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[thenightsfall]

Have you ever read a fic and were really, really liking it, getting ready to save it and maybe even rec it, when the author totally ruined it in the very last frickin' line?  Like the last line is so contextually and characterization-wise out of whack with the rest of the fic that you think the author must have copied in a line from another fic by

Comments

[atdelphi]

...SGU just becomes more and more failtastic as the days go by.

On the other topic, I used to have a beta who would suggest closing lines that struck me as completely opposite to what I was trying to say. I admittedly...well, let's just say I'm not sure I've ever had two characters verbally use the word "love" in one of my stories. And sometimes I go past subtle to abstruse, which is why I like having multiple betas, since it helps me get a feel for when I'm communicating and when I'm just talking to myself. But this person always wanted me to affix a "beat the theme over people's heads and make it mushily clear these two want to be together forever" line to the end, and I never quite knew what to say. Endings really aren't my strength, but I still wouldn't have felt right taking a sharp left turn with the emotioal arc I'd intended.

[thenightsfall]

::nods: The Boys at Bridge simply don't have the insight and sensitivity to handle dark and edgy because they can't distinguish it from offensive and obtuse. Oy.

I'm not great at endings, I must admit, and I think it's a common problem for a lot of fanfic authors. I mean, I've read many a fic with abrupt endings, graceless endings, and the like, but I don't ever remember reading one before where the very last line was so off-kilter with the rest of the fic. It was very disconcerting! Made me wonder just what the author was trying to say with this fic, if that last line was it or if what I'd gleaned from the rest was it. Either way, not the best writing. ETA: And yes, sometimes that line (or joke) you think is so bloody great it just has to be included in the fic, context and characterization be damned, had best ought to be saved for a more appropriate fic. Let it go, author. Let it go.

[graculus]

That whole SGFail thing is incredibly skeevy, which comes as absolutely no surprise to me whatsoever. As if the casting stuff wasn't bad enough to be going on with... ;)

[thenightsfall]

Body swapping and sex, especially apparently regular body swapping and sex, are not meant to be in the hands of these bozos. I shudder to think just how offensive it will all be!