I give up...

[thistlechaser]

That Harry Potter fanfic series that I've been reading for a while, the one that's longer than all the books? I have to give up on it.

The first book was great, I tore through it and loved nearly every word of it. The second book was pretty darned good too. Both had a tiny issue: The characters used 'fuck', and it seemed very out of character to me. (The story is an AU, and Harry was raised by pure wizards, knew no muggles.) Harry and Draco using 'fuck' just didn't seem to fit, but at least it didn't happen very often. (Though once near the end of the second story Harry said 'fuck you very much' and I was like... really?)

The third book really fell apart for me. 'Fuck's rained from the sky. More than that, this writer developed the same problem another writer had. A year or so back I read another fanfic series, that series was also longer than a half-dozen RL books put together. That series, and this HP one, used 'whispers' endlessly. Characters having a normal conversation? One suddenly whispers for no reason. Two people arguing? One suddenly murmurs. Two people standing across the room from each other? One 'breathes' out the words, yet the other hears it fine. Endless whispers, every other line of dialogue! No reason at all for it!

Why? Are whispers assumed to be more dramatic or something? I'm really surprised that two authors of extremely long fanfic series would have the same problem.

It's really too bad, there's so much left of the series to read, but I'm to the point where my eyes just scan the page and jump from 'whispers' to 'whispers' to 'whispers'.

Comments

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

Too many people (fanfic people in particular) have adopted the "rule" that you shouldn't use 'said' very often. (Because, the thinking goes, variety is good!) But there's ways to do that without having inappropriate verb uses, instead.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

This kind of thing always wants to make me yell "WORDS HAVE MEANINGS!". Want to have variety? Great! But, like you said, you can't use a word that has a different meaning when you're trying to say the same thing.

[bacchuslives.livejournal.com]

"Fuck" would have definitely ruined it for me... not that I care about the expletive, but because it's way out of character.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Agreed. I don't curse much, but I have no issue with those who do. But pureblood wizards dropping 'fuck' left and right? Just doesn't seem in character at all.

[ashmedai.livejournal.com]

I'm to the point where my eyes just scan the page and jump from 'whispers' to 'whispers' to 'whispers'.

LOL! That sounds terrible.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was a big part of what ruined the whole thing for me.

[socksofjello.livejournal.com]

Hahah, oh man, this reminds me of MU*ers who'd have their shy/feminine characters do everything "softly". You'd see it three times in a single pose.

And man, there's nothing wrong with the word "said"! It's a fantastic word because your brain skips over it; the majority of the time tone is implied by the context and what was said, so it's redundant to do more than indicate who was speaking. Folks who try too hard to eliminate it from their writing are doing themselves a disservice.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeeeeep. I like 'said' just fine! If a character whispers, great, use 'whispered'. Same for yelled, bellowed, murmured, whatever. But if they're just talking, then there's nothing at all wrong with 'said'.

Edit: Got my tenses all mixed up, thinking about RP posts. And speaking of, man I miss 'pose' instead of 'post'! In MMO RP, NO ONE uses 'pose', and I've so often been told I'm doing it wrong, I finally switched to 'post'.

[socksofjello.livejournal.com]

I understand that pose is MU*-specific terminology, but post is forum terminology; it isn't something I'd use for a roleplaying medium like MMOs. That anyone was getting hung up on your use of the former is incredibly goofy.

Today I still use 'pose' to refer to any RP actions taken in games that use chatroom-style instant communication. It sounds more natural to me than the alternative.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yep, fully agreed with you. I'm battling on so many fronts though, my biggest grumble is people who call characters 'toons' -- that drives me batty!