Discussion Fan Fic Pet Peeves?

I tend to see this more in profic than fanfic. The most vivid example is in the BBC version of Robin Hood, when Guy says he wants to try Robin as an enemy combatant. I don't mind physical anachronisms like the sheriff wearing flip flops but bringing up an issue that didn't exist at the time is very preachy. The word "enemy combatant" wasn't even invented in England. I'm no fan of the Bush policies that the show was taking a thinly disguised potshot at but that really annoyed me. Using a period piece as a modern day allegory just isn't right.

 

Absolutely agreed. If one is doing a period piece, one would be wise to keep it confined to that era and keep all the topics and dialogue relevant to that era. A little bit of research goes a long way.

Another thing that bugs me about some period pieces? Forced and hackneyed dialogue. If you set something in ancient Rome, you would do well to research the type of speech used during that time and make the slang authentic. Don't take modern slang and "Romanize" it with a slight tweak, such as "Keep your toga on." And last I checked, Romans didn't say "arse." Yes, Ides of Blood, I am looking in your direction.

With the wealth of text that survived from those time periods, it wouldn't take much research to make your dialogue authentic. If you want someone to describe how the rains of April chase away the dry days of March and do so in Middle English, haul out Chaucer and start researching. Don't fake the language. It's obvious, painfully obvious when someone does not do their research.

 

Phew.

It took a long time, but I finally made it. Fantastic thread. I laughed, I cringed, I laughed some more.

This was an incredibly useful read, because a lot of "peeves" will never be discovered via review or PM. People will just stop reading, and that will be the end of that.

The thing with not finishing stories, for instance. I have done that, once or twice. I had no idea it was such a faux pas. Like VaderLVR64 said somewhere, I figured whoever liked the story would just finish it in their head. I certainly never dreamed it could put an fanfic author on some kind of blacklist, never to have their work read again. But if I'd known, maybe I'd have tried a bit harder to get the story out. (My personal struggle with the first was the realization that my main character was starting to kill people in cold blood. That does tend to happen when you're writing about a bounty hunter, but for some reason, I didn't realize it until I'd written the scene. Once it was staring me in the face, I knew I could never post it, however brilliant I thought it was. With the other fic, the story just fizzled; I bit off more than I could chew.)

It was also instructive to read about how important summaries are to so many people. I didn't think to include one, but after reading several comments to the effect of how irritating fanfics are without them, I went back and added one to Judging Angels. So being made aware of that particular "peeve" proved useful. I think a lot of people just don't know.

I also share the sorrow and anxiety inherent in awaiting reviews. (A rather "flowery" sentence, that. I can't help it; I love words. )

My runaway perfectionism has me overanalyzing everything I think of posting ("What's the right way to respond to that comment? Should I reply to it now, when I replied right after the last one, too? Will that look like I'm trying to keep my thread on the first page? But it's been two days! Will waiting for another review look equally petty? Is my reply overkill? Underkill? Will everyone feel special and appreciated?")

Yes, I know. Imagine if you had to live with it. But the point of it all is that one really does wonder, "Was it something I said? Did that come off as snarky instead of witty? Where did everyone go?"

One thing I do love about "that other site" is being able to see how many people are reading your story. It gave me an incredible lift to know the stats for my latest story. I would have never dreamed I had so many readers from so many countries. Although this story has to come out, no matter what, knowing exactly how many people are reading?even supposing a third of the "unique visitors" log into the same website from multiple devices?really makes me feel better. A lot of the "lack of reviews" issue is my own fault: I've been gone from fanfic for years, alienated a lot of people before I left, and don't read much fanfic myself. That last about not reading other fanfic is only because I'm writing an AU A/P novel-length fic. I didn't realize I'd have this... superstition, for lack of a better word, against reading fics with these characters, until after I'd already started.

*scrolls up* This is what comes of typing 87 words per minute.

Anyway, to sum up:

1. A great thread?and often hilarious read?containing extremely useful things we probably all need to hear but relatively few people will tell us;
2. My only "peeve": If TFN had some sort of "view count" feature, it might cut down on the clamoring for reviews (I know it would for me);
3. I think anyone who posts their work does so in the hope that someone will read it. Otherwise, why post it? And I think

 

Gosh, that is trying to start a plot bunny - maybe a round robin? An author posts a scene and then AS PART of the story, either the author or the next in line comes in and rips it apart.

Planned out it could be quite humorous.

When? I don't remember! What was that comment and how did it relate to this thread?

 

Well, it was nearly two years ago. "Date Posted: 5/24/10 6:10pm"

(Google Search is a wonderful thing. )

 

Regarding the action/dialogue vs the description detail thing, my partner and I deal with this *all* the time. I believe some of it is due to gender-based differences in what appeals to us: he is 'Mr Action' and I am 'Miss Drama'. I care about character relationships and details--bonding, emotion, intents, mood, environment--where he focuses on the 'intrigue, battles, and 'power' elements of the chars and stories. Usually, it works out amazingly well because we *discuss* everything before and while we write.

He has difficulty typing so his style is very barebones but he conveys, action, dialogue, and emotions (somewhat) rather well. We are both very vivid imaginers mentally but I write details much more easily than he does. The fact we are so contrasting is what makes us work as writing partners. Curiously, I royally bomb at writing women and he doesn't even really acknowledge men when left to ourselves. Thus, our ease at writing opposite gender to ourselves works well. When we have a question about 'authentic gender reactions/responses' we ask each other. It's quite fascinating.

When description is severely lacking, I quit reading because I can 'see' the chars I'm reading about. If I can't see what they look like and what their actions are like, it's darn near impossible for me to relate to them or the greater story.

All dialogue pieces simply don't work for me. See above. I use dialogue tags a lot because I often convey mood with the speaker's tone of delivery and associated action while speaking. However, I don't like using said. It's too blah. Admittedly, on my original pieces I'm *very* detailed and I've been told I'm excessive. I don't agree because I only write what I feel is needed to convey my intents for any given scene but I freely admit that I am *not* nor will I ever *be* Miss Action. It simply doesn't speak to me.

As I've said prior, it bugs me to no end when readers act as though it's easy for a writer to write outside of what they know. 'More action, more action!' Seemed to be a refrain in my first joint SW fanfic thread. I understand many here prefer action to drama or being ponderous or relationship-driven for stories but I *cannot* force myself to do action when it's not part of who I am. I'm sorry. That's why, in any SW fanfic posted that my partner and I do *he* will be doing the 'actiony' bits. It speaks to him whereas I'm utterly clueless. That is simply how it is.

Good to see this thread active again!

Oh yeah: On the dialogue point: I usually allow the character to determine how he talks. In other words, I usually write what seems natural for a given character. Mine do tend to be on the formal and affectionate side but I don't see anything wrong with that. 'Authentic speech' I think is a very tricky thing. If you do the research and attempt to insert it in the story, it's fairly likely that a reader may get lost. Because they are unfamiliar with it. I love writing, English, language, and writing and have a good vocabulary but even I struggled with comprehending Shakespeare.

 

When writing canon characters on a SW board, one (me) tends to minimize descriptions or gloss over stuff "everyone here knows."

If we were writing for a wider audience, yeah, that'd be different.

But really, we all know how the Naboo fight went and it's hard to rewrite an action scene so that it's "not an action scene" to make it fresh. We know Qui-Gon has long graying hair, is tall, etc. Why waste valuable story time unless it's pertinent?

So I write on a lot of assumptions of what my readers already know.

One of my fav authors here (or was here) is a master of dripping description in all things; it's a delight and a glory to read, yet it does tend to get one lost in the greatness of her description (though NOT to the detriment of her stories, she's that good).

I agree though - I've been accused more than once of "going nowhere" and having my characters do nothing - in short, boring the heck out of my readers.

 

I've thankfully moved passed that problem some years back when I started to outline my stories and put serious thought into where they would go before I started writing (and during) the story. Prior to that, I'd start a story, it would be going strong for a bit, then it would meander around unfocused until it either petered out or I just stopped writing it and moved on. I wrote tons of those, vignettes in which nothing happens. As my brother called them, "Robot Master sitcoms." I basically wrote Seinfeld episodes.

Haven't had that problem for a long while and I hope I never run into that again. Nowadays, if a scene is going nowhere, I cut it out. Entirely. If it is not pertinent in any way, shape, or form and the story won't suffer without it, I excise it like a malignant tumor.

 

I've suffered with that dreaded perfectionism to a point that--even with good reviews--my fanfiction starts to irritate me and I tend to drop it and run...and sometimes leave it for over a year before I tentatively try to revive it. (For example, possibly my best known fic has had over 20,000 hits on ff.net...I nearly had a heart-attack...especially when I realized I hadn't added a new chapter to its follow-up in a year!)

I'm always happy to hear from reviewers, but it does scare me a little when I'm not happy with my own work and it gets praised even slightly. It's a terrible emotion and it's only just now in my mid-twenties that I'm starting to accept praise and having confidence in what I write. I'm so glad that awful feeling of "overt-perfectionism" is fading away.

Although, I do understand how it does frustrate some readers when a fic goes unfinished. It does cause us writers a lot of guilt to hear reviewers bug us to finish, but it also might make us take a second look over the fic to see if we can finish it, so it's a catch-20. But I for one don't mind the occasional kick-in-the-butt to try to finish a story, I need it sometimes.

 

The way to counter writer's guilt as described above is to refrain from posting/publishing until you have at least 10 chapters written. Then start posting chapter one with weekly updates.

As for the A said, B said, C said.... It's a lot better than A Screamed, B Yelled, C cried for your dialogs. Trust me.

 

Must resurrect - must resurrect.

 

You know what my fanfic pet peeve is? When you move to a new forum system and all your quotation and other grammar marks get changed to question marks.

 

And we (so far) can't edit to show we actually updated our stories (as I just did - but no one will know it.)

 

Can we go into pairings again?

Nice to see you all here again

 

What about pairings?

 

Pairings? Can I pair up with a fictional character?

 

Pairings make me glad I don't write romancey stuff. There's a whole slough of fanfiction cliches I'll never be tempted to abuse.

Unfinished stories are a pet peeve of mine, too. I've seen some fics that were so awesome, it just about kills you when you hit the last published chapter and realize the story hasn't been updated since 2001. Not pointing fingers here because I'm definitely guilty of not finishing things (think, 90% of my stories). I can think of millions of ways to start plots, but my imagination is somewhat deficient when it comes to finishing them.

 

I got so that over on ff.n I'd pop into reviews FIRST just to see if folks were begging for a continuation before I'd start reading. I HATE abandoned stories - I would hope that when/if an author needs to abandon one, s/he would post a brief summary of how the story was anticipated to go - one author did that here on tf.n and it was greatly appreciated. Sure, you miss the details of the journey, but you know if so and so survives, turns back to the light, etc. you don't feel quite so - betrayed. Yes, betrayed.

 

Punctuation errors really annoy me.

 

Current fanfic peeve: inability to edit titles here. Boo hiss (and yes, I am aware that TPTB are working on it).

 

I have a couple of peeves from other fanons. Sonic fanon and their constant struggle to outdo everyone else and create the biggest, most blatant Mary Sue to ever grace the Internet... and the other fans accept this tripe without reservation. Also, the presence of "hedgefoxes." Seriously, what. Haven't yet read any Sonic fan fiction (for mist's sake, don't describe a story as "grimdark"!) and I have no current plans to do so. That's a dark corner I don't wish to venture into.

I'd need a flashlight, first.

 

What's a "hedgefox"?

 

I assume some freakish hybrid of hedgehog and fox. I've seen a number of Sonic fan characters that are of the "hedgefox" variety. It really makes no sense to me.

Bubbles the Water Bug all the way! He can swim, dive, and hold his breath for twice as long because he carries around a bubble of air on his butt.

 

He breathes thru his butt? Interesting...does he twist around and inhale?

 

Water bugs have breathing tubes on the ends of their abdomens. I have yet to do anything with this silly character. Came up with him after hanging out with my brother and drinking beer.

By the way, this handsome fellow is my inspiration.

I found him in the hotel pool at CVI.