Discussion Fan Fic Pet Peeves?

That's awesome, I wish I could do that! (Not being sarcastic)
But I have learning disabilities that make it hard for me. I spent many years learning ways to deal, and one of the greatest things is spell check, though often times spell check doesn't understand me, luckily Google usually does. Since I started writing, things have gotten a lot better, but it's still something I struggle with and is often quite embarrassing when I'm without things like spell check. Nothing makes people think you are an idiot faster than a misspelled word.




Anyway... A pet peeve of mine is when there is no info at the start of a fanfic. I don't necessarily need a summary or word count, but I'd like to at least know who will be in the story (A timeline is nice too if it takes place within something that already exists).

 

I asked for that one to be made mandatory because it's not actually a pet peeve, it's a failure to engage readers and assumption that everybody knows everything; but the two of you said no.

 

Opened what sounded like a good fic but all the conversations were pushed together like this:

"Oh my gosh Dan! That was fun!' Julie cried. 'I hoped you would like it.' Dan commented. 'Do you think we could do it again?" Julie asked hopefully. 'I don't know, I'll see what I can do.'

I used to do that if it was the characters' conversation was about the same thing. because I thought it was good writing until I was set straight.


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Heinlein liked to do that sometimes. You'd see two or three switches per paragraph, especially when getting infodump exposition.

It's distracting and pretty much guarantees a reader's going to lose track of who's talking once or twice a page...not to mention it demands enough dialogue tags to make Ewok Poet recite Liam Neeson's speech from Taken.

 

'I don't care who you are but I have a very specific skill set and if you don't use proper grammar I will hunt you down' *does a poor imitation of Liam Neeson and no doubt misquoted the quote*


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I...don't even want to be subjected to that amount of pain.

But in general, dialogue tags - especially said bookisms - are distracting. Not to mention that some of them are downright impossible. You cannot "smile" a word.

They're even more annoying when a creative verb appears before or after them. Different characters have different moods, expressions, gestures...I'd prefer to see those than an adverb that may form a clear picture to you, but not the rest of us.

 

You can smile a word. Every photographer will tell you that you smile "Cheese."

I don't mind actions and gestures as dialogue tags because I do just that.

As for peeves... characters who are emo for emo's sake because emo is kewl. It gets dull when every character repeats the "life is pain" mantra.

 

"I love using actions as dialogue tags too," the author said with a smile/he smiled slightly.

Really, I've never once had a problem with those. *shrug*

Now, on the other hand, I will admit that I've seen problems with them becoming too descriptive, and/or only being used instead of more typical ones. That can become a problem.

 

The difference is that one would be:
"I love using actions as dialogue tags, too," the author said with a smile.

The other would be:
"I love using actions as dialogue tags, too." He smiled slightly.

Said is NOT BAD. You can use said, asked, replied over and over. Our brains will ignore it if the dialogue and rest of the story is good. You do not need to spice it up or anything. It just helps to describe what's going on - actions, senses, body language, expressions. Those are to keep the reader engrossed. But, you should really do that separately - not as a dialogue tag.

 

Mod edit: comment removed

 

Pet peeve: typos, or worse, misspellings in the title of a fic. I went digging for old stories a few days ago, and the things I saw hurt my eyes.

 

Seriously. There's one on the first page called "Ἀνάγκη." And I'm all like, "omg really?? his name is ANAKAN ppl!!1." So disrespectful.

 

Anyone who guesses who Τσουμπάκα, Τζάμπα ο Χατ, Μέις Ουίντου and Σμι Σκαϊγουώκερ are gets a free cookie.

 

Ummm...Darth Vader, Mace Windu and Shmi Skywalker? Just a shot in the dark.

 

Not bad for a shot in the dark, you got Mace and Shmi right But no, Vader's not in there. (And seriously, SW names in Greek hurt my eyes even more than typos in titles!)

 

Oh Chewbacca is the first one.

Dang it Findswoman posted while I was writing.

I should have gotten Jabba. My translator said "Wallpaper the Hat". I thought the cadence of that sounded a little familiar. But since Vader wore a helmet I thought maybe it was referencing him.

I guess it could be worse. I remember a Coke advertisement in the 80's that was translated in China as "Coke brings your dead relatives back to life" (or something like that). I blame Coke for the zombie apocalypse.

 

Congrats! *hands out cookies* (next time we'll do obscure planets and alien species )

Edit: "Wallpaper the Hat"???

 

Wallpaper the Hat

 

Must be the same translator that did Backstroke of the West.

 

Speaking of those...not directly related, buuuut...
http://www.amazon.com/How-Good-bye-Depression-Constrict-Everyday/dp/0595094724

 

Backstroke of the West is what happens when you translate something to a completely different language (read: one that has almost nothing in common), and then translate is back to its original language.

Still... "Wallpaper the Hat" had me laughing far too much (or not enough)!

 

Wallpaper the Hutt . . . hmm, sounds like something you have to do when you accidentally kill a Hutt while re-plastering the walls in your basement. Although I doubt you'll be able to disguise the Hutt-shaped bulge in the wall.

 

No the translator came up with Wallpaper the HAT. Which is much more confusing. But I like your visualization.

 

. . . I need a better pair of glasses.