let's talk about the writing thing.

[amelialourdes]

I'm not a writer. I don't consider myself one. I'm not really good at it. I think once upon a time I had an imagination and creativity to write but I think that I've lost it. That said, I've always received pretty high grades when it came to English, grammar, phonics, reading comprehension, language, etc. I consistently wrote in college and graduated with a degree that is based on literary and visual analysis. I think that I have a pretty firm grasp on the English language. That said, when I see badly written fan fiction? I cringe.

Bad fic? It happens. For whatever reason, people make up what they make up without any regard or consideration of the personality of the characters that they're using. They write what they write without care or acknowledgment of their own terrible spelling and grammar. They don't bother with betas because a few fawning reviews means that they have fans and it doesn't matter what the writing looks like.

That bothers me. It bothers me. Every time someone spells something wrong and it's posted for all to see, it makes the angels cry (quote courtesy of Quinn from Glee). Someone on my flist has recently spoken a lot about the writing process and writing in fandoms and her perceptions are dead on. It's refreshing to find someone who's receptive to critique and commentary about her work. Of course, it wasn't always that way. It's never that way in the beginning. In the beginning, I imagine that people do think that they're good writers and for whatever reason (I blame fawning reviews with no critique) aren't receptive to criticism.

Fandom is supposed to be fun, yes? The stories are just stories. They're not up for Pulitzers or even national writing contests. I understand that. This is just a major, major, MAJOR pet peeve of mine that I want to address for myself and to share with anyone who may feel the same. Or! Feel differently. I'm open to both ideas. I'm not having fun if a large chunk of a story doesn't make sense. I sometimes try to look past the errors to just read the story itself but then it's bad characterization that gets to me.

So, if you're a writer or if you're an active reader, what in fandom fanfiction bothers you if you're bothered by anything at all? No specific fandom here. Any fandom at all. What will turn you off of a story? If you're a writer, why do you/would you not accept constructive criticism? Are you open to constructive criticism?

Comments

[merkuria.livejournal.com]

You asked the worst question. Because I am bothered by many things.

First come those obvious you mentioned - grammar, spelling, obvious need of any sort of proofreading. But that is nothing compared to the loathing I have for 1st person narrative and switching POVs in one fic. The worst is where the POVs are not only switching, but switching every 500 words or so and where that is clearly stated. Just, HATE. In theory 1st person narrative can work, but that's in theory only. Because it never does. I used to think I hated it because it invited Mary Sueism in, but now I realize it is even worse - it invites "I want to be that character" type of mentality authors, and that's beyond bad for me.

Then we have OOCness. To be fair though, I am usually willing to accept some measure of it, especially if the writing/story is good, and provided it is not straying in some ridiculous direction - cue in sugary Brian cooing "baby" and the like. This makes my brain scream.

Then there is clumsy writing, all those "older men" "brunettes" and so on. Then there is describing everything, people, clothes, interiors, feelings, giving me far too graphic sex scenes (because balls and scrotum will never be sexy words in any universe ever). Just let the character show me things, convey, not tell me flat out, because that's not good writing. And a sex scene that relies on physical descriptions only will never be successful. I can't believe people don't see that.

Using whole lines from canon.I know lot of people like it, I don't. I don't enjoy such wink-wink, because that's lame.

Writing scenes where men can't shut up during sex. That just kills the fic right there, because it is not hot, it is fucking ridiculous. Not to mention it's where OCCness sneaks in a lot of the time. Writing dirty talk is a skill yo, and more often than not less is more.

Abusing bold type, italics - moderation is your friend. Most of the time the writing itself should convey what is important, and the reader should be trusted to pick it up. Don't spell everything out for me, I am not a moron.

Generally, there's nothing worse than a sex scene I don't believe in. And yes, I know that's subjective as hell, but there it is.

Digging in further, what bothers me are fics whose authors have no clue why they wrote them in the first place and it shows. By which I mean, they don't know who their characters are, they don't know what story they want to tell - be it plot-driven or character-driven - and we end up with a story that has been written zillion times in the fandom with absolutely nothing new to contribute. Why bother.

LOL. I was provoked :D And of course where I write "you" I don't mean you, jsut got carried away and am too lazy to rephrase everything.

[buzziecat.livejournal.com]

You make some excellent points. If you don't mind and if you have the time to do it, I'd appreciate it if you would send me a few names of writers whose fictions you like and consider to be well written. Send them by PM so no one left out is insulted.
Thanks.

[merkuria.livejournal.com]

Oh, and as to being open to criticism - let's assume my one fiction so far qualifies me for this question. Yeah, I totally would accept it, in fact it is kinda sad that lj is what I feel a no criticism zone in the sense that pointing out any errors is often met with indignation, and as a result no one gives any concrit.

If my fic sucks or could be made better, please tell me. I am gonna cry inside but it might help my fic.

I also wish for peace on earth :DDDDDDD

[fraserette.livejournal.com]

I.agree!

LJ.seems.to.be.a.zone.where.being.truthful.can.be.met.with.hate!

[amelialourdes.livejournal.com]

Wonderful comment! I agree, of course. Although, I think just recently I've run into some really great 1st person narratives that have worked really well. Of course in the hands of a terrible author this is a terrible idea because like you said, it involves the "I am my character" mentality which I fucking hate. But, just recently I've run into 1st person narratives that completely work and only made me feel more involved in that character's thought process. Let me know if you want to try reading it and I'll give you the name of the story.

Using whole lines from canon.
Oh man, I know. This never used to bother me back in the day but right now? Now, no. Never. Stop it. Be original.

Don't spell everything out for me, I am not a moron.
Exactly. If someone bolds, there are many italics, or even capital letters in a fic? I'm insulted. I really can understand something without the extra emphasis. Sometimes? That's fine but if it's throughout it really is as if the author thinks I'm not going to understand anything.

No, no! I love long comments and responding to them as well. I definitely understand what you mean. I think that there's too much of all of this. There's especially a lot of it occurring around our little fandom that could so, yes. I suppose this stemmed from this. I don't really see many complaints from other fandoms but I'd like to know if the errors are there as well. I'm sure there are but they aren't as rampant or blatantly obvious.

[merkuria.livejournal.com]

The 1st person narrative is so uniquely a QaF thing. I have read/read stuff in SPN, Merlin and Star Trek, and these fandoms are virtually 1st narrative-free, which helps the fic quality exponentially. I wonder why QaF is different. You ask about other fandoms. My sad personal conclusion is that QaF is the one with fiction I find offers the least for me. Though I admit the show itself narrows down the playing field very much, so that might be largely caused by that.

But sure, link me the story, nothing better than to be proven wrong :)