Three Pet Peeves with Fanfic
These are the three major things that bug me when I read fanfic, especially Seiftis fanfic.
Peeve # 1: Enough light-brown hair and hazel eyes already!
Of course, I don't have anything against light-brown hair and hazel eyes in themselves. But when an OC(original character) is introduced in fanfic and all I'm given are hair color and eye color, it makes me want to scream. Maybe this is because I'm Asian and not used to discerning people by coloring, but at any rate I don't think coloring is nearly enough to form a clear image of a character.
For instance, let's say an OC named Fran is introduced and I'm only told that Fran has light brown hair and hazel eyes. When Fran comes up later in the story, how the @#&%(self-censored ) am I supposed to remember her on top of everything else that's going on? I suppose it's perfectly clear in the author's mind what Fran looks and acts like, but the vast majority of readers aren't mind-readers and need to be *told* enough to form a mental image. Simple things like an aquiline nose that makes her look arrogant or a square jaw that makes her seem stubborn will work just fine. Hair color and eye color can't indicate personality in themselves, and consequently cannot stand on their own as character descriptions.
On the other end of the spectrum, it bugs me when the writer describes every itty-bitty detail about the OC without discerning what's important and what's not. In addition to coloring, there's what the character is wearing, the shape of his eyes, his hairstyle, his shoes, accessories, tattoos... just about everything but the number of hairs on his head. This just bores me, because face it, most readers read fanfics to find out about characters we already know of(case in point: Seifer and Quistis), not an original character. Vivid OCs that endear themselves to my heart are a joy to read about, but if an inordinate amount of space and energy are spent on them I'm just as likely to click the 'back' button.
In the end, what I'd like to say about character descriptions(and descriptions in general) is: Condense. Condense like crazy. "It is with words as with sunbeams. The more they are condensed, the deeper they burn(Robert Southey)." Keep it simple, but effective.
Peeve # 2: Let's all be friends for no apparent reason.
This particular peeve is a little more Seiftis-specific--to be exact, it's more relevant to Seifer fics in general.
I love the idea of Seifer becoming friends with the gang again. It's great. This can be done in many ways: By wiping the figurative slate clean, for instance("The Guilty Show No Mercy"), by circumstance("Crimson Lies"), by Seifer's showing himself to be an honorable man("The Guardian"), through the use of AU("Isle of the Crescent Moon"), and so on.
What bugs me is when it's not 'done' at all. In other words, without a word of explanation, at the very beginning of the story we're suddenly told that Seifer is buddy-buddy with everybody. Of course, it doesn't count if the process all happened in a previous fic and Seifer is part of the gang in a sequel. But the guy who tortured Squall for information, attacked Balamb Garden with missiles and G-Garden, destroyed Trabia Garden, and threw Rinoa to Adel is suddenly the main characters' friend for no apparent reason?!
For one thing, I feel cheated because the mechanism of relationships between Edea's children fascinates me, and therefore the reintroduction of Seifer into the fold always makes for one hell of a story. Show me the money! I mean, er, the process!
For another, without seeing a valid reason why Seifer is friendly with everyone again, everything that follows becomes so completely unbelievable that I can't enjoy the story and end up making use of the 'back' button.
Peeve # 3: You mean you'd hook her up with a convict?!
This is definitely Seiftis-specific. It kind of connects with Peeve # 2 as well. This is when all Quistis' friends are throwing poor Quistis and Seifer's head, and vice versa, in the hope that the two would get hitched. This is, of course, really cool when the orphanage gang have reason to forgive Seifer and see him as someone who'd be deserving of Quistis and make her happy and all that.
However, fresh from seeing Seifer do Very Bad Things in the game, when I see the gang encouraging or otherwise inducing Quistis to date Seifer, when the author has done nothing to show him to be worthy... Well, let's just say that it defies belief. It could be self-evident to the author and to the characters, but the readers are kind of left hanging.
I mean, think about it, would *you* want a dear friend to date a supposed war criminal when there is no adequate reason to believe he's innocent, or has changed his ways? In these cases I even start to wonder if Quistis' "friends" are really wishing her well or just want to ship her off to any available male so she'd stop bothering them.
When this is the case I again feel the urge to fully utilize the capacities of my browser... In other words, 'back' button time again.