Rant: Why do people think a parody means bad grammar and misspelled words?
The titles seemed so promising. Then I looked inside and was horrified by the evidence that dictionaries are déclassé now; that thesauri seem to be extinct; and, yes, we have no bananas today.
Granted, like so many, I will put up with misspellings, grammatical errors, and even formatting gone awry if the plot and the characterization grab my attention. But, I draw the line at the poor attempts I've been seeing recently.
A parody takes a trait or foible of a character or a group and blows it out of proportion. Humor can be scathing or gentle, but, it will elicit a laugh. Both can be mixed in different proportions and achieve the same end: entertainment for both author and reader. Unfortunately, while I know it can be taught, I can see that so very few fanfiction writers that I've stumbled over in the past few days have learned this.
The folks--artists and writers alike--that I have "friended" and been "friended" by know that they need to use a dictionary, a thesaurus, and even a grammar book sometimes; and, many of us rely on the patience of betas, both as readers and editors, to help us polish our offerings to their highest gloss. Now, how do we pass this on? How do we "teach" the kids?
As you can see, I have a plethora of words at my disposal. Many of these words I read in books by Edgar Allen Poe, Agatha Christie, William Shakespeare, Leo Tolstoy, many varied and sundry Bibles, Bullfinches' Mythology, and even one or two comics by Stan Lee! There's power to be had by knowing when to use a word and when a better, more effective word would paint an even more illuminating picture of the events you want to describe.
I refuse--in no uncertain terms and with no loss of equanimity--to give up the hard-won knowledge and the words I've learned. While I like a bit of low humor (that maid from Nantucket comes to mind), I want it to be lyrical, well-crafted and eye-catching. I do not want it riddled with misplaced metaphors and phrases as if it had been written while looking through the wrong end of a telescope! Not that I haven't written things while three sheets to the wind, with all the flags flying...those times aren't that far in my past! Yet, the words, the beautiful, powerful, sexy, enticing, exasperating, intoxicating, magical words are still there for the asking, the knowledge of how to set one in front of the other is there as well, as is the knowledge that I can fix a mistake when it's pointed out to me.
Books, things to read, they are all around us, yet, so many folks are denying themselves the sheer, unmitigated pleasure of bathing their senses in them, in the smooth flow of Robert Burns' poetical manner, of wrapping themselves in the stark being of Ernest Hemingway, or of even laughing at the foibles of Eighteenth Century mores with Jane Austen.
I am not the writers I named above, but I do have a goal to write as well as they did during their generations. I have a standard that will dip, but, it will not sink to the grammatically irresponsible lows some people have the temerity to call their best.
It is not too much to ask for proofreading--with a critical eye--of one's own work, or of suggesting that others might be better suited to it than you. Even pointing out that someone's editor is letting them down is not a flame; it is a fact.
With writing, we have the power, the control. It's within our capabilities to write with an eye towards grammar and style that actually make use of what our teachers strove to teach us. How can anyone willingly throw away one of the most powerful weapons of their personal arsenal by submitting subpar work?
Granted, like so many, I will put up with misspellings, grammatical errors, and even formatting gone awry if the plot and the characterization grab my attention. But, I draw the line at the poor attempts I've been seeing recently.
A parody takes a trait or foible of a character or a group and blows it out of proportion. Humor can be scathing or gentle, but, it will elicit a laugh. Both can be mixed in different proportions and achieve the same end: entertainment for both author and reader. Unfortunately, while I know it can be taught, I can see that so very few fanfiction writers that I've stumbled over in the past few days have learned this.
The folks--artists and writers alike--that I have "friended" and been "friended" by know that they need to use a dictionary, a thesaurus, and even a grammar book sometimes; and, many of us rely on the patience of betas, both as readers and editors, to help us polish our offerings to their highest gloss. Now, how do we pass this on? How do we "teach" the kids?
As you can see, I have a plethora of words at my disposal. Many of these words I read in books by Edgar Allen Poe, Agatha Christie, William Shakespeare, Leo Tolstoy, many varied and sundry Bibles, Bullfinches' Mythology, and even one or two comics by Stan Lee! There's power to be had by knowing when to use a word and when a better, more effective word would paint an even more illuminating picture of the events you want to describe.
I refuse--in no uncertain terms and with no loss of equanimity--to give up the hard-won knowledge and the words I've learned. While I like a bit of low humor (that maid from Nantucket comes to mind), I want it to be lyrical, well-crafted and eye-catching. I do not want it riddled with misplaced metaphors and phrases as if it had been written while looking through the wrong end of a telescope! Not that I haven't written things while three sheets to the wind, with all the flags flying...those times aren't that far in my past! Yet, the words, the beautiful, powerful, sexy, enticing, exasperating, intoxicating, magical words are still there for the asking, the knowledge of how to set one in front of the other is there as well, as is the knowledge that I can fix a mistake when it's pointed out to me.
Books, things to read, they are all around us, yet, so many folks are denying themselves the sheer, unmitigated pleasure of bathing their senses in them, in the smooth flow of Robert Burns' poetical manner, of wrapping themselves in the stark being of Ernest Hemingway, or of even laughing at the foibles of Eighteenth Century mores with Jane Austen.
I am not the writers I named above, but I do have a goal to write as well as they did during their generations. I have a standard that will dip, but, it will not sink to the grammatically irresponsible lows some people have the temerity to call their best.
It is not too much to ask for proofreading--with a critical eye--of one's own work, or of suggesting that others might be better suited to it than you. Even pointing out that someone's editor is letting them down is not a flame; it is a fact.
With writing, we have the power, the control. It's within our capabilities to write with an eye towards grammar and style that actually make use of what our teachers strove to teach us. How can anyone willingly throw away one of the most powerful weapons of their personal arsenal by submitting subpar work?