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[Sep. 21st, 2009|02:19 pm] |
pfodge mentioned her "Mickey" pet peeve earlier which prompted me to share two of mine. Of course they are minor things, as all pet peeves are, but are so annoying.
1. Using the / incorrectly. It does not mean "and." / implies romantic or sexual relationship. Labeling a story "Brian/Ted" should not lead to a mere friendship fic.
2. Using the term "AU" incorrectly. This might be open to interpretation. AU, to me, is when Brian and Justin are space cowboys, women, Roman soldiers, or even just auto mechanics. I take the term almost literally, alternate universe. As in the story doesn't revolve around canon, (the sun), besides names and sexual orientation. AU does not mean "fic takes off from 201 and goes in its own direction." The phrase "AU after 201" is acceptable though since the author's intent is clear. Seriously, if the fic is based anywhere after the opening scenes of 101, it shouldn't be labeled AU. Maybe AP (Alternate Planet, ha. Totally just kidding about the new label).
Do you have any annoying pet peeves and if so, how do you deal with them? |
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I think this is something that annoys a lot of people, but it's my fan-fiction pet peeve: the story is unreadable because of uncounted grammar, spelling, spacing, etc errors. How difficult is it to read through the story and fix them? Or even to find a beta?
I usually stop reading stories that has this problem.
A few I can deal with. But there are some works that are put up and I just want to reach through the internet and shake the author. Because the errors will make even the best plot/story unreadable.
I hear ya with the bad grammar. The other issue I have is formatting errors where all of the apostrophes are turned into gibberish.
I've always wondered what the protocol is when you see an error on a fic that is really old. Do you just ignore it or say something? Lately I've been saying something, even though I am sort of annoyed that 50 people before me reviewed the fic and didn't mention the glaring error. Of course I always try to say something nice or personal about the story too.
Or they use HTML and don't make sure that it's all okay and you end up with a chapter that's mostly italic or bold type.
If it's one error and from a respected author, I won't say anything. I'm lenient that way...a few doesn't bother me. I myself make a few errors. It'd be nice if I could find a good beta or have a reviewer like you, but I don't think it's something completely evil :D
I tend to only say something when it is one error and the author is diligent about getting rid of errors. Funny how we're the opposite that way.
OMG! don't get me started on grammar. Using words in the correct content is another one.
I can't tell you how many stories I've read where Brian and Justin have had dinner in the table, how did they get in there?
They have also gotten on the car to drive away. Wouldn't be safer for them to be in the car? This drives me crazy. Unfortunately I see it a lot. I could go on and on.
Something that confuses me is the lack of commas when using characters' names in dialog. I am not sure if the author just doesn't know that she is supposed to use commas or is just being lazy. And it significantly changes the meaning! I read once that Molly said, "I want to eat Brian." I thought to myself, "Don't we all?" Ha! I am pretty sure the author meant, "I want to eat, Brian." Sometimes it's actually not as clear what the author meant when they never use commas. | |
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