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it's been awhile without a writing rant
May. 4th, 2004 03:38 pmToday while I was working on some writing (of the real life variety), I ended up getting into this discussion with a friend about the things we hate in other people’s writing. It seems like a caddy thing to say almost, but I am not beyond pet peeves and I’ve been known to stop reading some of the “best fanfiction” simply because of grammar issues. Now I understand that everyone has their bad days/stories/etc and that we all make mistakes. I am anything but perfect. That’s why I have an editor.
So, in lieu of our conversation, I have decided to post the TommyGirl Pet Peeves of Writing. It's what any disgruntled writer with a terrible case of writer's block would do, right? Feel free to add your own in the comments as well! I know we all have them! It’s that feeling of “I can’t get to the x in the upper right hand corner fast enough” when you stumble upon them.
1. Writing in one big fucking paragraph. I do not understand the appeal of this. I comprehend the idea of free flow writing, but how does one not know how to work the enter button on their computer? Is it really that difficult to remember? I actually talked to someone once who did this. She had asked me to read something she wrote and I tried, I did, but I’m human and have my limits. So I emailed her and explained the problem and she said, I kid you not, “It’s a style choice.” A style choice? I’m all for using fanfiction to experiment with styles and work out the kinks before attempting to utilize it in your mainstream projects, but where is that even a choice? In illiterate land?
2. Adverbs. Adverbs are our friends…in small doses. I find this especially true in the Harry Potter fandom and I wonder if it’s partially to do with the fact that JK Rowling has a strange affinity for them. I tend to be a bit more lax in that fandom for that reason, but it still drives me insane. An adverb is not necessary at the end of every line of dialogue. You should be able to get across a character’s emotional state through the words being spoken and the actions they make in most cases. If you’re not, you’re doing something wrong. I don’t need to read something like: “I’m so mad at you right now,” Harry screamed angrily. I’m not a complete moron. If you say he’s mad or uses the verb “screamed”, I’m going to figure out that Harry is, in fact, angry.
3. The word “just” is not the new “the”. This one is more my own pet peeve due to a Nazi-like creative writing professor in my undergrad studies who beat the words “just” and “only” out of my writing vocabulary for the most part. It’s okay sometimes in dialogue because that is conversational. We do use the word, but it’s not necessary and a lot of the time you can remove it without anyone noticing. My dear friend, Steph![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
iamtheenemy has dealt with my relentless and sometimes brutal attacks of her stories due to overuse of the word though.
4. If there is one thing I hate (possibly even more than people who write in one big paragraph--okay, maybe not that much), it's people who don't bother to do the briefest edits to their writings. I'm not even talking about finagling a friend into being your beta-bitch; just the simplest read-over that will point out the most glaring of mistakes.
5. Long-winded, unnecessary exposition. While I understand the attachment a writer creates with their characters, I really don’t need scenes where Harry is brushing his teeth unless where it serves no purpose other than to show that British people do believe in dental hygiene. There are some writers out there with sixty chapter novels and almost half of them are that purple prose sort where nothing happens. It causes the reader to skim and then that’s when people end up missing those important bits of the story…not to mention, it’s annoying. Less is more sometimes.
6. You’re/your, there/their/they’re, here/hear, etc, etc. This is why betas are good to have—because you might have read over your story fifty times and missed it whereas a fresh pair of eyes spots it right away.
7. Incredibly cheesy or out-of-character reactions to things. I’m not saying you can’t have a character be romantic with another, but have it fit the personality you’ve created, or in fanfiction, the character we love.
8. Improper punctuation. I think that says it all.
I think what really bothers me about most of these is that they are all fixable transgressions. If you know you tend to use you’re/your improperly (like I do—that’s my Achilles Heel), do a find all to verify they were done correctly. Edit a story. At least look it over before you publish it. Have a little pride in what you share with the world. I know that in the beginning we are all learning, like everything we get better with writing the more we do it (I cringe at some of my first stories), but there are some things that are avoidable with a bit of willingness.
**
To end on a hot sort of note. Orli looks like his usual beautiful self in People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People. Raar. Love Orli.
So, in lieu of our conversation, I have decided to post the TommyGirl Pet Peeves of Writing. It's what any disgruntled writer with a terrible case of writer's block would do, right? Feel free to add your own in the comments as well! I know we all have them! It’s that feeling of “I can’t get to the x in the upper right hand corner fast enough” when you stumble upon them.
1. Writing in one big fucking paragraph. I do not understand the appeal of this. I comprehend the idea of free flow writing, but how does one not know how to work the enter button on their computer? Is it really that difficult to remember? I actually talked to someone once who did this. She had asked me to read something she wrote and I tried, I did, but I’m human and have my limits. So I emailed her and explained the problem and she said, I kid you not, “It’s a style choice.” A style choice? I’m all for using fanfiction to experiment with styles and work out the kinks before attempting to utilize it in your mainstream projects, but where is that even a choice? In illiterate land?
2. Adverbs. Adverbs are our friends…in small doses. I find this especially true in the Harry Potter fandom and I wonder if it’s partially to do with the fact that JK Rowling has a strange affinity for them. I tend to be a bit more lax in that fandom for that reason, but it still drives me insane. An adverb is not necessary at the end of every line of dialogue. You should be able to get across a character’s emotional state through the words being spoken and the actions they make in most cases. If you’re not, you’re doing something wrong. I don’t need to read something like: “I’m so mad at you right now,” Harry screamed angrily. I’m not a complete moron. If you say he’s mad or uses the verb “screamed”, I’m going to figure out that Harry is, in fact, angry.
3. The word “just” is not the new “the”. This one is more my own pet peeve due to a Nazi-like creative writing professor in my undergrad studies who beat the words “just” and “only” out of my writing vocabulary for the most part. It’s okay sometimes in dialogue because that is conversational. We do use the word, but it’s not necessary and a lot of the time you can remove it without anyone noticing. My dear friend, Steph
iamtheenemy has dealt with my relentless and sometimes brutal attacks of her stories due to overuse of the word though.4. If there is one thing I hate (possibly even more than people who write in one big paragraph--okay, maybe not that much), it's people who don't bother to do the briefest edits to their writings. I'm not even talking about finagling a friend into being your beta-bitch; just the simplest read-over that will point out the most glaring of mistakes.
5. Long-winded, unnecessary exposition. While I understand the attachment a writer creates with their characters, I really don’t need scenes where Harry is brushing his teeth unless where it serves no purpose other than to show that British people do believe in dental hygiene. There are some writers out there with sixty chapter novels and almost half of them are that purple prose sort where nothing happens. It causes the reader to skim and then that’s when people end up missing those important bits of the story…not to mention, it’s annoying. Less is more sometimes.
6. You’re/your, there/their/they’re, here/hear, etc, etc. This is why betas are good to have—because you might have read over your story fifty times and missed it whereas a fresh pair of eyes spots it right away.
7. Incredibly cheesy or out-of-character reactions to things. I’m not saying you can’t have a character be romantic with another, but have it fit the personality you’ve created, or in fanfiction, the character we love.
8. Improper punctuation. I think that says it all.
I think what really bothers me about most of these is that they are all fixable transgressions. If you know you tend to use you’re/your improperly (like I do—that’s my Achilles Heel), do a find all to verify they were done correctly. Edit a story. At least look it over before you publish it. Have a little pride in what you share with the world. I know that in the beginning we are all learning, like everything we get better with writing the more we do it (I cringe at some of my first stories), but there are some things that are avoidable with a bit of willingness.
**
To end on a hot sort of note. Orli looks like his usual beautiful self in People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People. Raar. Love Orli.
