Let's nitpick slash fic...

[hells_half_acre]

I just finished work for the day and my brain is fried. So let's nitpick things...

Nitpicky Things that annoy me in slash fic:

1. When characters eat a heavy meal and then have sex right away.
- This is how I can tell that the author has never tried to have sex with a dude after he's just eaten... or if they have, they've been with some magical dudes, because in my experience, all attempts at sex are put on hold pretty much immediately because fooling around makes them queasy. Or at the very least, both parties are all like "ugh, so full - I do not feel like sexy-times right now, I mostly just feel sleepy."

2. Kissing someone who has been smoking (when you are a non-smoker) is disgusting.
- I run into this a lot with Captain America fic. People love having Bucky smoke... I don't know if they're trying to be period appropriate, or if they just think it's sexy, but they have Bucky constantly chain smoking and then making out with Steve and all I can think is "Oh gross!!"
- Nitpicking specific to Captain America - I don't care if people in the 1930's thought that smoking was GOOD for your lungs, I'm pretty sure that Bucky and Steve would have found out pretty quickly that smoking made bad things happen to poor Steve's health, and Bucky would probably either quit that shit or at least not smoke around Steve at all. More than that, I definitely think that super-serum or not, Steve wouldn't be cool with Bucky picking back up the habit in modern times - also, I'm not sure why Bucky would feel the need to pick back up the habit... but then, I'm not a smoker, so what do I know. Maybe it's one of those things that you can never escape. I know I have a sister who constantly starts smoking again despite the fact that it's horrible to her health especially. But you'd think the Hydra brainwashing would be good for SOMETHING and they would have stamped out that addiction pretty quickly.

3. I can't remember my third point... I thought I had one, but maybe I don't. I'll probably think of it later and kick myself.

So, what's your weird nitpicky thing that takes you out of fic?

Comments

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think there's a difference between people where it's a typo (like me) and people who don't even realize that they've made a mistake though.

My problem is that I type phonetically. So, like, I know how to spell "frequently", but out of the blue, I'll suddenly type it "freakwently"... that is an extreme example of something that I have ACTUALLY done. Of course, with a word like that, I notice right away and correct it immediately and no one ever needs to know it happened... but when there are words that are still technically spelled right, even though they're the wrong word - like roll/role - those I won't necessarily catch.

And yeah, whenever you think of the one that drives you crazy, let me know. :)

[metallidean-grl.livejournal.com]

Too funny that you type phonetically. There is always spell check to catch those words. But, like you said, the words like roll/role, they are both proper words, so if you use the incorrect word spell check won't pick that up. I guess that is where you gotta hope a read through or a beta would help you out.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yeah, exactly... I've only started using betas recently, so a lot of my early stuff was just edited by myself - and I HAVE taken numerous editing courses and I can do it, but I have to distance myself from it for a bit of time beforehand or else I'll just see what's supposed to be there rather than what actually IS there.

So, yeah, a lot of my earlier work got edited months after I originally posted it - so people late to the game actually had a better reading experience than people who saw it first.

[metallidean-grl.livejournal.com]

It is easy to miss some errors when you have been writing on something for so long. Like you said, your mind tricks you into seeing what you think is there versus what is actually there. I know that happens to me a lot as well.

If you ever need a beta on any of your SPN stories for just grammar/spelling stuff I'd be happy to provide you a read through.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind. :)

[metallidean-grl.livejournal.com]

I haven't remembered the words that drive me crazy when writers misuse them, but I came across another set of words today that people very often misuse. I, in fact, had a vendor email me about something and he misused the word.

The words are ensure - insure - and assure. Drives me crazy when these are incorrectly used.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Ooo, yeah, those are good ones. I'm sure that I frequently mess up ensure/insure - but at least I always get assure right! :P