Hey, look, there's no swearing in this title!
I read a lot of fics where the leader makes a big, life-changing announcement out of nowhere, such as renouncing the Clan's faith in StarClan, or a big change in the Clan's culture. This revelation is unexpected. There has been no discussion, there's been no signs of anything changing. This announcement isn't a positive one, it's usually something that the Clan disagrees with. This change sets up the story.
So what? I've just described a plot. What's wrong with this?
The problem is that it's incredibly unrealistic. That's not to say everything in a book should be realistic, but some things should be. Some things, when they're unrealistic, take away from the story and annoy the reader. And this is one of them. Imagine, if one of our world leaders, stood up and said that certain religions could no longer be followed. Or that we were suddenly enemies with a country we've had no problem with before, or suddenly all conflict has been resolved with a country we've been enemies with for a long time, with little proof or explanation to support this announcement. Now, I'm not saying that this has never or would never happen. History is fucking weird, I can guarantee something like this has happened some time. The problem is that a group of people would never agree to this. There's be riots on the streets. Calls of impeachment or resignation. People would blatantly disobey. It would only ever work in a completely tyrannical society.
Anyone who's been reading my fic "See You Alive," is probably thinking "hang on. Isn't this exactly what you did?" You're right, Spiderstar announces the end to a long conflict between RimuClan and BeechClan, and that the two Clans are uniting to become one big Clan with no prior discussion or indication that this would happen. But that's sort of the point. Without saying spoilers, neither RimuClan or BeechClan take too kindly to the news. And he does, at least, try to get his Clan on his side, instead of just saying what they're doing and expecting his Clan to obey whether they like it or not. The whole point is that it can't work. I promise I'm not a giant hypocrite...well, not this instance anyway.
This whole thing annoys me because it just would never happen. Power to the people!! A Clan wouldn't let some big, unpopular, life-changing announcement slide. There'd be resistance and protest at least. It's true the Clan's are more of a dictatorship than anything, and there is that fucking "the leader's word is law" bullshit that's a recipe for disaster. But even in the books themselves, the cats don't follow every idiot thing a leader commands. Fireheart went behind Bluestar's back to prevent a needless battle.
(Spoilers for The Silent Thaw)....
Spotfur starts a fucking rebellion against Bramblestar over this codebreaker business! People don't just listen and obey unless there's adequate punishment for disobeying, which turns the fic into a whole new kind of fic. Every time I read some leader make an announcement that changes the Clan's lives without warning when that change is an unpopular one, and then the Clan all goes "well, this sucks" and then does nothing except complain, I facepalm. I read it and think "damn, the author knows nothing about politics and how the world works. Like, even less than me!" It makes the Clan feel unreal, and having the social group feel real is such an important part of writing.
So seriously, if your fic includes your leader making some huge, out of the blue announcement, really consider the consequences of that change. Is it gonna come back and bite them in the ass? Because it really should. If there isn't going to be backlash, the Clan should agree with this change. And if they don't agree, and there is no social consequence? Cut that announcement out, because it's adding nothing to your story. The things you write about need to have meaning and add to your story. It doesn't always have to be big plot events, but it needs to have some sort of purpose, like developing a character. So a major announcement with no impact really shouldn't be in there.
Please stop doing this in your fics. I see so many amazing fanfics meet their downfall here. This mistake won't ruin your fic - but I know you can do so much better.