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Biggest pet peeves?

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mare:
Because i'm in one of those moods lol

What are some of your biggest pet peeves when it comes to writing fanfics, reading fanfics or anything else in general?

 :P

RokofAges75:
Good question!  LOL

One of my pet peeves has always been people who can't write in proper English (that includes mechanics).  I'm more accepting of authors who don't speak English as a first language, but it is sad to me how many people there are who are college age or older and don't know how to properly punctuate a sentence.  Writing is a talent that can be honed with practice and experience, but the mechanical aspect of it is something that can simply be looked up (and should have been learned in school) - so posting a story that is all in one big run-on sentence paragraph (a worse-case example) is just LAZY.  Even if you can't remember all the rules, for god's sake, just look at a book and try to model your formatting after how that book is formatted.  I'm teaching my 3rd graders how to proofread the stories they've been writing for me, so there's really no excuse for an adult to be posting stories that contain more mistakes than an 8-year-old's first draft.

Another pet peeve is when writers constantly beg for feedback, threaten not to update unless they get feedback, whine about the lack of feedback they get, or shamelessly and desperately plug their stories all the time in hopes of getting more feedback.  That's such a turn-off to me; I just find it annoying.  First off, I think we should be writing because we enjoy writing, not because we want to be praised for something.  But of course, everyone likes feedback and having people read their stuff, so plug your story once, put a link in your signature, have a good summary to go with it, and if the story is interesting enough, you shouldn't have a problem getting someone to read it.  And then when someone DOES send you feedback, you'll know they actually enjoyed the story and weren't just giving you a pity review.

Sorry if I sound like a bitch tonight LOL; I don't mean to be, but I spent most of the day on a bus full of noisy 8th graders, and I'm tired, so maybe I'm just cranky. ;)

mare:

--- Quote ---Sorry if I sound like a bitch tonight LOL; I don't mean to be, but I spent most of the day on a bus full of noisy 8th graders, and I'm tired, so maybe I'm just cranky. 
--- End quote ---

yup, that'll do it! lmao

and I agree with everything you said. I'll have to compile my list tomorrow because i'm too tired to think straight right now.

mers:
my biggest pet peeve, and i have to echo julie here...is when authors end their chapter with something like reviews make me write faster...or the best one...i'll post faster if i get more reviews. gah! i feel like i was just being told by a teacher for doing something wrong whenever i read that, lol...and then it just make me not want to review, lmao.

i dont mind stuff like 'reviews are love', i think those are cute. but once it come across as 'threatening' i gets on my last nerves.

oh and huge chunk of paragraphs, and when dialogues arent separated.

My fics are normally unbetaed, so i might be on some ppl's pet peeves list, lol.

mare:
The feedback thing is at the top of my list as well, even though I do think we have all had a moment when we have done something like that. Especially at the beginning of our fanfic writing careers lol Although i'm with you mers. When people threaten not to write anymore that's so much worse.

I mentioned this before but i'll say it again, I won't read stories where the writer's constantly whine about no feedback. Doesn't matter if it looks like the best story in the universe, just like I don't ever give into kids who cry to get their way. Maybe it's the teacher in me, I have no idea.

One small pet peeve of mine which is soo silly it's almost embarassing but those damn stars on AC.  I wish they would go away altogether because it bugs me beyond belief when you get nothing but glowing reviews but yet your star count goes down. In my case and a lot of other peoples it's always the same person lmao. All it takes is one person to give you a 9 instead of a ten and your count goes down. Doesn't matter how many reviews you have and people have to actually go out of their way to do it too since they are automatically set to ten. I don't think it would bother me if I got a 'well could have been better' or 'not your best' but when they say wow that was amazing! then give you an 8 or something, drives me bonkers.

lmao like I said, no idea why that bothers me so much.

Same thing about paragraphs being separated and dialogue etc...

Oh of course I have to say people who just stop updating their stories without even an email to their readers saying they are taking a hiatus. It bugs me because as readers we invest our time in their stuff, the least they can do is let us know they aren't going to continue anymore.

In the same vein, writers who never respond to their feedback. I think it's rude. It takes five seconds to send a thanks for the review. If you don't take the time to do that, then why should you expect people to take the time to review your stuff?

okay I think i'm done, for now at least. :) lmao

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