Fandom Cliches Meme

[luxken27]

Ganked from doggieearlover: Name 5 cliches - from canon or fandom - that you'd like to see disappear.

In no particular order:

*The villainization of Kikyo (from the anime, carried into far too many fanfics). She's not the ultimate bitch from hell whose sole purpose in life (death?) is to screw with the Inu/Kag pairing. She's probably one of the most interesting characters in the whole series because she's so complex and layered.

*The age-old "Kagome sees Inuyasha with Kikyo and runs to Sesshoumaru" scenario. YES, IT IS STILL BEING WRITTEN, IN NEW STORIES. It was stupid the first go-around, but now it's just lazy and ridiculous. We know the end of the canon manga, and that presents far more interesting challenges to getting this couple together than this tired old bag.

*Fanon!Sesshoumaru. There's nothing more telling about the level of an author's knowledge of canon, especially if you are of the Sess/Kag persuasion. If you've read more than one of the preceding stories, you know what I'm talking about. Nothing gets under my skin faster than making Sesshoumaru OOC unless there is extensive, believable, realistic explanation for it (within the fic, not the author's notes).

*Mating marks (biting). OMG I do not understand this *at all* - never have, never will. I actively seek out stories that don't use this fanon trope, coming up with a more clever - or logical - way to show a couple is officially together. I used scent-marking in Every Heart, which I thought I made clear was my "mate marking of choice", but I still got people reviewing or asking me when Inuyasha was going to bite Kagome and make her his "real" mate. *sigh* Didn't happen in that piece, and won't happen in the sequel - and guess what? I still consider them mated.

*Perverted-hentai-Miroku. Yes, he's a flirt, but he is much more than that. In a lot of ways, he keeps the Inutachi grounded and serves as their voice of reason and strategic planning. He is sold far too short in the vast majority of fics which even bother to mention him.

Comments

[luxken27]

...Is this a bad time to mention that some people kind of get off on it? *looks around*

LOL, not at all :) To each their own. It's just that it usually comes out of nowhere in these fics, and chomping down hard enough to draw blood, generally in the middle of their first time together?...Yeah, no thank you.

I like people who are creative, if they must have some sort of "special" way of demarking an "official" couple.

[selinamac.livejournal.com]

I definitely see your point. Sometimes it is a bit bizarre the way it comes up so abruptly and without much meaning, but like you said, to each his own. Creativity is definitely a plus in this department, as it is in all aspects of fandom.... Maybe sometimes it takes some people a while to figure out their own perspective when it comes to a lot of things, including mating. In the meantime, they may choose to fiddle around with what others have done, and whether they decide to put their own spin on it or not is obviously entirely up to them. Yes, it's been done to death, I agree, and nothing is worse than reading something that is so much like five thousand other stories you've read. And I can also imagine that it would be a huge disappointment to see it at the end of a story that you otherwise really enjoyed. Looking forward to the conclusion of an awesome fic, and then... "Oh, damn - not this again! There goes my hard-on!" XD I can understand the frustration on the reader's part.

However, I think most people (hopefully) aren't writing to make other people happy, but themselves. If readers don't like my work and tell me so, I might get my feelings hurt a bit, but it won't change why I do it. I would hope that most people feel the same way, but alas such is not the case. Some people are just WAY too hung up on getting all the reviews they can so they can feel better about themselves, and to this end, they will alter everything they post in the hopes of making people happy. Confidence issues, really.

But I digress....

[luxken27]

I pretty much don't disagree with you about any of your points. I certainly write for my own enjoyment, which mystifies others when I gripe about how bad some story or another is, and they're like, "...WTF are you talking about? It's not *that* bad!"

I just prefer, as a reader, to enjoy an author who tries to be inventive and creative instead of falling into the same old cliched traps. I certainly have used my fair share of stereotypes, God knows, but I try to bust them as much as follow them, if that makes any sense.

And yeah, don't understand people who are in it for the glory, because fandom is a fickle mistress. You can be hot one minute and ice cold the next...