kaykayelle

Does anybody have a particular author in a fandom or whatever that you just can't stand? No names or anything, but I feel that way with this one writer. Everything she does just annoys me so much that I feel like screaming whenever I see that she has posted something. Her author notes are always about 10 paragraphs long (no joke,) her titles annoy me, and she gave on of the main characters of the show a nickname that she forces everyone in all of her stories to call her everytime said character is addressed. And when she writes "said ____," she'll use the nickname, too. Grr!

Am I the only one like this, or do I just have anger problems?

Silversun

You're definitely not the only one. As my friends will testify, I'm a spelling/grammar nazi, and I can't stand writers who either a)don't proofread their fics or b)don't care about spelling/grammar! If they don't care, why the hell should I care about their fic?

This is much more of a roundabout grumble, but I can't stand people who fish for feedback. It doesn't really matter when they are a good writer, because I like to give feedback to good authors; but I've found that most good writers don't fish for feedback anyway, because they are self-assured enough to know they are good without needing people to constantly enforce that belief. It's the really horrendous writers who tend to pester people for feedback, and it's sad, immature and plain ignorant.

More vitriol later.

alli balli

When I used to read Roswell fics, there was this one author I just couldn't understand the buzz over. Everyone gushed over this writer's stuff (and there was a lot of it.) But I always found this person's stories to be extremely melodramatic and out-of-character. It was so annoying.

silver_lined_cloud

That really bothers me as well. It gives the entire story a look of carelessness and sloppiness, which really isn't appealing. Minor spelling errors are okay, but I don't bother to read fics beyond the first paragraph if it looks like it was typed up by a first grader.

Chiqa

Hehehe... you are not a true writer till someone hates your work! hehe... I don't think there's any author I despise. I personally don't like long, extremely detailed descriptions. I understand you want to be descriptive and add some beauty to your piece but we don't need three paragraphs telling us that the pencil is blue.

Hey, Silversun and KKLizzle please, please, PRETTY, please, could you review! I won't return to this thread if you don't!

Silversun

Right on.

Catalinay

Yeah, I'm right there with you guys on the bad grammar and the fishing for feedback. Another of my pet peeves is when people write fic just while they're posting - not spending any time at all on the writing, aparently, and then expecting to be praised to the high heavens.

Oh, this thread takes me back to the days when Darcy and I updated the fanfic section of Crashdown. All of that horrible fic we got... Of course, there was brilliant stuff too.

Crossbow

I get really angry when I can tell an author didn't even TRY to proof-read something before posting it. I think it's just rude and disrespectful.

I'm a grammar nazi, but I don't mind if it looks like they tried to proof it or had it beta-read, and just missed some things. It's the ones where they obviously just thought they were such hot ***** that they didn't need to check anything. Either that or they assume all their readers are as illiterate as they are. Give your readers some credit, for Pete's sake. At least make an effort.

Mr. Impatient

I so agree with all of this. The first part could have been written by me, in fact... All I can say to people who fit into that first category is that there is a reason people use beta readers!

Silversun

Crossbow - Exactly what I was trying to say, except you said it way better.

Mr. Impatient

Oh! That reminds me... I hate the ones who beg and beg for feedback, saying that theyreally want to know what you like and don't like, but then get mad when you point out anything that you didn't like. If you only want good reviews, then don't specifically ask people to tell you what they didn't like!

Also, I don't like it when people write fanfic, and then assume that you know absolutely nothing about the characters. If I wanted to get the biographies of all the characters, then I would look somewhere other than a fanfic, thank you. Seriously, if you are writing fanfic for a show, you do not need to recap the entire series in your fanfic. Odds are, if someone is reading your fanfic, it is because they have some interest in the show, and most likely have seen enough to know what is happening and who the characters are.

Chiqa

Mr. Impatient, how much recapping is sufficient though? In longer multi-chaps I like to add a little background info especially about the years that were summarized on the show (i.e. the character's life before the show started).


Plus, I find myself always writing 'very posh Newport.' Everybody who watches The O.C knows it's posh but when I'm speaking from the point of view of a new resident, I find myself mentioning it... I guess to contrast with that character's upbringing.

In addition, I like to write the stories so that non-viewers can also enjoy it. Is that unnecessary?

Mr. Impatient

If you want to mention things that have happened, that is fine. I have no problems with that. But, you shouldn't put pages and pages worth of background information in a story that, without that information is only a couple of pages long.

Also, if you want to put that information in the fic, don't list it all at the beginning. Find creative ways of incorporating it into the story. I don't want to read a "novelization" of everything that has happened on the show up to the point when a fanfic starts.

Making a fic work for those who are unfamiliar with the show (or whatever medium it is for which you are writing a fanfic) is fine, but be careful how much info you include. For example, you can use a quick summary (a couple of sentences up to a full paragraph) to give people the "background" info, and then move on with your story.

Chiqa

Oh, I don't put it at the beginning. Even when I am writing original fiction, I don't write like that. It's usually a memory that's used to contrast with a current situation so maybe something like "her mind was transported to the day they sat in the park," or something like that.

I certainly don't do true recaps.

Thanks for your response. I am still new at this fanfic game (even though I have like 20 stories (I need a life) ) so I'm really trying to learn more about the dos and don't of this genre.

Nikki K

Okay, apart from the begging for feedback and spelling/grammar thing - I hate hate hate people (even if they're great writers), who only accept feedback from a clique they built around themselves. So you as a "clueless" polite person write feedback and put quite some thought into it but you get completely ignored by them while there's "giggling" and "joking" after any lame comment a "group insider" makes. I could ramble on and on about this... but I'll stop now. Just so much: Mean/ignorant cliques suck.

Oh and I wanted to add: Feedback - it's also a lot about how you say things. So I got that review. The reviewer made some valid points but he was extremely rude making them (I hate .../That sucks that...) in my opinion. I'm not overly sensitive but it took me a moment to gulp down that bad taste in my mouth and concentrate on the criticism itself. By the way, I don't think "constructive" means just to tell people what you hate. It means to tell them why and how you think this could be improved and why you think so.