Avatar Fandom Fiction Conventions

[Shirozora]

Cheers! I know I can't go through every Avatar fanfiction in the world but I have started picking up conventions, at least in the realm of Zutara, but in general...

- Zuko gets hurt. Lucky for him, he's always near the Avatar or a certain female Waterbender. Pffft!

- Sokka's always at the recieving end of pranks, loses arguments, etc.

- In a lot of Zutara fics, there aren't enough consequences for when Aang confesses his love and Katara rejects him.

- *gone braindead*

So, what conventions/cliches have you discovered while reading Avatar fanfictions? Hell, listing the cliches/conventions can help you avoid them when you need to.

Help, please?



~Shirozora

[femaleairbender]

--In an OCfic *coughsuefic*, the female OC is Zuko's love interest.
--Zutara fanfics use the "Zuko uses Katara as bait to capture Aang and they fall in love" plot.
--Iroh obsesses over tea.
--Sokka is idiotic and food-obsessed.

That's all I can think of.

[Shirozora]

I swear, any story in which Ozai and Aang meet are mentally challenged and without the suspense that it should have. Like, HELLO, IT'S OZAI!!!!

(I remember a story where Zuko tells Aang how to hit Ozai with broadswords and all Aang does is airbend around Ozai and slice him and make him bleed out. Like...THAT'S IT?!)

Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee are never taken seriously.

Yue is the ultimate plot device. *retches*

~Shirozora

[Atmos]

One of the things that make me go "...eh" in fanfics with heavy use of the canon characters (yeah I know...pretty much the majority), is that the writers tend to simplify the personalities; some aspects of one's charater is exaggerated while the rest of the traits are suddenly nonexistent). For example: (As femaleairbender mentioned) Sokka is completely obsessed with food while his mature, leader-like traits are absent. But of course I have to take into account that many fanfic authors are very young writers and their writing will only get better in time. So I'm patient with that.

And as a reader shippers have done me to death. So no offense to anyone, but if the Fanfic has "Kataang" or "Zutara" in the title, you better have a catchy first paragraph if you want keep me reading it. (Of course I won't ever turn down personal requests for reviews).

[zukoxme]

- An OCfic with Zuko finding a girl seriously injured, he helps her, and they fall in love. *cough*sue*cough*

-Sokka is a food crazed, sarcastic, idiotic big brother. *gets Bazooka*

- In most "adult" fics, Aang is a hard-core VERY mature young boy. Um, like, he's 12, not 34.

- Ty Lee is the "blonde" in every fic. GAWD

- Mai=super gothic.

- I barely read Appa in any fic. And Momo.

- Zuko either has too much emo, or too little.

[Shirozora]

Avatarsues as recently reported that there is a trend in something now labeled 'fangirl Japanese', in which the 'Suethor' brags about his/her knowledge of Japanese by naming their OCs in Japanese...like Kuso (Kuso, reportedly, means 'philoprogenitiveness' in Japanese).

Super-poweful OCs that can kill spirits like Won Shi Tong, have multiple weapons skills, and can bend one or two or more elements at the same time.

*twitch*

Summaries that scream for a shipping or against a shipping.

Actually...really stupid summaries.

Another convention firmly in place is the lack of interest in improving one's writing.

~Shirozora

[Tophu]

shirozora said:

Another convention firmly in place is the lack of interest in improving one's writing.

Which should be the goal of fanfiction writers.

[Shirozora]

Really cheesy titles like "Zuko the Lion King" (a parody, supposedly) and "The Passion of New Love" *gags*



I wish there was a story that makes me CARE...

~Shirozora

[kyoshilover]

In the few male OC stories that I've seen:

They are gay for a Zuko, Sokka, or Aang or are in love with one of the ladies. Their romances are 'frictionless'.

In most stories:

Far too short, detail of environment is absent and you have to read over the thing twice or so to figure out where they are, if you can at all. Also, characters may make use of environmental traits that do not exist in that environment.

One I've seen far too much; pairings suffering no setbacks throughout a tale. I mean, even those destined to fall in love have their spats. (I mean, at least try to fit them in; I'm average at writing and I do my best to.)

Fairy tale endings: Azula is not going to roll over and give up, learn her lesson and never harm a fly ever again. Also, people can die in epic battles of destiny. It's almost expected.