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IonMoon -> Pet Peeves (6/9/2008 7:03:11 PM)

We all have them... another thread made me think about this. What is it in other people's writing that bugs you? (whether published or amateurs) The idea is not to debate whether the item is "right" or "wrong," but just your emotional response to it...

What prompted me was Locke saying how he doesn't like it when other writers use said a lot.

My big one is modern poetry that uses archaic language because it sounds "poetic" like thee or whilst... It just always jerks me out of the poem.

Tara P



Locke -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/9/2008 9:33:59 PM)

yay! I'm happy to get you thinking!

I have a number of pet peeves, and more than enough food to feed all of them. Here are a couple:

1. As stated above: using "said" after every single line of speech text. It just strips your work of humanity and emotion, IMO.
2. Cliche themes. Being Christian does not limit you to friendly tales of siblings that have a disagreement - you are the child of The Creator, and it ought to show in your work. Try busting out of the box a little, and get your hands dirty from time to time. Why write about a walk down the woods when you can be analogous to the declining state of morality in America? How does a Christian address aliens, serial killers, elves, and young Christians who don't always act like they ought?
3. "Happy Bunny" syndrome. Not quite like the character of the same name, but basically, when a writer makes everything in his or her story completely over-the-top giddy and bright. Your story doesn't have to be emo to be interesting, but try to bring some reality into your work. If you've ever seen the movie trailer for The Simpsons movie (not that I'm a fan, cause i'm not), you know what i'm getting at with the bunny.

I'm sure there are a lot more, but these three came to mind. [:D]



ScarletFury -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/10/2008 11:08:32 AM)

Missing quotation marks. And missing commas. It just really frustrates me!

Next is all the characters having names that start with the same letter. Two or three I can handle, but when it gets to be a family with triplets and aunts/uncles living in the same house and all of the names begin with "M"?

Those are just my main ones...[8D]



Ganheim -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/10/2008 12:27:07 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Locke
1. As stated above: using "said" after every single line of speech text. It just strips your work of humanity and emotion, IMO.

I also consider it unoriginal and nondescriptive, and I'm constantly fighting authors about it on Fiction Press and Fan Fiction.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Locke
2. Cliche themes. Being Christian does not limit you to friendly tales of siblings that have a disagreement - you are the child of The Creator, and it ought to show in your work. Try busting out of the box a little, and get your hands dirty from time to time. Why write about a walk down the woods when you can be analogous to the declining state of morality in America? How does a Christian address aliens, serial killers, elves, and young Christians who don't always act like they ought?

I believe that J.R.R. Tolkien once said "As children of the creator, we inherit the right to create ourselves." Interesting sentiment, no?

Missing quotation marks is generally a sign of poor self-editing. The one that irritates me the most is what I call "Source Mixing", or where the dialog/actions for one character is mixed in with that of another character. It's especially irritating when character A has a speech, then instead of having a 'speech tag' of that character, it's got a 'speech tag'/response from character B tacked onto character A's dialog, indicating that it belongs to B. And the only way to figure that out is to re-read a few times to guess 'well, this speech pattern might be more A's style then B'...

I think that Source Mixing is even more irritating than the obligatory Japanese (or other languages) that I see often on Fan Fiction, which itself is jarring an interruptive besides usually being misused.



Locke -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/10/2008 4:46:14 PM)

quote:

I also consider it unoriginal and nondescriptive, and I'm constantly fighting authors about it on Fiction Press and Fan Fiction.


Oh good! I'm happy to find another. [:)] I seem to be generally outnumbered on that issue.



4IMPersuaded -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/12/2008 9:45:51 PM)

I don't enjoy narratives told in the present tense-- I find it distracting. I am unable to get over the fact that the story isn't taking place at the exact moment I am reading it so I find it difficult to actually read the story for the story's sake.



whisper -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/13/2008 2:45:19 AM)

The exact opposite of always using "said" is irksome as well. If Sammy chortles something, and Tommy exclaims something, and then Maria broods about something - I'm sure eventually in life there's something that has just been said, and nothing more. I'm not a fan of when it looks as if someone lives with a thesaurus glued to them but manages only to come up with awkward or forced uses for their synonyms for words like "said."



Locke -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/13/2008 12:36:33 PM)

^ Oh, agreed. Happy mediums for everybody! "Tommy said this to Sally, which made sally scream at Tommy." [:D]



Ganheim -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/13/2008 2:19:29 PM)

Yes, there's a line to walk in narrative. Personally, I usually don't use the descriptor 'said' much - I prefer to have the character do something that identifies the owner of the passage, then I close the action and tack the dialog on without an awkward speech tag. I'll usually only modify the dialog if it needs that (such as screaming, snapping...).

This isn't too irksome when it isn't extremely frequently repeated, but what about writers that use way too many commas? Or practically forget to use them at all?



Locke -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/13/2008 4:32:30 PM)

What, are you saying that some authors, like the ones who don't know how to use other punctuation, or how to close a sentence, use too many commas?

Yeah, that can be annoying. [:D]



Dancre -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/13/2008 11:11:18 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: rainbowtvp

We all have them... another thread made me think about this. What is it in other people's writing that bugs you? (whether published or amateurs) The idea is not to debate whether the item is "right" or "wrong," but just your emotional response to it...

What prompted me was Locke saying how he doesn't like it when other writers use said a lot.

My big one is modern poetry that uses archaic language because it sounds "poetic" like thee or whilst... It just always jerks me out of the poem.

Tara P


Telling, telling, telling, telling, telling, did I mention telling? Oi!! Shirley walked down the street. It was very cold. A man stepped in front of her and frowned at her. She moved passed him and snarled at him. a bus honked its horn.

Oh, dear God, someone stop me!!!

kim

Actually, Sir Locke, using said is the prefered usage for publishers. He screamed, begged, pleaded, whined is all telling. Publishers see authors who use taglines as amatures and promptly toss the manuscript in the shred box. Use showing to paint a picture.

Tears sat on the edge of her eyes. "Please stop!"

He glared at her. "Why should I," he asked.



Locke -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/14/2008 6:42:43 PM)

He asked a statement? Hmm...

And you know what I say to that? lol... art over publishing. I'd rather be happy with my work. Out-of-the-box-thinking is the whole point of my writing. Following cookie-cutter rules like completely goes against the whole point of what i'm doing with my writing.

Thanks for the heads-up now though... now I know why I haven't been picked up yet. [:D]



_CANCELLED_ -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/14/2008 10:58:58 PM)

I can't really think of any from the writer b'c as long as they're writing, they're trying and growing in their craft. What irks me is when they put something out there asking for honest opinions, some well-intended readers praise it even if it's c.r.a.p. I have my share of c.r.a.p. and I'd rather have the pain of honesty than to be flattered with undeserved compliments. That won't help me learn.



I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way--Mark Twain



Dancre -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/22/2008 10:05:45 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: _CANCELLED_

I can't really think of any from the writer b'c as long as they're writing, they're trying and growing in their craft. What irks me is when they put something out there asking for honest opinions, some well-intended readers praise it even if it's c.r.a.p. I have my share of c.r.a.p. and I'd rather have the pain of honesty than to be flattered with undeserved compliments. That won't help me learn.



I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way--Mark Twain


I have to agree. It irks me when someone asks for advice when all they want is a happy pat on the butt and a good job! Writing is more than typing words, it's dealing with criticism and learning, learning, learning. I'd rather have someone say, you need to change this, and I learn something, than a million good jobs. Or worse, giving advice and the novice argues their point. Oi!! [8|] Whatever. I've learned to leave those folks alone. Give them what they want, Good job. [&o]



Locke -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/22/2008 11:34:58 PM)

Dancre - let's not assume we're always right now, though. [:D]

While there are certainly guidelines that must be followed, like all forms of art, writing has more flexibility than a list of do's and don'ts, and I don't believe that an author can be a great author without knowing the difference between a flaw and a strength - and I don't think that you will always know which is which, even as an established author.



Ganheim -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/24/2008 1:48:42 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Locke
writing has more flexibility than a list of do's and don'ts,

Definitely. It's been said many times that language is an organic structure, and trying to tie it down with rules is like the people who insist on silly things like "it is I" is the proper grammar - a holdover from Latin that nobody puts to actual usage.

Speaking of criticism, one of the things that bugs me is when people will vaguely say that they don't like the chapter or something's wrong and then neglect to say what or give any possibilities for fixing it. It should be obvious that if the author's got it there, then they don't see a mistake.



Locke -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/24/2008 3:31:08 PM)

amen, Ganheim.



techne -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/25/2008 12:49:48 AM)

personally, i hate it when people mis-use apostrophe's



techne -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/25/2008 12:51:20 AM)

or use to when they mean too



endless_night -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/25/2008 3:27:15 PM)

Grammatical errors do not bother me because I am a really bad writer but I do hate run-on sentences (which I commit all the time).

:(



Locke -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/25/2008 4:04:05 PM)

I had sudden visions of your username changing to "endless_sentence," and it made me laugh. [:D]



endless_night -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/26/2008 8:38:22 PM)

Weird and funny.

[:D]



whisper -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/29/2008 4:53:36 AM)

quote:

personally, i hate it when people mis-use apostrophe's


Sorry, techne, but I sure hope you were joking here! If so, well done. If not, I apologize but you made me giggle a little.

I also hate it when people misuse apostrophes.



whisper -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/29/2008 4:54:58 AM)

I kind of . . . . really . . . don't like when people . . . abuse . . . ellipses.



1love1God1way -> RE: Pet Peeves (6/29/2008 8:29:52 AM)

Tagging "wise" to the end of words.

"Entertainmentwise, that show was really funny."

*shutters*



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