Instead of character bashing...

[next_to_normal]

Write them an angry, ranting letter!

Consider this a public service announcement. No one I know (or at least, no one I respect) wants to read a fic in which one character is unfairly portrayed because of the author's personal dislike of and bias against said character. No one wants to read a fic in which that character is badly mistreated by the other characters (who, canonically, tend to be friends, family, and/or lovers... y'know, people who generally don't hate you) because all the other characters are acting as proxies for the author who just wants to express his or her hate.

So, stop doing it. If you have that many issues that you feel compelled to bash characters, I recommend the dear_character comm. You can rant, vent, chastise, whatever you want, and post it in a place where people go specifically to read angry rants about characters.

Have fun!

Comments

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

(Following the link from sunnydale herald)

Totally agree with the sentiment. I hate when I read a story and find that some character is used as a whipping post/object to be pilloried out of what is clearly a writer's dislike of the character... even if I happen to also dislike that character. When I run across a story like that, it strikes me as poor writing because, to me, good writing involves presenting characters in some context where they at least somewhat resemble the characters in canon, otherwise why not call it original fiction?

That said, there's really no way force such a point of view on fandom. People write for all different sorts of reasons and if I've learned anything from BtVS fandom is that it's entirely possible for people within fandom to have wildly different views of what is "in character" and "out of character" for the canon characters. POV's range just that much.

Personally, if the view or treatment of a character is well beyond my view of them, I skip the story. And if it feels like a character-bashing type of story, I tend to not only skip the character but lower my opinion of the author. Can't really help that as it's purely an emotional reaction.

I do realize, however, that there's no such thing as everyone in fandom reacting the same way to things. Some people actually enjoy character bashing fics, so I shrug. I don't like or enjoy it myself but... whatever.

(And I hope you don't mind if I friend you.)

[next_to_normal]

Yep, same here. I dislike bashing even when I also dislike the character - Riley's a prime example. He gets bashed pretty frequently in Spuffy fic, and I really don't care for the character, but I'd rather not see him in the story at all than see him being bashed.

And if it feels like a character-bashing type of story, I tend to not only skip the character but lower my opinion of the author.

Yeah, I do that, too. I also admit that my opinion lowers a little when I find people who like to read character bashing fics, as well.

I think part of it comes from my opinion that character bashing is just objectively bad writing, regardless of whether I like the character or not. I put it in the same category as things like inconsistent characterization, incoherent plot, and poor pacing. Like you said, everyone has different tastes, and I have no problem with that when it comes to pairing, genre, etc. But - and maybe this is what makes me elitist - I don't think we should treat fanfic like kindergarten, where you get a gold star just for participating. Some stuff is just bad, and the fact that a lot of people read it and like it doesn't make it any less bad (see also: "Twilight"). So I do tend to have a lower opinion of those who read or write bad fic.

(And no, I don't mind at all! Welcome!)