Discussion Fan Fic Pet Peeves?

I do the not-identifying-thing sometimes. Usually with first person narrators because they know who they are and it doesn't change. I do not like confusion on identities in dialogue, though. (Except when I want it which rarely happens, but happens sometimes.)
If I get confused on the who's who of a story I usually don't finish it.
I'm fine with mystery identities as long as they are clearly distinguishable from everybody else.

@pronker now that sound like a fascinating project. And one I'd undoubtedly fail within the first three words. x_X

 

This isn't restricted to fanfic, but it bothers me when the characters don't have different speech patterns and they all use a speech pattern that I assume is the author's.

 

Speech tags are an easy source of annoyance, but the most annoying one for me is the use of the word "question". Specifically, I hate it being used like " 'X?', she questioned." The word doesn't work that way! You can say something in a particular speech tag, you can also whisper, ask or demand it, but you don't "question" it. And yet you see this in fanfic all over the place, and it really gets to me.

 

Interesting one. I never actually thought using "questioned" that way was incorrect, but I've come to dislike the sound of it in my own writing. Maybe someone gets good use out of it, but in my hands it makes the dialogue go "clunk."

 

It's distressingly wrong and I hate it. Of course, my irritation is probably a result of reading a lot of fanfiction with an eye towards reviewing it, so I tend to pay a lot of attention to writing style. It's common whenever you see one of those writers who's allergic to the word "said", which is quite a few. I blame bad English teachers, myself.

 

In my opinion (since I am one of those writers), avoiding the word "said" isn't a bad thing if you are skilled at using other words and phrases as dialogue tags. I tend to have an action in place of "said," and it's mostly out of habit. My own observations of people talking show that they don't simply say things; they'll say it with an action. They gesture, make faces, make noises, and otherwise move their bodies. People are animated when they speak. Thus, I make my dialogue reflect that by using actions in place of standard dialogue tags.

However, back when I was starting out, I fell into the trap that others have with using a thesaurus for different words. I see that often with people who avoid "said." That is not only amateur, but extremely clunky.

Though, even the usage of "said" contributes to a pet peeve: when writers invert the speech tags. Said Cody. Said Rex. Said Anakin. "Make it stop," said Ugh.

 

"Make it stop!" Ugh begged emphatically.

Now look what you made me do. I'm going to have to use Ugh as a character name in a future story!

 

Joking aside, that is one of my larger peeves. It is highly frustrating to see 'said' (or other tags) inverted like that...and I don't know why people do it either. I've never done it myself.

 

Personally, I'd blame non-native writers.
The noun is 'question'; accordinlgy the verb has to be 'to question' and voila, it does exist. It's not our fault you have so many words for 'ask'. Also, 'said xyz' would be perfectly proper German. If you see funny speechmars as well (comma behind the speech mark) it most likely is a Germasn writer. Force knows how long it took me to get the switch correct.

And hating on 'said' is cause for many speech tag problems.

"Personally, I love it. It's invisible and forces me to put the nuances into the words", said she with a heavy German accent and a raised brow to indicate her slightly sarcastic annoyance about the topic.

 

Using said, or 'question' doesn't really bug me personally. I've probably done the latter myself at some point or another (and I am a native English speaker).

 

Thankfully, I've kept most of my slang and dialect out of my writing. Characters have yet to start rutsching in their seats.

Rutsching: To rutsch. To squirm or fidget. From German: rutschen "Quitcher rutschin'!"

Always fun having to explain that one to non-Pennsylvania Dutch.

Back to the peeves...

This one I'm guilty of, but it bugs me when there is very little description of characters, particularly certain types of characters, and then the descriptions will suddenly drop some new detail on the characters that wasn't there. For example, I was reading a Megaman fan fic with some Robot Master characters. I pictured them much like their official descriptions, as the author didn't bother to include any at all.

And then, suddenly, the author drops a t-shirt on one.

That took me right out of the story.

 

Only if they're fidgeting.

 

You know when YOU are writing a fic and a character is speaking and is cut off mid sentence for whatever reason and ninety-eight percent of the time YOU forget what they were going to say even though they were MEANT to never finish what they were saying. That has happened to me.

 

That doesn't happen too often to me, but it drives me crazy when it does! In my cases though, it's usually just the last word that gets cut off, or only the first word is said.

 

A pet peeve is when a story has everything: characters whose dialogue you can 'hear' because it is true; an unwavering mood (tragic, comic); a plot that sounds like it could happen in the show's canon; wonder of wonders, it is complete! But it is poorly edited for word usage, this among others: 'his companions shunned him and treated him almost as a leaper' ... and that speedbump makes you cranky for awhile. It also makes you hope against hope that the author doesn't really think that 'leper' is the same as 'leaper.'

 

Maybe it is a leaping leper.

 

They are, but we are talking about writing mistakes like misuse of 'There, their and they're'.

 

Someone else on these boards has stated 'fanfiction is serious business' and maybe I'm taking this form of entertainment too seriously? I dunno. I reviewed the story and stuck to its good points, which were many.

 

It could also merely have been a typo. It is very difficult to spot all of one's own errors.

 

It had the advantage of being topical, as the fic was based on an episode aired 041514, so folks were really really excited about the episode, because character upsets and startling events happened all over the place; errors could have been attributed to eagerness to publish and get that story out there. It was an excellent story, but yeah, this is the place for venting peeves, so here's one.

 

My grammar-check always wants me to change laid or lie to lay. It happens all the time and most of the time it doesn't sound right. I am wondering how many people are changing lain, laid or lie to lay because Microsoft Word is telling them to do so.