"I guess so," said the blond ex-tin man in the duster...

[verilyverity]

What is up with the burly detectivism in Tin Man?  Never have I encountered a fandom so dead set on replacing characters' names and pronouns with ridiculous sounding proxies.  And passive voice!  With a verb that takes an object!  How can that even sound right to an author?

ETA: Ye gods and little fishes!  *stares at ballooning comments*

Comments

[kseda]

I was actually flipping out about that to myself the other day. People have names, it's okay to use them, really! And yes, the costuming was fantastic, but let's not describe every aspect whenever someone turns up.

Unless it's the tightness of Cain's pants. That can never be overstated.

[verilyverity]

I just don't get it. Didn't these people have English teachers who told them that in fictional prose, you're supposed to draw on the repertoire of everyday speech?

[blade_girl]

Heh. I am beginning to think that it really doesn't matter what English teachers say in class - almost nobody seems to retain anything they're taught in English. A month or so ago, someone caused a huge wank in torch_wood by suggesting that people who can't spell or don't know grammar especially well shouldn't post without taking some extra steps, such as beta readers. This was met with an absolute tsunami of rage (a whole lot of it from people who claimed to have dyslexia and who apparently believe that excused them from ever being expected to write comprehensibly

[verilyverity]

I want to see that wank. I am, apparently, a glutton for punishment.

Ahh, dyslexia. The refuge of the lazy. I would love to see a throw-down between a "dyslexic" and a real dyslexic. Most of the dyslexics I know have sweated blood to hone word-perfect diction and are thrown into a frothing rage when they encounter the "I'm learning disabled. I shouldn't be expected to tryyyyy" canard.

[blade_girl]

Never have I encountered a fandom so dead set on replacing characters' names and pronouns with ridiculous sounding proxies. And passive voice! With a verb that takes an object!

Not to mention unfounded sexual attractions, and canon-free characterizations, and Harlequinesque plotlines, and overwrought dialogue, and... and...

Um.

Sorry.

[verilyverity]

Yeah, but you can get that everywhere.

[blade_girl]

You can get the everything-but-the-character's-name phenomenon in other fandoms, too. SGA is full of "said the stocky, short-tempered scientist with the deep blue eyes" and so forth. Usually, it's the less experienced writers and those who really don't do a lot of reading (outside of fanfic), both of which are fairly common among younger fans. This fandom seems to have a lot of younger writers, so perhaps it's a function of the median age.

[verilyverity]

Huh. There was none of it in Harry Potter, even with the made-to-order stock phrase, and we were drowning in teeny-boppers. Also, none in POTO, which is likewise neck deep in fankiddies. I guess I'm just spoiled.

[erinm_4600]

*gigglesnort*

Maybe it's there to break up the monotony of 'Cain said this, Cain did that, Cain looked all hot-'

I mean.... yeah

[verilyverity]

That's not monotonous, though. That's proper narrative. And if they're writing fic as one long string of declarative sentences, replacing Cain's name with something stupid isn't going to do them much good.

[erinm_4600]

I agree.

[verilyverity]

Yeah, I suspect I may be preaching to the choir.

[piss_and_ink]

Maybe some people are bible enthusaists who don't like to use Cain's name because Cain killed his brother in the bible? Or...something? (Don't get me wrong, I am not one of those people. But that's the only reason I can think of.)

[verilyverity]

Hee. So what about Glitch the zipper-headed advisor, and DG the blue eyed princess?

[piss_and_ink]

Well, gosh, isn't it obvious? Glitch CLEARLY is not a real name, and thus does not deserve to be mentioned. And DG? That is just the lamest possible way to connect Zooey Deschannel's blue eyed princess to Judy Garland's naive young explorer (haha) that it doesn't deserve to be mentioned either. It inspires far too much rolling of the eyes by readers that it causes headaches of the horrible sort that are caused by excessive eye rolling. How do you like that, funny hat wearer??

[verilyverity]

*ponders*

You may be on to something.

[moony_blues]

Never have I encountered a fandom so dead set on replacing characters' names and pronouns with ridiculous sounding proxies. And passive voice!

Ok, I know that I'm terrified of redundancy (I had a college English prof who tore one of my papers to bits because my word choices weren't varied enough for his taste and actually encouraged me to use lots of pronouns). It's not monotony, just redundancy. It is, however, something for which I now look in my writing thanks to your wonderful beta work on OST. =D

As for passive voice...I dunno. I can't answer for anyone else, but sometimes I use passive voice because it sounds a bit more fluid without realizing that it's unnecessarily florid. =)

[verilyverity]

*headscratch* I've never seen passive voice that seemed more fluid. In fact, it tends to trip me up like a speed bump.

Do not fear the colourless words! Said! Said! Said! Said!

See? It's great! Saidsaidsaidsaidsaidsaidsaidsaidsaid!

[moony_blues]

LOL! I should have said it seems more fluid to me... =P I'm often too wordy for my own good in my writing.

[verilyverity]

I may be getting a little punchy. :P