State of the Fandom

Posted by SarahBella in State of the Fandom with Sarahbella | Comments Off

Today we’re going to talk about the importance of appropriate spelling, grammar and common sense in fan fiction.  This one is definitely not exclusive to Twilight fan fiction, but crosses pathetically over into every genre and series out there.

Glossary of words and phrases you must understand before partaking in the reading of this blog.

The Big 5 – These girls are the absolute elite in the world of Twilight fanfic, the cream of the crop (this has been voted on and approved by the owners of mvf.com).  They are, in no particular order:

1) AngryBadgerGirl

2) AngstGoddess003

3) TaraSueMe

4) Jandco & WTVOC (You guys are just a pair, sorry.  Trying to separate you would be like Bert with no Ernie or Bonnie with no Clyde.  It’s just wrong.)

5) tby789

snark⋅y /ˈsnɑr ki/ [snahr-kee]

–adjective, snark⋅i⋅er, snark⋅i⋅est. Chiefly British Slang.

Origin:
1910–15; dial. snark to nag, find fault with

sar⋅casm [sɑr kæz əm] [sahr-kaz-uh m]

noun

Now I don’t expect everyone to be perfect, but there are some basic rules that we all learned in elementary school that everyone ought to have memorized by now.  So, ladies and gents (I hope there are some gents reading this.  That would rule.)  In no particular order at all, here are my ultimate fanfic turn offs.

(BTW , I enjoy long walks on the beach and candlelit dinners for two.  I also like piercings, tattoos and facial hair.)

1. Txt spk.  Srsly, ppl. Wuzup wit dat? Cld we plz use real wrds?  WTH? I cnt even tell u wut I jst wrote, lol.  If ur gunna make me strain like dat 2 read, I’m not gunna bother.  It sux, IKR? rotflmao!  No 1 talks like dat 4 realz.  BTW, dnt use it in forums either, dat’s rude, like epic fail.

1. Lack of any punctuation at all its so hard to read when you cant tell where one sentence ends and the next one starts half the time it changes the meaning of certain words and phrases plus it just sucks to read this junk  the period is that tiny little dot in the lower right corner of the keyboard get familiar with it youll need to be friends and right next to it is the comma also something you should familiarize yourself with

1. Don’t write yourself into the fic as Edward/Jacob/Jasper’s new girlfriend and pretend that Bella/Alice never existed.  No one enjoys reading that except for you.  And it’s a little weird.  Go ahead and add yourself as filler cast, (friend of a character, student at the school, lady in the store) that’s kind of fun – like an Easter egg in a video game.  But we don’t want to read about you and Carlisle doing the hibbidy-dibbidy – it’s a little too close for comfort and it freaks us out.

1. Word confusion.  I couldn’t possibly tell you how many fics I have betad or read  where the author used the word ‘alot’.  It’s two words, boys and girls.   Two words.  ‘Your’ and ‘you’re’ are two different words with two different meanings.  They are not interchangeable.  And when someone walks ‘threw’ a doorway, well, that just can’t happen.   And when nipples are ‘taught’ it means they’ve had some schooling; if they’re ‘taut’ it means they’re hard.  Just sayin’.

1. Do not avoid using contractions when people speak.  In real life a conversation would seem odd and stilted if people did not use any contractions.  It is not realistic to expect that your character will not ever use a contraction.  They exist for a reason, and it is not so that they can be ignored.  I would be willing to bet that any beta worth his or her salt will tell you the same-it upsets the flow of the conversation.  The obvious exception to this is period pieces.

1. Not using spell check before you post your story.  If you don’t have a beta, there is no excuse for not running spell check.  You can even adjust your settings to include grammar check.  And if you do have a beta, you owe it to her to run a spell check.  She doesn’t need to spend all night running spell check because you think you’re perfect.

1. Wordiness.  Do not use forty-three words to say what could be said in fifteen words.  Some things are just a given.  Edward Cullen is a vampire.  We all know that; you don’t need to remind us of that every time you write his name.

I promise that you won’t find many (if any) of these errors in a story by The Big 5. So boys (I hope) and girls, let’s raise the standards of the fan fiction world.  Here’s to real words, realistic conversation, concise sentences, proper punctuation, correct word usage, spell check and no Carlisle/Self hibbidy-dibbidy.