Discussion Fan Fic Pet Peeves?

Yes. I feel like I used to be able to physically describe something, particularly the visual aspects, much better than I do now. My grammar is way better now and my dialogue flows more naturally. It's almost as if I want to get on with the story, rather than tell it at a slower pace.

I used to also not be half horrible at lightsaber battles, but I probably couldn't write one now.

 

I know that feeling!

Battles take a lot of practice and planning, no matter what. If I have to write any battle I have to start it over a week ahead of time. Otherwise I don't have enough time to think the choreography through and figure out the best way to describe things. Sometimes I even need to use stick figures so I know it makes sense. All that for one or two chapters...yay!

 

I'm fine with duels, but larger-scale battles are definitely time-consuming to choreograph and write. Still fun, but one of the more difficult writing aspects for me to do (or at least to do well). I also usually end up doing more rewriting on those scenes than on others, since it's so important for the pacing to be right and the prose to be engaging.

 

Space starfighter dogfights are always a challenge for me, because they are daunting to write, I keep firing up Empire at War so I can figure out what I'm going to do, I haven't written one into a story yet, but I will!

 

EaW ain't the right kind of game for that, really; it's an RTS. What you want to play in order to help prepare for writing starfighter fiction is a flight sim—doesn't matter what era, subject or system (even a console flying game can do this to some degree). Trust me on this; it was years of flight simming that enabled me to write an original novel about a fighter pilot in WWII.

 

Or you know, just go straight to the source... Michael Stackpole clearly played X-wing before he wrote Rogue Squadron, one of the game's missions is shown as a training simulation even.

If I'm writing a starfighter battle, I dig out my modded copy of...


Turn on the Allied mission builder, make the situation, and actually fly the mission a couple times.

If it's a full sized fleet engagement, do not use EAW. If you want to get a feel for actual full sized fleet engagements...


STAR WARS: Warlords mod. Just waiting for it to update to Homeworld Remastered, once it does... I'll be playing the crud out of it.

 

I hated that mission. I absolutely loathed it.

That's pretty much what I do as well, when writing combat scenes: either draw on my long history of playing flight sims (WWII ones work quite well) or something like Empire at War for larger scale battles.

 

When there's a major something happening but it's happening with no background story. This is way different from suspense or mystery. This is "I expect you, dear reader, to read my mind and understand what is going on here".

 

...and then people cannot recognise an actual thriller when they see one.

And when they are writing it. *hides*

 

More than three or four commas in a sentence when they're not part of a list. 9 out of 10 times it bothers me.

 

Admiral Ackmena I've neglected to build things up propery in the past. Some of it is how my brain is wired and at times I expect others to know certain pieces of information because I think it is clear as day. I like to think that I am getting better on that aspect though.

 

Judging from far too many frustrating conversations I've had over the years, I would say that "You should know this because I know it" is a fairly common attitude.

 

I just got frustrated at myself for realising that the a couple of chapters I'm writing for the fic where the prologue had an epic number of reviews and the first and second chapter barely any are EXTREMELY MUNDANE. And there is no way to get around it, probably mirroring the case of the prequel, where chapters 4 and 5, especially 4, were a necessary snoozefest.

So, yes, mundane, yet necessary chapters and arcs are a pet peeve, from a certain point of view.

 

I usually skip over a period in a story I think would be boring to read. Then in the next chapter I give exposition for the missing time frame, or allude to the events in whichever way seems best.

 

In some cases, it works. In some others, it doesn't, because the mundane chapter - for example - happens to contain one of the rare traces comedy in what otherwise is a grim story. Anyway, you'll see it. Maybe it's mundane to me, but not to a reader.

 

Mmkay.

 

Getting a good idea in the middle of something, at a very inopportune time...

I got a really good idea in the middle of a chapter and added it in, but then realised it delays other plot points...so I spent time figuring it out and removing/readding it.

Eventually it was worked out, but it is definitely a peeve of mine when writing.

 

What in the social thread I have termed "unnecessary gilding of the lily." That is to say, overuse of complicated phrasings or re-branding of an ordinary object in an overly verbose manner, when simplicity works perfectly fine. That's definitely a five-yard penalty.

And yes, I know that "purple prose" is a legitimate style, however it's something you have to start with and keep up throughout the story.

 

One thing that has begun to bug me is fics that have evil characters, usually a man, that has to take every woman he sees to bed and "have a night to remember" or when two characters can't seem to keep their hands off each other and the fix is too descriptive for the 'M' rating of FFNet.

Come on people 'Evil' doesn't automatically equal no morals all around or that an evil person would take pleasure in the number of 'conquests' they have.

I will bet my luggage set that Voldemort and his Death Esters found more pleasure and excitement in attacking and killing Muggles and whoever else got in their way.

I will then bet my alarm clock that the Sith would rather spread fear by torturing, destroying and killing innocents then have a new bed partner every night or every few nights or lust after a female; same goes for Voldy and his cohorts.

Actually I withdraw my luggage and offer the frame of my bed instead; I need some of my luggage for an upcoming trip.

Not sure what's okay to be point blank about and if a certain word is safe to use so I'm sorry for tiptoeing around it.

However, this is my personal opinion and understand if others don't agree.


Sent from my iPadd from another galaxy using Tapatalk

 

That is basically a trope - and a really, really bad one for that matter.

I have a character who really gets around in my fics, but he's not evil, just an extreme, err, omnisexual.

 

Oh, I don't know, Lady_Misty. It seems to me that since passion is a core tenant of the Sith Code, then there is no reason for those in the Sith Order to be above using intimate settings to get what they want; same goes with non-Sith bad guys (cough cough Leonia Tavira cough cough). Some of the most evil characters in literary and derivative fiction used their wiles to insinuate themselves into positions of power, only revealing the true extent of their moral bankruptcy once they've achieved such successes.

The difference between this sort of evil being a peeve and a successful character trait/plot device, IMHO, lies in how well it is written and whether or not it works for the purposes of the story.

 

When people misspell definitely and defiantly

 

One thing that gets me every so often are fics that are written before a certain point in time like Star Wars fics that were written before the release of AotC or RotS. Sometimes I can roll with it but other times I can't because of this or that. Just to be clear this isn't meant to criticize it is just sometimes the continuity distracts the part of my brain that likes Order and even though I say 'this is a fan fic' and 'this can be considered an AU' that part of my brain doesn't always accept it. I have read a few fics and really enjoyed them that were posted re RotS and really enjoyed them it's more of a personal pet peeve with myself where fan fics are concerned.

 

when i cant touck to miss payal?!

 

"If x amount of people read or review, I'll upload a new chapter!"

I instantly regret reading, because they almost never meet that goal.