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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Discussion Fan Fic Pet Peeves?

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction and Writing Resource' started by alienyouthct, Jul 30, 2002.

  1. LexiLupin

    LexiLupin Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2011
    I've had writer's block for a while now. Fortunately, this is allowing me to get some homework done. Unfortunately, my mind is now distracted by formulating a challenge to eviscerate the collective dignity of the Jedi Order.
     
  2. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    Ack, that's also one of my biggest peeves. That and having my muse just up and abandon me.
     
  3. Mayla

    Mayla Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2012
    I guess that's more of a writer's pet peeve than a reader's pet peeve... oh, wait, no it isn't. I can think of several stories that suffered six-month delays or even indefinite postponement due to writer's block. :\ I believe it ranks up there in terms of most potent interruptions to writing, right under "fatal computer crash" and "new baby".
     
  4. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    And all of those can be attributed to that notorious Sith Lord known as Darth Real Life.
     
  5. Briannakin

    Briannakin Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 25, 2010
    Hey, there is nothing that says that we can't discuss writer's pet peeves.

    #1 Darth Real Life
    # 2 writer's block
    #3 when you cringe when writing something because you can't think of any alternatives
    #4 WHEN MY STUPID MULTILIGUAL KEYBOARD DECIDES TO RANOMLY SWITCH FROM ENGLISH TO FRENCH!!!!!! it gives me weird quotation marks and the grave accented e (รจ) instead of a question mark.
     
    Admiral_Volshe likes this.
  6. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    You know what I hate? When my muse up and leaves me. For no explanation. I wake up one day and find that my muse has packed its bags, drained my bank account, and is handing me divorce papers. Oh, and it wants sole custody of the fics we've had.

    But Muse... I treat you well! I don't understand... I do all that I can. I write, I draw, I act, I sing... I do this all for you! You tell me to jump and I reply, "how high"!

    There needs to be a writer's counselor.
     
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  7. LexiLupin

    LexiLupin Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2011
    [dons spectacles and opens small notebook]

    Come, Trak, go ahead and lie down on the couch and tell me about your muse woes...

    :p

    I hate when my muse refuses to stick with the story on which she should be focusing.
    OR- what I hate more- is when my muse waits until I really shouldn't be writing fanfic... and then comes up with great ideas and I HAVE to write them. This happened during my last class- I was determined to be ahead of schedule with schoolwork and no, I spent the entire week playing around with a fic that will never be posted anywhere. What the heck, muse?
    Fortunately for now, my muse is dead as a doornail, so aside from periodic forays onto here for a mental breather, I've been relatively productive this week with such riveting work as reading court rulings and writing summary briefs for an international law class... [face_tired]
     
  8. Briannakin

    Briannakin Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 25, 2010
    Oh muse woes. I hate it when my muse picks up and goes on vacation for 4 months. Especially in the middle of a fic!!

    I've also been at the mercy of an overactive muse. There are days when I want it to SHUT UP! I especially hate it when it bugs me with a plot I don't want to or have time to write. Durring the summer, for about 2 weeks it was bugging me with a LOTF/FOTJ AU 100k word epic/trilogy I am like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! It also included torture, so I would have had to write it, then tone it down for posting here. Thankfully it shut up about it, and has moved onto original stuff.
     
  9. Mayla

    Mayla Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2012
    How about goosing someone with the Force? Because y'know, I don't think I've ever seen that in a fanfic... it's time for a little originality re: Force abilities. :p
     
  10. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    I claim the abilities that pertain to gross bodily functions and gas! :p

    Anyway, back to pet peeves...

    This is a small one, but it irks me. It pertains to story description. It absolutely drives me nuts when people describe a story as "grimdark." Just ARGH! If it's a dark dramatic story, call it a drama and be done! Don't slam together two words that can mean pretty much the same thing when there are other, more appropriate descriptors to use! Grimdark. Just don't do it.

    Now that I think about it. "Grimdark" sounds like either an early-90s Image comic or a character or both. Either way, I can see Linkara reviewing this thing and saying...

    "Because poor literacy is kewl."
     
  11. LexiLupin

    LexiLupin Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2011
    Grimdark- the offspring of a gundark and a gremlin. This will now be my mental image.

    I've actually never seen/noticed that 'term' before. It makes me cringe though.
     
  12. Draconarius

    Draconarius Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2005
    I've seen it a lot, unfortunately. I generally see it used as an insult by fans who aren't happy with their favourite work becoming a few shades darker. I don't see many people use it to describe their work. In either case, I find it extremely annoying as well.

    Sent from my R2 unit using Tapatalk 2
     
  13. Dantana Skywalker

    Dantana Skywalker Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Apr 7, 2002
    You know what peeves me? When my muse only wants me to write stuff I can't post here! No, Rache and Jaina, you do NOT need another smut scene. Shut up and let me get on with the plot!
     
  14. FARK2005

    FARK2005 Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2012
    Another peeve: when it's painfully obvious that the author greatly dislikes one of the characters in his/her story.
     
  15. LexiLupin

    LexiLupin Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 27, 2011
    Oh, that's a profic pet peeve of mine more than fanfic. At last on here, you tend to sort of get to know how the different writers feel about certain characters and can be wary, lol. Better that than finding yourself towards the end of LotF and wondering how Jaina suddenly has turned into a prissy, nail-filing, never-seen-rough-and-dirty-warfare socialite.
     
  16. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    Yeah, that's a pro-fic pet peeve of mine as well. It's fine to have a preference for a character and dislike another one, we all do it, but a professional writer should be, well, professional enough to write all the characters in the universe fairly.

    Jude Watson is notorious for this. She has flat-out said in interviews that she doesn't like Anakin and can't separate him from Vader, and it's blindingly obvious in her work, to the point where she makes up Vader-esque **** for Anakin to do when he hasn't even reached puberty, and it's out of character to the point of ridiculousness.

    Whereas I know a few fan fic writers on these boards who can't stand Anakin but who write him well enough and in character enough that I enjoy reading their work.
     
  17. Admiral Volshe

    Admiral Volshe Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    I can't stand Han Solo to a degree, so of course it's a bit more difficult for me to write him. The scoundrel "ladies-man". Blech. Still, some people enjoy his character, so I attempt to stay IC.
    I agree that you have to write about characters the way the audience would want to view them, not how you see them. So many pro-fics do that, (including non-SW original concept writers. You can completely tell who the author likes, and who they don't like.) oh how it annoys me.

    Question: Have any of you gotten **** for writing the faults of a character too visibly/darkly (versus too perfectly)? First off, in my AU fic I supposedly made Ozzel seem like a complete donkey. (2 pm's about that). Alternatively, have you ever gotten that same feedback?
     
  18. Valairy Scot

    Valairy Scot Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 16, 2005
    I've been informed that I mischaracterized Qui-Gon (note, in ONE fic out of many in which he appeared) - one in which I purposefully emphasized his one-note fascination with Anakin (for a reason not yet revealed). It even made for a peeve in a thread about how horribly mistreated Qui-Gon is on these boards and how Qui-Gon fans weren't welcome here so she was bidding farewell to tf.n.

    Occasionally I've had my human-flawed Obi-Wan called "too perfect." (Believe me, "golden-boy Obi-Wan" does exist and I could point to those authors but I won't as your mileage may vary; I do enjoy those stories even if he is painted "saint" Obi-Wan.)

    My take on such complaints: listen carefully, think about the point, then decide if there is any truth to the comment. Maybe you want that character acting that way in that story, maybe you overdid it, maybe the reader over-reacted. But you should take the comment seriously before accepting or rejecting the viewpoint.
     
  19. Admiral Volshe

    Admiral Volshe Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Your Qui-Gon is OOC? I beg to differ, haven't read one of your fics that had OOC anyone.

    As I said above.
    I have seen such saintly Obi-Wan he could have been immortalized in the Sistine Chapel. :p Oh how awful that was, comparable to the one Hallowe'en where I ate my entire stash. [face_laugh]
    I agree, just wondering your stories is all.
    I think it just gets me all riled up if I have something planned, and then a reader completely destroys the character because they are OOC in their perspective. Ob-la-di, ob-la-da. :p
    I'm still curious if anyone has written a character overly flawed or dark, I have seen a few, but they were not too bad. I mostly read in-saga AU, however.
     
  20. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    I've read a few fanfic Anakins that I thought were overly flawed and dark, but I just don't read any further. The only character I've been accused of writing OOC is Palpatine, and I was accused of making him a bit too obvious in his manipulation of Anakin. The person who commented, very well may have been correct.
     
  21. Thorn058

    Thorn058 Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Jul 28, 2008
    You got feedback? I have never gotten a PM offering concrit although I would like them. I guess my writing samples on here have been small and the two hiatus I was on doesn't help but I wish someone would rip me a little. However just not about punctuation and grammar since that is my nemesis.
     
  22. Valairy Scot

    Valairy Scot Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 16, 2005
    An invite to rip? <rubs hands in glee> Oh.
     
  23. Thorn058

    Thorn058 Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Jul 28, 2008
    Here is the thing. I went right from high school to the work force then after 15 yrs decided to go back to school at a two year technical school. For electives I took every writing course the school offered and I don't know when writing fell out of style or kids got dumber but when it came time for peer review all I got was "Gee you are really good." or "Wow how do you write like that." sometimes even from instructors. When what I really wanted was this part doesn't work, maybe change the pacing here, develop this character more, perhaps less description here. Things to work on you know? I don't require smoke blown up my tail pipe, I have family for that, what I would like is things to improve on, how to become better at writing. Admittedly I know I am weak at punctuation and staying in tense. I tried writing a first person fic for a challenge two years ago and kept it going for a few chapters but it was really challenging to stay in the right tense. So when I say "rip" this is what I mean.

    edit: Now done with school but still writing all I can if the muse co operates and posting on here and other writing sites just to work on my story telling.
     
  24. Valairy Scot

    Valairy Scot Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 16, 2005
    You can always ask for a "beta" who won't pull punches if you want one. Just ask Deb (Obimom).

    Actually, all fanfic authors, I've found that beta'ing others works really improves your "eye" as to your own stuff. If you have the time or inclination, I recommend it. We did have a thread once for people searching to beta or looking for beta's.
     
  25. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    For a moment, I thought I was in Lit and we were about to segue into a discussion about Karen Traviss.

    Then, the conversation went more towards editing, and upon seeing the word "beta" being used as a verb, I knew I was back in the FFR.

    There's a reason I try to avoid writing any major characters; I know for a fact that I will never get them "right". Hell, hardly any professional authors get the main characters "right"! So, I simply avoid the hassle. If I ever did write any of the main major characters, I would need to draft up bullet points so that way I can keep the core of their character relatively intact. Even then, there will be those who still argue that I can't get the character "right".

    So, I just stick to more minor characters who have been screwed over by so many authors that their characterization had to be retconned with a mental illness. Much easier! Like working with a blank slate! :p