Some general grousing, because I feel like it...

[serai]

First of all, a word on a subject that's been getting under my skin lately, contractions.

I find it hard to believe that anyone who can read English can find it difficult to grasp the concept behind them. And yet I find that even people whose command of the language is pretty damned good still make this mistake. It drives me batty, frankly. So, a quick lesson in when and when not to use that apostrophe.

A contraction (isn't, aren't, didn't, weren't, etc.) is exactly that - two word contracted into one. "Isn't" is a short form of "is not", "they're" is a short form of "they are", "it's" is a short form of "it is". And so on.

So the way to know if you should use "its" or "it's" is to ask yourself "Am I trying to say 'it is' or not?" Same for "they're" and "their" - are you saying "they are" or are you assigning a possessive? This goes for any contraction. Simply expand the word into its component parts and see if it fits. (See how I used "its" there? "It's" would have been wrong, because I'm not trying to say "It is".) Going to use "they're"? Make it "they are" and see if that's the meaning you want in your sentence.

It's (It is) really very simple. Words have their (possessive) place, and if they're (they are) not properly bestowed, the sentence will lose its (possessive) meaning.


The second thing I want to gripe about is WIP heartbreak.

Tell me, oh f-list, what do you do when a WIP you've been enjoying for a long time finally ends, and the ending leaves you feeling completely let down and somewhat cheated? When the author has been implying certain scenes and developments that you can look forward to seeing, and then doesn't deliver? When the story has been complex and interesting, and thus deserves a complex and interesting ending, and you're left with something that, while nice, does nothing to deal with the issues that have been laid out, or the ends that are left dangling? Not to mention the hot scenes you were sure were coming up and just...don't?

It's beyond frustrating to stick with a story for so long, anticipating a denouement as rich and well-structured as the whole story has been, and end up with the feeling that the author just didn't want to write any more. Yeah, it ended on a nice note, but nice is not what the story deserves. And what is a reader supposed to do with the desire to see all the great stuff that she thought was coming and it turned out just...wasn't?

I don't know which is worse - WIPs that never get finished at all, or WIPs that finish, but in a real letdown. It's very disheartening, and makes me want to stop reading WIPs altogether. *sigh*

Comments

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Well... personally I don't mind WIPs. But to me they're like watching a show that's still in production or reading a series of books that haven't ended yet. I spend half my time weaving possiblities around them, knowing perfectly well that what I've dreamed up won't come to pass. To me it's part of the enjoyment and on very rare occasions I write myself a little fanfic of a fanfic if the story went a direction I didn't like as well as where my own speculations went. If I'm feeling particularly arrogant I've even been known to show the author my story, but only when I know she'll take it as the compliment that pen-itch really is.

But I write fanfic for me. I've recently spent some time re-reading stories I wrote twenty years ago, that no one has ever read but me, and you know what? I still enjoy reading them!

[bandwench]

I have been disappointed so many times by starting WIPs that never get finished that I have all but swore off reading anything until it is finished. I love chapter fics but I am trying to stick with the ones that are completed before the author posts one chapter at a time. I probably miss out on some of the joy of following a story as it is written, but I have been burned so many times, I really hesitate to fall yet again.

I like the other commenter's suggestion that if you truly need MORE of the story, write it yourself. I imagine it could be a lot of fun if you truly love the original story and very cathartic to get over your disappointment with the ending.

Thanks for the pep talk about contractions . . . it bothers me, too. *smooch*

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

On the first: Do I ever hear you.

On the second: that's one of my fears about writing a WIP, that I'll lose steam and end badly if at all.