fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2419 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2419 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Way early because taking dog to the vet. :c

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 075 secrets from Secret Submission Post #346.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I am in a miniscule fandom. It's really not difficult to be a BNF. I've been a medium-name-fan, and I'm pretty sure most people in the fandom would recognise my username. (That's not a boast, the fandom honestly is just that small and I'm very active.)

A BNF has been writing a fic for nigh-on three years. Very enjoyable, interesting protagonist, good examination of phobias and an inter-species relationship, and then... somewhere late on in the fic, it became a mess: the previously interesting, flawed protagonist became an utter Mary Sue, repeatedly treating the character head-over-heels for her like crap. He in turn became an OOC puppy to accommodate this. Rather than the char being chastised for her behaviour, anyone in the fic protesting is treated as an idiot, and to make matters worse, the author very obviously agrees with this. The fic has also become sluggish and bogged down in the relationship; now the UST is over, it's just become bad angst and bad porn. The character is semi-OC (customizable RPG protagonist) and is the author's baby - it's kind of embarrassing, tbh.

I can't say anything, a) because it would be cruel to her; her project isn't actually hurting me in any way, simply annoying me, and b) I would be crucified and accused of trolling by her and her large fanbase (many of whom are people I know and like) - I've seen it happen a couple of times. She's constantly being gifted fanart and being held up as some sort of talent; I think her drive and ability to engage readers died at least a year ago. I feel like it's just me.

Should I do anything, and anyone have similar horror stories?

use a sockpuppet and make sure to make the writing style is completely different from your usual one?

heck, even use a throw away email and proxy

I'd do this, yes. Maybe try to phrase it smoothly, but I think it's worth saying.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm definitely considering it. I'm just not sure I have the guts, and bad as her writing is, I really don't want to upset her.

I normally would be all "meh, not worth it", but what really gets to me is that this writer apparently writes well and it suddenly went downhill out of nowhere?

What happened? Did something bad happen irl and now they're using their writing as hardcore escapism? A general disillusion from writing? Laziness? What??

I think she got tired of her massive project, but it had such a large fanbase she didn't want to end it and settled for mediocre writing - as long as it was writing at all - hoping she'd get back into it as she went along. She did, and then fell a little too in love with her character and the central relationship; she then refused to see any of the flaws. Maybe something big happened in RL, I don't know, but it's like she got the passion back but not the ability?

ayrt

IN that case... then, yeah, just leave her to it, I guess. she probably won't be receptive to concrit

Eh, I'd just let it go. Seems like the chance of pay off is miniscule while the potential for harassment is high. Even if you could get your crit with the person it needs to end up without anyone finding out, she doesn't sound like the type to actually do anything with it. it just doesn't seem worth the effort when it is just fanfic and it really doesn't matter for shit in the end.

You may well be right there.

Everything here sounds like Mass Effect and a certain fic except the minuscule fandom part. And something similar actually happened - author of a very popular fic not unlike the one you described got called out on tumblr by one of the haters, and it got messy. Sorta. The author was gracious through the whole thing, apologized for parts of her fic people didn't like, way more than was necessary.

On one hand, I really didnt like most of the fic. On the other, the haters were kind of harsh, even telling her to take down the story. Of course she's not going to. Don't like, don't read.

It's one huge problem with games like Mass Effect, Dragon Age and customizable MCs - so, so many of them wind up as Mary Sues and Gary Stus, unfortunately.

SA: ...and now I'm curious as to whether OP and I ARE talking about the same person. I know this author's working on a huge Dragon Age fic atm....

Oh God, the fic is Dragon Age. Am I that transparent?

No, it just sounded a WHOLE LOT LIKE a similar fic in Mass Effect fandom and I know she's done/doing a huge fic in each.

....is it roarkshop? I have to ask!

No, it isn't. However... are you the anon that mentioned her fic earlier in the "really overrated fandom sensation fics" thread? (Because if so, I'm the anon who asked what fic you meant!)

YES THAT WAS ME. ...don't get me wrong, it's not like I uber detest her fic, but it's *always*what comes to mind when this kind of topic comes up, haha.

It does seem to be a problem with ME fic, and I can totally seeing it being the same with DA since..well, BioWare. I've read a lot of fic and it ...seems very easy to wander into Mary Sue territory when it comes to Shepard and I'm sure, Hawke.

Dammit, I've now Googled her. She... has her own website and everything. I was doing alright until I got to the Comic Sans.

Something that caught my interest and that I thought you might be interested in: "I get a lot of hate about my work. A lot of people don’t like the way I write Garrus, or Kasumi, or especially Kaidan." (http://theroarkshop.com/?p=462) Doesn't sound like she'd listen to crit, really. She seems a little pretentious, but overall not a bad sort - though it must be annoying when her fic gets recced so much. She does seem to have a fair following, from what I'm seeing.

From what I've seen on tumblr she seems like a really nice person and I feel bad, LOL. But yeah it's true - she's gotten a lot of hate for OOCness, and not just those three... though they're probably the biggest sufferers. And you're right, she doesn't listen to crit. With authors like that who have such a following/so many fans, I wonder if its that much easier to just ignore critique...

Her ME fic is finished, so the hype and backlash have died a bit I guess. I'm glad I'm not in the DA fandom though.

[ SECRET POST #2419 ]

Mary Sue fic (vent/advice)

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