can't even read it.

And everything else mentioned in this thread.

 

Most toads aren't green. All emeralds are green.

 

You know, this really annoys me. I would like to see people with this attitude be tortured mercilessly for a month and see how badass they are at the other end. Just because they're damaged, physically and mentally, and aren't up and about paying everyone back for the torture, they're pussies.

I agree that in depth examination of recovering from torture doesn't make the most interesting reading (i.e. while well written, I found Vox Corporis difficult to complete). However, if they come out perfectly a-okay at the other end, it's hardly realistic. There's a middle ground, sure, but still. You aren't a pussy for being damaged after torture.

Note that I'm not defending that particular story, just hating the attitude. Stranger in a Too Familiar Land is a fit for the almost recommended thread. Somewhat enjoyable, but with a fair few flaws. It seems the author is slowly building towards conflict with diplomat!Riddle which could be quite interesting and somewhat unique, but will no doubt be ruined in some manner, perhaps with the drama around Harry's recovery.

 

I agree, it annoyed me too. I think such elements are mostly used because the writer has a creative problem and just selects some often used story plot patterns. You can always insert some Quiddich game, nightmares, hospital visits to fill up your chapters with drivel.

Granted, him seeing some psychologist might make sense in the situation but not everything which is logical is attractive to read. There are reasons people usually don't put every toilet visit into the story, nevertheless they surely must happen somewhere in between

Anyway, the story deserves a chance as such a weaker chapter didn't ruin it for me.

About pet peeves, I have a zoo of them so I just select one for now.
I can't really stand these Molly!fics where the writer is on a crusade to fix all the injustices in the Harry Potter world because he or she knows best. Harry being the beacon and Dumbledore and his sycophants are just plain stupid and deserve to be put down or bashed for it. All of Silverfawkes's stories use these plot patterns. Really tiresome that some people think it's attractive to read their hidden rants expanded into story form.

 

I haven't seen this one show up in a while (maybe because I'm reading less fics, maybe because it's died down) but when the author tries to do the whole "...for you see...Harry Potter is a WIZARD" bit from the first few books.

 

Come again?

 

Emerald eyes I tolerate, if not support: emerald is a vibrant shade of green, like crimson or scarlet is of red.

 

Incredibly intelligent snakes with mystical and magnificent powers. Fuck that shit. It is a goddamn snake. It is not wiser than Albus Dumbledore. Hell, it's not even smarter than Ron Weasley. It most certainly cannot help Harry train, or use magical abilities to assist him. Just no.

Related to this, Parseltongue. It does not not miraculously make all spells stronger. A spell is a spell is a spell. Parseltongue is a language that very few have the ability to speak. It allows you to converse with snakes. That is all. Full stop

 

^Parselmagic. 'nuff said. :facepalm

 

trunk


/10char

 

Making spells stronger is one thing, but parselmagic / further abilities depends on the creativity of the author. If you're a cold, logical, very boring writer you'll have it that the Chamber of Secrets doors were simply passworded with a parseltongue word, in the same way you might have to say a password out loud to anything else you protect in that way. If you have an element of creativity, you can utilise 'parselmagic' as something wholly seperate from other magic, and impenetrable to anyone who doesn't have the skill.

That sort of creativity (as in, something presented in a somewhat original/extra-canonical way) is not to be discouraged. I love seeing new/improved types of magic and authors developing things where canon didn't. Same applies to the 'ancient runes are just a language' argument - sure, but why not take the skeleton of an idea she's given us and flesh it out? It can make damn good reading if executed well (just like almost anything else), and isn't like the Trunk that HoS mentioned in that every indie!Harry fic is guilty of it, but is something wherein potential hasn't been really extensively explored by many authors.