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Date Posted: 21:07:49 06/24/02 Mon
Author: Martha
Subject: Fanfic Pet Peeves
So there are some things in fic which are capable of actually making my hair stand on end or my teeth itch. Above and beyond the everyday horrors of bad spelling, characterization and etc, these are the truly grievous things which on a bad day can lead me to making rude gestures at my computer until my roommate gives me funny looks. I know I'm not the only one who has these; what're yours?
1. Druscilla. It's! Drusilla!
2. Giving Faith a last name. Completely unnecessary and terribly jarring.
3. Ripper is the Hyde to Giles' Jekyll, the Angelus to his Angel, and is in *no way* the same person as gentle old Rupert. Nor ever was.
4. Zander. GAH.
5. A Spike voice which consists of nothing more tailored than randomly strewn British slang. Same goes for a Dru which just references Miss Edith, a Faith who says "B" all the time, or a Tara who stutters constantly without reason or pattern.
Etc, etc. (There are more, I'm sure.) And, to disclaim, no offense meant.
Martha
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Re: Fanfic Pet Peeves -- Werrf, 04:58:51 06/25/02 Tue
Agree completely with most of these, though...
>2. Giving Faith a last name. Completely unnecessary
>and terribly jarring.
Faith must, at some point in her life, have had a surname, and there are times (esp. when dealing with the police) when it would be used. Somehow, a scene with Faith in court and just being described as 'Faith' or 'Miss Doe' is equally jarring.
Toodle Pip,
Werrf
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Re: Fanfic Pet Peeves -- Martha, 10:47:08 06/25/02 Tue
Okay, true, you have a point. In some situations, it makes more sense. What really bothers me is stories that start "Faith Jones strode into the Bronze ..." without rhyme or reason and I'm all like "Hmwha?"
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Re: Fanfic Pet Peeves -- Majin Gojira, 07:16:56 07/10/02 Wed
>Agree completely with most of these, though...
>
>>2. Giving Faith a last name. Completely unnecessary
>>and terribly jarring.
>
>Faith must, at some point in her life, have had a
>surname, and there are times (esp. when dealing with
>the police) when it would be used. Somehow, a scene
>with Faith in court and just being described as
>'Faith' or 'Miss Doe' is equally jarring.
>
>Toodle Pip,
>
>Werrf
I've come to the conclusion that Faith's Parents were Former Hippies, who fell into drug induced stoopers. in other words: SHE HAS NO LAST NAME!!! Faith is her legal name :D
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I don't mind Last names as much as... -- DeepaD, 07:56:25 06/25/02 Tue
Buffy being prettied up to Elizabeth. Please. The show acknowledged that she had an ugly name - if she can live with it, so can the rest of us.
William, or Liam being landed gentry whose titles and estates have somehow miraculously preserved themselves just in time to provide them with the class to marry Buffy in style.
Saying Willow babbled but never actually writing down one of her babbles. Like, Buffy worried, while Willow babbled, and then she said, "ok, I've got a plan" Sheesh.
Describing a vampire as deliciously cool, and comfortingly warm, all in one para.
There are a whole other bunch of smut-related eye-rolls I have, but I'll wait for someone else to start that list!
Deepa D.
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Re: I don't mind Last names as much as... -- Auntie Diluvian, 10:52:10 06/25/02 Tue
Being the grammar/spelling geek I am (watch me get something wrong within this post) there are things that crop up *so*damn*often* that just tick me off:
Taunt abdomen
the vampire didn't need to breath at all
"alot" and "alright" (though that last one especially is getting into common usage)
his pants were too lose
their affair was discrete
I'm sure I'm missing a bunch and will smack myself on the forehead later, but these are the ones that sprung to mind.
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Re: I don't mind Last names as much as... -- Indri, 08:53:42 06/26/02 Wed
>"alot" and "alright" (though that last one especially
>is getting into common usage)
I was actually taught to use "alright" when I was at school in the UK, although I had my knuckles rapped for it in the US. At the time, I thought it was just another regional variation, but the dictionaries do not agree with me.
Having just checked, the OED lists "alright" as a variant spelling since 1893 but offers no value judgement (descriptive rather than prescriptive etc.), while the Merriam-Webster reluctantly admits that it's probably OK. I have no style guides handy.
Indri
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Re: Fanfic Pet Peeves -- Kelso, 13:59:00 06/25/02 Tue
1. Misspelled character names. My current target of wrath is Connor's name. An incredible number of people assume that it's either "Conor" or "Conner."
2. Author notes that include references to muses, "cannon" (but I don't mind "canon"), or any variation on "Sorry if my spelling or grammar sucks." Talk of muses won't make me not read a story, of course, but it does get on my nerves for some reason I can't really explain. Maybe because it just seems way too precious.
3. the phrase "spilled his cold seed"
4. Incorrect punctuation, especially in dialogue. Common mistakes that make me wince:
"Goodbye." Angel said.
"Who is it?" She asked.
"Thanks Buffy," Xander said.
And what everyone else has said.
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Re: Fanfic Pet Peeves -- Arwen Summers, 23:23:24 07/07/02 Sun
>3. the phrase "spilled his cold seed"
Ewww! lol
>4. Incorrect punctuation, especially in dialogue.
>Common mistakes that make me wince:
>"Goodbye." Angel said.
>"Who is it?" She asked.
>"Thanks Buffy," Xander said.
>
forgive me, but I thought the last one was right. As a non-native speaker I might have learned a different or wrong grammer, but I always thought the comma comes before the quotation mark. Or do you mean the missing comma between "thanks" and "Buffy"?
Other things that just really annoy me, yes me, a German who should know less about right grammar than an American or Brit, is use of slang in narrative text.
E.g. kinda, wanna, could of (grrr!) or the constant mix up of their, they're and there or you're and your. Some people just don't seem to know the difference.
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Re: Fanfic Pet Peeves -- Kelso, 01:19:29 07/14/02 Sun
>"Thanks Buffy," Xander said.
>forgive me, but I thought the last one was right. As a non->native speaker I might have learned a different or wrong >grammer, but I always thought the comma comes before the >quotation mark. Or do you mean the missing comma between >"thanks" and "Buffy"?
Yes, the missing comma is what I meant.
The sentence
"Thanks, Buffy," said Xander
would be correct.
Sometimes I'll be reading a good story with almost no mistakes. Then I'll run into sentences like "Hi Wesley" or "Tara I hate you!" and the missing commas really irritate me.
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Re: Fanfic Pet Peeves -- kalima, 22:42:12 06/25/02 Tue
I came across "his male nipples." Twice!
Somebody already covered "the petite blonde" right? (Sometimes referred to as "the petite blond.")
Kalima
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Re: Fanfic Pet Peeves -- Lakrids, 08:22:56 06/26/02 Wed
My little Pet Peeves is the word....
Male bonding.
Not so much in the fanfic, but more in the Summary or in recomendations. It sounds so clinical to me, why not instead use the word friendship. Is there anything called femal bonding?.
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Re: Fanfic Pet Peeves -- lanie, 11:08:04 06/27/02 Thu
My fic peeves are a bit more general and tend to encompass character bashing. I hate useless character bashing.
lanie
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Re: Fanfic Pet Peeves -- Werrf, 17:12:01 06/27/02 Thu
My current favourite...
Repeat use of 'the teenager' to refer to one of our kids (normally Xander). Okay, I know they are teenagers, but that's the point - *they*. There's not just one teen. Why can't you just say 'Xander'/'Willow'/'Buffy'?
Use of a name in every sentence. Grammar isn't my strongest point, but I'm pretty sure 'he' or 'she' will suffice in most instances. No need to say "Xander grabbed the stake and circled behind the vampire. Then Xander leapt forward, the stake sinking in. Xander watched in satisfaction as the vampire dusted, then Xander and Buffy high-fived." Sorry, but I just skip straight over paragraphs like that, and if the whole story is in that format, I'll skip the whole thing.
Toodle Pip,
Werrf
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Re: Fanfic Pet Peeves -- Which Witch, 10:07:38 06/29/02 Sat
>Use of a name in every sentence... No need to say
>"Xander grabbed the stake ... Then Xander leapt ... Xander watched ... then Xander and Buffy high-fived
The other side of that is in now way less annoying: using every possible word to avoid using the character's name:
"Willow was reading. Suddenly the bookish hacker noticed that the brunette girl beside her got up. The ex-cheerleader went to the kitchen, asking if anyone wants something. "No thanks" said the redheaded witch to the seer."
Get the point? The redheaded hacker, the petite blonde, the ex-watcher, the ex-librarian, the souled vampire, the ex-commando, the former vengeance daemon, and my personal favorite - the peroxide blonde vampire.
Those drives me INSANE!
Especially when the description is used in no context to the specific plot. I mean, there's a difference between: "'I'll see if I can find anything on the net.' said the redheaded hacker", and "Tara and I are going to lunch." said the redheaded hacker.
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Re: Fanfic Pet Peeves -- Cas, 15:01:33 06/29/02 Sat
>using every possible word to avoid using the
>character's name:
>
>
>Get the point? The redheaded hacker, the petite
>blonde, the ex-watcher, the ex-librarian, the souled
>vampire, the ex-commando, the former vengeance daemon,
>and my personal favorite - the peroxide blonde vampire.
>
>Those drives me INSANE!
>
Oh me too. I especially can't stand all those fics which continuously refer to characters by their hair colour, as if we didn't know what it was. It is OK to say 'she' or 'he' or even 'it'.
For me, really unforgiveable are misspellings of characters names - this is fanfiction after all.
Cas
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Re: Fanfic Pet Peeves -- Majin Gojira, 13:59:00 07/11/02 Thu
Well, here's some of my pet peeves - like anyone actually cares :D
1) Gratuitous Faith Kills or GFTs for short. Can't stand um. Especially when it's treated as an aside litte thing. "Oh, she was beaten to death in prison", or other such rubbish. Can't stand it.
2) Misuse of Monsters - I CAN'T FIND ANY FICS THAT ACTUALLY FOCUS ON THE SCOOBIES FIGHTING A SINGLE MONSTER! THEY NEVER GET THERE DUES!
3) Gratuitous Power up of a Character from BtVS - Example: "Immortal Anyone (Especially Buffy)", "(Insert Actual Super-Power Here) Xander"
4) Bringing Faith Back into the fold, then having her fall to the sidelines again. People, THAT IS WHAT DROVE HER INSANE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!
5) Buffy being completely outmatched by other characters in a crossover and have no logical reasoning behind it. IE: Buffy being beaten by a fresh immortal. I can see her being beaten by Hercules or Godzilla, but not a Forever Knight Vampire.
6) Done to Death Buffy Crossovers: X-Files, Highlander, Roswell...
7) Fluffy B/S...and B/S in General(if the main focus of the story is this) - I still can't see why people want to promote an abusive relationship or make it appear as it is not as such. WILL SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME WHY THERE'S SO MUCH BS IN THE WORLD!!!??? (I also have a thing against reunighting BA at this point in time)
As you can see, I'm a very choosy reader.
Hmm...this is all off the top of my head as well...there might be more, but I can't think of any.
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Re: Fanfic Pet Peeves -- Werrf, 14:03:13 07/15/02 Mon
These really aren't fair, but...well, for the sake of completeness :-)
1) The word 'pants'. I KNOW it's perfectly valid. I KNOW there's nothing really wrong with it. It's just that in Britain, 'pants' means strictly 'underpants'. Never trousers. So it just throws me out. Doesn't mean everyone should change to suit me at all...just gets me, that's all.
2) This one's actually more legitimate in fanfic than in episodes, but it still bugs me. The use of apocalyptic, can't-be-avoided prophecies. You just KNOW that they'll be dodged somehow. There are, however, occasional changes to the tune in fanfic, where it isn't dodged, but it's still a big gripe. The same goes for combat-to-the-death - how often do we see good characters kill their enemy in cold blood?
That's all for now.
Toodle Pip,
Werrf
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Re: Fanfic Pet Peeves -- urbanfaith, 06:58:32 12/28/02 Sat
I'm a big reader of fanfic and I was surfing through the Halo awards when I came apon this site and checked out the messageboard. I have to say that some of the worse offences in the fanfic world are...
1. People that ignore that some things are meant to be put in PARAGRAPHS! Just a straight block of writing that includes dialogue overloads my poor brain.
2. B/S shipping. I have to admit that some of the fic is very well written and I will read it for that reason. But basically we all know that it is MEANT to be B/A. And whilst I am coming to terms that my dreams for their revival may not come to pass... I don't think we should ignore the whole "soulmates" issue, okay?
3. People who say they will update their fic and never do. They just leave it hanging. GRRR!! If you are going to start something, finish it!
Well I think I have complained enough for one night. :-) Just thought that I would add to the pile of wonderful peeves that has arisen...
Catchyaz,
Urbanfaith...
p.s. Great site!
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Re: Fanfic Pet Peeves -- ZachsMind, 09:44:34 12/28/02 Sat
UrbanFaith: "I'm a big reader of fanfic and I was surfing through the Halo awards when I came apon this site and checked out the messageboard."
Good to see I'm not alone. I did the same thing. Happened across this message board from the Halo awards page.
"3. People who say they will update their fic and never do. They just leave it hanging. GRRR!! If you are going to start something, finish it!"
Sometimes there's a distinct reason why fanfiction doesn't get finished. Particularly episodic fan fiction. I wrote a series of transcript format fanfics that were supposed to be season seven episodes. I wrote them over the course of the past summer, and didn't finish them when I learned from spoilage that I was WAY off base. My approach to how Mutant Enemy would go from "Two To Go/Grave," while enjoyable from my perspective, was so non-canonical I couldn't bring myself to finish my efforts. I had enough material in mind for twenty-two episodes, and I knew basically where I was wanting to go, but when I learned Amber Benson probably wasn't going to return, my attempt to utilize the character of Tara the way I did was... well I just couldn't bring myself to keep writing my faux season seven. It started feeling like literary masturbation, and no one else would ever appreciate the work so why bother?
Oh. They're over here if anyone happens to be interested. I also have a couple stand alone works outside the faux season seven pieces I did. "House of Mirrors" is kinda Xander-centric, and "Christmas Gift" I wrote before I found out we were gonna get "Bring On the Night." It was an attempt to write a Christmas Episode that takes place immediately after "Never Leave Me."
With that in mind, here's a pet peeve I don't personally have but I think perhaps many fanfic readers do: writing in script/transcript format. I'm guilty of this. Personally for me writing fanfic as if it were a potential shooting script for the show allows the viewer to better imagine what the story would be like if actually produced. It makes it more Buffyish, but at the same time it seems many people just don't warm up to that approach for some reason.
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