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[RokofAges75]

Biggest fanfic pet peeve?

It's probably a toss up between the wall of text (impossible to read so I don't even bother trying) and... a story that tells you everything straight up. Maybe that second one isn't really a peeve, but I'd much rather read a story with some subtlety, that lets the reader try to figure things out through the character's actions rather than just being told what happens. I also like stories that end with a bit of a grey area, where the reader can sort of fill in their own ending. Kinda like the way The OC ended with Ryan and Taylor. Did they stay together? They gave each other that look, but we don't know, and the viewer can draw their own logical conclusion.

I don't like being told every little thing, I guess. I don't want to read a fanfic that tells me every single thing about the character's lives. Tell me about a story that happened in their life - not their life story, you know?

That's a good one, Steph.  I think I definitely have that problem of showing/telling too much, though I try to at least space it out through the story and not throw it all out there in the first chapter.  I don't like when stories start with Mary Sue's whole life story up until that point, complete with a physical description that includes the outfit she picked out that day LOL.  But I also find myself wanting to work in the details that I've come up with.  I'm not very good at being subtle.

Do you ever worry about your readers "not getting it" when you're more subtle about things?  I mean, leaving it up to their interpretation suggests they can come to their own conclusions, but would it bother you if they read your characters and their situation completely different from what you intended?  I always wondered that in high school English classes, where we would have to read and overanalyze all this classic literature - like, did that author REALLY mean this as a symbol for such and such, or did some pretentious scholar just come up with that interpretation long after said author was dead, and now we're all just regurgitating it while said author looks down from above and laughs at us? LOL

[mare]

^ that is a great question as well! Even thougbh you posed it to Steph i'm going to answer it anyway since I tend to write that way as well.

I know I tend to be one of those open ended writers. I like to leave a lot up for debate when my stories are over and to me, that's the whole fun of it. I love hearing what people think really happened as opposed to what I pictured in my head. Sometimes it's the same but sometimes it's different. I enjoy leaving my characters very up in the air when all is said and done. I don't usually use the big bows at the end. LOL

[mare]

All the peeves you guys mentioned are mine too but it's funny because the smaller things bother me with fanfics. Obviously the grammar, editing etc... is the worst but I guess when I see stuff like that, I just click out. It's the things I am forced to see that bother me, like banners and some of these summaries! lol

Another stupid one for me is when people take the time to describe what the boys look like. I don't mean what they're wearing, I mean when you take the time to literally describe what each boy looks like as if we don't know. LOL I totally understand why it happens, but it still bugs me for some reason.

It's the small, petty things that bother me.

[mare]

Oh, one more...the word orbs! lmao I hate when people use that to describe someone's eyes. Who says that in real life? lmao

[Rose]

Here's another question:

Now that we've talked about our pet peeves etc..

What do you think you do that can be a peeve for some when it comes to your writing? Is there something that you get called out a lot on? And do you tend to agree with them or disagree?

You know, I have no idea LOL. I'd love for someone who reads my stories to tell me.

I know I used to have tense issues when I wrote first person. So much so that I quit writing first person for awhile. But now it's the first thing I check when I go back and revise so it's not an issue anymore. Um...? Yeah, someone answer for me lol.

[Rose]

Oh, one more...the word orbs! lmao I hate when people use that to describe someone's eyes. Who says that in real life? lmao

I used to be guilty of that at 16 lol.

[RokofAges75]

Here's another question:

Now that we've talked about our pet peeves etc..

What do you think you do that can be a peeve for some when it comes to your writing? Is there something that you get called out a lot on? And do you tend to agree with them or disagree?

I guess I kind of just answered that in my reply to Steph's post, but for people who prefer more subtle, vague, open-ended stories, my stories are probably too detailed and tend to wrap up in big shiny bows, even if the endings aren't always happy.  The long ones, anyway.  I'm more willing to leave things open-ended in a short story, although even that is tough for me.  Some of the stories I've done for monthly challenges here, like Hybrid and Watch Me as I Bleed, I left open-ended, but it was hard because I had this whole back story in my head that I wasn't sure people would get if I didn't explain it.  But I do think they were better left open-ended.

With the super long ones, though, I feel almost a responsibility to both my readers and my characters to resolve the story and give it an ending that's worth all the time the readers invested in reading it and all the shit I put my characters through to get to that point LOL.  That's my preference as a reader, too, though; I love long stories that take me on a journey and leave me feeling satisfied at the end.  If Harry Potter had ended at the moment when Voldemort Avada Kedavras him in the woods and left it up to my interpretation as to what happened, I would flipped out!!!  I like resolution.

I'm sure the fact that I write long stories is annoying to people who don't like to read long stories LOL.  I know I'm wordy, but when I compare my writing now to my writing ten years ago, I much prefer my writing now, so I make no apologies for writing in detail.  817,774 word BMS did teach me to stick to one storyline, or at least parallel storylines that go together, instead of veering off on every subplot that comes into my head LOL.

A lot of my stories include female characters and romantic subplots, which I know is a turn-off for some people (Mare).  And I make banners for all my novels, which is also a pet peeve for some (Mare). LOL  So I know what I do that annoys Mare!  I'm not sure about other people's pet peeves, but feel free to let me know! LOL

I just write what I like, and if I can go back after the fact and reread one of my stories and feel proud of it instead of embarrassed, then I'll stand by what I've written, even if it doesn't appeal to everyone.  I'm not going for universal approval; I don't even think that's possible!

[RokofAges75]

^ Also, I'm sure my novel-length responses are annoying to some people!  Sorry about that.  See, I'm wordy and like to explain too much!! LOL

[Rose]

Biggest fanfic pet peeve?

It's probably a toss up between the wall of text (impossible to read so I don't even bother trying) and... a story that tells you everything straight up. Maybe that second one isn't really a peeve, but I'd much rather read a story with some subtlety, that lets the reader try to figure things out through the character's actions rather than just being told what happens. I also like stories that end with a bit of a grey area, where the reader can sort of fill in their own ending. Kinda like the way The OC ended with Ryan and Taylor. Did they stay together? They gave each other that look, but we don't know, and the viewer can draw their own logical conclusion.

I don't like being told every little thing, I guess. I don't want to read a fanfic that tells me every single thing about the character's lives. Tell me about a story that happened in their life - not their life story, you know?

I'm focusing in on the most OT part of your post... but I loved the series finale of the OC lol. It told just enough to make me happy. God now I kinda wanna go pop in my dvds lol. When I was in Newport over the weekend for my brother's wedding, I felt like I walked into the show. Hot shirtless boys walking down the street, celebrating my brother's wedding on a yacht... yeah, I had the song "California" in my head for almost the entire day LMAO.

[Rose]

^ Also, I'm sure my novel-length responses are annoying to some people!  Sorry about that.  See, I'm wordy and like to explain too much!! LOL

Your wordiness tends to rub off on people too lmao. (Just look at Undead . My longest story before that is 42 chapters long!) But I love that about you LOL.

[Sakabelle]

Here's another question:

Now that we've talked about our pet peeves etc..

What do you think you do that can be a peeve for some when it comes to your writing? Is there something that you get called out a lot on? And do you tend to agree with them or disagree?

Haha my answer to this question is also my answer to Julie's question. I get called out a lot on my endings. To the point where my readers were sure that one of my stories was going to have a sequel, and when I told them no, they told me that sucked! I don't know if I'm any good at being subtle, but I do try. The thing that's kinda cool about it is that people do tend to analyze my characters and make assumptions as to what's going on in their head. I try to drop little hints along the way about what might happen, and when people pick up on them, that's a really nice feeling. It can be very hard to draw the line between what to tell and what not to tell, though. I'm still working on finding that balance.

Also Julie, even though I'm someone who loves the subtlety and the open ending, I adored the ending of BMS. So sometimes I think it really depends on the story!

[RokofAges75]

Oh, one more...the word orbs! lmao I hate when people use that to describe someone's eyes. Who says that in real life? lmao

LOL I almost said something about that in my response.  That's what I now call "Stephenie Meyer writing."  I don't know if other people have had this experience, but as my writing style evolved, I went from not being detailed enough (telling more than showing or being too heavy on the dialogue with not enough description) to being overly wordy and flowery because I thought that was how real novelists wrote (I don't know what the hell I was reading at the time LOL), and now hopefully I've found some place in the middle that is detailed and descriptive without being ridiculous about it.  I look at some of the lines I wrote in Broken and just shake my head LOL.  Broken uses the word "orbs" once to describe Brian's eyes, and every time I see it (because it's in one of those pivotal parts), I cringe!  I think that style of writing is the sign of a novice writer who's trying too hard to be taken seriously.

[Rose]

Haha my answer to this question is also my answer to Julie's question. I get called out a lot on my endings. To the point where my readers were sure that one of my stories was going to have a sequel, and when I told them no, they told me that sucked! I don't know if I'm any good at being subtle, but I do try. The thing that's kinda cool about it is that people do tend to analyze my characters and make assumptions as to what's going on in their head. I try to drop little hints along the way about what might happen, and when people pick up on them, that's a really nice feeling. It can be very hard to draw the line between what to tell and what not to tell, though. I'm still working on finding that balance.

Also Julie, even though I'm someone who loves the subtlety and the open ending, I adored the ending of BMS. So sometimes I think it really depends on the story!

The ending of BMS was fantastic. I agree, I think it depends on the story. Sometimes open-ended is better, and at other times it's better to wrap everything up.

[Sakabelle]

I'm focusing in on the most OT part of your post... but I loved the series finale of the OC lol. It told just enough to make me happy. God now I kinda wanna go pop in my dvds lol. When I was in Newport over the weekend for my brother's wedding, I felt like I walked into the show. Hot shirtless boys walking down the street, celebrating my brother's wedding on a yacht... yeah, I had the song "California" in my head for almost the entire day LMAO.

I sob my eyes out every single time I watch that finale. That's why I used that example lol I think a lot of us have watched that show, since it's been discussed a little before.

But man, when Ryan flashes back to Seth saying "Hey," I just...  

Err yeah anyway, The OC is a perfect example of everything I love about storytelling. Good characters who grow and change over time unless they get killed off excellent humour that is well placed, great callbacks, fantastic book-ending, and fantastic music.

I am sure that in my writing you can see a lot of influence from The OC.

[RokofAges75]

Also Julie, even though I'm someone who loves the subtlety and the open ending, I adored the ending of BMS. So sometimes I think it really depends on the story!

Thanks!  I can appreciate how completely over-the-top the ending to BMS is, but honestly, I still love it too.  After all those chapters and everything those two characters went through, I couldn't think of ending it any other way.  The post-epilogue was inspired by the ending of one of my favorite fanfics, and I love the ending of that story too.  But that's just my preference.  That's not to say I hate open endings.  If it fits the story, it's a nice touch, and sometimes, the strong reaction I have to being left hanging appeals to me as much as an ending that leaves me with a warm fuzzy feeling and tears in my eyes.  As long as I have some kind of emotional response to the ending, it's a good ending in my mind LOL.