Instantly Clicking Off a Fanfiction...

"What phrase/word made you click off the fanfic you were reading?" Reddit users over at r/FanFiction have shared some of their reading pet peeves that stopped them from finishing a fic. What are some of your own?

[ameliasteynberg]

"Fuck this shit, " said Frodo
"Mood, " said Gandalf, "Shit happens to us all. But fuck it we ball."

[WickedSapphira]

This is my worst one. Years ago, I was reading a smut scene during which the author used the euphemism "dark portal" to describe a butthole. I still think about it years later. It was that bad. Lol

[olivia]

My pet peeve is when characters communicate _too_ well, if that makes sense. Idk if this is a recent thing, but I've noticed a lot of authors have their characters describe their feelings so clearly and accurately, in a way that feels like it's a PSA rather than how a human being would actually talk. Especially when it's a character who's on the more emotionally immature side in canon. Like, no, they don't have that much self-awareness 😂

[goldenheart__]

most of the time i can stick around unless the pet peeve is happening excessively, but i swear to fucking god if i see ‘bluenette’ ONE more time im going to pull all their hair out and make them a baldette.

[SirExal]

I once was reading a story that said ""I love you, "" [my sister] said lovingly."

I burst into laughter at what was probably the most redundant adverb of all time and clicked away.

[Emma_The_Hppin_Hligan]

For me, an instant "click off" is when i'm reading a crackfic and every single word is misspelled. As someone who writes a LOT of crackfics, it just comes off as the author trying WAY TOO HARD to be funny; in my opinion, a good crackfic is when the author writes it EXACTLY like how they would a more serious story except they're a lot more loose with it and just let the jokes come naturally if that makes sense. You don't need your readers to feel like they're having an aneurysm to make them laugh!

[secret..m]

I once read a fic where the character was scared of thunder and they put in brackets: “(She’s scared because of something that happened in her past.)”

[leeshajoi]

My pet peeve is people using "conscience" when they mean "consciousness." Spellcheck is not always your friend.

[sonicfan]

“Their tongues danced together” when describing a kiss always gets me

[stygian]

For any writers reading this, remember that these are all individual people with individual preferences. I wouldn't click off for like half of these examples. Plus, it all depends on context--I'd click off 'he growled' if it was in a human romance fic but not when the character is established to have shapeshifting/canine traits already.

To the replies: I'm fully aware growling is a valid descriptor, and that's my point. That's a personal pet peeve of mine and it's not universal and it doesn't say anything about the quality of the writing.

[TCGrey]

Let me start this way: I am German and love to read certain (English) fanfics with a German character.
And badly translated pet names are my kryptonite. Well, badly translated from English to German. No, you cannot call someone "Liebe" (love) as a pet name. It’s either "Liebling", or "meine Liebe"/"mein Lieber". And even than are the last two not "nice" pet names, but rather a "scolding" ones. But even worse was the time I had to read "Honig" (honey) as a pet name. No, just no.

[koopicaca]

Saw someone use “flesh mushroom” to describe a certain body part. Clicked off of that fanfic so fast lol.

[whitebread]

I was reading a fic that had the phrase “DNA rifle” and I it took me awhile to process because it was my first time reading fan fiction

[thebookmaster]

“Milky-White” skin is often used for people with really light skin! Peach coloured skin is used a lot. We’ve been using food analogies for skin colours forever.

[kupotenshi]

The word "bussy" was said in a completely serious smut scene. That was the end for me.

[aceanarchy]

2:39 oh my god, this! Everytime Harry is genderbent or has a sister in HP fanfiction, the name is so clearly telling of what the character will be like. "Ophelia" "Celeste" "Amethyst", they named their son Harry do you really think they'd give their daughter a unique name? No, she'd be called something like Emily or Hannah or Katie. You could get away with names like Rose, Daisy, or Violet, because yknow Lily and Petunia, but anything too cool is just so telling. Especially when he gets a sister and its like "Harry's finds out he has a sister, Lilith Potter!"

I like the names Harriet and Holly for genderbent Harry though.

[PowerSpirit]

One thing that is way too common is 'quite' instead of 'quiet.' I feel like I'm the insane one!

[giselle]

Smut will often get a laugh out of me for anatomical inaccuracies alone, but sometimes I’ll find a killer phrase that makes me instantly realize this was written by a child. My favorite opening line I’ve come across is “My name’s ____ and this is a story about how I put my you-know-what in ____’s you-know-where. It all started when….”

[GibusWearingMann]

A lot of these sound like they're from authors trying not to sound repetitive. The lesson: there are worse ways to sound that you should be worrying about instead.

[audre_saurus]

in all the fanfics i've ever read as a 13-14 year old, ESPECIALLY in anime fics, they'd say "Pinkette", "Ravenette", "Bluette", BASICALLY any color with "ette" in the end. I would cry if I ever see one again