I used to be very involved in the world of Zelda fanfiction, but my interest in it has dwindled in the past year or so. And I think it's because I've become jaded. I can't figure out if it's because I've read all the good stories available -- which it often feels like -- or if I've just experienced so much fanfiction that I've set my standards impossibly high and always end up disappointed. The latter seems more likely, since I have some stories on my favorites list that I would never read now that I haven't even touched in years, that I don't even recall the plot of. I think as I read more and more stories, I started to get a better grasp on what a good fanfiction was like and what I enjoyed about them, so I lost interest in a lot of the mediocre stories on there...
But, since this thread is about fandom pet peeves, I'm going to talk about my biggest one in the Zelda fandom. It's Dark Link. Just... Dark Link in general. I hate him. I like him in the game as an enemy -- I have an Ocarina of Time 3D file that literally just exists so I can go fight him whenever I want to because it's so much fun -- but the fandom has turned him into this really annoying character that I hate so much. He's just supposed to be the "cool" guy, and whenever we get a new game, everyone's BEGGING for him to come back. It's just frustrating now. I like Dark Link as being a mysterious, mindless manifestation of darkness that uses your own moves against you. That's cool. Turning him into a full-blown villain would just ruin his image in my opinion.
Dark Link ruined one of my favorite fanfictions for me, in fact. One of my favorite stories of all time began incorporating him, and I lost interest in the story completely. He was okay at first -- Dark Link was kind of a behind-the-scenes sort of character... but then he took on a major role and I started disliking him and by extension the story more and more before I just stopped reading updates completely. I feel very disappointed in that story -- they had an
excellent set-up, beautiful command of language, and, the reason I'm the most disappointed, a really,
really good original villain. He had motivation, backstory, personality, and he was simultaneously likable and detestable... He was fantastic. And then they replaced him with the cliché that is Dark Link. It's very annoying when Dark Link gets his own personality in these stories, since in the game, there's not even evidence that he can TALK.
Dark Link CAN be pulled off well, of course. But it's difficult, and I'm very picky. These days I just avoid stories with Dark Link in them entirely. (Well, to be fair, I pretty much avoid fanfiction entirely now, aside from rereading my old favorites every now and then...)
As far as other clichés that I hate go... Well, self-inserts annoy me, but since I don't click on them, I don't know if they're really a pet peeve or not. They're just silly in my opinion and I'm not at all interested in them. And I don't like stories in which OCs are the main character. I'm VERY wary about OCs in fanfics, and if they steal too much spotlight from the canon characters, I tend to dislike the story. But they can be done well, so it's not like they're a general pet peeve.
1) OOC = Out of Character. Yes, fanfiction is a medium that anyone can make an attempt at, and you can do whatever you want in it, but it really, really bothers me when people are half-assed about characterization. They take no time to actually study the character's personality, habits, speech pattern, etc. and instead empty the character of their established personality and just tacks on whatever they feel like.
2) Applying own habits/convictions to a character regardless of what is established. This can be little things, like having a character say "Oh my Gosh" instead of "Oh my God". I actually asked an author once why they did it, and they replied that they found it improper for the character to say "Oh my God" (I wish I was kidding). Sure, it's a minor thing, but for me who tend to hear the voices in the characters, it ends up "sounding" off when I know fully well it's not something the character would say/do.
3) "Let's put everyone in high school" - to this I just have to ask; really? Here we have an interesting world, filled with characters who are interesting thanks to their established backstory and life experience - and you want to reduce all that into a teen soap? I see this happen in every single fandom I've been a part of (and I've been a part of a lot)... and it's not just human character, either. I just want to ask each and every person who does this, why they then are part pf this particular fandom - and not one of the many teen-oriented fandoms out there, if all they're interested in is making everything a high school experience...
It's funny some of the things you've mentioned. I actually like out of character stories a lot. Well, many of them can be terrible, especially when the characters are OoC for no reason at all -- but when there is an explanation or it's an AU, I really like them. There is this one story called Sacred Reliquary that I used to love (but I haven't read it in a long time, and as I've said, my standards have changed) that placed numerous Zelda characters together in a single AU Hyrule. All of the characters had vague references to the original source material, but their personalities were very different -- Rusl in particular I remember, because I could definitely see hints of his
Twilight Princess personality in his character, but he was basically a bad guy for the whole story. He was a very tragic character and quite interesting to read about. (I can't really say why without spoiling anything, so...)
As far as authors placing their own habits on the character... That's complicated. In the above case, I think I'd normally take the authors side; personally I'd never say "oh my god" and it'd be hard for me to write a character saying that. But if it's the character's personality, or if they say that phrase often in the source material... then yeah, I could see where that might get annoying.
And then for the high school thing. Yes, most of them are terrible. But I highly suggest reading
Hit List by zestycrouton. That story is a high school fic that excellently incorporates all the legends and magic that make Zelda what it is. It starts out a lot like any other high school fic but it really does make a comeback. It's such an enjoyable read with great characters (who, I'll add again, are slightly OoC but still fantastic) and a really good plot.