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Homepage › Stories › The problem with most fanfiction on this site › Chapter 1

The problem with most fanfiction on this site

And herein lies the issue

I had a brief interaction with someone today about putting abusive relationships as an unnecessary part of a story today. They wanted to use an abusive parent to drive a character out of the home and in to the home of what I assumed was going to be the love interest. I maybe was a little overdramatic in doing so but I asked them to reconsider and use a different kind of plot device to do that (I can think of like four right off hand).

I understand if they wanted to disregard me, but then I got some very conflicting and concerning messages about why they didn’t want to take abuse out of the story.

At first I thought they might change their mind. They said that they understood why I wouldn’t like it but at the same time, they also said that in essence they didn’t care. Because people used eating disorders in fanfictions they read and they didn’t like that, they should be able to use an abusive relationship to drive the story in a way that could be achieved otherwise. That’s just downright ridiculous. That’s like saying just because someone broke in to your house and stole something, that gives you the right to break in to your neighbor’s house and take what you want. There’s no reason to use someone else’s bad decision to fuel your own.

I linked them to my (rather heated) statements about it that I made last week (that you can read here and here). To sum up, putting a situation like that in to a story, be it self harm, a mental illness or eating disorder, or an abusive relationship solely to drive two characters in to a relationship is never the thing to do. It gives people false expectations about those kinds of things. To quote myself, “you can’t have some kid think that getting a boyfriend is going to cure them, and you can’t let some nice person think that their girlfriend is going to be fine just because you say you love them. It takes time, months if not YEARS, therapy and sometimes medication depending on what’s going on and what’s happened to them, relapses and guilt and sometimes a relationship can’t make it through that.”

Which, I understand if someone doesn’t get that. I’m not saying that it’s a problem that’s going to be solved immediately. But the mentality behind it is what worries me.

The reply I got really really made me worried. Like, deeply worried in a way I’m not sure how to express.

If people took your suggestion and stopped using devices like those in fanfiction, there would be less interesting fics

There are plenty of fanfictions that either 1) don’t reference or have anything to do with the subjects listed above or 2) treat them in a realistic way that doesn’t give anyone delusions or romanticize things. Putting in a character that deals with anything like that just to have someone come alone and ‘cure’ them with love is one of the worst things you could do in a fanfiction, in my opinion.

If you need a character to attempt suicide, or have depression, or have escaped from an abusive relationship to be able to write an ‘interesting’ character or fanfiction then YOU ARE A BAD WRITER.

Now that I’ve said that, using those plot devices or as a way to characterize a person in a story isn’t totally taboo. But saying “oh this person has depression, giving them a boyfriend will make it better” is bad writing. Suicide, self harm, abuse and mental illness all leave scars on a person that aren’t going to disappear in a few days or weeks. If you want to write a character who deals with this realistically, by all means! Go right ahead! And I would love to read it, to be honest.

Now I just wonder WHY there’s such an attitude about this. I feel like it can’t be fixed unless the source is identified. Is it because people feel like they need a character to be rescued or be a rescuer? Is there some sort of damsel in distress theme that people are still drawn to? Or is it just the trend of the times to have a fanfiction seem ‘edgy’ or ‘cool’?

Frankly, I haven’t the foggiest. If I knew I might have a better direction to put this in than just what feels like random.

On a side note, I’ve got a huge backlog of fanfiction to go through… and keep track of instances where I find what I just mentioned. I’ll get back to you on that when I get a good number set up and categorized. That's in progress now and I plan on posting my results to this website.

At any rate, this is just my opinion, though it seems to be one in the minority. Like I said back up at the top, if you have a problem with any of this or you want to discuss anything just let me know. Anon messages I have to publish but if you want to have a private reply I’ll respect that.

Thanks for reading

Leah

Notes

I would like serious replies only, and if you think that I am wrong or incorrect let me know! I'm open for discussion. My tumblr (where I will get messages the easiest) is here. Don't hesitate to contact me, I'm always open for messages.

Comments

I totally agree with you! I am very picky on this site because nearly every single fanfic is the same with these 'major issues'. Yes depression, bulimia and suicide are serious issues that are affecting young people today but the majority of these fanfics are clearly written by young teenagers who are obsessed with thinking that self harming is cool or whatever. I find it incredibly frustrating because they clearly don't understand how a person feels when they're that down. I've just recently been diagnosed with depression and I was very close to self-harming again, my aunt committed suicide and I was in an abusive relationship but I'm getting help and I use this site as a creative outlet and a coping mechanim, even though i've experienced some of the shit these authors write about, even I get sick of them. I actually sometimes get offended to the way some of the stories are written but then again it's probably due to the authors own ignorance.

What also annoys me as a writer is that I feel that when I lose subscribers and such, it's because my story doesn't have all that drama. What's wrong with having a nice relatively drama free story? Or perhaps it could just be because i'm not very good. Either way, i'm saying I agree, not every story needs a main character who is depressed. I don't think that it should mean depression, self-harm, suicide and abuse should never be put into stories, in fact I think it could be extremely beneficial if someone did it right. But with them being such complex issues I understand it would be very difficult to do. I personally would love to do one based on my own life experiences but just don't know if I could do it justice.

CommonPeople CommonPeople
3/9/14

@Leah
Trust me, i wouldnt expect a kiss either and my depression go away. But the self harm and bullying and suicidal thoughts and actions, are realistic but some arent. My uncle, back in the 90's hung himself. My other uncle attempted suicide by jumping off a building. My father, my own father, was a self harmer and attempted suicide. So if you are telling me that all of these suicides and depression are unrealistic, my family is very realistic.

And reading these stories wont make a problem disappear. I know this as a fact. Im trying to get clean of self harming, these stories dont make it disappear but they give me a look into alternate lives of my heroes.

(BTW: if you still feel like killing yourself or still have thoughts message me and we could talk, mutal feeling then)

plus if you dont like these themes dont read it, or dont say you think it should stop because you can write what you want, i can write what i want, and the person who has been to all of the My Chemical Romance concerts before can write what they think about or think will make an excellent story.

Also spme of the very best have had these themes in them.

Chloe_XD13 Chloe_XD13
3/9/14

I agree that most of the fics on this site are unrealistic, and that a good story can be written without the characters having an eating dissorder or coming from an abusive relationship etc. But in the end it is the authors decision to include those themes in their stories. I'm not trying to come off as rude, but if you find stories like that offensive because they are unrealistic, you don't have to read them. There are plenty of other fics that don't include those themes.

Pants Wearer Pants Wearer
3/8/14

@Chloe_XD13

no no no no no. You can't tell me that someone reading this makes them better. Trust me. When I was trying to figure out how to kill myself, looking through stories so I didn't go do something worse instead, none of these helped me. Not one. Do you know why? Because they ARE unrealistic, because most of them are childish, and almost all of them are complete fantasy. I'm not saying that you absolutely can't write about someone who has depression, but write it with some respect! Write about how it can take weeks for someone to not feel guilty about being happy, write about how sometimes you know someone wants to help but you don't want them disappointed in not getting well so you push them away, write about how different medications make you sick and sometimes make things worse before the chemicals start working.

Just don't expect me to sit here and read about how just because someone got a kiss in the hallway from their crush they are instantly better.

Leah Leah
3/8/14

@MCR_ShatteredHeart

I'm not saying that a writer who uses those things as a plot device is a bad writer. I'm saying that if a person HAS to have something like that for a character to be 'interesting', if they cannot write a character without that, that without a suicide attempt under their belt the character is 'boring', that's what makes someone a bad writer. There are so many more things that can give a character the angst that most people (myself included) like to read and write about.

Leah Leah
3/8/14
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