Fanfic Pet Peeves

[Kimberley Jackson]

I have a gripe when there's a chunk of dialogue and the author writes it out as:

"(talktalktalk)" said Person A
"(talktalktalk)" said Person B
"(talktalktalk)" said Person A
"(talktalktalk)" said Person B
"(talktalktalk)" said Person A

Use some variety for crying out loud and it makes reading it feel chunky. There's plenty of synonyms for 'said' or maybe follow up the statement with a description of his thoughts or reaction.

I've heard that from a lot of readers, and I myself feel that way too. But it turns out, apparently, using a variety of dialogue tags is the death of a writer at least in the US and Canadian writing standard. You are not supposed to use others than 'say' or 'ask', because apparently at some point some study found out that readers will not notice the word repetitions in this case.

Never understood where they got that from, cause I also notice and it bugs me like crazy.

A sneaky way around that (and this is what I've started doing as often as possible) is not using dialogue tags at all, but actions instead. That way structure and plot make clear who's talking. And often the dialogue itself says it all if you have characteristic phrases for a character. Such as "Fer cryin' out loud." for example. Every reader of SG fiction would immediately recognize that as O'Neill without dialogue tags or even action.

But, yeah, the dialogue tag thing always stuck me as really odd. It's like saying "I want you to build a beautiful house - but out of this hundred tools you're only allowed to use two". Why not use language to its fullest as long as it makes sense and you're not overusing?

[fems]

I've heard that from a lot of readers, and I myself feel that way too. But it turns out, apparently, using a variety of dialogue tags is the death of a writer at least in the US and Canadian writing standard. You are not supposed to use others than 'say' or 'ask', because apparently at some point some study found out that readers will not notice the word repetitions in this case.

Never understood where they got that from, cause I also notice and it bugs me like crazy.

A sneaky way around that (and this is what I've started doing as often as possible) is not using dialogue tags at all, but actions instead. That way structure and plot make clear who's talking. And often the dialogue itself says it all if you have characteristic phrases for a character. Such as "Fer cryin' out loud." for example. Every reader of SG fiction would immediately recognize that as O'Neill without dialogue tags or even action.

But, yeah, the dialogue tag thing always stuck me as really odd. It's like saying "I want you to build a beautiful house - but out of this hundred tools you're only allowed to use two". Why not use language to its fullest as long as it makes sense and you're not overusing?

True, but even if using variation it would drive me nuts to read:

"blah blah," said A.
"Meh," said B.
"Really?" Asked A.
"Yeah," whooped B.
"Meh meh meh," commented A.
"Blah," remarked B.

I don't stick to the said/ask rule either because I feel the same way (maybe it's a European thing?), but what a lot of fanfic writers don't seem to understand is that there isn't always a need for a dialogue tag - whatever it may be. You can use actions or the character's "voice" to make it clear. If you can't do that, then you should work on your writing skills.

[Caty91]

maybe it's a European thing?

I didn't know that there was a European way of writing?

[StargateMillennium]

True, but even if using variation it would drive me nuts to read:

"blah blah," said A.
"Meh," said B.
"Really?" Asked A.
"Yeah," whooped B.
"Meh meh meh," commented A.
"Blah," remarked B.

Reading that, yeah that does sound equally chunky. But, I think the easiest solution is to separate the different lines of dialogue with some description. I usually don't go past two or three lines of dialogue without dividing it up with some detail about what a character is thinking or narration.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

You can have long conversations that make it clear which character is speaking without more than one or two asks or saids by using descriptions of actions. You can also differentiate between the characters by what they say.

So long chunks of dialog separated only by saids, asks, alternatives (mumbled, shouted, gasped, etc.) are generally the sign of a beginner more than a restrictive number of ways to identify the speaker.

Seaboe

[Princess Awinita]

Its Too Easy

I say this because only one out of every 30 stories I find of any fanfic universe; the writers make it VERY HARD for the characters to figure out what is causing their problems; in most stories outside of that one out of 30; the writers of these stories make it too simple and the characters figure out their problems off the bat. Its zero character buildup! I want character build up, be it emotional, physical, or visual. Give me that character building in the hardest possible way. don't make it too easy for the characters! Make it seem impossible for them to do it. Give them a reason for me to read their story please.

Don't get me started on really short chapters!

[discodiva]

*creeps in*

Sorry...short but necessary rant...


Daniel Jackson is NOT Indiana Jones....


And DON'T call him "Indy"...


*creeps out again*...

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

the writers of these stories make it too simple and the characters figure out their problems off the bat.

Even the most basic story cycle is try, fail, try, fail, try, succeed, not try, succeed.

Although worse, IMO, are problems that would be solved if the characters just effing talked to each other.


Seaboe

[hedwig]

I know this issue comes from the country the story is being written in, but I hate it when I come across a story that's littered with "was sat", "was stood", and things similar. It is so distracting, it just yanks me right out of the story. I'm reading one now where it seems like there is something like this in every other sentence, and I want to just scream.

[Caty91]

I know this issue comes from the country the story is being written in, but I hate it when I come across a story that's littered with "was sat", "was stood", and things similar. It is so distracting, it just yanks me right out of the story. I'm reading one now where it seems like there is something like this in every other sentence, and I want to just scream.

I agree with you. A lot of grammar mistakes are the worst but again, as a person who is not a native English speaker, I have to say that the English language is not the easiest language. I have read stories that have a lot of grammar mistakes where the writer is a native English speaker. I'm sure that people would be happy if someone left a review telling them about their grammar mistakes and how they can improve, but again you have the people who have a hissy fit when you tell them that their grammar is bad. That's something I dislike...

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

To have good grammar, you need to care about grammar, and it doesn't seem to have anything to do with being a native or non-native English speaker.

I suspect the errors of non-native speakers are more irritating to some native speakers (not addressed specifically to hedwig) because they are less familiar with those errors, so they are more jarring.

What I don't like is being told I'm making an error when what I'm doing is using the less common (but not wrong!) form of a verb, like leapt or dreamt instead of leaped or dreamed (see, the board's spell chucker is doing it to me right now!)

Seaboe

[Falcon Horus]

Grammar of any language is a pain in the mik'ta.

[AmberLM]

When an author jumps from one scene/day to the next without a line/page break/ new chapter. It's so confusing when one paragraph you're reading a scene then the next has completely time-jumped. It makes following the plot nearly impossible!

[AmberLM]

Peeve of the day #2 - prudish language/behaviour in fics.

If Jack says "s**t" then spell the word, don't use "****" just change the rating. Incidentally, also don't use words like "cripes" or "fudge" to replace swearing by adults in a story. It's not only OOC for the main ones (except Sam/Jacob's 'Holy Hannah!' because that's canon) and makes me think the author is a linguistically challenged 12 year old.

When Mark gives Sam a lecture about not sleeping with Jack "under my roof" either because he thinks it's immoral to sleep together until they're married/it sets a bad example for the kids etc. - I've read variations on this theme in so many fics.

Firstly, they're not randy teenagers and secondly they're adults too. It's incredibly patronising and insulting. I get that there are people who have those beliefs but none of SG-1 is a blushing virgin, can we not pretend that they are and leave the moral preaching out? It just ruins the flow of the story and the OOC-ness grates on my nerves. If you want to write a PG-rated story, just leave out the R-rated bits altogether.

[Falcon Horus]

...none of SG-1 is a blushing virgin...

They couldn't even pretend to be that.