for the most sensitive among us the noise can be too much.

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?

... but the latest trends of High School Musical, Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers is absolutely driving me insane. I cannot wait until these fads are over so we never have to hear about them again except from the former teenyboppers who used to idolize them.

Sorry kids. Believe it or not it is a fad.

That said, this was an interesting article on the Hannah Montana Movie. I like to remain well informed. Now I have a question for those fellow Disney fans or just opinions in general: Why are Disney characters not allowed to have mothers AND fathers?

Some do. Princess Aurora had parents. But they didn't raise her or anything or I don't know if that really counts. There's still a giant disassociation that she has from them. Um, let's see. Anyone else? Oh! Mulan had a mother and a father. That was rare.

I know that generally these ideas stem from their original stories like Briar Rose and those stories stem from old folk stories. So, what is it about folk stories that took the children away from their parents. Was there a moral in there somewhere?

But newer, original Disney stories are also kind of lacking in family representations like Finding Nemo (the Mom was eaten), Meet the Robinsons (wanted to find adoptive mother), etc. I'm not asking that the nuclear family is represented in every film but you know ... at least some of them would be nice.