I've enjoyed the responses to this question and agree with some... not so bothered by others. But one thing that I really can't abide is "you raped me but now I love you" or "I love you so much I have to rape you." I was the victim of a sexual assault and can't imagine ever having 'love' type feelings for the man who assaulted me. (I tend to avoid any type of rape/ non-con anyway.) That whole "I was tortured and gang raped yesterday and today I need to have sex with you so I can feel clean" - I can't possibly take stories like this or the characters in them seriously.
I recently read a fic that I thought dealt somewhat 'realistically' with the issue of rape. Its a great fic called "Saving Draco Malfoy" by Dayspring. What was so creative and realistic about it to me was that the victim wasn't actually the one who was raped and yet the one who WAS raped had serious repercussions that he had to deal with. (So as to not spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it, I won't say any more. But I HIGHLY recommend it - if you don't mind mpreg.)
I also don't like the super feminized or overly macho Harry or Draco. And when either character is too far from canon it turns me off. I've read fics where it felt like all the author did was take an original fic and change the main characters names to Harry and Draco, because they're nothing like the Harry and Draco that we've come to know through canon. Some departures from canon are okay - but not total personality makeovers.
The other thing that really irritates me is the supreme, all-knowing, never-wrong Hermione. I realize that she's very intelligent and cares a great deal about Harry and likes to know what's going on with him. However when she (at 13, 14, 15, 16 years old, after a couple of trips to the library) comes up with solutions that no one else in the history of the wizarding world has ever achieved, or can look at Harry and instantly 'know' everything that he has done or thought about doing, I am definitely turned off. I mean if she's so so smart, why is she still in school?
Also, I know that best friends sometimes tell each other everything, but we know that Harry tends to hold things inside, especially after fifth year and I can't reconcile that Harry with the "I can pry out all your secrets whether you want to tell me or not"/Mother!Hermione.
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I recently read a fic that I thought dealt somewhat 'realistically' with the issue of rape. Its a great fic called "Saving Draco Malfoy" by Dayspring. What was so creative and realistic about it to me was that the victim wasn't actually the one who was raped and yet the one who WAS raped had serious repercussions that he had to deal with. (So as to not spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it, I won't say any more. But I HIGHLY recommend it - if you don't mind mpreg.)
I also don't like the super feminized or overly macho Harry or Draco. And when either character is too far from canon it turns me off. I've read fics where it felt like all the author did was take an original fic and change the main characters names to Harry and Draco, because they're nothing like the Harry and Draco that we've come to know through canon. Some departures from canon are okay - but not total personality makeovers.
The other thing that really irritates me is the supreme, all-knowing, never-wrong Hermione. I realize that she's very intelligent and cares a great deal about Harry and likes to know what's going on with him. However when she (at 13, 14, 15, 16 years old, after a couple of trips to the library) comes up with solutions that no one else in the history of the wizarding world has ever achieved, or can look at Harry and instantly 'know' everything that he has done or thought about doing, I am definitely turned off. I mean if she's so so smart, why is she still in school?
Also, I know that best friends sometimes tell each other everything, but we know that Harry tends to hold things inside, especially after fifth year and I can't reconcile that Harry with the "I can pry out all your secrets whether you want to tell me or not"/Mother!Hermione.