Fanfic Pet Peeve #28: Lazy Author Makes Lazy Character
I've been thinking about posting a series of these for ages and ages, and tonight, ticked off by a short little fic I was reading on the way home, I figured, why not bite the bullet and start one! So, with no previous 27 yet documented, I bring you Pet Peeve #28 - Lazy Author Makes Lazy Character. Blargh!
So: "They were at a wedding reception of some high-ranking officer; Riza couldn't even really remember who it was." Seriously?? Have you ever been to a wedding reception and not known who it was for??? Maybe, as a someone else's plus one, but even then, you kind of make a little effort to know names of the couple involved. BUT, on top of that, it's a high-ranking officer and Riza's in the military - usually as a soldier you keep a special place in your memory for high-ranking officers who might affect your future - especially if you might accidentally offend them, say by not knowing they are the bride/groom at their own wedding reception. AND, Riza (of FMA awesomeness) is one of the sharpest people of all the military characters in the show, and always knows exactly what's going on in her sphere, mostly in order to keep her slacker boss Mustang on track - so there is NO FUCKING WAY she would not know whose wedding reception she is at.
If you want to say that she didn't give a flying fuck about the person getting married and was just there because it was a social obligation, that is fair and very possible, but there are many ways to say that, even with restrictive word counts, that don't make your incredibly intelligent, bad-ass sniper character sound like a total idiot. Just because you as the author don't want to come up with a name and/or rank and/or back story for this mysterious person, doesn't mean your character can't be bothered to remember him/her, even if only tangentially involved in her life. Just give him/her a name, toss off a rank, whatever, just acknowledge that your damn character knows who the fuck it is - the reader doesn't need to know his/her life story, that's not the point, but your character probably has some awareness of his/her position in her social hierarchy and can at the very least tell if she is at their wedding!
K? K. /end rant.... for now................
So: "They were at a wedding reception of some high-ranking officer; Riza couldn't even really remember who it was." Seriously?? Have you ever been to a wedding reception and not known who it was for??? Maybe, as a someone else's plus one, but even then, you kind of make a little effort to know names of the couple involved. BUT, on top of that, it's a high-ranking officer and Riza's in the military - usually as a soldier you keep a special place in your memory for high-ranking officers who might affect your future - especially if you might accidentally offend them, say by not knowing they are the bride/groom at their own wedding reception. AND, Riza (of FMA awesomeness) is one of the sharpest people of all the military characters in the show, and always knows exactly what's going on in her sphere, mostly in order to keep her slacker boss Mustang on track - so there is NO FUCKING WAY she would not know whose wedding reception she is at.
If you want to say that she didn't give a flying fuck about the person getting married and was just there because it was a social obligation, that is fair and very possible, but there are many ways to say that, even with restrictive word counts, that don't make your incredibly intelligent, bad-ass sniper character sound like a total idiot. Just because you as the author don't want to come up with a name and/or rank and/or back story for this mysterious person, doesn't mean your character can't be bothered to remember him/her, even if only tangentially involved in her life. Just give him/her a name, toss off a rank, whatever, just acknowledge that your damn character knows who the fuck it is - the reader doesn't need to know his/her life story, that's not the point, but your character probably has some awareness of his/her position in her social hierarchy and can at the very least tell if she is at their wedding!
K? K. /end rant.... for now................