It's time for another peeve post

[estepheia]

If this will make me unpopular, so be it. I have to vent. Please do not feel insulted. It's nothing personal. Whatever floats your boat, etc.

Hunging season is open. Here's a list of words and expressions that I'd rather shoot myself than use (although I may have used them in my younger days...)

* chocolate orbs traveling the angular planes of his face
* cerulean orbs
* velvety orbs

What is it with those orbs? The only orbs I like are real objects. And the chocolate. Chocolate eyes? a) read it so often that it makes me gag, b) has a horrible eating vibe which doesn't go well with eyeballs. Eeew.
'Cerulean' is a nice word, very pretty. So is 'blue.' But we do know that Spike's eyes are blue, so maybe just maybe we don't need to be told every second sentence. Same with the hair-color. Which means that constant use of 'the blonde' is just as out.

* Spike's soft hair - Oh please. After twenty years of bleaching? You wish.
(There is a brilliant story by Zero that deals with the fact that even Spike has his imperfections and is on some level just a guy)

* childe - noooooo please. As a real parent I find the vibe off-putting. Makes me think of small kids, not of sexy vampires. The whole concept of vicious killers turning into cuddly poppa-bears for their adored childe makes me cringe. (However I *do* see different emotional ties when the vamps are souled)

* sable hair - Ask me what Nicholas Brendan's haircolor is and I sure as hell won't say sable. *snort*

* beautiful - a word to be used with care. How about 'handsome', 'good-looking' and 'attractive'?

* pulsing - in conjunction with certain parts of the male anatomy I think 'throbbing' is the nicer image. Just saying.

* baited breath - shouldn't that be 'bated'?

*sucking - a lovely word used to describe what mouths do. Not so great for other orifices. Anataomically impossible too.

I used to love the badfic thread at TwoP. *Sigh* I never got into the habit of visiting its new home. Sometimes I wonder if mikelesq shouldn't resurrect it here. Sometimes I even wonder if I shouldn't quote a few paragraphs of truly horrible writing, but I don't really feel like offending someone.

Oooh, maybe I can do it behind cut tags. Do not read if m/m smut offends you. Do not read if you think pointing out bad writing is mean. But if you do read it please tell me, is it just me or does this really suck? Is this so-called purple prose?



"Slowly, Spike raised his body until only the bulbous head of Angel's cock remained inside him. Watching those velvety brown eyes flare with gold as Spike slid down again joining them together again was nearly Spike's undoing. Angel's eyes were held mesmerized as he watched the place where his body joined Spike's. He stared as Spike rose again; seeing his hardness bathed in his
Childe's blood disappear into that hidden reasure once again."

later:
"Over and over, Angel slid his way home into the only place he felt truly alive. Inside his beautiful childe."
Wickedly Delicious by Amy.

Comments

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

I think this does not count as every five minutes, Birdie.
This fic just stunned me because the author was obviously able to format, spell, use grammar and tap into a relatively large vocabulary.

Don't worry, I don't intend to make this a regular badfic LJ, but since I rec fic here, I think I can also occasionally discuss bad stuff.

Besides, I myself learned a lot from other people's posts about their pet peeves. I made very common mistakes when I started writing and I would still make them if I hadn't stumbled over rants like this one. It stung a bit at first, but I'll live.

Peace

[(Anonymous)]

You said:
I think this does not count as every five minutes, Birdie.
____

Thanks for your reply. You're right, that was an exaggeration. But I have seen you making these same arguements on lists, in LJ communities, etc. I have seen multiple rants from you regarding the use of "whelp", as well as other prevalent S/X problems. Believe me, I'm not saying you're wrong in what you're ranting about, because I agree completely. I just wonder if you were to weigh the benefits of occasionally turning the odd newbie in the right direction with the costs of being perceived as redundant and preachy, would you continue to rant so frequently?

-Birdie

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

This time I didn't post about this at Nummytreats but vented a bit in my own LJ. And the one time I talked about peeves in the sxandviolence LJ group I first asked the mods if it's ok if I do.

Ah, maybe it's a cultural thing. In Germany we enjoy lively debates. Learning to stand up for one's opinion is something we are taught at school.

[(Anonymous)]

You said:
Ah, maybe it's a cultural thing. In Germany we enjoy lively debates. Learning to stand up for one's opinion is something we are taught at school.
______________

First of all, that's a pretty xenophobic statement. Second of all, I didn't say where I was from (does it really matter?).

It seems to me that if it is "lively debate" that you are interested in, badfic rants are a pretty dry source. From what I've seen, all you get are a bunch of badficcers making statements like, "You're mean!" or "I just write for myself, so bug off!", along with a number of not-so-bad-ficcers saying "Amen". Not exactly a rich source of debate. It seems to me that if you're actually in if for the debate as opposed to feeling superior and getting ego-strokes from your peers, you might find a more debatable topic.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

I believe I was saying something about Germans.

[(Anonymous)]

Um, no. You were making a passive-aggressive comment, insinuating that people of other nations are not as interested in debate as Germans, implying some manner of inferiority. AND, I might add, this isn't the first time you've said something like this. I think your previous post on Michael Moore was just as insulting.

[mpoetess.livejournal.com]

Good lord. And you haven't been passive-agressive all the way through this thread? "Don't you ever get tired of the negativity?" "Wouldn't it be more constructive if?" "Wouldn't you rather people didn't see you as preachy and time-wasting?"

Just come out and say "Your posts annoy *me* and at least one of my friends, and I mostly don't like you" (to which the "thank you, drive through" response could be given immediately and save all of us some time) instead of pretending you're crusading for the peace and harmony and mental health of fandom-at-large.

[(Anonymous)]

I thought that I did come out and say that her posts annoy me. But it's not specifically her, all posts like that are starting to annoy me. I'm genuinely interested in why they prevail, and if people think they're effective, but that's just curiosity. I'm not crusading for peace and harmony- just as much as she has the right to say "I hate when X happens in fandom," I have the right to say "I hate it when Y happens in fandom." My only motivation for suggesting a solution is because your post on the other thread made me realize that my bitching is probably as ineffective as hers. Forgive me for trying to be constructive.

-Birdie

[mpoetess.livejournal.com]

You absolutely have the right to say "I hate it when Y happens in fandom." When Y="someone discussing something boring to me in public when I think they should send it privately to every individual who might benefit from it, or just shut the heck up" and the way you choose to say it is to do so publically in a discussion forum, instead of sending it privately to the person who's annoying you, you rather undercut your own case.

And your constructive solution was (albeit more politely worded) "Send specific private feedback and stop annoying me with your more general public postings." Believe it or not, that's neither an original idea (People *do* send private feedback and have been doing so for decades, and it doesn't serve the same purpose as a public discussion) or necessarily constructive for anyone but you. It did give you the chance to refer to the person who's annoying you as passive aggressive, preachy, self-congratulatory, and a number of other thinly-disguised insults, under the guise of "constructiveness" -- which seems pretty passive-agressive to me. Am I wrong?

[(Anonymous)]

*shrug* I gave it my best shot. I never said it was original, and well, as long as we're talking about being passive-aggressive...

I never said my original post was constructive, and I stand by my assessment of these kind of posts.

As for the fact that you think I'm passive-aggressive, rats. I thought I was being outright agressive, but attempting to be polite. But if that's the way you want to label it, go for it. My feelings aren't hurt.

Anyway, you said:

You absolutely have the right to say "I hate it when Y happens in fandom." When Y="someone discussing something boring to me in public when I think they should send it privately to every individual who might benefit from it, or just shut the heck up" and the way you choose to say it is to do so publically in a discussion forum, instead of sending it privately to the person who's annoying you, you rather undercut your own case.
________________________

How does that work? My point was to not have the same people rehash the same old things publicly ad infinitum, and as far as I know, this is the first time I've posted anything about this publicly. If it turns out to be the case that the point I'm making pops up every other week by the same people elsewhere, well, I'll admit your point.

Dear Mr./Mrs Anonymous

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

I just reread my post on Michael Moore, just to make sure if I said anything I shouldn't have. I don't think I did.
Different countries, different people. We often act according to our cultural conditioning. I can only talk about my own, which is anti-authority, anti-'majority-at-all-cost', anti-political correct and pro-criticism, pro-debate, pro-pluralism.
That's how my generation was brought up. And my LJ is bound to reflect that - even though the internet is blurring such cultural conditioning.

PS: Be kind and sign your posts by name.

Re: Dear Mr./Mrs Anonymous

[(Anonymous)]

Well, I'll chalk it up to misunderstanding your tone. That's all I have the energy for at this point.

Regarding signing my post, I incorrectly assumed that you understood by the rhythm of our conversation. All of the posts to this thread were from me. Mea culpa.

- Birdie