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Abbreviations and general venting
Mar. 23rd, 2005 06:07 pmYou know what I really hate in fanfiction? Those abbreviations of names... I mean, Harry already is the short version for Harold, and it *really* isn't impossible to say that name quickly. So why call him "Har"? IMO this just sounds stupid. I'll ease up on "Mione" for Hermione but that's something that really annoys me in otherwise good stories. The characters authors play with have names - they are not called Har, Rem, Sir or anything like that in canon, so they shouldn't be in fanon either.
And if I'm already venting... then I'd like to know why people can't spell characters or places or spells correctly. Is it too much to ask that people actually know the stuff they're writing about? I often read about a guy called Volde*r*mort or someone called Hermoine (repeatedly throughout a story not once as a typing mistake) - Weasly instead of Weasley also seems popular, as well as Dursly instead of Dursley. Let's not forget Private Drive instead of Privet Drive. Or Sirus instead of Sirius. Or Serveus instead of Severus... well, you get the idea.
Most seem incapable of getting the spells right - the use of the Unforgivables, which are Imperius, Cruciatus and Avada Kedavra seems very popular in fanfiction... rightly so. But can't they be spelled correctly as well? IMO it takes much of the suspense away if I as a reader have to take time trying to decipher what spell was used! Particularly Cruciatus really seems to be a difficult word to spell - crusticus, cruscius etc. are just 2 examples I've stumbled upon. Also often times authors have problems with the difference between "Stupefy" and "Petrificus totalus" - the first one renders a person unconscious, the second one incapable of moving (but *not* unconscious). And of course, let's not forget Veritaserum (veritas = truth, serum = potion) - I've read that one in so many forms but hardly ever really spelled correctly. Is it so difficult to check the canon and get your facts straight before writing something? I'm not even going into those more often than not ridiculous new spells people come up with because I realise that latin isn't everyone's cup of tea (hey, I stuck through it for 6 years at school and loved it *g*) but sometimes it really, really hurts what translations people give for their newly invented spells.
Of course, apart from spelling things right there's also continuity to consider. I don't mind if stories deviate from canon - but some basic facts should be followed. For example, I *hate* it when a story that's supposed to take place during the summer holidays, suddenly is set in June (even better, the start of June). We know from GoF that the 3rd task took place on June 24 - Harry spent another few days at Hogwarts afterwards. So it's really quite safe to assume that summer holidays are from July 1st to August 31st, meaning the students leave for school Sept 1st and get back home on June 30. Is it impossible to stick to those facts? I won't even get into the "how old are Bill and Charlie"-question since not even JKR is able to get that right. She once said that Charlie was 3 years older than Percy, Bill another 2 years older than Charlie... And that does *not* correspond with the facts that we are given in the books. In PoA McGonagall says that Gryffindor would be "out of the running for the Quidditch Cup for the 8th year in a row", meaning that Gryffindor won the Cup last in 1986 (school year 1985/86). We also know from the twins in SS that Gryffindor hasn't won the Cup since Charlie left school, meaning that Charlie was in his 7th year in 1985/86. And now we'll just have to count backwards... Percy started at Hogwarts 1987/88 which makes Charlie at least 7 years older than Percy. As much as I love JKR's work, I hate such inconsistencies. This has nothing to do with not being able to do the maths but with not putting enough thought into the information one gives in various interviews etc. - and that's also why I don't give much on the information gained from those interviews and chats. Not to mention the fact that Hogwarts should house 1000 students, there are suddenly more than the 8 Gryffindors in Harry's year that we've seen from book 1 to 4 or that DADA classes suddenly comprise over 30 students... Nitpicks perhaps but the last two from OotP bothered the hell out of me.
Okay, now that I've talked about canon, let's turn to spelling mistakes in general. Sometimes I really have to wonder about people's spelling skills. I won't say anything about the occasional mistake but some stories clearly have never seen a spell check in their life - but not even those can't correct those awful "their" instead of "there", "threw" instead of "through" etc. mistakes.
... It certainly appears that I had to get this out of my system... Who would have thought what a rant a simple LotR-fanfic using "Thran" and "Rond" for Elrond and Thranduil could inspire...
And if I'm already venting... then I'd like to know why people can't spell characters or places or spells correctly. Is it too much to ask that people actually know the stuff they're writing about? I often read about a guy called Volde*r*mort or someone called Hermoine (repeatedly throughout a story not once as a typing mistake) - Weasly instead of Weasley also seems popular, as well as Dursly instead of Dursley. Let's not forget Private Drive instead of Privet Drive. Or Sirus instead of Sirius. Or Serveus instead of Severus... well, you get the idea.
Most seem incapable of getting the spells right - the use of the Unforgivables, which are Imperius, Cruciatus and Avada Kedavra seems very popular in fanfiction... rightly so. But can't they be spelled correctly as well? IMO it takes much of the suspense away if I as a reader have to take time trying to decipher what spell was used! Particularly Cruciatus really seems to be a difficult word to spell - crusticus, cruscius etc. are just 2 examples I've stumbled upon. Also often times authors have problems with the difference between "Stupefy" and "Petrificus totalus" - the first one renders a person unconscious, the second one incapable of moving (but *not* unconscious). And of course, let's not forget Veritaserum (veritas = truth, serum = potion) - I've read that one in so many forms but hardly ever really spelled correctly. Is it so difficult to check the canon and get your facts straight before writing something? I'm not even going into those more often than not ridiculous new spells people come up with because I realise that latin isn't everyone's cup of tea (hey, I stuck through it for 6 years at school and loved it *g*) but sometimes it really, really hurts what translations people give for their newly invented spells.
Of course, apart from spelling things right there's also continuity to consider. I don't mind if stories deviate from canon - but some basic facts should be followed. For example, I *hate* it when a story that's supposed to take place during the summer holidays, suddenly is set in June (even better, the start of June). We know from GoF that the 3rd task took place on June 24 - Harry spent another few days at Hogwarts afterwards. So it's really quite safe to assume that summer holidays are from July 1st to August 31st, meaning the students leave for school Sept 1st and get back home on June 30. Is it impossible to stick to those facts? I won't even get into the "how old are Bill and Charlie"-question since not even JKR is able to get that right. She once said that Charlie was 3 years older than Percy, Bill another 2 years older than Charlie... And that does *not* correspond with the facts that we are given in the books. In PoA McGonagall says that Gryffindor would be "out of the running for the Quidditch Cup for the 8th year in a row", meaning that Gryffindor won the Cup last in 1986 (school year 1985/86). We also know from the twins in SS that Gryffindor hasn't won the Cup since Charlie left school, meaning that Charlie was in his 7th year in 1985/86. And now we'll just have to count backwards... Percy started at Hogwarts 1987/88 which makes Charlie at least 7 years older than Percy. As much as I love JKR's work, I hate such inconsistencies. This has nothing to do with not being able to do the maths but with not putting enough thought into the information one gives in various interviews etc. - and that's also why I don't give much on the information gained from those interviews and chats. Not to mention the fact that Hogwarts should house 1000 students, there are suddenly more than the 8 Gryffindors in Harry's year that we've seen from book 1 to 4 or that DADA classes suddenly comprise over 30 students... Nitpicks perhaps but the last two from OotP bothered the hell out of me.
Okay, now that I've talked about canon, let's turn to spelling mistakes in general. Sometimes I really have to wonder about people's spelling skills. I won't say anything about the occasional mistake but some stories clearly have never seen a spell check in their life - but not even those can't correct those awful "their" instead of "there", "threw" instead of "through" etc. mistakes.
... It certainly appears that I had to get this out of my system... Who would have thought what a rant a simple LotR-fanfic using "Thran" and "Rond" for Elrond and Thranduil could inspire...
