Bathos

Bathos is a term used to describe humour being mixed in with something which is meant to be dramatic, usually caused unintentionally by bad writing. The expression used by TVTropes to mean the same thing is "Narm". Badfic is often riddled with it,

Unintentional bathos can be caused by many things, for example:


 * Sudden changes in the tone of the narrative. The example given by the Turkey City Lexicon is "There will be bloody riots and savage insurrections leading to a violent popular uprising unless the regime starts being lots nicer about stuff."
 * Use of inappropriate lyrics in a songfic, the classic example being "Every Breath You Take" being used as romantic (it's about stalking).
 * Overemphasis, which MAKES IT LOOK LIKE THE CHARACTERS ARE SHOUTING or ACTING REALLY BADLY!!!11!!!one!!!1
 * Poorly-thought-out similes/metaphors or other descriptions.
 * Excessively blunt narration, for example Legolas by laura's infamous rape scene "and then one of the orcs striped her and then he raped her and then laura said 'go away you bastard'". Also applies to titles, for example Chaser Wolf's "Shadow Rapes Matthias".