What's your IF take that would get the crowd throw tomatoes at you?

[solavellan]

Maybe it's just me, but 90% of IF authors need to go outside or read something that isn't from booktok/fan fiction. A lot of IFs basically have the same voice and writing as a fan fiction on A03, and the author treats their characters and setting the same way to boot. Tropes are tools, not your whole house, and that's not going into the usage of internet lingo in places and settings where it's not appropriate or the horrid grammar and flow.

Especially flow, so many IFs jump from one scene to another with no leading as to how we got there. My ADHD could maintain a proper train of thought longer than most IFs can maintain settings.

War flashbacks from fields of asphodel i remember slugging through it thinking it would get better but no i was just a clown the whole circus even

 

[Zoklitsos]

Maybe it's just me, but 90% of IF authors need to go outside or read something that isn't from booktok/fan fiction. A lot of IFs basically have the same voice and writing as a fan fiction on A03, and the author treats their characters and setting the same way to boot. Tropes are tools, not your whole house, and that's not going into the usage of internet lingo in places and settings where it's not appropriate or the horrid grammar and flow.

Especially flow, so many IFs jump from one scene to another with no leading as to how we got there. My ADHD could maintain a proper train of thought longer than most IFs can maintain settings.

Omfg yes, this 100%. I’ve been into IF for almost 10 years now, but in the last 2–3 I’ve been reading less and less IFs exactly for this reason. I can show some grace, because a lot of writers start out in fanfiction and tbh that’s not a bad thing in itself. Some great and even popular writers came from that space. I mean hell I do too lmao. I’ve been writing as a hobby since I was a kid, and when I was a teenager, I was just as deep into various cringe fanfic and the big YA trends of the time.

But there’s a point where you’ve got to grow up and branch out, read things that aren’t just fanfic or the same handful of YA tropes. And to clarify, there's nothing wrong with reading those too, as long as it's not everything you consume. I haven't read YA books since I was a teenager, but I do still read fanfics on occasion, when the mood strikes me every now and then. However, your writing should grow as your reading habits do. What frustrates me is how a lot of newer IFs feel stuck in this narrow creative loop, where the same tone, tropes, and character dynamics just get recycled endlessly. And there's nothing inherently wrong with tropes, they're popular and tropes for a reason, but in these IFs, it feels like they're executed in the same way, every single time, there's nothing new or creative.

Even when I was a teenager, the YA landscape was full of pretty cringe stuff like The Maze Runner, Divergent, Hush Hush and slop like that, but idk the vibe still felt different somehow, I can't rlly explain it. There was more of a sense of authors trying to tell a story or explore a world, even if it was messy and still chasing whatever trend was popular at the time, which I guess was dystopian for the most part lol. Now, with Booktok and this flood of copy-paste "romantasy" and “dark romance” content with cringe protagonists, nonexistent plots and shadow daddy romance interests, everything feels hyper-commercialized and self-referential. It’s like people are writing with algorithmic instincts and trying to hit trend checkboxes instead of actually developing tone, atmosphere, pacing or even thinking about their own story on a deeper level. Smh I knew it was only a matter of time until the Booktok girlies made their way into the IF community

And yeah, this also brings me to my next point lol: I’ve def noticed how many of these authors are literally like 18 and fresh out of high school And that this is the reason the writing is so flawed for a lot of these newer IFs, bc they haven't even had that chance to evolve and grow yet since they're so young. Which is fine ig because some of them do have great ideas and mature writing. For example The Exile by Pheo, like I'm pretty sure he was quite young when he started it, but that one actually had strong writing and mood, shame it seems like it's never gonna get finished. But as a general rule, as someone in my mid-20s, I just can’t connect with stories that read like brainrot Booktok fanfic dressed up as IF, especially when romance is front and center, it just feels weird famLike I'm not even that old lmfao but sometimes I feel like the "old man yells at cloud" meme.

This whole rant prob sounds like gatekeeping younger writers which isn't my intent, it’s more that the overall vibe of the medium has shifted. I miss when IFs felt weirder, more distinct, more experimental. Now so many of them sound like they were written by the same person with the same handful of internet references and the same character archetypes, and it just feels creatively stagnant, that's why I've been sticking with a few older IFs I fell in love with a few years ago and patiently supporting them and waiting for updates haha.

And also lmao yes to your last point, I have pretty severe ADHD myself and even my writing feels less scattered than so many of these demos bro

TLDR: Something something Booktok slop and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race

 

[solavellan]

Omfg yes, this 100%. I’ve been into IF for almost 10 years now, but in the last 2–3 I’ve been reading less and less IFs exactly for this reason. I can show some grace, because a lot of writers start out in fanfiction and tbh that’s not a bad thing in itself. Some great and even popular writers came from that space. I mean hell I do too lmao. I’ve been writing as a hobby since I was a kid, and when I was a teenager, I was just as deep into various cringe fanfic and the big YA trends of the time.

But there’s a point where you’ve got to grow up and branch out, read things that aren’t just fanfic or the same handful of YA tropes. And to clarify, there's nothing wrong with reading those too, as long as it's not everything you consume. I haven't read YA books since I was a teenager, but I do still read fanfics on occasion, when the mood strikes me every now and then. However, your writing should grow as your reading habits do. What frustrates me is how a lot of newer IFs feel stuck in this narrow creative loop, where the same tone, tropes, and character dynamics just get recycled endlessly. And there's nothing inherently wrong with tropes, they're popular and tropes for a reason, but in these IFs, it feels like they're executed in the same way, every single time, there's nothing new or creative.

Even when I was a teenager, the YA landscape was full of pretty cringe stuff like The Maze Runner, Divergent, Hush Hush and slop like that, but idk the vibe still felt different somehow, I can't rlly explain it. There was more of a sense of authors trying to tell a story or explore a world, even if it was messy. Now, with BookTok and this flood of copy-paste "romantasy" and “dark romance” content with cringe protagonists, nonexistent plots and shadow daddy romance interests, everything feels hyper-commercialized and self-referential. It’s like people are writing with algorithmic instincts and trying to hit trend checkboxes instead of actually developing tone, atmosphere, pacing or even thinking about their own story on a deeper level.

And yeah, this also brings me to my next point lol: I’ve def noticed how many of these authors are literally like 18 and fresh out of high school. Which is fine ig because some of them do have great ideas and mature writing. For example The Exile by Pheo, like I'm pretty sure he was quite young when he started it, but that one actually had strong writing and mood, shame it seems like it's never gonna get finished. But as a general rule, as someone in my mid-20s, I just can’t connect with stories that read like brainrot Booktok fanfic dressed up as IF, especially when romance is front and center, it just feels weird famLike I'm not even that old lmfao but sometimes I feel like the "old man yells at cloud" meme.

This whole rant prob sounds like gatekeeping younger writers which isn't my intent, it’s more that the overall vibe of the medium has shifted. I miss when IFs felt weirder, more distinct, more experimental. Now so many of them sound like they were written by the same person with the same handful of internet references and the same character archetypes, and it just feels creatively stagnant, that's why I've been sticking with a few older IFs I fell in love with a few years ago and patiently supporting them and waiting for updates haha.

And also lmao yes to your last point, I have pretty severe ADHD myself and even my writing feels less scattered than so many of these demos bro

TLDR: Something something Booktok slop and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race

The problem with booktok slop dark romances and smut is that it tries to advertise itself as something more than **** with plot and takes itself way too seriously unlike our ancient forebearers; erotica. It's smut, there might be plot but the plot is there so you can have the smut but most of all it understands what sort of readers it has so it never takes itself seriously.

It's like booktok slop is vivziepop and erotica is panty and stocking with garterbelt.

 

[Zoklitsos]

The problem with booktok slop dark romances and smut is that it tries to advertise itself as something more than **** with plot and takes itself way too seriously unlike our ancient forebearers; erotica. It's smut, there might be plot but the plot is there so you can have the smut but most of all it understands what sort of readers it has so it never takes itself seriously.

It's like booktok slop is vivziepop and erotica is panty and stocking with garterbelt.

Yes, you're very right!! I’ve always been so confused and bewildered about why Booktok smut tries so hard to pretend it’s not just erotica with extra steps. Like, there’s nothing wrong with erotica and idgaf if a person reads it, it’s been around forever and people have always read it for what it is. But these newer “romantasy” and “dark romance” books seem desperate to brand themselves as something deeper or more “literary,” when 80% of the content is just spice scenes with the bare minimum of plot to string them together.

It’s just weird, because old school erotica never tried to hide what it was. It had a certain honesty about it like... yeah, this is smut lmao. I mean we've all seen those bodice ripper book covers from the 90s Now it feels like authors are trying to dress it up as epic fantasy or dark academia or whatever other bs like “enemies to lovers with depth” to make it feel more respectable. Maybe it’s because there’s still this weird stigma around erotica as a “lesser” genre, so they want the prestige of fantasy while still writing ****-with-plot. Booktok smut takes itself so seriously, when the best smut (and writing in general tbh) works when it actually has some self-awareness. And that's why fanfic smut is better than the one in most books lmfaoo

 

[Atropa Belladonna]

Yes, you're very right!! I’ve always been so confused and bewildered about why Booktok smut tries so hard to pretend it’s not just erotica with extra steps. Like, there’s nothing wrong with erotica and idgaf if a person reads it, it’s been around forever and people have always read it for what it is. But these newer “romantasy” and “dark romance” books seem desperate to brand themselves as something deeper or more “literary,” when 80% of the content is just spice scenes with the bare minimum of plot to string them together.

It’s just weird, because old school erotica never tried to hide what it was. It had a certain honesty about it like... yeah, this is smut lmao. I mean we've all seen those bodice ripper book covers from the 90s Now it feels like authors are trying to dress it up as epic fantasy or dark academia or whatever other bs like “enemies to lovers with depth” to make it feel more respectable. Maybe it’s because there’s still this weird stigma around erotica as a “lesser” genre, so they want the prestige of fantasy while still writing ****-with-plot. Booktok smut takes itself so seriously, when the best smut (and writing in general tbh) works when it actually has some self-awareness. And that's why fanfic smut is better than the one in most books lmfaoo

The thing that bugged me about IFs that had the whole plot filled with smut smut smut is actually theyre not even aware that it is erotica. They just put it under the name additional 'spicy scenes'. The faq do u mean additional spicy scene when i cant find the skip butt and it popped up every minutes? If your IFs had this, tag it as erotica or dark romance as well or whatever. (And ps. the problem that i cant comprehend is when authors mistook dark romance = erotica. Erotica = dark romance. And they tagged it wrong my mind is error nginx 404. Like dude wat are u even up to. Erotica involves clear consent whileass dark romance usually involves more dubious consent. Hence the 'dark' is there for a reason. Why mixed it together bruh)

 

[solavellan]

Yes, you're very right!! I’ve always been so confused and bewildered about why Booktok smut tries so hard to pretend it’s not just erotica with extra steps. Like, there’s nothing wrong with erotica and idgaf if a person reads it, it’s been around forever and people have always read it for what it is. But these newer “romantasy” and “dark romance” books seem desperate to brand themselves as something deeper or more “literary,” when 80% of the content is just spice scenes with the bare minimum of plot to string them together.

It’s just weird, because old school erotica never tried to hide what it was. It had a certain honesty about it like... yeah, this is smut lmao. I mean we've all seen those bodice ripper book covers from the 90s Now it feels like authors are trying to dress it up as epic fantasy or dark academia or whatever other bs like “enemies to lovers with depth” to make it feel more respectable. Maybe it’s because there’s still this weird stigma around erotica as a “lesser” genre, so they want the prestige of fantasy while still writing ****-with-plot. Booktok smut takes itself so seriously, when the best smut (and writing in general tbh) works when it actually has some self-awareness. And that's why fanfic smut is better than the one in most books lmfaoo

The romantasy genre is just stolen from korean novels that has romance and fantasy in its publishing circles that's why we're seeing it in eng pubs, like I'm 100% sure those romantasy writers read korean romfan thats R18, rebranded it as a subgenre in erotica when in reality it's just a genre that's set in a fantasy to world that allows the characters to have the romance tropes without bending over backwards to justify why it's like that lol it's a genre in korea that uses erotica as an additional flavoring but can stand on its own without it. Eng romantasy however falls apart once the smut is taken out lol

 

[solavellan]

The thing that bugged me about IFs that had the whole plot filled with smut smut smut is actually theyre not even aware that it is erotica. They just put it under the name additional 'spicy scenes'. The faq do u mean additional spicy scene when i cant find the skip butt and it popped up every minutes? If your IFs had this, tag it as erotica or dark romance as well or whatever. (And ps. the problem that i cant comprehend is when authors mistook dark romance = erotica. Erotica = dark romance. And they tagged it wrong my mind is error nginx 404. Like dude wat are u even up to. Erotica involves clear consent whileass dark romance usually involves more dubious consent. Hence the 'dark' is there for a reason. Why mixed it together bruh)

RIGHT!!! It's like no one cares about genre meanings now and thinks it's all flavor text! All of them would shrivel and die if they read a real dark romance without smut/erotica

 

[yourstalkeroutside]

The romantasy genre is just stolen from korean novels that has romance and fantasy in its publishing circles that's why we're seeing it in eng pubs, like I'm 100% sure those romantasy writers read korean romfan thats R18, rebranded it as a subgenre in erotica when in reality it's just a genre that's set in a fantasy to world that allows the characters to have the romance tropes without bending over backwards to justify why it's like that lol it's a genre in korea that uses erotica as an additional flavoring but can stand on its own without it. Eng romantasy however falls apart once the smut is taken out lol

Even the most formulaic and bland korean romantasy is better than most IFs these days. I'd rather read On the Emperor's lap than Fields of Asphodel and the former is straight garbage.