Fic Talk > General Discussion
Question of the Day - Part 4
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: Sakabelle on July 25, 2012, 06:24:56 PM ---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?
--- End quote ---
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:
--- Quote from: mare on July 25, 2012, 06:47:56 PM ---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?
--- End quote ---
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 :P lol.
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