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Fanfic Tropes Meme (#10-12)
General:
10. Favorite trope/element/scenario in fic?
11. Least favorite trope/element/scenario?
12. What turns you away the most from a fic?
My post on Narrative Kinks covers #10 in detail. And ironically, #10 on that list is the one that I would pick as my very favorite trope: "Aloof, closed-off, and/or distrustful characters learning to trust and open up to someone, usually a lover," but sometimes a friend or family member. In the latter case, family often means a "found" family member. Eve Dallas from the In Death mystery novel series is a good example: her parents were abusive (her father violently so), and she grew up in a string of foster homes after that, so as an adult, she keeps an emotional wall around herself, refusing to get too close to anyone or to depend on anyone but herself. But her love interest (and eventual husband) Roarke manages to break through that wall with a lot of stubborn persistence, and friends like Mavis, Peabody, and Mira persist a bit more gently but just as determinedly, until they all become a family of sorts that offers Eve the unconditional love, comfort, and support that her biological family never did.
Least favorite trope...that's a little harder. I'm not fond of the girly uke/masculine seme yaoi stereotype, and I don't usually care for non-con, though I do read the latter occasionally in darkfic if it's by an author that I like, though I prefer to have advance warning. (I don't have any triggers, but I like to be mentally prepared if I'm going to read something dark and disturbing. Surprise!non-con in an apparently fluffy fic would be a big turn-off.) Hmm...after thinking it over, I guess I'd say my least favorite trope would be the rape-as-love trope. I can handle non-con/dub-con if it's at least presented as problematic in the story, but I can't stand the scenario (usually in yaoi manga, but I've seen it in het romance books too) where it's presented as romantic and the rape is excused because "I love you so much that I just can't control myself!" There are several yaoi manga volumes that I've nearly thrown across the room because of that trope, so yeah, I'd say that is definitely my pet peeve.
What turns me away most from a fic? Well, aside from the above-mentioned least favorite trope, I'd say it's OOC-ness. Obviously, that's subjective to a certain degree, because different people can see the same character in different ways, but it's a turn-off when the character is completely unrecognizable except for the name. I admit, I don't mind a bit of woobie-ness in someone like Snape, because I do love angsty characters, and he's so angsty that it's easy to woobie-fy him. But when he loses his snark and starts weeping at the drop of a hat, or to go in another direction, becomes the sweetest and most romantic boyfriend ever when he falls in love with (insert character of your choice), then he's not Snape to me anymore, and I'm not interested in reading the story. On the other hand, if he manages to be snarky even while he's romancing someone, that's awesome!
Which is not to say that I don't enjoy seeing characters mature and change over time, or see how taking a different path in life might have altered them, as long as the author plausibly shows me how they got there. For example, there's a wonderful Snupin non-magical AU, Bungle in the Jungle, in which Snape is a Gordon Ramsay-like chef/TV host. He has his trademark snark and is still recognizably Snape, but lacks the bitterness caused by the Shrieking Shack incident in canon, and it's interesting to see how his romance with Lupin develops without that emotional baggage.
10. Favorite trope/element/scenario in fic?
11. Least favorite trope/element/scenario?
12. What turns you away the most from a fic?
My post on Narrative Kinks covers #10 in detail. And ironically, #10 on that list is the one that I would pick as my very favorite trope: "Aloof, closed-off, and/or distrustful characters learning to trust and open up to someone, usually a lover," but sometimes a friend or family member. In the latter case, family often means a "found" family member. Eve Dallas from the In Death mystery novel series is a good example: her parents were abusive (her father violently so), and she grew up in a string of foster homes after that, so as an adult, she keeps an emotional wall around herself, refusing to get too close to anyone or to depend on anyone but herself. But her love interest (and eventual husband) Roarke manages to break through that wall with a lot of stubborn persistence, and friends like Mavis, Peabody, and Mira persist a bit more gently but just as determinedly, until they all become a family of sorts that offers Eve the unconditional love, comfort, and support that her biological family never did.
Least favorite trope...that's a little harder. I'm not fond of the girly uke/masculine seme yaoi stereotype, and I don't usually care for non-con, though I do read the latter occasionally in darkfic if it's by an author that I like, though I prefer to have advance warning. (I don't have any triggers, but I like to be mentally prepared if I'm going to read something dark and disturbing. Surprise!non-con in an apparently fluffy fic would be a big turn-off.) Hmm...after thinking it over, I guess I'd say my least favorite trope would be the rape-as-love trope. I can handle non-con/dub-con if it's at least presented as problematic in the story, but I can't stand the scenario (usually in yaoi manga, but I've seen it in het romance books too) where it's presented as romantic and the rape is excused because "I love you so much that I just can't control myself!" There are several yaoi manga volumes that I've nearly thrown across the room because of that trope, so yeah, I'd say that is definitely my pet peeve.
What turns me away most from a fic? Well, aside from the above-mentioned least favorite trope, I'd say it's OOC-ness. Obviously, that's subjective to a certain degree, because different people can see the same character in different ways, but it's a turn-off when the character is completely unrecognizable except for the name. I admit, I don't mind a bit of woobie-ness in someone like Snape, because I do love angsty characters, and he's so angsty that it's easy to woobie-fy him. But when he loses his snark and starts weeping at the drop of a hat, or to go in another direction, becomes the sweetest and most romantic boyfriend ever when he falls in love with (insert character of your choice), then he's not Snape to me anymore, and I'm not interested in reading the story. On the other hand, if he manages to be snarky even while he's romancing someone, that's awesome!
Which is not to say that I don't enjoy seeing characters mature and change over time, or see how taking a different path in life might have altered them, as long as the author plausibly shows me how they got there. For example, there's a wonderful Snupin non-magical AU, Bungle in the Jungle, in which Snape is a Gordon Ramsay-like chef/TV host. He has his trademark snark and is still recognizably Snape, but lacks the bitterness caused by the Shrieking Shack incident in canon, and it's interesting to see how his romance with Lupin develops without that emotional baggage.