Welcome to Just Say Arr: A Ficbitch Site

 

 

   By definition a ficbitch is one who, as the name would suggest, rants about fiction; specifically, fanfiction as it pertains to a reader’s preferred section (as ficbitching tends to be selective for each person).  It is a fine tradition, held in glorious respect at many sites, and a small yahoo!Group has even been formed to withhold its continuation.  Some have complained about it, saying it is too harsh a thing to do, but personally?  I think it’s about time.

      I have been writing fanfiction for four years now, and after a year of archiving my Digimon fanfiction at a small archive, I finally relented and visited fanfiction.net.  Oh, those were glorious times in the beginning – I was young and enthusiastic, writing two or three fics weekly (sometimes daily!) to post, and reading five times that.  Yet as all things do, I began to mature: my output slowed, my fics became deeper and more thoughtful, and though I had never written a Mary Sue (I rarely created original characters), my few original characters began to be more and more unique.

      And then I noticed something absolutely awful: the decent fics, the truly good ones, are rarely reviewed.  Smutfics, crapfics, Mary Sue clichés?  They reap the reviews in massive quantities, overwhelming the senses and boggling the mind.  Granted, smutfics can be quite good if done by a skilled author, but in most cases?  They aren’t.  Character bashing grows to extreme proportions (case in point: Relena Dorlian of Gundam Wing and Princess Amelia of Slayers), and the fangirls are no longer a fun clique to be a part of but a raging pile of estrogen.

      Good Lord.

      The point of this site is not to flame or bitch needlessly about fanfiction, but to give some very heavy constructive criticism to sections that dearly need it.  If you still doubt it, and I know you’re only here if I’ve told you about this site, think long on these:

v      How many Treasure Planet fanfics have you read with a Mary Sue or gross manipulation of the series? 

v      Statistically speaking, four out of every five Pirates of the Caribbean fanfics will be a Mary Sue, a Mary Sue in ill-fitting drag, bashing, or just sheer out-of-character crap.

v      Female characters are constantly mauled in fanfiction by irate female fans, for no true reason other than “but shes sucj a ho!!1 she tok [insert male romantic interest’s name] frm me cuz we beong 2gethr!!” or, to take into account someone else’s theory, because the female character has power.  [Case in point: Relena and Amelia.]

v      Cliché story ideas that are recycled continuously and hardly vary, with the occasional piece of brilliance smothered by crapfics: ever visit the Spirited Away section of fanfiction.net?  Then you know.

      Thus far I have decided to share three ficbitch sections for the viewing eye, all three of which are based on fandoms I am active in or have read deeply of.  Hopefully, it will expand, but for the moment I am merely starting.  I accept fic recommendations (of the “Good God, please pick this one apart for the sun to bleach its bones” variety) and will set up a miscellaneous section for those who have a recommendation outside of the current sections.

 

 

         i.  Treasure Planet  [WORKING ON]

        ii.  Pirates of the Caribbean  [OPEN]

      iii.  Spirited Away  [OPEN]

 

 

Disclaimer:  No profit is being made from this site.  The fanfiction referenced to herein is do not belong to me (and any who might supply fanfic critiques of their own), nor are the characters or situations portrayed in the fanfiction itself.  Comments are opinions and should be addressed as such.