There was a fic -- on Henneth Annun, if I recall correctly -- making fun of the way modern American slang pops up in badly-written LotR fic. It was some sort of a plague or disease that, as it spread, made the characters start using the most horrendous and egregious Americanisms. Even knowing it was a parody I could barely get through it...
You know, when I saw this, I did not even connect it to my fic at all, because my beta always does a good job of catching things like this in my fics and I have NEVER used the word OK. I didn't even check, I was so sure I was OK (HA!!!). Then today I was looking over another fic, and found - DRAT!!!! - an OK. Then, with a bee in my bonnet, I went to check and - DRAT!!! - there it was in my last chapter!!!!
Damn!!! I am really shocked. I never use that when I am writing so RL must be getting to me lately!!
Although you did not pound me into sand in a review or anything, I am just taking a stab and guessing that it might have been me and I humbly apologize. My beta was (and is) having a bad time of it in RL and perhaps is understandably distracted. I have checked all other chapters, and that was the only one. If it wasn't me, well, I apologize for whoever it WAS!! LOL!
What should I do for penance do you think? (I fixed it in LJ and in HASA and will fix on FFnet tonight.)
I am afraid if I apologize to WoN, I will get another long discussion on anachronisms or buttons or something started. Ouch!
Remember those pressure cookers our moms used to have? You know, the ones with all the dials and clamps and things, that looked like something out of Frankenstein's laboratory, and scared the piss out of you when it was sitting on the stove emitting steam in little jets and you were convinced that it would momentarily blow up and take half the house with it and you'd be hideously scarred for life by the horrible burns you'd sustain?
Well, this whole "OK" thing is like one of those pressure cookers (and that just a part of the whole "hideous grammatical and anachronistic faux pas" thing). It's just been building and building over the last few months of reading fanfics. There are a number of things that make me twitch when I see them (like the naught-aught confusion), but I think that one's the worst. Feh!
It's true that the "OK" in your fic was the one that set me off, though. I think the reason it upset me so much is that it's far more painful when I come across it in good writing. When it's one of those truly godawful written-in-crayon fics, it's not so bad, cause I expect it. But when it's a really good story that has me hooked, and I'm having such a wonderful, dreamy time off in Middle-Earth (I swear, if I had a holodeck...), then an "OK" can be like a punch in the solar plexus. Yanks me right out of the story and slams me back to the cold hard ground. Argh!! No, wait! Frodo, Sam, come back!! I gotta spend some minutes yelling and bitching and convincing myself that I should go back and finish the fic.
And the worst part is, it really diminishes my trust in the writer. I can still enjoy that person's work (especially if they're very good, and you are, my dear), but there's a little part of me that stays all tensed up, and it takes a while before I can get loose again.
I'm actually working on an essay about this kind of stuff, with all kinds of advice about grammar and anachronistic expressions and weird word usage. I hope to post it when I've whipped it into shape, and with luck I'll have something quite useful by the time ROTK comes out.
All this to explain why one little "OK" can make me go off my rocker like that. So it's not just your fic, hon, (which I love, by the way - love love love) - that was just the proverbial straw that put the camel in traction. But don't take it to heart. Just remember, I'm a grumpy bitch. :D
Can't speak for everyone else, but here's one you can do to get back in my good graces (she said, with a stern frown and cocked eyebrow):
Write me a drabble about Frodo correcting Sam's grammar. Any setting, any rating. Extra points awarded if it's NC-17 (not because I'm a perv, but because it's supposed to be a challenge). Do that and you'll earn a plenary indulgence for any future sins. ;D
Well, I figured the grammar part wouldn't be too hard, seeing as how Sam's grammar is so atrocious most of the time. Look at it this way - I could have asked for Sam correcting Frodo's grammar. But I didn't want to be cruel! ;D
You know, my mom lives with me now (she, at 80, is the oldest LoTR slash fan fiction fan of whom I am aware). She still has one of those pressure cookers and it still scares the CRAP out of me!
I am SO sorry. You know, someone told me once that my reference to a scene from the movie (the Black Gate scene in TTT where Sam says "No, Mr Frodo. No.") yanked them out of Crosswise Verse just the way you describe and they no longer trusted me as a writer. Made me feel bad, but I couldn't fix that one. It was the whole basis for the fic after all! (My beta said "Write me a story about how Sam feels about saying 'No' to his Mr Frodo.")
This one I can fix. And, sorry, I am taking it to heart.
I am glad you like the fic, but I am so, so sorry I tossed you out of the holodeck temporarily!!
Do you, by chance, have an advanced copy of the essay that I can use as a reference?
See, that's just why I didn't say anything about a specific story in the original post - I didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings. I wasn't intending to point fingers; I just really needed to vent, briefly but loudly. Really, hon, the fic is wonderful, and your writing is just great. And my pet peeves are just that. I'm really sorry I made you feel bad...
As to the Slash Rant, I'll poke around in my files and see if I have it here. If not, I'll have to send it over this evening. :)
You didn't "hurt my feelings"!!! LOL!!!! Nope, I hurt myself by kicking myself around the room for making such a foolish mistake and ruining someone's enjoyment of the story!!!
When I said I was pouting and feeling very badly and that I took it to heart I meant I felt very badly for YOU!!! I felt guilty, not hurt!!!
Obviously I am not communicating well these days!! LOL! Perhaps I should just stop posting for a while - heh heh.
OK, so I will try again.
*pouts, scuffs toe in dirt, looks up with big glimmering eyes* "I am sorry that I ruined your fun. Please forgive me? I will do penance, and seek extra points as well."
We all read one too many stories with "loose" for "lose" and "lay" for "lie" and proceed to strip-mine the nearest archive for Horrible Examples and become depressed and scream for a while. "OK" or "Okay" in distinctly non-20th-century contexts is more insidious and even more annoying because it has a meaning. It's not just mechanical like bad spelling.
*cries*
Am looking forward to other examples of anachronisms in hobbit fic. I avoid writing anything that suggests modern psychological jargon, as well as 20th-century technology.
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Hee-hee!
(Dashes off to look for snark...)
Re: Hee-hee!
Re: Hee-hee!
Ooooops
Damn!!! I am really shocked. I never use that when I am writing so RL must be getting to me lately!!
Although you did not pound me into sand in a review or anything, I am just taking a stab and guessing that it might have been me and I humbly apologize. My beta was (and is) having a bad time of it in RL and perhaps is understandably distracted. I have checked all other chapters, and that was the only one. If it wasn't me, well, I apologize for whoever it WAS!! LOL!
What should I do for penance do you think? (I fixed it in LJ and in HASA and will fix on FFnet tonight.)
I am afraid if I apologize to WoN, I will get another long discussion on anachronisms or buttons or something started. Ouch!
Elanorelle
Re: Ooooops
Remember those pressure cookers our moms used to have? You know, the ones with all the dials and clamps and things, that looked like something out of Frankenstein's laboratory, and scared the piss out of you when it was sitting on the stove emitting steam in little jets and you were convinced that it would momentarily blow up and take half the house with it and you'd be hideously scarred for life by the horrible burns you'd sustain?
Well, this whole "OK" thing is like one of those pressure cookers (and that just a part of the whole "hideous grammatical and anachronistic faux pas" thing). It's just been building and building over the last few months of reading fanfics. There are a number of things that make me twitch when I see them (like the naught-aught confusion), but I think that one's the worst. Feh!
It's true that the "OK" in your fic was the one that set me off, though. I think the reason it upset me so much is that it's far more painful when I come across it in good writing. When it's one of those truly godawful written-in-crayon fics, it's not so bad, cause I expect it. But when it's a really good story that has me hooked, and I'm having such a wonderful, dreamy time off in Middle-Earth (I swear, if I had a holodeck...), then an "OK" can be like a punch in the solar plexus. Yanks me right out of the story and slams me back to the cold hard ground. Argh!! No, wait! Frodo, Sam, come back!! I gotta spend some minutes yelling and bitching and convincing myself that I should go back and finish the fic.
And the worst part is, it really diminishes my trust in the writer. I can still enjoy that person's work (especially if they're very good, and you are, my dear), but there's a little part of me that stays all tensed up, and it takes a while before I can get loose again.
I'm actually working on an essay about this kind of stuff, with all kinds of advice about grammar and anachronistic expressions and weird word usage. I hope to post it when I've whipped it into shape, and with luck I'll have something quite useful by the time ROTK comes out.
All this to explain why one little "OK" can make me go off my rocker like that. So it's not just your fic, hon, (which I love, by the way - love love love) - that was just the proverbial straw that put the camel in traction. But don't take it to heart. Just remember, I'm a grumpy bitch. :D
Oh yeah, about that penance...
Write me a drabble about Frodo correcting Sam's grammar. Any setting, any rating. Extra points awarded if it's NC-17 (not because I'm a perv, but because it's supposed to be a challenge). Do that and you'll earn a plenary indulgence for any future sins. ;D
Re: Oh yeah, about that penance...
NC-17 huh? Hmmmmmmmm *frowns* Now that might make it more fun!!
Oh heck, all right, but it may take me a while!!
Re: Oh yeah, about that penance...
Re: Ooooops
You know, my mom lives with me now (she, at 80, is the oldest LoTR slash fan fiction fan of whom I am aware). She still has one of those pressure cookers and it still scares the CRAP out of me!
I am SO sorry. You know, someone told me once that my reference to a scene from the movie (the Black Gate scene in TTT where Sam says "No, Mr Frodo. No.") yanked them out of Crosswise Verse just the way you describe and they no longer trusted me as a writer. Made me feel bad, but I couldn't fix that one. It was the whole basis for the fic after all! (My beta said "Write me a story about how Sam feels about saying 'No' to his Mr Frodo.")
This one I can fix. And, sorry, I am taking it to heart.
I am glad you like the fic, but I am so, so sorry I tossed you out of the holodeck temporarily!!
Do you, by chance, have an advanced copy of the essay that I can use as a reference?
Heh.
Aw, heck!
As to the Slash Rant, I'll poke around in my files and see if I have it here. If not, I'll have to send it over this evening. :)
Re: Aw, heck!
When I said I was pouting and feeling very badly and that I took it to heart I meant I felt very badly for YOU!!! I felt guilty, not hurt!!!
Obviously I am not communicating well these days!! LOL! Perhaps I should just stop posting for a while - heh heh.
OK, so I will try again.
*pouts, scuffs toe in dirt, looks up with big glimmering eyes* "I am sorry that I ruined your fun. Please forgive me? I will do penance, and seek extra points as well."
*grins and runs off to find copy of Hardbrace*
there, there
*cries*
Am looking forward to other examples of anachronisms in hobbit fic. I avoid writing anything that suggests modern psychological jargon, as well as 20th-century technology.