As a writer, I am MORE THAN OPEN to matters of taste. If I truly dislike a story idea, pairing, theme, story-rating, or anything else I personally find objectionable, though someone else might (and probably DOES) like it, I simply won't read it, problem solved.
But, dear God, my patience with the Merlin fandom fanfiction writers at large be wearing thin!
How so? And why?
Allow me to explain.
Yes, I understand and expect that others will not have the same writing style as myself (and as I can get annoyed with my OWN mistakes when I look back at some of my fanfics, be they typos or something I wish I had or had not added whilst working on the first/final drafts or whatever, I'm in no place to judge) or the same tastes in storytelling, but there is some accounting for preforming to the best of ANY writer's ability and something to be said for common sense. As well as for following the SET rules of a fanfiction site in itself.
So here are the top three pains that have been peeving me off lately whilst trudging through the sea of Merlin fanfiction on FF.net.
Slash Running Amuck (or how I cannot get through a list of Merlin fics on FF without being privy to a warlock and prince doing...stuff...!)[]
1) Slash running amuck. My typical reaction when I see a slash warning, because that's not my thing, is to simply skip to the next story on the list with a shrug. Easy enough. And Merlin is not the first fandom I've liked that some fans have come up with slash pairings for I disagree with, as I'm sure it will not be the last! In fact, I'd be hard pressed to find ANY popular category on FF that did not have some slash stories in its collection. But people! The rules of fanfiction CLEARLY state that your summary and titles MUST be K (or G) rated regardless of the content of the story its for. And lately I've been seeing some Merlin/Arthur stories floating around with some VERY disturbing summaries that I would rather not even have to glance over in passing. If someone wants to read/write that, okay, I'm not their mother or whatever, they can do whatever they want, but don't push it on the rest of us. I don't deliberately shove intimate or overtly suggestive Freylin moments into my summaries for Merlin/Freya themed stories. And there are lots of Arwen writers who keep even their most racy fics' summaries clean as whistles! Is it so hard to ask the same thoughtfulness from the Merthur fanbase in return?
Or, then, there are the fans that go the other way entirely. Giving us a summary that seems to imply a nice no-pairings or even just Arthur/Merlin friendship stuff, with NO pairing/slash warning whatsoever, and then give those of us who aren't into that sort of thing a rather upsetting little surprise when we click on the story.
Is there no way for slash fans (and this isn't just concerning Merthur, but any slash pairing, whether it involves knights or other characters, or even if it be female-themed slash) to POLITELY and TASTEFULLY inform us of the contents of their story without going overboard or simply giving us no warning at all? Can a balance not be struck?
Also, it strikes me as odd that most of these people with explict Merthur summaries plastered across their profiles appear to be straight, thirteen-year-old girls... But alas, I digress.
Highly Improble Plots (or how fanfic writers apparently think it's somehow possible for a male warlock to give birth!)[]
2) Highly improbable plots that are NOT crack or AU. Anything that makes the characters over the top OOC would fall in this category. Also, things that simply cannot happen as they are so against the laws of nature that even "magic" is not an excuse or cop-out or get out of jail free card. For example, a male character, whether or not he be a warlock and haveth magic, CANNOT become pregnant as they are MALE.
Now, I know there are other stories in which Merlin is made a female character (which strikes me as weird, because I would have thought With All My Heart proved that even though Colin's a cutie, he does NOT make a good-looking woman, but hey to each their own!), but these don't bother me as much as people who write those haven't been explict in the content of their summaries and if they have improbable events they've kept them well contained so as not to shock the general FF browsing public.
Wannabe Freylin Shippers ('nough said!)[]
3) People if you don't like Freya, then you are NOT a FREYLIN shipper! I have no problem with people who are generally Mergana fans, or fans of any other pairing, taking a time out and trying to write a Freylin story to broaden their horizons -indeed, I ADMIRE those who do this and believe they will go far as writers, trying something out of their comfort zone and what not- but it annoys me when these same persons try to pass themselves AS Freylin shippers and then in the next setence of their Author Notes or wherever state that they DISLIKE Freya's character!
All that said and got off my chest, I HAVE also found some downright LOVELY fanfictions lately, and have done my best to leave reviews on the site accordingly to share my delight and I hope no one will take offense to my annoyances any more than to my recent praise of Merlin fics I HAVE liked.