Fanfic Pet Peeves

[Skydiver]

s'mor!!!!!

the sekret ship

[silly sally]

........
Because Jack doens't stand a chance, cos Sam loves Thor.

After 'Unending' maybe jack can get her on rebound

[iamdragonrider]

After 'Unending' maybe jack can get her on rebound

Oh, you diehards.

[Alipeeps]

Ack. A quick trawl through ffnet has just reminded me of another - hideous - fanfic peeve:

People writing Carson's accent phonetically. Aside from the grammatical issue (if you were going to write speech phonetically per pronunciaton, you should do so for *everyone*, surely?) and the, to me, concept that if you write his dialogue convincingly the accent should come across without the need to spell it out, it's also usually horrendously badly done.

E.g. "Rroh’dnii" instead of Rodney!!!
"Co’nel Sheppud" instead of Colonel Sheppard!!
"is th’urr" instead of "is there"!!

Now I have very rarely written one or two words in Carson's accent, not so much writing his speech phonetically but in instances where he uses a colloquial word/pronunciation - e.g. havenae instead of haven't - and even that is pushing it (and I've had criticism of it in reviews) but to write complete gibberish in an attempt to (poorly) replicate an accent just because it differs from US standard? What is it about Carson/the Scots accent that makes people feel they need to do this? You don't see people writing Zelenka's accent phonetically...

[prion]

You have to. Otherwise you'd cry... cry piteous, heartbroken tears of PAIN just like poor Wodney as he sobs brokenly into his pillow each night while his hurtful team mates sit around and flick lit matches at him.

really? really? is there such a story (flicking matches)? I wanna see

it's also - to me - signs of an introvert. And introvert doesn't = abused. It just means that they're not outgoing or boisterous.

some people are just naturally shy or not outgoing. no, does not mean a hideously abusive childhood. just shy. yet as pointed out, everybody seems to have an abusive childhood in some fanfic. some characters are so horribly scarred psychologically that I can't fathom how then can even choose a breakfast cereal, let alone get a PhD or join the military or change a flat tire

[hedwig]

I'm not really sure what a beta reader is supposed to do, but I assume some of the duties are to proofread the story for spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc. errors, as well as making sure the characters have their correct names and so forth. Is there something else they are supposed to do? Plot holes, maybe? I ask, because I've read many, many stories that have a notation at the beginning that the story has been read by a beta, and then I find many, many, many spelling, grammar, puncuation, etc. errors. I don't see how a person can be a beta and allow as many mistakes to slip through as I've found in many stories.

[Skydiver]

you know, you can ask someone to beta, but you can't make them do a good job of it

i've had stories that have been proof read, sometimes by several people, and still mistakes slip through. I've also beta'd fic for people and told them multiple times 'it's area 51 not area 52' and they won't change it.

[hedwig]

Lets see.

Cross-overs. Not the little ones like NCIS/SG, that kinda stuff I can deal with.

Badly written characters too, like has been said when you try to ship something that doesn't exist in the show. Oh and rewritting the shows history to suit your story. So many times i've seen people who either ignore certain plot points, or actually try and write whole massive stories based on guesses in the plots.

I have avoided most cross-over stories. However I did read one called "Disclosure" that is a cross-over with the Jack Ryan (of the Tom Clancy novels) and I thought it was well done. Seems Jack and Jack had known each other for years and this story brings them (Ryan and the SGC) together in what I thought was pretty creative. If anyone wants to read it, it can be found on fanfiction.net, and is by Airam4u.

Spoiler:

www.fanfiction.net/s/2090427/1/Disclosure

Have read one or two cross-overs with JAG, and thought they were pretty good. In one, Sam had known Harm for many years. And in the other, if I recall correctly, Jack had known Mac for many years. These I don't mind, since they are both military shows. Another cross-over with JAG involved the aftermath of what happened on Edora, and was actually pretty good.

I don't mind if authors change a lot about the series, because there have been some really good stories written that way. Stuff that could have easily happened in the series; as well as others that wouldn't have happened, but were nevertheless great stories, and I completely enjoyed them.

However, I also agree with the part about badly written characters. I dabble a little with writing for my own amusement, so I wouldn't even begin to call myself an author, but I know when something is badly written and could use a lot of help - either by a beta or a writing class or just somebody to make suggestions for fleshing out the stories and characters. I don't know whether I'm trying to punish myself by reading them , but I often read them all the way through, and then severely scold myself for subjecting myself to them.

Let's see, another pet peeve is good stories that never get finished. I lost count of how many stories I started to read and found to be really good, and was looking forward to finding out how they played out, only to realize they hadn't been updated in a couple of years, and still haven't been - so I assume they never will be and have not found them anywhere else on the web. I've even sent e-mails to a few of the authors to ask about the stories. The e-mails didn't come back or get rejected, but they also didn't get answered. Hopefully, nothing bad happened to the authors, but I've been very disappointed in not getting to find out how the story plays out.

[Womble]

Another pet peeve- bad research.

Mind you, it happens to the very best. The villains in Robert Ludlum's "The Bourne Identity" carry revolvers with silencers attached. In one of Stephen King's novels the hero racks the slide to reload a double-barreled shotgun. A character in the book of one of my favorite science fiction writers had a big, intimidating Maltese dog. Russian characters in Stargate get surnames that make a Russian-speaking viewer like myself groan in despair (Chekov is about as plausible a surname in Russia as Shakespeare is in Britain). It looks awful when you stumble upon it.

But when it comes to fan fiction, things get really bad. I've read a story once that happened on "a small planet, the size of Montana". Excuse me, but that couldn't possibly be a planet. It's a moon, and not a very big one at that, or perhaps a large asteroid. It would have very little gravity and no atmosphere, so it couldn't possibly support a lush green paradise. Think things through before writing them down, for crying out loud. You don't change magazines in revolvers. You can't wear an armor suit made of the scales of a giant Martian shark; neither the giant ones, nor the microscopically tiny ones have any scales. You can't take a deep breath when you're in a vacuum. Et cetera, et cetera.

Sex scenes and kissing scenes. If you can't write those convincingly- without sliding into porn or into overly purple prose- DON'T GO THERE. Please. Just don't.

[hedwig]

I see I think. There seems a fine line between placing the characters in an unusual situation for humor purpuses, (making the guys shop for maxi pads for an incapacitated Sam) ...

I think I may have read the story about the guys shopping for maxipads, and I all but fell on the floor laughing over that. It may be out of character or whatever it's called, but that was just plain hysterical. I could almost visualize it - as one of the rare funny episodes that were done throughout the series.

I also have problems with stories that have one or another character being severely injured in some way or another, and pretends they aren't, and somehow get separated from the rest of the group and then go through insane difficulties and more injuries while trying to help other people, continually dismissing their own injuries, and then being at death's door when they are finally "rescued" themselves and taken back to the infirmary, and then miraculously recover from all manner of broken bones and other injuries in a week. There's one story about Sam like that, and it was actually a good story and well written, and I think the author was trying to show what a good soldier Sam was by her not giving in to any kind of "pain" and forging ahead with her duty, etc., etc. However, she isn't superwoman and any other person (including Teal'c or Jack would have been dead with half the injuries she sustained in that story).

[hedwig]

On the subject of fanon becoming canon, one I was wondering about not too long ago was someone, probably O'Neill, saying something along the lines of Carter liking to blow stuff up, or just in general that she likes using C4. I can't figure out, if it's canon, where it came from. Anyone have any ideas?

Don't know if this is the episode you are referring to, but in Moebius, when Geeky Sam is handed a gun, she recoils somewhat and says she doesn't like guns. Jack asks how she feels about blowing things up, and she says something like "that, I like better" or some such thing. There may have been something in another episode about her liking to blow things up - maybe her being teased about blowing up a sun?

[Alipeeps]

However, she isn't superwoman and any other person (including Teal'c or Jack would have been dead with half the injuries she sustained in that story).

Yeah, that bugs me too when whump simply isn't remotely plausible or realistic. I one had to leave a review for a writer and explain that from the injuries she had described and the amount of blood found on the floor, Sheppard would be DEAD!!

[hedwig]

you know, you can ask someone to beta, but you can't make them do a good job of it

i've had stories that have been proof read, sometimes by several people, and still mistakes slip through. I've also beta'd fic for people and told them multiple times 'it's area 51 not area 52' and they won't change it.

So, from your explanation, even though a beta has read and suggested changes, it doesn't mean the author will actually "correct" actual mistakes? If so, I don't understand that. Why bother to have a beta if an author isn't going to make the necessary corrections? Or am I misunderstanding your explanation?

[Alipeeps]

So, from your explanation, even though a beta has read and suggested changes, it doesn't mean the author will actually "correct" actual mistakes? If so, I don't understand that. Why bother to have a beta if an author isn't going to make the necessary corrections? Or am I misunderstanding your explanation?

The point is the beta SHOULD correct actual mistakes - but there's no guarantee their grammar is any better than the author's! Or the author may choose to ignore their advice.

Beta's can basically have as much input as the author wants/the beta is willing to give. The bare basics should be to correct actual mistakes in grammar, spelling etc but it can also extend to suggestions on content, writing style etc.

I think what Sky was saying was also that sometimes, no matter how many people have read a fic and how carefully, little mistakes can slip through. Even the best beta's aren't infallible.

[hedwig]

Yeah, that bugs me too when whump simply isn't remotely plausible or realistic. I one had to leave a review for a writer and explain that from the injuries she had described and the amount of blood found on the floor, Sheppard would be DEAD!!

Exactly! There have been some stories I've read where, with the amount of blood the person has lost from the injury, they would have been dead by the time they got to the infirmary - and especially since the injury occurred offworld, and it took a couple hours to get them back to the gate and then the SGC; or they had to wait hours for Janet to come through the gate to give medical assistance, etc. In the hours it took to get help, the patient would have died.

Or, in the alternative, there are stories where somebody has a "flesh wound" which escalates immediately to the person being on death's door, or even dying from same injury. Admittedly, I suppose this could happen, but not in the way described in stories I've read this scenario in.