I'm a bitter old fandom queen, and these epithet-using kids can get off my damn fannish lawn. I have also been in fandom for more than fifteen years, somewhere between fifteen and twenty, honestly, and people have been using epithets for almost that long. I think they first started getting on my nerves in BtVS? "The red-haired hacker." "The blonde Slayer." ARGH. I won't even read fics with more than one epithet in them. Writers get one chance, and then I'm gone.
As to said-bookisms, well, I admit to being guilty of throwing those in every now and again myself, so I don't hate them so much. Well, unless they're used every other sentence, in which case I back-button hard. Also if someone uses a said-bookism for something that's an expression, not a way of saying things. "That's because I'm smarter than you," smirked Elizabeth. She didn't smirk that! She said it!
Um. You may have noticed that I'm cranky. At least I own it?
I think that a lot of people see writing as a way to win friends and influence people, not to mention become a BNF. Which I get! But the problem with having a fabulous idea that you desperately need to get out there is that good writing takes time, and work, and practice. If you're not willing to put your best foot forward, that's on you, but I think that you'll be forever lost in a morass of mediocrity if you don't want to perfect your craft.
I owe fandom and fans so much for helping me to hone my writing, but it makes me a little sad to post a fic and not get into a huge comment thread about character motivation, or ramifications, or just generally all the fun things that come with writing.
By the way, I have no idea how I haven't added you before now, but I plan to tonight. I think we've been in tangential fandom circles for quite a while.
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branchandroot
Re: Grammar, Critique, Betas
Date: 2013-06-13 03:38 am (UTC)As to said-bookisms, well, I admit to being guilty of throwing those in every now and again myself, so I don't hate them so much. Well, unless they're used every other sentence, in which case I back-button hard. Also if someone uses a said-bookism for something that's an expression, not a way of saying things. "That's because I'm smarter than you," smirked Elizabeth. She didn't smirk that! She said it!
Um. You may have noticed that I'm cranky. At least I own it?
I think that a lot of people see writing as a way to win friends and influence people, not to mention become a BNF. Which I get! But the problem with having a fabulous idea that you desperately need to get out there is that good writing takes time, and work, and practice. If you're not willing to put your best foot forward, that's on you, but I think that you'll be forever lost in a morass of mediocrity if you don't want to perfect your craft.
I owe fandom and fans so much for helping me to hone my writing, but it makes me a little sad to post a fic and not get into a huge comment thread about character motivation, or ramifications, or just generally all the fun things that come with writing.
By the way, I have no idea how I haven't added you before now, but I plan to tonight. I think we've been in tangential fandom circles for quite a while.