merrily: Mac (trknight)
merrily ([personal profile] merrily) wrote2006-08-20 10:20 pm
Entry tags:

It's Not Bad Writing, But There's A Lot of Bad Words

I am bored, and I just read a hideous sex scene, so...



Five Things That Will Make Me Stop Reading A Piece of Fanfic

5. First-person narrative.

4. Mis-spelled words.

3. Clear ignorance of canon (Sirius does not have a doting older sister, his mum is not a nice person, Wash was leery about a pregnancy and Paul Atreides cannot make rain fall.)

2. Use (in sexual situations) of the words vulva, jism, or crack. Bitter seed won't make me run, but I'll think less of you.

1. And the thing that will most reliably prompt me to close a viewer window is:

Introductions that insist on telling us the first and last names of all the characters present, their exact location, the time of year, and details of all circumstances leading to the moment at hand. FER EXAMPLE:

It was autumn at Hogwarts Castle, and Remus Lupin, third-year wizarding student, was lying by himself in a pile of leaves near the edge of the lake, where a giant squid lived. Remus was a healthy fourteen-year old with homosexual urges. He was pining over Sirius Black, his friend and unrequited love. They hadn’t spoken in six months, ever since Sirius had set in motion events which could have led to another student’s death.

“Why did he have to do that?” Remus wondered. “Doesn’t he know I love him? And that werewolves mate for life? And that I am a werewolf?”



Other people! Tell me what makes you scram!

[identity profile] ana-grrl.livejournal.com 2006-08-23 06:55 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm willing to give first-person POV a go, if I trust the author. But generally, no. And you #1? I hate that too. And carrying it through the entire story...argh. I know who the characters are. I don't need to be told 'Lt. Karl 'Helo' Agathon was in love. He was in love with Sharon 'the cylon' Valerii, and that made things really difficult with Chief Galen Tyrol, P.O.' etc.

I will stop reading a story if I see the term 'spooge' in a sex scene. Yikes!

I also really hate the over use of taste descriptors. You know 'she tasted like strawberry ice cream with just a hint of--' and so on. It just gets on my nerves.

How did I miss "spooge"?

[identity profile] merrilily.livejournal.com 2006-08-24 05:14 pm (UTC)(link)
I mean, it's not like there are good words for semen, but it does rank as one of the grossest.

Also, I found a fantastic lst person narrative fic in the HP fandom as soon as I posted this, because the universe wanted to point out I can be wrong.

But, you know, I've never found a first-person Firefly fic that worked. Have you? Actually, I don't remember reading any first-person Firefly fic.

Re: How did I miss "spooge"?

[identity profile] ana-grrl.livejournal.com 2006-08-24 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
It's seriously one of the most rank words. I think you missed it because we all try to pretend the word doesn't exist!

I don't think I've ever seen a first-person Firefly fic. Not that I remember. No. Wait. I think I've seen a Vera first-person fic. It worked, because it was Vera.

You know what else I really hate? 'ministrations'. I hate when I see that in a fic. It's so clunky!

Re: How did I miss "spooge"?

[identity profile] merrilily.livejournal.com 2006-08-24 05:36 pm (UTC)(link)
"First-person Vera fic"!?!?!?!?!

What? Where? How did I not see that?

Re: How did I miss "spooge"?

[identity profile] ana-grrl.livejournal.com 2006-08-24 05:43 pm (UTC)(link)
You know, I can't for the life of me remember. Dang!

also

[identity profile] merrilily.livejournal.com 2006-08-24 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Me too with the taste descriptors. Or visual descriptors. Either remind me of Grade Eleven creative writing classes, where my teacher obviously realized she couldn't teach style, so she'd substitute flagrant over-use of adjectives.

Re: also

[identity profile] ana-grrl.livejournal.com 2006-08-24 05:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Sometimes the taste/visual descriptors can really work - but only if they're lightly used, and generally, if they're used in a playful, almost ironic way. Does that make sense? But so many of them are cliches - 'a hint of mint with that taste uniquely [character's] own' kind of thing, and yikes. That is all.