Things In Fanfiction That Melt My Brain Cells ☐

Character Info

I'm getting ready for a BIG rant soon, I haven't typed it yet so I might be lying about how big it is, but it is a real annoyance.

Anyways👏🏼

Character info.

I am slightly guilt of this.

I cant describe to you how much I hate character info chapters on fan-fiction. I see this mostly in BNHA fanfics but it occurs in other fandoms as well.

So I understand the desire for character info chapters because you want your readers to understand the changes your made to certain characters or to get to know your OC. But I honestly think this is the worst way to do it.

I'm gonna use BNHA as a template here. Usually the classic character info would look like this:

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*insert some random picture of an anime character found on Pinterest*

Name: Aiko Shimizu
Age: 16
Affiliation: LOV (League of Villains)
Status: Alive
Quirk(s): Disruptive Sensory & Heat vision.

Disruptive Sensory

User can touch another person, animal, and/or plant and disrupt any system of their choosing at any extent. For example user can touch a human and disruptive the cardiovascular system and cause a heart attack or send the nervous system on the fritz.

Drawbacks: Has to touch with all 5 fingers, numbness in fingers, headaches, and in severe cases internal bleeding.

Heat Vision

User can see the body heat signatures emitting from their surroundings.

Drawbacks: Slight eye-strain and temporary blindness when overused.

Personality: Funny, quirk, loves her onigiri 🍙 , don't mess with her friends or she'll f**k you up, really girly, and yearns for true gender equality so she can fight a man on equal standing.

Likes: Her sister, her mom, her friends, onigiri, pink skirts, high heels, her dog Mochi, food.

Dislikes: Villains that challenge the LOV, people who try to hurt her friends, rude people, bad onigiri, and hero's.

Family: Chiyo Shimizu (Older sister, Alive), Akiteru Shimizu (Father, deceased), Wendy Shimizu (Mother, deceased).

Looks: Aiko has long waist length black hair with dyed purple ends. Her left here is emerald green and her right eye is blood red. She has small freckles in her face and scars around her body from the numerous battles she has

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That took a lot of effort but that's what a basic character info chapter would look like. Some authors would only have one and others will write a chapter for every single character, even unimportant side characters.

Don't even get me started on the OP Naurto fanfics when they just have PARAGRAPHS of every jutsu that Naurto knows. Or in those Fairy Tale fanfics when Y/n is like "Elemental dragon princess Zodiac queen god slayer wizard saint" and then they list off all the abilities that I don't even bother to read. It's easier just to say that they're OP and let the readers roll with that. My Hero fandom isn't any better either.

Some people might read those character panels but most are uninterested and it honestly makes it harder for me to remember things about the character. If OC likes to be girly and wear skirts then tell me through their actions in the story and the dialogue they say! Listing it off makes me forget it like a bad Adam Sandler movie. Not even, I can at least remember something from those. But that's besides the point.

If you want to express a character being girly try hinting at what they're wearing without explaining every little thing. Mention what heels they put in as they left their home. Have a side character compliment their skirt. Maybe they're a fashionista, explore into that! Possibly they're in a shopping trip and the OC wants more skirts and clothes because she wants to be more trendy. This applies to all other  characters. It'll differ on their style and personality but the base material is the same.

When your character is OP or has a lot of powers, it becomes harsh for the reader to remember. Keep this in mind because if you're the author you know everything about your OC. Their attitude, personality growth, style, gender, how they think, preferences, while the reader only knows a handful of those things.

Try having some baseline powers that they use more commonly. So if they can use 7 spelled total. Are they all attack? Are they all defense? Are they a mix of both. Maybe have a character that's good at defense to help with the powerhouse the OC is. Have like 3 basic spells that are used repetitively against weaker opponents or used for non-fighting purposes. That way the readers can get familiar with both spells. It could also give excitement to readers when they read this other high power spell they've never seen before.

Character info chapters also ruin the fun journey of learning what personality and attributes the OC has. You could've easily expressed through actions and funny dialogue that one character is a lazy bum that can't contribute anything to society, or so-and-so is traumatized and heart broken and so now they are won a mission to hunt down those villains that killed their parents or something.

You ruin any surprises to future characters that haven't been introduced yet, and it just gets boring. You tell me that the OC gets mad when someone insults her friends so when it actually happens in the story it doesn't come off as a surprise or anything I just read it with a blank face like this: 😐😑.

And it sucks because sometimes authors would use their own drawings for these character info panels and put their hard work into beautiful art that's just overlooked because not many people (including myself) want to sit through character panels.

I think the worst part is when there's character chapters for every characters, I especially don't like it when you give info about side-side characters that don't provide any significance to the plot. It's like watching that unimportant side character rant about friendship and die to the MC (main character) can have some character development. I get NOTHING. I feel NOTHING, because there is NOTHING of worth.

It came off half ranty, but tell me if there's anything I missed and your own thoughts on this! I'd love to hear it!