I include too many song lyrics. Not as much as I used to, but I still have characters singing songs from time to time, and not just BSB songs. I would need to edit all that out or get permission to use it if I were going to publish a novel.
I also describe features of the Boys' appearance more often than I need to (which would be almost never, since we all know what they look like LOL). Especially Brian's blue eyes, Nick's blond hair, and Kevin's eyebrows LOL.
I came across a YouTube video once made by a former fanfic author who became published, talking about bad habits fanfic authors have. https://youtu.be/SmbUAKi-ovY I have probably been guilty of all of these at some point, but the one that I had never thought about was the eye-based reactions. I am always having my characters raise their eyebrows, waggle their eyebrows, etc. To be fair, though, Nick has really nice eyebrows, and Kevin has really prominent ones, so I blame them. Maybe with different characters, I wouldn't do that so much. LOL
If anyone watches the video I linked above, let us know your thoughts and if you're guilty of any of those "bad habits."
I found a "no one is glamorously lonely" in a sentence today and I still think its beautiful, but the wording was so awkward in whatever sentence I put it in, so I had to move things around. I've been actively trying to take song lyrics out. There's only one at the end where I'm debating whether to leave it or remove it. I haven't gotten there yet, but I know it's there.
Oh see, I for sure don't describe their appearances unless it's something they have in common or contrasting with another character that I wanted to highlight EXCEPT for Kevin's large caterpillar eyebrows. I just love them so much.
I watched it and laughed so hard. I feel like Nick is always more suave than the awkward he should be, even in moments where he hasn't thought "I'm going to be so f-ing suave and it will work. It did not... Nailed it?"
From her list, I've definitely been removing so many awkward dialogue tags and focusing instead on meaningful movement or fixing up speech so you can see it and know it's so and so speaking. I could honestly probably fix it again and just use "said," but that's a project for another time! Maybe if I ever follow through on the unfanficing thought.
I've also found a lot of those POV character is blushing moments and tried so hard to change them to other things. Why is that what I underwrote? I don't know.
She has a couple other videos that looked interesting on this topic, but they were twice as long and I wanted to respond to this.
What things does everyone think BSB fanfic writers are more guilty of and what things are they less guilty of? Like, I don't know that we have as many "monologue heavy villains," for instance.
