ARGH!!! (Ignore if you don't read Sherlock fan fic.)

[ourdramaqueen]

WTF is up with Sherlock fan fic lately?! The vast majority of the fics I've come across recently with a really promising premise (like Moriarty abducting Sherlock and then sending John videos of torturing him in various ways - obviously not new, but one I just recently came across) by authors I hadn't read before turn out to be badly written: bad characterization, bad grammar, using similarly sounding words the wrong way (i.e. taught instead of taut etc.), endless and unnecessary internal waffling from all parties inserted in a dialogue scene (enabled by changes of POV every few paragraphs)... *shudders, pulls at own hair* Makes me wish I could shred digital fic like paper! (Sadly I don't have an icon of Sherlock shooting the wall, or one of his face when he deduces the CIA men grabbing Mrs. Hudson, which would both fit marvelously...)

Thank goodness some of the established authors are still active and maintaining the quality, and there is the occasional good fic by new authors too, but it's so tedious - and from my experience, unusual/a recent trend in this fandom - having to sift through all that tripe to get to the few gems. :/

Comments

[frodosweetstuff.livejournal.com]

*hugs you* There, there.

With the huge amount of Sherlock fic, there is of course a large percentage of rubbish being posted. But I cannot say I see a trend of the overall quality deteriorating. I think it's just that sometimes you are lucky and you come across a large number of good fics and sometimes you are not so lucky and all you touch is awful. I'm relying heavily on recs - both on Tumblr and here on LJ - that is very helpful for finding new authors or overlooked older authors.

What fics are you looking for? Is it Johnlock or other pairings?

[samena.livejournal.com]

Oh man, save us all from bad!fic. Unfortunately, it occurs in all fandoms. In a way, I guess it's nice that new people still want to start writing, and hopefully they'll grow to be good writers, one day. *fingers crossed* But all those things you mention are incredibly annoying, yes. Especially (imo) indiscriminate POV switching and tense switching. It just really jerks you out of the story. Bad grammar, bad spelling and misuse of epithets (the older man, etc) are awful as well. I know the authors are trying, and a lot of them are new, but when you know an author has been writing for years, and they have betas, and they still make all the same mistakes, it just feels lazy and disrespectful towards the readers. I've also noticed that nobody ever wants to say anything in the comments, so maybe the authors aren't even aware??

[serenitysangel.livejournal.com]

This is the very reason why I don't bother with fanfic at all, not from any fandom I like. Just cannot suffer trying to sort through rubbish to get to stuff that doesn't make me cringe. I could mabybedeal with bad grammar etc if the story and characterization are good, but that seems to be very difficult for some people and I can't read stuff if I can't 'hear' a characters true self. It's been years and years since I read any fanfic and quite frankly quite happy to stay away from it unless convinced it would be worth my time to read.

LOL this coming from someone who once wrote rubbish fanfic herself lol

[primula-baggins.livejournal.com]

Thanks a shame. I know I used to love reading fic in the LotR fandom, and the writers were so very talented and high caliber, for the most part. What's really sad is that far too many people don't have basic writing, spelling and grammar skills now.