Forbiden Fruit: The Tempation of Edward Cullen

This is my favorite badfic simply because of one word: mancarrot. (And gigglestick, but it was the mancarrot.)

And I just found out there was an epilogue:

 

Atlantiana ....Rebekah.... Loren

What is it with fanfic writers and coming up with the dumbest names I've ever heard?

 

Sure, but it seems to be an outright plague in fanfiction. But that's because most of them are author insert characters who think that gibberish of a name would be "cool"

 

A lot of the self-inserts are due to the fanfic writers' amateurish, escapist natures who mostly imitate their favorite TV shows, books, movies, et cetera without knowing exactly why it is they worked in those specific genres/plots. Not helped that they can barely grasp how good storytelling works despite maybe knowing the basics, but while it's one thing to know how to write coherently, it's another to know how to build worlds and characters, which can take years. Quite a bit of well-rounded characters do have ridiculous names (intentional or not), it's just a lot easier to overlook that simply because the characters are well-written or they're just too awesome to ignore.

We make fun of names like "Atlantiana Rebekah Loren" and "Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way" because it's obvious they're word salads and don't have a lot of meaning to them. Although I can argue the latter works better in remembrance due to the character herself basically living up to that name compared to "Atlantiana", who isn't even a character but in-concept-only. Meanwhile, when it comes to making up OC names in a different language, most common being Japanese, that's where a lot of cringe (if not lulz) comes in because they typically smash two words together or pick out a word from the Japanese-English dictionary. Problem is, they don't take into account that there's actual meaning behind these names due to how they're written out, which can have multiple meanings depending on the kanji (or lack thereof) used, but they chose that name because it "looks/sounds cool".

Whoops, didn't mean to sperg, but that's what I've noticed over the years.

 

I sometimes wonder if the fantasy genre has made it a little too easy or open for people to just make up names for the hell of it without putting thought into it because "it's a fantasy, have a unicorn and half-elf". It may fall into the same vein as why people write in purple prose when they don't really have to, they just do it because they feel obligated to. When it comes to the name "Atlantiana", since it's pretty much a "My Immortal" clone to begin with and probably will never get to be as popular, it was most likely done on purpose (I keep thinking it's just a badly-done polar opposite of "Pacifica" tbh). Then again, maybe the writer didn't give a shit and just put it together because they needed a dumb name and didn't think anyone would remember it.

Honestly, I think the mispronunciation is the least of their worries if their audience is non-Japanese to begin with. Getting names mixed up is an issue as well, but it's when it's done for the sake of "being cool/edgy" that it can be a problem. For all I know, it's no different from the Japanese themselves giving their characters random English names simply because it "sounds cool", but we tend to write that off simply because they're foreigners. 'Course, it could just be the weeaboos being... well, weeaboos, though I do feel like the Japanese at least try to put some thought into naming their creations.

Yeah, that's true. Still don't want to get too wordy if I can, though, just didn't know where to cut the fat.

 

And of course, lest we forget that the author's name is Becky - Atlantiana Rebekah Loren. You see that a lot in bad fanfics too. The author's name is Emma, the character's name is Emilia. Author's name is Claire, character's Clarice. Author's Anna, character's Annalisebellelouisemarie. It's one of the biggest turn ons to Mary Sue author inserts.