Silversun

My gripe isn't so much with the running away but the complete lack of justification for the girl's running away. But in the case of Amy DeLuca... I'm thinking it is possible, because all we really know is that Maria doesn't have a dad, and there may have been good reasons for Amy to run away. (Right? I'm not too clued up on Roswell canon.)

Cold-Blooded Piece of Toast

I agree with disliking stories with atrocious grammar and spelling but not with disliking a story because of an unlikely pairing or AU plot. I'm the exact opposite. I *abhore* stories with canon pairings (unless it's something really unique) and dull as dirt plot. If I wanted to read about Harry Potter defeating Voldemort I'd read JKR, not fanfiction. Now, if I was to read some Snarry (new found love) in an obvious AU I'd be very happy.

To each his own. Yes.

I've actually taken up writing fanfiction again after a bit of a dry spell. About five or six new stories in the past two or three weeks. Starting on a new one right now. I can't release them to the general public (aside from my message board) until I get them beta-ed.

Babyfic? Most of the work involving babies I've read is pretty bad. It usually overflows with sappiness and Hermione running away to America while Harry Potter and his brilliant green eyes overflow with tears. There's been some good stuff, though. You just have to find the right authors.

Gabrielle

Catalinay

Nicky - Yeah, as far as I remember, there's no canon reason for Maria not having a dad. And I had justification in my fic, at least!

Gabrielle - what fandom(s) are you writing in?

Lucinta

Actually, if I remember, Maria's dad left when she was little. It happened right around the same time that her puppy died, very sad. It could have been something from a fic, but I haven't read that much Rosfic so I'm pretty sure it's canon. I think it was in the ep where Michael kisses Maria and does a mind/memory-melt with her, after Max did the same thing with Liz.

Anyway I don't think that babyfic are necessarily bad by default, it's just that most writers would rather turn it into a disgusting sap-fest than deal with it realistically. And the typical babyfic babies will grow up in later chapters to become gifted child Mary Sues, with 3 or 4 pages dedicated to describing their (unusually beautiful) appearance, and listing all the good qualities they received from each parent, etc. It gets pretty old. But I've read at least one good babyfic in my time, it even had the pregnant girl running away (never to return though).

One particular kind of babyfic that's been bugging me is the F/F slash babyfic, sometimes seen in the Buffy fandom. It usually involves Willow impregnating Tara through magic, or helping Buffy/Faith or [insert couple] get pregnant. Through magic. -_- I've even heard rumors of M/M slash that had the guys getting eachother pregnant (by unknown means) but luckily I haven't stumbled on any yet. I so don't need to read about that... sitting through preggers Arnold in Junior was more than enough for me.

Catalinay

Lucinta - Oh yeah, you're right! I checked the Crashdown transcripts and everything.

Silversun

Lucinta - you are so right about Mary Sue babies and inheriting each parent's best qualities. Everything's just so blatant. I don't think I've even seen a babyfic or a childfic where the kid of two main characters is anything but adorable/understanding/intelligent/fabulous.

Magic impregnation sounds strange and intriguing. So instead of sperm, they use... magic? Huh. You know what that entails? A distinct possibility of virgin birth.

Quote:

I've even heard rumors of M/M slash that had the guys getting eachother pregnant (by unknown means) but luckily I haven't stumbled on any yet.

Oh dear...

Crossbow

I've seen that. Or rather, I've seen warnings for it. If you see the word "Mpreg" in a warning or summary... RUN. It means "Male Pregnancy."

Catalinay

Yeah, I meant to give the mpreg warning this morning and forgot. I've seen quite a few of those fics in the popslash fandom, but not actually read any of them.

Crossbow

Actually I remember reading a Harry Potter fic where someone was making Snape brew "mpreg potions," but fortunately, that never worked out.

It was probably Remus Lupin.

kaykayelle

You know what bothers me to no end? People who spell the main characters name wrong. I just clicked on to a story because the summary indicated that the person had at least half a brain (which can be hard to find sometimes) but Ruthie was spelled R-U-T-H-Y. I know that someone with the same name could spell it that way, but that's not how this character's name is spelled.

Crossbow

A lot of people also seem to think that the Headmaster of Hogwarts is named "Dumbledoor."

Silversun

Thank you for that. I don't think I ever came across that before. And now I am prepared.

mpreg potions...

kaykayelle - oh, I so agree. It's bad in your usual case where if you checked an official site or a script you'd know how to spell it, but it's worse if that character's name has been spelt conspicuously onscreen (or, in Crossbow's example, when it was written down in the book like ten thousand times). It's like, do you even pay attention, people?

My example from the YA fandom would be Hamilton. In the season finale, final scene, you could see a letter written by his father, signed very clearly "Steven Fleming". Yet, about half the writers in the fandom insist on spelling Hamilton's last name Flemming. It's not a big thing, but it annoys me to no end. It only takes five minutes of research to ensure character names are spelt right, and if a writer doesn't even bother doing that, are they really going to bother writing something that is well thought-out and well-executed?

Catalinay

Yeah, that's even worse than that Berkley thing that drove me crazy.

kaykayelle

Exactly. That's why I don't even think about writing and/or publishing for another fandom; I'd be afraid I'd get something wrong.

Catalinay

You all should have seen me doing research for my TFATF epic! I had one of my friends asking her dad for information on cars - I was clueless! But really, how can you write in that fandom and not at least mention cars?