To understand this complaint, you will need to know the following words and their accepted meaning in the Internet-and-other-media-based world of aficionados:

Fandom: A group of fans of a given book, TV show, movie, musical, or other work of art

Fannish: Pertaining to the members of a given fandom

Canon: That which members of a fandom admire; e. g. a particular novel by Victor Hugo, and arguably a musical by Messieurs Boubil, Schonberg, &c.

Fanon, or Fannish Convention: A tradition begun by a member of a fandom that becomes almost as accepted as canon, so that authors who use it do not feel the need to explain the plot point or characterization.

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In the Les Misérables fandom, there is one piece of canon that no one can argue with: the novel Les Misérables penned by the late Victor Hugo, published in 1862. It is the original, and the best. If something occurs in the novel, then it has occurred in all pieces of fanfiction that do not explicitly or tacitly avoid that scene or fact, whether it is Fantine's selling her teeth or Gavroche's residence in a large statue of an elephant in the Place de la Bastille.

There is also a famous reworking of that novel in the form of a musical. The musical is not canon. Victor Hugo did not write it. Many recognizable parts of Les Misérables fanfiction that conflict with the book come from the musical: Eponine as a beautiful girl, the omission or elision of Valjean's rearrest, Grantaire's consciousness during the events of June Fifth-Sixth, Enjolras' vest, Mme. Thénardier's survival, &c. ad nauseam. It is entirely possible for someone to write a story based on the fannish conventions popularized in the musical, and while their story may be somewhat criticized by people who do not like everything about the musical, most fans will accept the missing scenes and added character traits without a qualm.

There are certain traditions in fanfiction that have absolutely no basis in the novel or the musical, and are increasingly gratuitous as they become increasingly ubiquitous. These are pieces of fanon.

It seems that one of the most commonly held beliefs of Les Misérables fanfic writers is that, if there were no Cosette, Marius would adore Eponine. When a charming Pontmercy loses his Cosette, or is distracted from her by everyone's favorite gamine, there is rarely any sort of explanation given. No one asks, "Why is he attracted to her? Isn't she unwashed, uneducated, well below his socioeconomic stratum (at least, the one he was born into), a thief, and quite possibly a harlot?" She is all of these things, and yet, due to the power of fanon and the wishful thinking of hundreds of unrequited lovers, when we the fans read about Eponine's revenge on Cosette, and how she wins Marius' love, we rarely read any sort of justification for this massive change in the canon. Authors often assume that a happy ending for Eponine will satisfy their readers.

Another vexing fannish convention, and one that I inadvertantly spawned, is the notion that many young men with the surname of Grantaire are lusting after Enjolras scions, and that, should an Enjolras imbibe a drop of alcohol, he will gladly participate in whatever carnal debaucheries a Grantaire desires. In my defense, I wrote my story (three years ago) as a mental exercise, to see how I could make it work.

It works.

At least, if one is capable of accepting the idea of slash as something that is not intrinsically distasteful, it works up to a point. That point was the third time I read the same plot, whereupon I grew tired of the monster I seem to have created. I apologize to the fan community at large. I did not mean for that to happen, at least, not in the way that it has.

It is also common knowledge (read: fanon), these days, that if Bossuet and Joly are not sleeping together, often with Musichetta, there is something missing in their relationship. I have read perhaps one story that explained why they would do such a thing for any reason deeper than physical lust. I am also guilty of abusing this cliché, though I refuse to take responsibility for beginning it. Please note that not all authors believe this or use it in their stories, but it is widespread and unexplained.

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Fanon is not restricted to emotions that fans assume characters feel. One of the most prevalent Christian names of young, upstanding, beautiful, Apollonian revolutionary leaders is Marcelin. This tradition was inadvertently begun by our fair Indexer, who named her first Enjolras after her great-grandfather, Marcellin (note spelling) Goutal. Several people, including myself, thought that this was a splendid name and copied it. It was not intolerable, perhaps, the first three or four times it occurred, though it easily became confusing where fans congregated and wanted to discuss their Enjolrases (Enjolratti, if you prefer). If one peruses the Global Clearinghouse of Deceased Revolutionaries, one finds five young men named Marcelin, the fifth having been given a middle initial to differentiate him from his brethren. This is certainly not a comprehensive survey of all the young men named Marcelin Enjolras who happen to have died in 1832, but it is more than sufficient to show a trend.

There are many French male first names, and quite a few of them would suit a young, blond archetype. Open any book of saints and take inspiration, writers. Try the Random Masculine Name Generator. Differentiate yourself and your Enjolras from the crowd. Name him Patrice or Christophe or Uriel (apologies: that is an injoke that refers to the fact that there is a Michel, a Gabriel, and a Raphael).

If you must have Eponine take her revenge on Cosette and win Marius' heart, explain to us why he does not miss Cosette, and why he is attracted to Eponine. If you have a wonderful, original idea for a story in which Grantaire confesses his true feelings to Enjolras, by all means, write it, but if Enjolras must reciprocate his affection, kindly refrain from forcing the poor boy to do it under the influence of alcoholic beverages, or at the very least from making him drink simply because someone offers him a drink. Hugo tells us that Enjolras is sober. If you disagree, you had best have a good reason.

The best way to combat the spread of fanon is to assume nothing. Perhaps your target audience has read the novel; perhaps they have seen the musical. Perhaps they have done one and not the other. It would behoove the careful writer to note what conventions they have taken from the musical, if they have used any of them. To take an innocuous example, just because the Joly in your mind is blond does not mean that everyone else's is.

This said, I must note that I support people who ignore facets of canon in their writings. We are not Victor Hugo. If we were all aspiring to Hugo's style, then only Amy would be allowed to write anything in this fandom. If we refused to write anything that departed from what he wrote, there would be no fanfiction. I like writing and reading fanfiction. It is a way for those of us without the time and energy to create cities full of characters to play with ideas and words. The difference between intolerable out-of-character behavior and intriguing characterization is explanation and justification of questionable actions. If Combeferre starts a brawl, I need to know why. If Fantine gets a job at a beauty salon, tell me how that happened.

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Fanfiction uses someone else's ideas and creations. Therefore, the argument that we the fanfiction authors should not borrow from each other is troublesome, but we must remember that the reason we write fanfiction is because we have original ideas about these characters. Every story, whether it is based on Les Misérables or not, needs to have internal logic, or it will not be plausible. You might think that a silly story does not, but I disagree. The difference between the humor of a kindergartener and the humor of an adult is that a kindergartener may think that:

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road?
A: To buy a Chinese newspaper.

In sum, Quiara's commandments of fanfiction writing are:

1. Be original. This includes names, plots, plot twists, and backgrounds. Is there a sweet, loving Enjolras mère in the house?
2. Be coherent. This includes using a spellchecker, proofreading for grammar and punctuation errors, and keeping the setting of your story clear. Remember, Azelma does not say, "Okay," any more than Bossuet's old coat has a zipper.
3. Be consistent, at least within a given story. Do not describe Combeferre's eyesight as comparable to that of an eagle one moment, and three paragraphs later, say he's lost his glasses.
4. Be plausible. No one who reads your story begins looking at it to see where its flaws are, but anachronisms, modern language, and out-of-character behavior will discourage even the most eager reader.

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