Fanfics: Return of the Rant
Jul. 2nd, 2007 04:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kitsjayMore fanfiction pet peeves:
1. Randomly throwing in Japanese.
Don't get me wrong, Japanese is cool. It has its place, particularly in fics based around anime and manga, or fandoms where characters are (a) Japanese, (b) have a canonical interest in Japan, or (c) may have an interest in Japanese where it's relevant.
But then you have just the, "I learned this from anime and want to use it in my fic, k, reader-san?" wherein Johnny of Fantastic Four miraculously speaks Japanese and randomly decides to call Ben "brother" in Japanese.
Why?
Oh, no reason.
But, is there any documented cases where he called Ben that before?
No.
Any comics where Johnny's shown an interest in Japanese?
Not really.
Then for God's sakes, why?
Parts of you will come through in fic. It's unavoidable. Your beliefs, your philosophy, to some degree your slang--it will come through on its own. Don't force it by changing the characters to fit your interests.
2. Making up nicknames.
Okay, just, no. If there isn't a documented case of Angel calling Spike "Spikey", there's probably a really great reason for it. Mostly, it's out of character. Also, it makes any sane human being want to hurl.
Be wary of nicknames in fic to begin with. They're extremely easy to overuse, and it's really annoying when one unfortunate nickname (this means you, Spacemonkey) is used ad nauseum. If everyone calls Daniel "Danny" in the show, go for it.
But no one calls Sam "Sammy", so keep it to yourself.
3. First person.
We all know my hatred of second person because it's extremely hard to do well. If you can do it, then it's great, but if you can't, it's worse than awful. I hate to say it, but play it safe and stick with third person, at least until you have a better handle of writing in general. First person is complicated because it requires a lot more thought. The reader has a limited insight and it's very easy to lose track of some things unless it's a very short, simple piece.
If you're writing a full-fledged story, then pretty soon you have the reader thinking, "But wait, he wasn't there when that happened and no one told him..." or the, "How the hell did he know that the other character was thinking that?" syndrome.
It also leads to really confusing paragraphs because the author suddenly realized that they really needed to impart some piece of information or thought but had no way of doing so. Most of the time, they forego the rules of point of view completely and throw in a brief insight into Character B's mind, then go back to seeing only Character A's.
So just do readers a favor: unless you're really comfortable with writing, stick to third person.
4. Emotions.
55% of our information in a conversation comes from body language. 38% comes from tone of voice. Only 7% comes from the actual words.
Apply this to writing, and you have a serious problem unless you account for it.
Saying:
"Why are you doing this?" he said.
doesn't tell me anything. Is the speaker angry or just confused? Maybe he's just curious. I don't know.
When you add:
"Why are you doing this?" he said in a confused manner.
helps, but sounds rather cheap. Dressing it up further:
His forehead wrinkled. "Why are you doing this?"
And so on, so forth. And be sure and build up the emotions. I cannot tell you how many fanfics I have read that are going only with mostly dialogue, then suddenly the author adds in, "Now they were shouting at me". Whoa, wait up! When did they get angry? I mean, a second ago, they were just talking.
Build gradually.
5. "I say this," she began, "but please don't go the other way and abuse dialogue tags."
She paused. "I think I would almost prefer 'he said, she said' to 'he opined, she sobbed'," she lectured.
"So," she sighed, "try not to do what I'm doing now."
1. Randomly throwing in Japanese.
Don't get me wrong, Japanese is cool. It has its place, particularly in fics based around anime and manga, or fandoms where characters are (a) Japanese, (b) have a canonical interest in Japan, or (c) may have an interest in Japanese where it's relevant.
But then you have just the, "I learned this from anime and want to use it in my fic, k, reader-san?" wherein Johnny of Fantastic Four miraculously speaks Japanese and randomly decides to call Ben "brother" in Japanese.
Why?
Oh, no reason.
But, is there any documented cases where he called Ben that before?
No.
Any comics where Johnny's shown an interest in Japanese?
Not really.
Then for God's sakes, why?
Parts of you will come through in fic. It's unavoidable. Your beliefs, your philosophy, to some degree your slang--it will come through on its own. Don't force it by changing the characters to fit your interests.
2. Making up nicknames.
Okay, just, no. If there isn't a documented case of Angel calling Spike "Spikey", there's probably a really great reason for it. Mostly, it's out of character. Also, it makes any sane human being want to hurl.
Be wary of nicknames in fic to begin with. They're extremely easy to overuse, and it's really annoying when one unfortunate nickname (this means you, Spacemonkey) is used ad nauseum. If everyone calls Daniel "Danny" in the show, go for it.
But no one calls Sam "Sammy", so keep it to yourself.
3. First person.
We all know my hatred of second person because it's extremely hard to do well. If you can do it, then it's great, but if you can't, it's worse than awful. I hate to say it, but play it safe and stick with third person, at least until you have a better handle of writing in general. First person is complicated because it requires a lot more thought. The reader has a limited insight and it's very easy to lose track of some things unless it's a very short, simple piece.
If you're writing a full-fledged story, then pretty soon you have the reader thinking, "But wait, he wasn't there when that happened and no one told him..." or the, "How the hell did he know that the other character was thinking that?" syndrome.
It also leads to really confusing paragraphs because the author suddenly realized that they really needed to impart some piece of information or thought but had no way of doing so. Most of the time, they forego the rules of point of view completely and throw in a brief insight into Character B's mind, then go back to seeing only Character A's.
So just do readers a favor: unless you're really comfortable with writing, stick to third person.
4. Emotions.
55% of our information in a conversation comes from body language. 38% comes from tone of voice. Only 7% comes from the actual words.
Apply this to writing, and you have a serious problem unless you account for it.
Saying:
"Why are you doing this?" he said.
doesn't tell me anything. Is the speaker angry or just confused? Maybe he's just curious. I don't know.
When you add:
"Why are you doing this?" he said in a confused manner.
helps, but sounds rather cheap. Dressing it up further:
His forehead wrinkled. "Why are you doing this?"
And so on, so forth. And be sure and build up the emotions. I cannot tell you how many fanfics I have read that are going only with mostly dialogue, then suddenly the author adds in, "Now they were shouting at me". Whoa, wait up! When did they get angry? I mean, a second ago, they were just talking.
Build gradually.
5. "I say this," she began, "but please don't go the other way and abuse dialogue tags."
She paused. "I think I would almost prefer 'he said, she said' to 'he opined, she sobbed'," she lectured.
"So," she sighed, "try not to do what I'm doing now."
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no subject
Date: 2007-07-02 10:00 pm (UTC)2. NICKNAMES ARE ONE OF MY BIGGEST PET PEEVES EVER
5. I blame second grade and teachers encouraging us to use ~sparkle words~ (I'm not joking, that's really what my teachers called them... Well, sans the tildes.)
no subject
Date: 2007-07-03 05:49 am (UTC)2. afklsja. They are so annoying.
5. Probably, but :(( Fanfic authors are not in second grade. They should know better by now.
And sparkle words? I forget what our teachers called them. I think just tags.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-02 11:21 pm (UTC)2. Yes, I remember back when I was heavy in Harry Potter fandom how MAD I'd get when people called Hermione 'Hermi' or 'Mione'. For the love of all things canon don't call someone a nickname unless they do it in the damn book!
3. My brother had to read a book for a lit class. It was about a drug addict and was written in second person. He said by the time he finished it he felt like HE was the one on drugs.
4. Agreed. I'm a very visual person, even when I read. I want to be able to picture what I'm reading.
5. >> I try to use a varity of words... because I get BORED with just 'said' XD; >> I try not to go overboard.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-03 05:45 am (UTC)Yeah. That was real. Fantastic Four.
afjskl. And at the end she said, "I didn't learn Japanese from school, just from anime, lol!" Kill me now.
2. Oooh, yeah. I'm trying to think of some examples... there was one fandom that was notorious about making up nicknames that were absolutely sickening. I'm going, "So, we're not trying to make the characters act like themselves, then?"
It's like the, "OOC warning." What's the point of fanfiction if you don't keep them in character? I mean, why not just write an original fic?
3. aklfas. The whole point is to make readers feel that it's happening to them. It's just... it usually doesn't work.
4. Exactly. Dialogue is great, and I love it. I really love dialogue, because it's easy for me. But description is what makes the difference between a screenplay writer and an author.
5. There's nothing wrong with the occasional tag, but I once read an entire fic with something like thirteen chapters, and something was nagging at me. I went back and reread it, only to find she used "said" once. Everything was "he begged, she cried, he shouted, she whispered".
Of course, it could be worse. Could be one of those solid blocks of dialogue with no tags at all so by the end of it, you're playing tennis trying to figure out who's saying what.
"Okay, that must be her, so this must be him, so the next one is her, so the next one..."
no subject
Date: 2007-07-03 04:28 am (UTC)Sam: So what did you do today.
Sarah: I perused my studies today by going to the library. (the misspelling is intentional btw hehe)
Sam: OK
Sarah: Lets have lunch.
I hate when people literally write conversations like that, it's like....C'MON! Who writes like that, no one, so why do it. I just don't get posting something so bad.
And then when you try to critique them nicely. Not, "U suk" But, "well this would do better and so on" and then they get pissed off at you for suggesting how it could be better. (yes, i've been scarred)
no subject
Date: 2007-07-03 05:37 am (UTC)I try and help people out, but it's hard when you're not even sure where to start. I mean, some people aren't great writers but can churn out decent, solid fics. And honestly, solid fics are mostly what I look for. I don't go looking for fantastic fics, I just hope I run across them eventually. In the meantime, anything to indulge my fandom obsession is great.
It's when you have people who don't even try that bother me.
Just checking spelling and having someone with a passing knowledge of punctuation can mean the difference between me reading and me passing it on for something better.
ajfklsaf. I don't expect people to be publish-worthy when they're writing fanfiction. I know I'm not. But neatness counts for a lot.
And yeah, I've been told I was a flamer because I gave one of my customary "constructive criticism reviews" (I point out two things I liked for every one thing I didn't like). Authors are usually very nice (one person even went back and corrected the spelling mistakes I pointed out, which most people don't take the time to do), but occasionally you just get the people who want instant gratification without working for it.
As for the conversation things, I know! Dialogue for me is the easiest thing in the world because you just say it out loud. If it sounds natural, then it's in. If it doesn't, it's out.
There's no guesswork--your ear knows what a natural conversation sounds like.
So it really throws me off when people write these unbelievable sentences or they do a three-page explanation with one person talking. I'm going, "What, they haven't run out of breath yet?"
Argh. I'm not trying to be a fanfic elitist with these rants, it's just some things are so easy to fix!
ajflksfa. Why did I just write this entirely long reply? Sorry.