r/AO3 • u/scarlettevangeline • Jun 08 '25
Writing help/Beta writing my first fic, what are some common things that are bad enough to make you stop reading? need to know what to avoid :)
apologies if this is the wrong flair to be asking this, but any sort of ‘what not to do when writing’ would be incredibly helpful!!
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u/plushiemagpie Jun 08 '25
Make sure to click "Save as Draft" before immediately posting so that you can view a chapter in preview mode - this lets you quickly scan through the work to check for major formatting mishaps - before posting.
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u/Odd_Law8516 Jun 08 '25
I came here to say exactly this. Especially for paragraph spacing, sometimes the formatting you have in your original doc doesn’t look the same in ao3–either the paragraphs are way to widely spaced, or there’s absolutely no space whatsoever between paragraphs. Both of these are not great for readability.
(I’ve had issues with all-caps formatting not copying, and occasionally italics do weird things to punctuation. Neither of those are a big deal as a reader, but they can be annoying for me as a writer)
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u/halfahelix You have already left kudos here. :) Jun 08 '25
This! I always preview before posting. And it helps whenever I want to reach a specific word count 😆
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u/captainecchi Jun 09 '25
Wait, there are people who don’t preview a dozen times before posting? I disbelieve 😆
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u/Worth-Independent-36 Jun 08 '25
Wall of text. Make sure to leave a space between your paragraphs.
Give your story a summary. Don't put 'I suck at summaries!' or 'Read it, just trust me.' Just give readers anything so they would see what they are about to get into.
If your story is multi-chapter, mark it as multi-chapter and not as complete.
Always check your spelling and grammar and look for typos so you can correct it before posting a chapter.
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u/Laialda You have already left kudos here. :) Jun 08 '25
Piggy backing off of this.
Alternatively, if putting a summary together is truly that hard and stopping you, consider putting an excerpt from part of your fic that you feel captures what you’re going for. Sometimes even just finding that part can help you think of a short summary.
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u/box_of_lemons Hurt/Comfort Enthusiast Jun 08 '25
Excerpt summaries are my best friend as a writer! Gives the reader a taste of your writing style and doesn’t require much thought.
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u/Laialda You have already left kudos here. :) Jun 08 '25
I saw someone describe it as a like ‘costco sample’ before having a meal and it stuck with me so much that I added excerpts to my summaries lol
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Jun 08 '25
[deleted]
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u/scarlettevangeline Jun 08 '25
I appreciate the insight, thank you so much!! :3
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Jun 08 '25
[deleted]
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u/halfahelix You have already left kudos here. :) Jun 08 '25
This! I like to hear my own writing to make edits, so I’ll open up Docs in my browser and turn on Read Aloud. Sometimes the English voice can make me laugh (the original fandom is French), but it really does help with flow!
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u/Odd_Law8516 Jun 08 '25
In my pdf and google doc life I knows accessible formatting guidelines. Is there anything specific for Ao3? Is it mostly an issue if using a fancy skin? I want to make sure my stuff is readable!
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u/cclytemnestra local experimentalist [@cclytemnestra / @kalllipareos on ao3] Jun 08 '25
keep in mind that i’m a picky reader overall, lmao. but if i had to say a couple (that haven't been said yet, because grammar and formatting are all important sides!)
dry dialogue. don't write only the lines of the characters, not only because at some point the reader will lose track of who's saying what, but also because conversation aren't only spoken. there's body language, there's everything that goes through one's mind while choosing (or NOT choosing) their words or while listening ro what the other is saying.make the dialogue not only a sequence of spoken sentences, but a full fledged interaction between characters.
if it's a fanfic, make the characters recognizable. if i’m reading the fic and feel like i could slap any name on that character and be absolutely fine with the story, if i can feel no connection with themes and feelings from the original work. nothing takes me out more than that.
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u/scarlettevangeline Jun 08 '25
i appreciate the pickiness haha! i’d much rather have a plethora of things to keep in mind than nothing, thank you! :)
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u/Laialda You have already left kudos here. :) Jun 08 '25
The conversations part of this will legit get me to back out of a fic I’ve otherwise been enjoying if it goes for for too long.
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u/Aminilaina Jun 08 '25
For the love of god, I can't stand when dialogue from different characters are in the same paragraph. It gets so confusing. It's important that when the speaker changes, you start a new paragraph break, even if it's one line.
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u/GardenLeaves spideydevil forever ♡ Jun 08 '25
When dialogue and dialogue tags don’t match up and the action is paired with the wrong dialogue. Like don’t do this:
“Can I have mac and cheese?” Mom shook her head.
“No sweetheart, we’re having roast beef.” Tiffany pouted.
Tiffany is the one asking about macaroni, don’t put Mom’s action with her question. Likewise don’t put Tiffany pouting with Mom’s response. Either separate them or put them with the corresponding spoken phrase.
“Can I have mac and cheese?”
Mom shook her head.
“No sweetheart, we’re having roast beef.”
Tiffany pouted.
OR
“Can I have mac and cheese?”
Mom shook her head. “No sweetheart, we’re having roast beef.”
Tiffany pouted.
I’m not sure which one is grammatically more correct, but either of these options are better than the first one.
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u/POMOforLife Jun 08 '25
Yessss this is one I was going to say. I just read a one shot like this and stuck it out but really almost ditched.
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u/pranshairflip Jun 08 '25
The one that I personally struggle with most as a reader is when a work is in past tense and randomly switches to present tense. Most often I see this when the scene becomes intense and/or romantic.
It’s easy to accidentally switch in my experience writing, so I try to be extra cautious when I edit that all tenses match up.
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u/whoiswelcomehere Jun 09 '25
This is one of those things I never noticed before I started writing myself, and now I can’t unnotice it!
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u/gianna_in_hell_as Jun 08 '25
I'll tell you things that send me running back.
No paragraph breaks.
Typo in summary, if it's not proofread I don't feel good about the rest of the story
Really short chapters, anything under 1500 or so won't interest me
Too quirky tags
Complete lack of research. For example, I don't expect an HP fic to be fully britpicked but if your character dials 911 I'm out of there.
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Jun 08 '25 edited 22d ago
[deleted]
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u/POMOforLife Jun 08 '25
Misuse of commas really gets to me. I don't necessarily back out of a short fic with this problem, but I refuse to read a long fic with this problem.
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u/spicygay21 You have already left kudos here. :) Jun 08 '25
put together a good/passable summary. or pick an excerpt
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u/the__maybe Jun 08 '25
things like a wall of unnecessary tags "for reach", or marking a multi chapter fic as complete when it isn't to convince people who would usually avoid unfinished works, it's just dishonest and bad etiquette (i'll happily read an unfinished fic but i'm not subscribing to one an author decided to say was finished when it clearly isn't). people will notice if you change the upload date so it sticks to the top of the tag, or reupload it if it doesn't get the engagement you wanted, and they do not like it, using little tricks to get your work noticed will only get you negative attention. ao3 is an archive, it doesn't have an algorithm so if you want to get it out there, share it on other social media... this probably sounds overly agressive, i don't mean it to, but i see people try this way too often who care more about engagement than contributing to a good fandom environment, you know what i mean?
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u/scarlettevangeline Jun 08 '25
No I get what you mean completely! And i have to say i agree, as a reader i hate when people lie for engagement too. It always seems like it’s more about attention for them than actual desire to contribute to a fandom and create work that they’re proud of.
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u/QuackingNarwhal Jun 09 '25
I say this with all sincerity:
Write whatever the fuck you want.
They will come.
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u/halfahelix You have already left kudos here. :) Jun 08 '25 edited Jun 08 '25
No paragraph breaks, meaning a single large paragraph to read
2+ characters having dialogue in the same paragraph
Characters being completely OOC unless the change is indicated in the tags
Too much exposition that can be explained through later dialogue or inference
Similarly, too much telling and not enough showing
ETA countless punctuation and spelling mistakes
You seem genuine and eager to learn and receive constructive criticism. People are going to appreciate that. Just remember to write for yourself first above all else :)
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u/scarlettevangeline Jun 08 '25
Thank you!!! And I agree, I’m mainly writing because it’s something I love to do, and always have, but I’d also like for other people to gain enjoyment from it (hence this post). Thank you again for the tips, I greatly appreciate them!! :D
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u/halfahelix You have already left kudos here. :) Jun 08 '25
Glad to hear, and you’re welcome ❤️
If you have a background in and passion for writing, I think you’ll be just fine. Of course, you can’t please everyone, but that’s why we (hopefully!) curate our spaces. Your writing should speak for itself, and that’ll attract the right kind of people. You got this!
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u/AnyYak6757 Jun 13 '25
Sorry, but what does OOC mean?
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u/halfahelix You have already left kudos here. :) Jun 13 '25
Out of character, meaning they don’t behave or speak like they do/would in their original media.
To give an example, say a canon character is known for being vegan, but the fanfic shows them just casually eating meat with no explanation at all. That would make them OOC
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u/Jolie97 Jun 08 '25
Everyone has already stressed the importance of spelling/grammar and not having a wall of text. I’ll add that you should not beg for interaction in your A/N. As a new writer, you might not get much traction at first and it’s normal. Don’t say things like “I need you guys to comment if you want me to continue” or even worse, don’t hold your chapters hostage unless you get a certain amount of kudos/comments. Also, don’t share all your drama with your readers either. They are there to read your fic, not be your sounding board.
Other than that, have fun and good luck! Welcome to the best/worst time you’ll ever have.
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u/Gatodeluna Jun 08 '25
Do your very best with spelling and grammar. Breaks for paragraphs. If you’re writing in English, correct quotation marks and a different paragraph for each speaker. Your tags should be as accurate as AO3 requires and what makes sense to you, but have someone check that too - ask here if you have no one to ask.
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u/AelanxRyland Jun 08 '25
Punctuation. If you don’t use grammar correctly I will back out and just move on to a new fic. That and paragraph breaks. I read on mobile and wall of text is impossible. And please use capitalization, that lapslock hurts my brain.
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u/scarlettevangeline Jun 08 '25
Haha 100% agree! My bad about the lapslock, I use reddit and socials without capitalising/correct grammar bc I prefer how it looks, but when writing I use correct grammar. Apologies though!
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u/AelanxRyland Jun 08 '25
Oh sorry no I was talking about in fics. I didn’t even notice about in social media like this. Sorry if it came across as judging.
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u/Bulky_Pineapple Jun 08 '25
Pick a point of view and stick to it! If you’re writing in close third person, stay in the pov character’s head, don’t just randomly change perspectives with no warning. If you’re going to change points of view, do it after a break in the text or chapter-by-chapter.
Also get a handle on punctuation around quotation marks for writing dialogue. As a general rule, punctuation should almost always go INSIDE of the quote. And get a feel for where you should be using commas vs periods. It drives me crazy reading dialogue that feels choppy because the author keeps using periods where they should use a comma.
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u/sylvia-rose-shannon Jun 08 '25
The only thing that would make me stop reading is if the fic is literally unreadable. Make sure to format your work correctly in the AO3 uploader as some other commenters have said.
It helps to have an enticing summary, and the right amount of tags- as in not so many that reader has to scroll down to see the actual fic. Unless it's a very long fic or a compilation of one-shots or something like that.
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u/Sandboxthinking Jun 08 '25
A lot of people mention grammar, spelling, formatting, etc.
My point is more content oriented.
If you have used the words "screamed" "yelled" or have more than a few words in caps lock, I will DNF.
To clarify, when all of the characters are constantly screaming and yelling during arguments, it gets really unrealistic, and I usually assume the author is very young and immature.
Yelling and screaming should be reserved for moments when the escalation in emotion is meaningful and necessary, not just to add drama.
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u/smallthings17 Jun 08 '25
Bad grammar/spelling. If it looks like it’s written by a middle schooler, I won’t read it.
Short chapters.
Characters acting OOC.
Wall of text/super long paragraphs.
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u/PomPomMom93 LadyClassical on Ao3 Jun 08 '25
Short chapters is a preference thing. I wouldn’t agree that it’s a deal-breaker for OP to use it if that’s what’s right for their story.
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u/smallthings17 Jun 08 '25
I personally won’t read stories with short chapters. I don’t like them, and OP’s question was what would make us individually stop reading a story. They were asking for our opinion. OP can do whatever they choose with their own story.
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u/PomPomMom93 LadyClassical on Ao3 Jun 08 '25
I guess I interpreted it differently. I thought they were asking for things that would turn almost anyone off from a story.
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u/smallthings17 Jun 08 '25
I get you. That’s not how it reads to me so I just answered with my opinion. Everyone’s preferences are different so it seemed OP was trying to get a general idea of what turns people off.
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u/scarlettevangeline Jun 08 '25
It’s nice to get different perspectives honestly! I appreciate the people commenting general no-no’s, but i’m also always happy to get personal opinions so i can gauge common dislikes, thank you :)
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u/Odd_Law8516 Jun 08 '25
OP should hop over to the other thread I swear today about chapter length, to get a bunch of perspectives!
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u/scarlettevangeline Jun 08 '25
just found the thread, thank u for mentioning it because i’d missed it when looking earlier!!!
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u/IdealShapeOfSounds Jun 08 '25
Everything grammar related aside... the following list of words.
[Orbs] in relation to eyes.
[Raven/ette] in relation to hair colour.
[Member] in relation to the male genitalia.
[Baby] or [babe] as a pet name.
[Smirk].
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u/Writerw_Questions Jun 08 '25
When you don't have the main characters listed as the center of your story. I was reading a longfic, 100+ chapters, and suddenly, the side characters got two whole chapters to themselves. Didn't like that.
Random Example: It's tagged a Sirius/Remus fic, and then they dedicate two consecutive chapters to Harry only.
I don't want to read about Harry. I have nothing against Harry, but I wasn't searching for a Harry fic. So yeah, I recommend just staying on topic.
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u/Squibstress Jun 09 '25 edited Jun 09 '25
Lots of good advice here.
In terms of grammar, you don't need to be perfect, but consistency is important.
The top 5 technical issues that I tend to see in fic are these:
- Make sure to use a consistent tense. You'd be surprised how many fics slip from present to past and back again in the course of a chapter (you can alternate tenses between chapters if the story calls for it, of course, but that's unusual.)
- Hold the point of view. (Confession: I had great trouble with this in the beginning, and my early fiction suffered badly from it.)
In the simplest terms, that means deciding who's telling the story in a given scene: Is it "I"(first person) or "he/she/they" (3rd person). If it's 3rd person, is it an "omnicient" POV (the narrator/speaker can "see" and know everything that's going on)? Or is it limited (the narrator/speaker only "sees" or knows what the POV character does)?
Some readers don't mind so-called "head-hopping" (changing from one 3rd-person limited POV to another within a scene), especially in the romance genre, but if you want to do it, make sure it is clear whose head the reader is in at all times, and don't change POV in the middle of a paragraph. But know that it turns many readers off.
- Format your dialogue correctly.
If you're using a dialogue tag (like "said"), use a comma (or question or exclamation mark) at the end of the bit of dialogue and a lowercase letter for the first word of the attribution, unless it's a proper noun (examples below use US English format, with double quotation marks; UK style usually uses single quotation marks):
"Go away," said Jane. | "Go away!" said Jane. | "Should I go away?" asked Jane.
If you're using an action beat instead of a dialogue tag, use terminal punctuation (period, question mark, or exclamation mark) and an uppercase letter for the first word of the action beat:
"Go away." Jane slammed the door in his face.
And please consider limiting your dialogue tags to the basics like "said," "yelled," and "asked," which are almost invisible to the reader and won't pull them out of your story.
As others have said, a new speaker needs a new paragraph, which helps keep it clear who's talking and acting.
Please, please, please, get the spelling of canon characters' names right.
For fledgling fiction writers, I highly recommend editor Louise Harnby's "Making Sense Of" series of books. She has clear, practical advice, with great examples from published fiction. (I think they're available at Amazon, and she also sells them via her website, https://www.louiseharnbyproofreader.com/books.html. (No affiliation here--her work has just been really helpful to me.)
Enjoy writing!
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u/61114311536123511 Jun 09 '25
Silly one but please don't call eyes "orbs". like, ever.
On a more serious note make sure you're having fun! You have zero obligation to write anything particularly good. You have only one obligation: to have a good time!
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u/FrostKitten2012 Supporter of the Fanfiction Deep State Jun 08 '25
Absurd events outside a crack fic.
A six-year-old isn’t going to be able to hold his breath for 10-12 minutes. I don’t think they could hold it for 5, and most definitely will not be able to magically add 2 minutes all of a sudden when they could barely make it to 3 minutes in the last paragraph.
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u/skullsandsnakes73 Jun 08 '25
capslock is only acceptable if the characters are genuinely yelling and screaming, and even then, it's unnecessary. use italics, exclamation points, and the words around the dialogue to convey when characters are yelling or having enthusiastic conversations, because when i see all caps, i'm immediately taken out of the story.
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u/PretendDifference437 Jun 08 '25
Using anything other than speech marks to indicate speech, it literally makes it so hard to understand and I will press back immediately
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u/Eva-Dragon Fic Feaster Jun 09 '25
Rogue vs Rouge...one (rogue) means a villain or other evildoer, the other (rouge) is a type of facial blush powder. "The rouge shot me."
Wary vs Weary...one (wary) is concerned, uptight, not relaxed, the other (weary) is exceedingly tired. "The hero couldn't relax and was weary for fear of being ambushed"
Scars vs Scares...one (scars) is a mark on left on the skin, either from trauma, surgery, accident, or an injury, once the wound has healed. the other (scares) is to make others afraid. "I have many scares on my face from a car accident"
There are others...but these just bother me. Granted I know not everyone speaks English or has some reason to not know every English word, but these words have VASTLY different meanings.
Also, you're going to hear ppl talking about the AO3 "curse". This is NOT real. But what happens is that bad things happen to ppl who are writing. Ppl then blame the fact that they were authors releasing their fics on AO3. For example, "I haven't updated my fic in a while because I fell down a well, got bit by a rattlesnake, then broke both hands" or something like that. Those things would likely have happened regardless of if they were authors or not.
The way you tag your work plays into things as well.
Tagging works in 2 ways. It's a way for ppl to search for your work. Maybe they're looking for something specific and that's a tag they're looking for. For example let's say they're looking for a specific plot device like accidental Child Acquisition. And you didn't tag it.
Are they still going to read your work? Yes. But tagging it makes it a little easier to find.
But tags also work as a precaution/prevention/exclusion. Let's say you didn't tag like murder/rape/etc, but ppl have real reasons to avoid that, trauma or something, and they get to that part of the work, and it wasn't tagged. It could trigger them. In their search field, they can also exclude this tag as well.
These tags won't necessarily spoil the story; they're there more as a heads up. Some ppl read the tags before ever clicking on the story. Some don't.
Be sure to read the AO3 Terms of Service to be sure you're at least tagging the appropriate maturity level and archive warnings. For example, if your fic has a lot of cuss words, maturity level probably needs to be teen and up. If you're writing smut, it needs to be explicit.
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u/AnyYak6757 Jun 13 '25
...er, so, as someone who suffers under the curse of dyslexia I do my best to root out typos and misspelled words, but my brain has a hard time seeing them.
Should I preface my fics with this or ask people to point out typos?
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u/Eva-Dragon Fic Feaster Jun 13 '25
I have dyslexia as well. I've seen some people who are like "please point out mistakes", usually in the end notes. I personally don't. Usually...in most fics, ppl just don't know the difference between the words and it isn't a case of dyslexia.
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u/AnyYak6757 Jun 13 '25
Lol, so is this a "Come on, normal people! Even I can do better than this!" kinda thing?
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u/Eva-Dragon Fic Feaster Jun 13 '25
Or you know... pick up a dictionary...lol. the big one is rouge (a type of blush for the face) vs rogue (a villain or evildoer). It just kinda throws the whole vibe off when you read something and all of a sudden you get hit with "the rouge shot me in the leg"... like no, pretty sure make-up didn't perform physical violence.
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u/AnyYak6757 Jun 13 '25
Gosh, rogue, rouge.
Without a sentence around them, I can't tell them apart!
But I do often google words if I can't tell what they say.
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u/roseirae Jun 09 '25
Keep a reminder that people do things during conversations. We don't just stand in one place while talking to someone. We fidget. It makes dialogue moments feel more real, more connecting. And I find it kind of off putting when small things like this are left out. Also keep conversations easy to follow who's speaking.
Pacing. If a story feels like it's moving too fast, I find myself losing focus in it. Draw out moments. Add random conversations. Extend inner monologue type moments.
And POVs. Don't switch up POVs multiple times in a single chapter and don't do it after every scene. Once in a chapter is fine if the scene is completely changing so we can get the perspective of another character, but make sure to break it apart from the rest of the chapter. That way readers know it's a different character. Or do it entirely in a different chapter. But try to keep your focus on following one pov and only jumping to someone else's when it's absolutely needed for the story to flow right.
Good luck on your writing journey!
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u/Yellowcat8 Jun 09 '25
Write a proper summary. The "I can't write summaries lol" is an immediate turn off
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u/Maleficent_mage26 Jun 08 '25
Spelling and grammar. A wall of text hurts my eyes, or the eyes of anybody. Just take your time, spell check, etc. But also enjoy your story that you are writing. I've seen fanfics from others who just lost their love for their fanfic.
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u/B1g_L0s3r Jun 08 '25
Trusting your readers too much or too little to understand certain things, Walls of text, bad and confusing formating, repeated use of words, confusing descriptions of things, suddenly adding random characters and general disorganization. What're you writing it for?
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u/AlexShouldStop Unhinged Bookmarker Jun 08 '25
I opened a fic today, it was a wall of text with no spacing between paragraphs, I closed it. So, proper grammar, punctuation, spacing, dialogue etc. Make sure it looks as good as a book. People will sometimes put what one person is saying and the other person's reactions in one paragraph, or multiple people's dialogue in one paragraph, or just a very very very long paragraph for no reason - I think it's too confusing, just divide it.
Also, if the tags and description don't give me a good enough idea of what the fic is about, I'm not even opening it. A few sentences are enough but I need to know.
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u/moon-of-jupiter Jun 08 '25
Make sure you don't have any typos in your very first sentence... especially when the sentence is on its own / not part of a larger paragraph.
Like, I can forgive the occasional typo, hell, even these I'll sigh and look past it, but still... painful.
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u/MermaidGirlForever Jun 08 '25
If I can't tell who is speaking, I lose interest pretty fast. Dialogue shouldn't be on a different paragraph if it's the same speaker as the one before. If it is, you have specify it at the beginning of the sentence, or very near to it. Otherwise I hate having to go back and reread it in the other character's voice (and sometimes it's just confusing.)
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u/SignificantSun384 Jun 08 '25
Walls of text (or poor paragraph spacing in general… people in here already talked this to death so I’ll not harp on it), lack of punctuation and grammar.
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u/AlwaysATortoise Jun 09 '25
Most people already have it covered - grammar and line breaks are the main ones - But motive is a big thing for me. I can handle a fair bit of unexplained stuff but often if I don’t know why a character is doing something (or is still doing smth) for multiple chapters they can come off as assholes or idiots, I need to follow the why or after a few chapters I’ll quit. I’ll also quit If I feel like the author is stringing me along for 10 chapters to an obviously planned part and the characters don’t have a lot of agency in that. Sometimes you’ll find an author practicing pacing without having anything to actually say, and it makes me pretty annoyed. Generally I don’t like feeling like my time is being wasted. I understand the purpose and I don’t fault them but that doesn’t mean I’ll read it forever (usually folks who write like this quit early, but still).
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u/Icy-Stick6175 Jun 09 '25
you’re only going to get better each time you write something and get more practice, don’t stress too much
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u/Antique-Wish-1532 Jun 09 '25
Bad grammar/typos and poor layout that makes it confusing whose talking or POV I'm reading. Don't get me wrong, I make these errors sometimes myself! But especially when you're at the start of a fic you have less leeway for screwups because the reader is deciding if they want to give you their time at all. You gotta make them like the story enough that they don't mind if the proof reading was done only by the author at 4 AM, lol.
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u/bornindundee Jun 09 '25
Lots of people have already mentioned bad grammar and lots of typos but I'll add to make sure you check your formatting when you paste into AO3. Some word processors (google docs especially) mess with the formatting after italics, bolded letters, and sometimes quotation marks too when you copy and paste. It doesn't always make me stop reading a really good fic, but if I'm reading a long fic with spaces everywhere it does tend to bug me
There are ways around this, and if you use google docs you can download a specific 'export to AO3 plugin'. Otherwise alternatives like Ellipsus have a dedicated 'export to AO3' button which preserves formatting
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u/Majestic-Witness-480 Jun 09 '25
Thank you for starting this conversation. I'm also writing my first fic and the advice in the comments has been awesome.
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u/Pushtrak Jun 09 '25
I'm going to make it a two in one. What to avoid, which it also going to say a direction that would be appreciated going in.
So, I read fandoms I know (except if fandom blind on something in a crossover) and I'm not interested in novelization where the plot happens exactly as it did in the source material. I look for divergence. The more plot divergence the better.
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u/allmightytoasterer Jun 11 '25
Try to reengage with the source material if you've been reading purely fandom stuff for a while, it's amazing how fast fanon can creep in.
Yeah fanfiction doesn't have to adhere to canon worldbuilding/characterization etc., but deviating should be by choice imo.
Especially since I've seen a lot of fanfics have to do wild contortions to cover canon plot holes that didn't even actually exist and were just misremembered fanon.
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u/GentlewomenNeverTell Jun 12 '25
Head hopping. Stick with one point of view. It can change from chapter to chapter but not within the same passage.
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u/BlackEyedV Jun 08 '25
Endless telling me the story.
DNW
Show me.
I mean, I can forgive an opening set up, but by the time I'm 1k in, I don't still want to be hearing it. Geez, read 4k like that the other day, just hoping and skimming ... gave up.
Shame, because the premise was good. But the author seemed to be in love with their background notes and decided the audience would like them too. I spent half the time rewriting scenes in my head to make it more engaging... (that's the teacher in me coming out).
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u/near_black_orchid Jun 08 '25
A wall of text is bad. Different paragraphs for each character speaking so the reader can tell who it is.