My Top Ten Pet (Fanfic/Writing in General) Peeves

[bjewelled]

I'm supposed to be working. We've got big changes tonight. Oooooh~

Actually, I am working. Mostly. I just have to wait a few minutes for the servers to do their thing. So in the meantime, let me educate you all.

Comments

[ginalin]

I used to do some of those things when I was a baby writer, but thankfully, my ears were properly boxed.

No more fangirl Japanese, epithets or author's insertions. There are writers in certain fandoms who claim those epithets like "The brunette" or "the blond" are expected and continue to use them.

What? We pretty much know what color hair the characters have, what eye color and what the hell does that have to do with the story anyway?

[wellowned]

i have a feeling that the epithets are mainly used to differentiate between characters, especially in slash. case in point--harry potter fandom, particularly harry/draco shippers. no one wants to write he, he, he, him, him, his, his... the whole way through. it drags and it's also a little confusing.

however, i figure that a person who is very clever will find a way around that without resorting to epithets every other sentence.

[ginalin]

There are definitely more clever ways to get the reader to understand who you're referring to.

Just takes a bit of thought.

[adina_atl]

Names are your friends, and your readers' friends even more so. "Draco spread his hands on Harry's chest as Harry laid his head back on Draco's pillow." Yes, you really are allowed to repeat words even in the same sentence, especially when they're names.

The problem with epithets, other than their sheer silliness, is that they're usually from the wrong point of view. If the story is from Draco's POV, for instance, who thinks of himself as "the blond"? If the story was Draco/Hermione, it might be appropriate for Draco to think of Hermione as "the Mudblood" if it was hate sex or otherwise part of your characterization of his relationship to her, but Hermione would never think of him as "the Pureblood" because it's not important to her view of him. (Yes, I realize that het doesn't have the same pronoun problem as slash.) Hair color and nationality are, I hope, seldom important characteristics of the person you're fucking, especially as you're fucking them.

[wellowned]

i agree, absolutely. i have the feeling that during real!sex, a lot of the words going through your head have nothing at all to do with the makeup of the person you're fucking, but more like "oh god, oh god, right there, harder" whatever. :)

you shouldn't have to resort to epithets except if you're doing nameless sex. then, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe it's acceptable once or twice.

[braidedmane]

Well, and, like anything...epithets are probably okay used in moderation.

Moderation such that it does not cause the reader to NOTICE your use of epithets, mostly.