- NJS : Needless Japanese Syndrome (AKA Gratuitous Japanese) (When a fanfic contains far more Japanese style text than necessary.)
Fanfics don't really require all that much Japanese other than proper names. If you're writing a fanfic in English, stick to English. Unless I'm wildly off base here, you're writing for a primarily English-reading audience. All those "Tadaima"s and "Ranma no baka!"s and -kun's and -chan's are completely unnecessary. Even "hai" is too much. If you mean to say "yes," then say yes already! Showing just how much you know (or don't know) about the Japanese language just makes your story unreadable.
- Mislabeling a fanfic.
I can't count the number of times I've seen the author of a fanfic say it's an Altaverse when there's nothing "alter" about it, and is in actuality a Continuation. Or calling something a Fusion, when it's just a Continuation with a crossover in it. Or just calling it a Crossover! The definitions of the different types are easy:
Continuation: Starts after/at the end of the manga/anime. (Childhood of a Modern Dynasty)
Divergence: A change in the original storyline as it progresses. Something that should happen doesn't, happens differently, or is diverted by an outside force. (Ranko 1/2)
Altaverse: A universal or personal change not influenced or caused by the original story or cast. (Quantum Destinies)
Fusion: Splicing one series' characters into the storylines or plots of another series. (The Saotome Gambit)
Crossover: This is not a type of fanfic. This is something that happens in a fanfic. For example, Lines of Destiny is a Continuation that crosses with Sailor Moon, but it's still just a Continuation. Shampoo 1/2 is a Divergence that crosses with Ninja Scroll as well as others, but it is still a Divergence at its core.
- Quick summaries of important info that the reader of a fanfic needs to know.
It really gets to me when you see in a fanfic (often in the author's notes, prologue, or preface) a note that skims over some major info that the reader must have. Often, it ends up looking something like this "In this story Nodoka always knew about the curse." Or "Kasumi secretly worked her way to a nursing degree." And oddly, the most common is "Oh yeah, Phoenix Mountain never happened." I've even seen "Ryouga went to Phoenix Mountain instead of Ranma." You just can't *do* that. These things need to be explained within the story. These kinds of "take it as a given" things are stories within themselves, you just can't ask the reader to take it on faith. It throws off the whole story.
- People (readers & authors alike) who dismiss or condemn a fanfic because it may be non-canonical.
Come ON here. I don't see the big advantage in sticking precisely to the canon story. Sure, it's what Takahashi wrote, but why stop there? Some of the best fics I've read have all been based on the "What If" factor. Shampoo 1/2, Fighting Blind, The Saotome Gambit, and Switching Heirs just to name a few. I've seen flame wars erupt over it on the FFML, arguments in FFIRC, and on more than one occasion I've seen a reader *demand* that an author change their fanfic because it wasn't canonical enough. *That* got me pissed. I think the old saying went "Slavish adherence to custom is a sign of a weak mind."
- Politically-correct editing
I've seen in a handful of fanfics where the author went back and edited out sections of the story, and in their notes they said that the reason was that some people complained that the now deleted bits were objectionable and/or offensive. Welcome to censorship. LEAVE THOSE BITS IN. They make for intriguing characters and stories worth reading! So what if they might be offensive? There are offensive people in the world, and literature (even fanfics) can't help but reflect the real world. Does anyone seriously believe that there is ZERO possibility that there might be a (gasp) racist in an anime universe? Or some other type of stupid-for-no-reason person? When I see something like this in a story (and big applause to those authors who left their fics as is) the only thing I think is "Well, this is new. Tell me more. How will THIS affect the story?" The kind of thinking that pressures people to edit their creations is the same kind of "thinking" that wants to ban certain books.
- Bad grammar, spelling, and language use.
This is somewhat of a middling little annoyance. I see it every day in dozens of places. Has *nobody* heard of a spellchecker? This is so easy to fix. If there's no spellchecker available, ask someone to proofread it.
- Misspelling of the most common Ranma 1/2 proper names.
Even moreso than the bad grammar thing, how is it possible that so many people can misspell the names of the cast? Or the locations? I don't mean a misspelling here or a typo there... I'm talking about being used throughout a substantially sized fanfic! Hell, for lack of any better idea, read the back of a Ranma video or DVD box!The most common ones that I've seen are Furinkin / Fudinken (Furinkan), Nermia (Nerima), Hopposai / Happosi (Happosai), Kasummi / Kisumi (Kasumi), Nibiki / Nobiki (Nabiki), and Nodaka / Nodoko / Nadaka / Nadoko (Nodoka). There have been more...
Also keep in mind that I've not referring to the variable o / ou thing. You know, Tendo / Tendou, Ukyo / Ukyou, Ryoga / Ryouga. That little oddity is a peculiarity within the English language having to do with our phonetic spelling system. Personally, I use the ou. I just like it. <shrug> The point here is, it's not that difficult to find the correct spelling if you're uncertain.
- People who use visual effects or shticks in literature.
Very rarely have I seen visual effects used successfully in a literary sense A lot of them just don't translate to literary existence very well.
Sweatdrops, facefaults, the thumb-forefinger-pinky hand gesture, that odd little pinch-mark that appears on peoples heads, and others. These are visual effects!! For the most part they don't HAVE a way to translate over to literature. "Ranma sweatdropped." Okay, what does that mean? WHY is he sweatdropping? What's he thinking / feeling? Just saying "sweatdrop" or "facefault" is a convenient way to avoid having to write out what the character is actually feeling. Are they annoyed? Worried? Disgusted? "Sweatdrop" or "facefault" just don't cut it.
