let's discuss!

[drasticbarbie.livejournal.com]

this if for those of you who read fanfic, which is hopefully most of you.

what are your fanfic pet peeves? is there a pairing or genre you won't read? do you hate mistakes in canon?

for me it's more about grammar. i get irritated with bad spelling (use spellcheck!), poor use of punctuation (besides commas because there are about 40 rules. you should know the basics), and capitalization. in posts i don't bother with caps. but when i publish i try to make it as correct as possible.

other things are the use of certain words. there/their/they're, we're/ were/where, bare/bear, lie/lay/laid etc., i/me, overuse of italics and bold. to me italics are good for emphasizing certain words that should be stressed, either in dialog or narration, sounds coming off the television/phone or written words read by the narrator or out loud in dialog, musical lyrics. it just makes it easier to understand that it isn't normal sounds. i only use bold in my author's note, disclaimer, and warnings.

also, i won't even read a fic that has all the text bunched up because someone didn't press enter. or something with only about 200 words.

also, when you address someone it should be like,   Person, blah blah. with the comma there. that just bugs me.

for specifically CM i won't read Morgan with anyone but Garcia. i don't know, i just think they belong together and i love that Garcia is one of very few average sized women on television. in spite of what hollywood wants us to think, most women are more Garcia's size than JJ's.

Comments

[cedara]

I agree on grammar and homonyms - definitely a pet peeve. Typos can happen anytime, but that's what a good beta is for. Same goes for characterization - if you wanna be OOC, give me a damn good reason for it.

Also, if someone doesn't do empty lines between dialogue and/or story text (the BR html tag) - it's fine in books but it makes a text almost unreadable on the screen.

As for pairings. I can easily see Garcia/Morgan, Morgan/Reid, maybe even Hotch/Rossi, though my fave is Hotch/Reid.

[djan31.livejournal.com]

Is it bad that I just now figured out what OOC meant?
-face palm-

[djan31.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh, I am a grammar nazi, too. Drives me absolutely nuts. And, also, about the short fics. I think there's really like, a minimum limit where you can actually get in a story.

I haaaate when a story progresses unbelievably fast. Does that make sense? Or when the entire story is told in dialogue, and there's no narration. So bad.

As for pairings, I cannot read any CM femslash. It has nothing to do with sexual preference, it just does not work to me. I never really see that much of relationship built between the girls on the show, but maybe that's all me, cause I know I have not seen every episode.

I also hate fics where they make little mistakes where you can tell they don't really watch the show all that much. Like I read one the other day where they kept calling Reid's mom "Diane" instead of "Diana." I don't know why, but that made it almost unbearable for me to read, haha.

-takes a breath-

[drasticbarbie.livejournal.com]

you know, i can only read slash pairings in most fandoms. i will only seek out het in a few and mostly just in Twilight. i don't know why. the books are aweful, but the fanfic is pretty good. never femslash for me.

[banee-noel.livejournal.com]

Grammar or improper uses of words, that bothers me. I can normally continue to read regardless but if it seems to be a problem throughout I stop reading, a few errors here and there happen. I should know, I write fics myself and goodness knows I had trouble before I found a beta.

I like narrative, not just all dialogue, it makes it harder to keep up with what is happening if all there is is the characters talking to each other. Plots that jump about too much are annoying, or they just seem poorly developed.

As to pairings, I haven't read much in the CM fandom lately, but I don't particualarly go for that much. I don't know why, maybe I need to read more of it lol. I prefer male/female personally, nothing wrong with slash it just isn't my cup of tea. I tend to like stuff that is revolving around a case I guess.

[cloudzrshibby.livejournal.com]

I hate plot-jumping too.

I'd agree about the "more narrative, less dialogue" bit, but I'd be a huge hypocrit because everything I write tends to get really dialogue-y. :(

[sarramaks.livejournal.com]

I'm not very keen on slash, although I did write some non M rated Danny/Flack stuff many moons ago. I hate cliched description, and a pet peeve at the moment is when someone uses 'the blonde said' as a variant on 'JJ said', or brunette for Emily.
I also echo the above about grammar and punctuation. Yes, some bits will always be missed, but I get irritated when it's apparent that the writer hasn't even read back though what they've written.
And I am a grumpy old woman today :)

[djan31.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about the referring to a person as their hair color thing. That is so aggravating.

[cloudzrshibby.livejournal.com]

Bad grammar bothers me.

Text walls bother me.

Mary-sues REALLY bother me.

Characters written completely different from their actual character bother me. Slight OOC is ok, but another more than "slight" annoys me to no end. Hotch isn't lovey-dovey, Reid isn't some helpless pansey, neither Prentiss nor JJ are badass b-words/damsels in distress, etc.

Most slash bothers me, not gonna lie. To be honest, the only slash I ever got into was Gundam Wing. If its not within canon, then I'm just kinda like ":|" the whole time (though, the GW slash was ever really canon it was really hilarious). Not that there's anything wrong with slash. If that's your thing, go for it. Its just not mine.

Which brings me to: anything out of canon bothers me. Point blank. Period. Enough said.

I'm one of those people who likes well-written OCs. I have a couple of my own, but I've never written them into an fanfiction before. I can't say I've ever seen a story involving an OC for Crimianl Minds before. Mary-sue, yes. OC, no.

That said, I can't say I've read a whole lot of fanficion for CM. As far as I'm concerned, very few canons have actualy been established within the show. I can't read about pairings that I don't see within the show.

I'm also not as big into fanfiction as I was when I was younger. Its like I was waiting for something to completely blow me away and I'm not finding that, so I'm just not very into it anymore. My standards for writing are probably too high, but whatevs~

[djan31.livejournal.com]

I really hate OOC stuff. And I especially do hate when they make Reid such a helpless little...person. He's obviously a strong character, or else he wouldn't have made it through the things he has.

[npkedit.livejournal.com]

I'll join you in decrying poor grammar and spelling (I'm an editor in RL), and on the formatting issue.

That said, my biggest pet peeve is unfinished stories. If you start posting, you're doing it to attract readers and (hopefully) get feedback. One of the biggest joys of fanfic (and a reason even some pro writers do it) is the joy of immediate feedback and constructive criticism. It's blatantly unfair for writers to hook people and then leave them hanging forever. If you know you're the type who won't finish a story, don't post it for public reading. Otherwise you end up as the fanfic equivalent of "the boy who cried 'wolf.'"

[djan31.livejournal.com]

That is exactly why I stopped writing. I could never finish, and I realized how annoying that must be.

[rambleinblue.livejournal.com]

All of the things mentioned above I agree with - I have decided, people need not only a beta but an "editor" - sometimes I think the betas focus on giving feedback on the fic plot and characterizations [which is great] but end up missing simple spelling and grammar issues.

I volunteer my editor services to anyone that wants that last read-over before publishing.

In addition, my current BIG GIANT ENORMOUS pet-peeve - mainly in my british fandoms - is the use of the word "draw" instead of "drawer".

I read "He reached in to the draw to get a condom." or "He slid the draw open to get the supplies he needed."

It drives me absolutely bonkers. And I think the reason it does is that I am not always sure it is a typo on the part of the writer - I almost think they don't know the word or how to spell it.

I'm gritting my teeth just thinking about it.

[drasticbarbie.livejournal.com]

will you be willing to read anything? because the next one i'm doing will be Adam Jackson/Reid.

[took-skye.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, poor grammar and spelling tends to bother me...I can put up with some (we all make mistakes after all) but if the fic is riddled I just can't go on and enjoy. And I need spacing between paragraphs otherwise it hurts my eyes on the screen and, well, just looks like the story's just one big paragraph, haha!

For pairings...um, well, I'm willing to give any ship a try provided it's written well and convincingly...it's a touch annoying to read any two characters suddenly getting it on for no reason other than simple horniness, haha! (PWP, aka Porn Without Plot, is fine every now and again provided it's marked as such and not passed off as the great love story that started with the shag in the FBI's broom closet, ugh, haha!)

[pink-siamese.livejournal.com]

PWP, aka Porn Without Plot, is fine every now and again provided it's marked as such and not passed off as the great love story that started with the shag in the FBI's broom closet, ugh, haha!

LMAO

[benitle.livejournal.com]

I guess most readers take proper grammar, punctuation and spelling as something that should be a given. My biggest grammar pet peeve is tense switches. I have no preference over past or present tense in fanfiction, but whichever you choose, stick to it!

Stylistically, epithets drive me insane. The older profiler, the young genius, the shorter woman, etc. etc. It can make fic extremely hard to follow, interrupts the flow and in the end, there is nothing wrong with using a character's name or a pronoun.

I know there are several narrative modes, but personally, I don't enjoy POV switching a lot, esp. if it's done every other sentence (rather than, let's say every other section or chapter of a fic). It can be confusing and most of the time, I think it's a sign of a fic not being beta'd properly rather than of the author intentionally switching POV and selecting a multiple person POV.

[drasticbarbie.livejournal.com]

yes! the tense switch. that's probably the thing that gets done wrong the most.

Ode to the Hotel Mini Bar

[kuriadalmatia.livejournal.com]

Grammar, spelling, paragraph spacing and characterizations. Check. Granted, I'm guilty of posting without having a beta/editor review my work. Pairings? I'm willing to give any pairing a try if the characters are in character and, well, it kind of makes sense for them to be together. However, I really don't read femslash since it doesn't really hold my interest.

But... One of my biggest peeves is the mini-bar in the hotel room.

Now, I travel 30-45% for my job (US and Europe) and stay at a variety of hotels, from full service (Ritz-Carlton, Marriott, Kimpton, Hyatt) to the basics (Courtyard, Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden). Before people shout, "But they showed Elle getting into the mini-bar, drinking gin with Reid!", here's the thing.

There are very few hotels that still have mini-bars in the US. They've phased them out because of the costs involved. Now, sure you may get snack items for purchase--bottled water, M&Ms, Pringles, peanuts--but the actual "mini-bar stocked with booze" isn't really prevalent anymore.

When the mini-bars are stocked, you usually get one bottle of each type of liquor. Maybe two max. Vodka, bourbon, scotch, gin, cognac (maybe), brandy (maybe), red wine, white wine, and mixers. So the "raiding the mini-bar for four bottles of scotch" just doesn't, well, cut it. Unless, of course, you've told the hotel how you want your mini-bar stocked. I have only been to one hotel with an actual ice-maker in the room. That was in the US Virgin Islands at a resort.

I know, I know. It's a plot convenience thing because, really, is Hotch or Rossi going to run down to the corner liquor store to buy a fifth else carry some in his go bag? But it really does drive me nuts.

Of course, now saying this, I know I probably have a mini-bar lurking in one of my own stories...

Re: Ode to the Hotel Mini Bar

[drasticbarbie.livejournal.com]

i have one that's pretty specific too. you can almost tell when a fic is written by someone who's never been drunk or taken certain drugs when they write about that stuff. for the drugs, i would totally be okay with just research about the effects. we don't want our great writers experimenting just for the sake of realism. but the drunk thing is sillier. in acting class we were told never to do a drunk scene if we haven't been drunk. the same goes for writing.

[runriggers.livejournal.com]

For me it's a lot like you - bad grammar, punctuation, and spelling, with no effort to have a beta. I understand were some rules can be bent or ignored at times, but they should be known and followed. I've stopped reading stories because of too many spelling mistakes, etc.

People definitely should have a working knowledge of canon, but unless it's a glaring error, it's not necessarily a bad thing.

Pairings - I'm flexible ... my favourite pair for Criminal Minds would be Hotch/Morgan or Morgan/Prentiss, but I'm not adverse to reading others - that would depend on the story.

Just reading some of the other comments, which made me realize another peeve: inflicting weaknesses on characters - having the males become the damsels in distress (like Reid, or Blair Sandburg in The Sentinel) - everyone has a breaking point and good fiction will work with that to 'heal' the character (ie Hotch with Foyet now)... but making the character seem overall weak as person, no. Ever character in CM is strong, and don't need to seen as a baby in need of babysitting and saving.

[drasticbarbie.livejournal.com]

yeah, it's not so bad to do bad spelling/grammar in dialogue if it fits the character. but i draw the line at local color a la Kate Chopin. she's an amazing writer, but her stuff is nearly unreadable at times.

[melodyclark.livejournal.com]

I like good stories, however they are written. I seek out writers whose work I enjoy. James Joyce never used punctuation and he was, imo, a genius. William Faulkner's English skills were unparalleled and I'd rather have gum surgery than read anything of his again.

The fact of the matter is, there is no good or bad ... no real rules. If you're a reader, you'll find the writer whose stories you like. Trust the writer to use their skills to create the story -- don't assume that 'good stories' always have certain elements because they don't. You'll find awful stories that follow all the rules and great stories that don't. Anything beyond that is just a statement of personal biases.

[scarimor.livejournal.com]

The fact of the matter is, there is no good or bad ... no real rules.

Sure there are :) There are rules of spelling, grammar and punctuation at the most basic, and rules for the craft of writing - POV, etc. The odd typo is going to happen (most of us are guilty of that) but you have to be a pretty accomplished writer to know when and how to break the rules (sparingly!) to good effect, rather than produce an unreadable pile of junk.

(edited for typo :p )

[artistic-angle.livejournal.com]

Occasional bad spelling doesn't necessarily bother me because there are many writers out there who are not native speakers. As long as I see that they ARE trying and eventually errors get corrected, I can live with it. I do have issues with the kind of bad grammar where I feel the author should learn the basics of the language before trying to write a fanfiction -- or anything -- (and by that I don't mean overlooking certain things.)

I also dislike OOC. Sure fanfic writers need to take liberties, that is completely fine, but people (well, most) read fanfiction because they like the characters from the show the way they are. So what's the point in going completely out of character, it practically kills the very reason I read a fanfiction for. The characters become different, go write original fiction instead. (It always puzzles me when a completely out of character fanfic gets lots of praise just because certain pairing happens.)

My biggest pet peeve, however, is actor fic. I tried reading one or two and they continue to make me cringe and extremely uncomfortable. They are not fictional characters, they are real people, it just feels really weird to me. So I avoid them altogether. It's absolutely not my thing.

I'm also not into slash. I just don't see anything of the sorts established in canon, so I personally don't read it.

[drasticbarbie.livejournal.com]

i understand your position on real person fanfic. that's going a bit far and is kind of an invasion of privacy. the only fandom i've found where i and most others don't mind ooc is Twilight. parts of the canon are just ridiculous and the vampire stuff can be really boring. as long as the character retains some essential personality traits it's fine with me.

for a canon like CM, the characters are pretty well worked out and developed. i'd go crazy if they changed the fundamentals of each player.

[brabbel.livejournal.com]

My favourite pet peeves have already been mentioned - grammar, spelling (especially of names - sorry, but it's called *fan*fiction, and a fan should get the names of characters right IMO), PWP, OOC, overusage of OCs, Mary Sues etc.

As for pairings... hm... I prefer gen-fiction and the portrayal of friendship to any romantic story. Because, honestly, we don't get to see much romance on the show, but the interteam relationships are much more worth exploring than conjuring up some romance. If the plot's intriguing enough then I also read het or slash (Morgan/Reid, Hotch/Prentiss) - but the plot has to be the focus, and the romance slowly developed and staying within the PG-13 or at most R-boundaries as I don't need to read everything spelled out...

As for OOCness: I don't like Reid being portrayed as a damsel in distress. However, it would also be quite out of character for him to suddenly be able to physically overpower opponents twice his size and weight. It's quite a fine line with him. I really like the fact that despite his strength of mind he's also vulnerable and emotional, so turning him into a tough guy for no apparent reason would be a major put-off for me.

[bookgodess15.livejournal.com]

Oh, Lord. I am such an elitist when it comes to fanfiction, it's not even funny. Things that make me instantly stop reading:

:: bad grammar/spelling
:: song lyrics
:: OOC
:: wooden dialog
:: Mary Sues
:: author's notes interjected in the story
:: author's notes that are longer than the actual story itself

As far as specific things go, I really can't stand therapy fics, which usually goes hand-in-hand with rape and/or kidnapping and/or torture fics, so I avoid those as well. In a fandom such as this (which has a very small cast), if there's more than one non-canon couple I usually won't read it, and I definitely won't read it if it's more than one slash couple. If the author has made absolutely no effort at getting details right, or shows a blatant disregard for reality in order to facilitate their plot, I'm out. And epithets just drive me insane. Stop it. They're unnecessary, they confuse the reader, and they disturb the flow of your story.

Also--despite this having been well done in numerous works of classic fiction--when accents are written into dialog... I really can't stand it.

You have SpaG issues in your title/summary? You say that you "suck at summaries" in your summary? Yeah, not interested. Also, lack of a disclaimer. And when people attempt to say things like "I don't own CM, but MARY LOU IS MINE AND IF YOU STEAL HER YOU DIE". Let's think about this one. It's okay for you to steal someone else's characters, but no one can steal yours? I don't think so.

But more than anything else, what really gets me irritated is the people who review these awful, disgusting excuses for fanfiction with comments like "That was so beautiful!" and "OMG You're such a good writer". Who are you people? Seriously. Get some standards.

[drasticbarbie.livejournal.com]

i agree with the summary stuff and the disclaimer stuff. if you really suck at writing summaries then you probably can't write a whole story either. i'm okay with the slightest accent or local dialect up until the point that it can't be easily understood by most people. i used to read X-men fanfic and you can't imagine how hard it is to read anything that Gambit or Rogue say.

[11ovenpeace.livejournal.com]

I absolutely can't stand the mess ups with your/you're, their/there/they're. I can't stand it at all. Yes, we all make those mistakes but there is a point that when you reach 10 grammer mistakes in one paragraph, then you need to do something about that.

I have to use italics for lyrics, words that are meant to be stressed, things heard of tv/radio/etc. Rarely use bold at all.

If there is no space and it's all typed up as one big paragraph, i give up on trying to read it, it should have a space to make it easier on the reader to well, actually read it.

For CM fics, i rarely read slash, it's just not my thing; and i am a huge fan of Garcia/Morgan. They belong together, i will not be happy with Garcia/Kevin. Those two belong together, they are an adorable couple and i love Garcia. Prentiss/Reid is another pairing i adore.

And i feel like a hypocrite, but i can't stand authors that leave their stories unfinished. I have those, i just lost the heart for it. I know how it is on the reader's side and from the author's side. It bugs me to death, but i just lose my inspiration and i dont want to ruin it by scribbling some lame last chapter just to finish it.

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

I hear you on the unfinished stories thing. The rare times I write fanfiction now, it's always one-shots because I don't have time for series work anymore and I'd hate to start posting something and then get swamped and just leave it out there dangling (did it once years ago, and I still feel guilty. LOL).
I do love that a lot of fanfic communities have something in the title/description area now for whether a story's finished or not-- makes sure there are fewer "but it can't end there!!!" moments in my life. :-)

And yay, Morgan/Garcia! I love those two together. It makes me so happy to have a show where the writers seem more concerned with "so how do these characters click?" than with "okay everyone, let's pair up the conventionally pretty people, chop chop!" Their banter is fantastic.

[sassyinkpen.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty much with everyone on the grammar/spelling, although I'm willing to forgive a LOT if the premise of the story is interesting enough. Also, I hold fanfic to a completely different standard of writing than I do professional works because these are a labor of love and this is a hobby, and as far as I'm concerned anyone can play no matter how good or bad they write, or how much they care to clean up their stories afterward. I may choose not to read it, of course...

In that vein, I will generally skip over any fic that says right in the author's notes that it's unbeta'd, or worse - unedited. I will completely defend anyone's right to post those stories, but I think it's tacky to announce right up front that you didn't care to polish up your fic.

Personally, I HATE stories posted in parts over time. I hate waiting for the next chapter, and I've been burned too many times by unfinished stories. ALSO - if someone is posting a story AS THEY WRITE IT, I know it can never be their best work. Any good work of fiction is going to evolve as the writer works their way through it, and without the ability go back and edit the earlier work to fit with new ideas and plot lines....you lose the chance to make a passable story into something great.

I will read pretty much any pairing, or gen, if the story has a premise that's interesting to me. I love my slash, but first and foremost, I'm in it to read more about the characters and world that I love.

EDIT: I forgot a couple.

I really don't like present tense stories for the most part (especially 3rd person) and CM seems to have a TON of them.

I'm also not a big fan of the epic introspection fics - I want dialog and action.

[sheryden.livejournal.com]

All of the grammar, punctuation, and spelling issues you mentioned cause me to hit the back button. I especially cringe over the wrong spelling of a character's name. Poor formatting also turns me off--lack of spacing, bizarre coloring.

Dialogue is especially important to me, and I can't stand it when it's written badly. Dialogue should sound genuine and not stiff and forced. Even if the person is writing an original character, the dialogue should sound believable.

Other general pet peeves:

* Poor characterization

* A subset of the above pet peeve would be the portrayal of key male characters as melodramatic twelve-year old girls.

* Lack of logic in plot

* In Adult fiction, it bugs me when writers turn sex into a superhuman and unbelievable feat.

* In slash fiction, the line, "I'm not gay for anyone else, just for ___."

* In any pairing-centered fiction, a handwave that dismissed the reality of the setting. For example, it bugs me when no one in the cast cares that a military commander is dating someone directly under his command.

* Songfic

* Laziness when it comes to canon facts--eye color of characters, position of offices, layout of rooms. It may seem unimportant, but it bugs me.

* The mother of all pet peevees--epithets. They make me cringe. You know what I'm talking about: "The young BAU member lovingly embraced the Supervisory Special Agent."

In Criminal Minds fic specifically, I tend to read mostly Hotch-centered stuff. I also like Rossi-centered fic. I prefer slash most of the time, but I do like het featuring Prentiss. My favorite pairing is probably Hotch/Rossi.

[drasticbarbie.livejournal.com]

i'd have to agree about the pairings. the only CM fic i did was a short slash fic because someone said they'd love to read one and i wrote it before bed. in general, i'd like my pairings to evolve in the background of another, more general plot.

[enmuse.livejournal.com]

Pet Peeves:
*Exaggerated "dominant" and "submissive" partners in a relationship - it occurs in all types of pairings, but seems the worst in same-sex pairs. It's like people try to "compensate" for the fact that the couple is same gendered. >.< Really, really big issue for me, because these exaggerated positions thrown people out of character.

*Out-of-character: To an extent to make some pairs work you need to play with characterization, but this shouldn't mean they're unrecognizable.

*Unseparated text: Lack of spaces between paragraphs, or text sections that go on forever without break, makes it near impossible for me to read. (Another note in general, I have a very hard time reading red or white text on black.)

*Speaking of text issues: PLEASE CAPITALIZE. But don't use CAPS-lock, as I just did. I'm okay with that in posts, but that doesn't belong in fic - that's what italics or bold is for.

*Infidelity. Now if there was a one-time incident or a wandering eye, okay, I can deal with that as long as it's resolved in my pairing's favor. (E.g. I'm not cool with Hotch in a relationship while still married [i.e. not separated] from Hayley.) I know people cheat IRL but I'd like to hold my characters to better standards. =\

*Crossovers between shows of significantly different genres/worlds/time. I'm not a fan of, say, Harry Potter/CM xover. And as much as I love, Firefly, I don't care for an xover between it and CSI. =\ Doesn't work for me.

Okay, focus on CM fic...
*I will not read Gideon slash. Well, I'm not particularly interested in any pairing with him - certainly not with the team. He's too much of this set-apart, mentor, father-ish character for me to feel at all comfortable with a pairing involving him.

*I'm not fond of Morgan/Reid. Well, Morgan in a slash relationship in general. As much as I do believe he could overcome past issues, I think there would be big problems to overcome before he could be comfortable and successfully be involved in a serious homosexual relationship.

*Hotch/Reid is my otp, no question. I can't say why I'm so addicted, per se, but I am definitely hooked.

And~ I think that's all I have to say for now. I've got limited access to internet at the moment, I'm spending money I don't really have at the coffee shop downstairs for wi-fi until later this week that I get my net hooked up.

[drasticbarbie.livejournal.com]

infidelity is a big issue for me too, but not just in fanfic. IRL, and movies, books, a character cheating will make me lose sympathy for them completely.

[liliaeth]

fanfic I won't read well...
RPF, any kind. I watch shows for the characters and the situation of the actual show, so I really honestly do not get why anyone would want to write fic about a bunch of actors who just play those characters who are much more interesting than they themselves are.

[enmuse.livejournal.com]

How the hell did I forget RPF? *facepalm* Yeah, I avoid it like the plague...

[reseda-3067.livejournal.com]

I think you have all made valid points that I agree with.

Bad grammar really bugs me too. And when people write " I would of " when it´s actually " I would have ". I have read sentences like that for quite a while now and it´s VERY irritating!

I also have a problem when the text is very small ( or a different color ). And for some reason this seems to happen when the fanfic has a black background. Makes my eyes hurt. My concentration quickley disappears. I also skip all fics that are bunched up into one paragraph.

Slash is definitely not for me. I´ve read a couple and though they are not bad per say, it just doesn´t appeal to me. But hey, that´s just me.

When it comes to CM, I only read Morgan/Garcia ones. Nothing else. They are meant to be, imho. Period.

[alyssa22.livejournal.com]

The "would of" thing is so annoying. I think it's people hearing "would've" and not realising that it's a contraction of the words would and have, and assuming it's an "of" instead.

But that all comes down to education. Or lack of.

[scarredlove.livejournal.com]

Oh lord, don't even get me started on this. Lol. I have so many things that bother me. I really am very picky when it comes to fanfiction.

First, and foremost, if the title itself isn't capitalized correctly and has spelling errors in it or the summary, I won't even try to read the fic. I can understand a typo here and there in the story itself, that's something everyone does, but if you are constantly misspelling words and it's blatantly obvious you didn't use spell-check or go over your own work, I'm out.

This probably sounds weird. In my own writing I misuse commas a lot, but when reading fic written by someone else I can tell if a comma is used correctly, and when they're not it bothers me. That's mainly the reason I don't write fanfiction myself. I figure if I do something that completely irritates me, I'm not gonna irritate someone else with it. I have written a few two or three part stories for the South of Nowhere fandom, but nothing major. I write well as far as spelling, grammar usage, and plot are concerned, but I'm horrible at using semi-colons and commas correctly.

I hate when author's notes are put into the story. That really bugs me because you could be having a really heavy and well-written moment and then you completely break the atmosphere by adding that in. It just ruins the whole thing for me.

Characters that are written to OOC to even be the same character bothers me.

Misspellings of characters names and lack of the basic knowledge of the show.

Do some research. Find out how their desks and offices are placed in the show. Find out the provided character history before writing for that character.

Another thing that really bothers me is when people write JJ as Jennifer throughout their fics. I can't stand that. I can see if someone gets closer to her and they use it every once in awhile, but she is known as JJ or Jayj for the most part, so I feel it should be written that way.

As for pairings, I am pretty flexible, my OTP is Emily/JJ though. I LOVE them. I can't explain it, but those two just clicked for me and that's just who I prefer to read.

I can read Emily/JJ, Reid/JJ, Reid/Emily, Morgan/Garcia, and Hotch/Hayley.

I can't read Rossi or Gideon fics unless their gen...it just weirds me out.

I agree with someone above me who said they feel Morgan would have trouble with same-sex relationships because of his past. I definitely think that would be an issue for him. Now, I can read Morgan/Reid, but it has to be established that his past affects certain things.

Don't like a story with too much dialogue, but also don't like one with not enough. It has to be balanced pretty well. I also don't like what someone else referred to as "wooden dialogue", it's horrible.

Um, I just can't read crossover fic or songfics at all. They usually bother me. It has to be really well done and have a strong and interesting premise for me to even give it a shot.

I am kind of a sucker for the angsty kidnapping, rape, character death, abused or tortured by an UnSub stories, but they have to be written well.

I could go on about this awhile, but basically you have to write really well and put a lot of effort into the fic for me to read it. I like it when they have extensive knowledge of the show, and really good plot.

[drasticbarbie.livejournal.com]

i also dig the hurt/comfort stuff. i can't explain. it's just weird.

i've thought that maybe i shouldn't write fanfic either because i'm not very good at getting the pacing and so forth of a story. but i feel i have good concepts for plots. i like to find out what people get irritated by because that's what you like to avoid.

seriously, though, there are about 40 rules on comma usage. that's more than anyone should have to remember.

[khamira.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with almost all the pet peeves listed above, specifically grammar/spelling/homonyms. It happens to everyone regardless, yet that is no excuse for not caring enough about your work, or your readers, not to correct it. I am abysmal with commas, however, knowing that I find someone to check over my work before I post it. And if I can not find someone I go over it as much as possible.

On a personal note one of my greatest pet peeves is poor research. This can be cannon research, as in the names of characters, history given on the show (although often conflicting in it's own right. I know Hotch is a workaholic but really for his given history he would have to be fifty, or he's challenging Reid for graduating college at under 20 or some such. :-) But more so it is in things like location, or proper terminology. If I'm writing a Dr. Who fic I will say lift and jumper. If I am writing a CM fic say elevator and sweater. Be certain of your wording accept is not except, they are very different words. :-)
Or it can be something like:
Please note that a: America is a very large country over all. The jet is wonderful. It will not get you to California from DC in under two hours.
At least this isn't a fandom that often sends it's characters overseas or to other countries, the lack of knowledge of say North Africa, Europe, and even Mexico for a great percentage of writers never ceases to amaze me. (And yes some of this is professional television writing as well!)

However, I would say my worst pet peeve is simply bad writing. If you don't have a plot, or a good grasp on the characters keep working at it until you do. :-) Don't twist the characters so out of shape to fit the "mood" of your story as to make them no longer the characters I want to read about. Unless it's an AU and that is a horse of an entirely different color.

Hmm, I feel somewhat like an elitist saying all that. But truly, how long does it take to spell check your work? As someone who writes in several non-native languages I can state that it's a flimsy excuse. Find yourself a beta or editor who is a native speaker (of the correct regional language! for example Egyptian Arabic (which I speak) is not Saudi Arabic. Kudos to CM for getting that right.)

So, in summation:
Bad writing. (I will third or forth or whatever to those who mentioned epithets as another example of this. Just call them by name. We know who they are!)
Poor research.
Bad grammar/spelling. (Can this include not bothering to check things like font/color/italics/line spacing/page layout?
Lack of continuity/finishing a work. I have given up on WIP's as a rule because of this.

I think I shall stop now and go and find something worth reading. :-)

[maldeluxx.livejournal.com]

Grammar mistakes. Spelling mistakes. Paragraphs that are too long. Badly needing beta ones. Needing to learn English more (for non-speakers, sorry!). Unrealistic sex stuff. OOC-ness (especially if too cruel or perky kind).

One peeve that is not all writer's fault all the time: WIP that are left unfinished, especially without a reason and promise to pick up later (and really picking it up later). If the story is really good, I feel anxious that it isn't/wasn't finished.

Some AU stories with '(name) is (for example: a figure-skater), (other name) is a (same or other job thing), they meet (as rivals/etc. or not), stuff happens' no longer interest me as much as they used to.
I like some kinks, but not all kinks, so some I won't read.
Pairings-wise no peeves as long as adult and consensual. If I'm not interested in the pairing, I can leave it to others.

[alyssa22.livejournal.com]

Grammar is the major issue for me. Then there are also certain terms that bug me. Like some that constantly call Morgan "the Afrian American man". I mean, is that really necessary? I'm thinking they're coming from people outside the US. Anyone who's reading the fic is already going to know who he is. The colour of his skin doesn't need to be mentioned all the time.

Also, I can't reaad any slash. Gross. Or anything that's Morgan/Garcia, because honestly?? Do any of these people HONESTLY think the fit, cool, hot guy would really go for the geeky computer nerd who wears more colours than a rainbow? I think it's wishful thinking on the part of girls who LOOK like Garcia, or behave like Garcia, that they could one day get the hot guy.

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

Do any of these people HONESTLY think the fit, cool, hot guy would really go for the geeky computer nerd

Yep. Seen it happen, more than once.

Fanfic pet peeves-- well, everybody's hit on the grammar stuff already. :-) I'll skip past a story if the summary says "this story sucks but I'm posting it anyway!" ((I have seen that several times, and it still baffles me))

Not many pairings I won't read . . . some I have a more difficult time 'seeing' than others, but then I figure it's the job of the writer to be good enough to make it seem plausible.