Bugbears

[This was originally posted on my MASH blog - hence the examples - but I thought I'd repost it here for ease of reference]

I admit it: I have a mild bugbear about the use of English in fanfic or, more precisely, the abuse of it. I know fanfic is something written for pleasure and for the chance to write scenarios never played out in the series. I don't think writing for pleasure automatically means ignoring basic rules of grammar and punctuation.

Yes, the rules on the use of the apostrophe may seem a little eccentric, but the English language exists as a means of communicating an idea from one head to many others. Ignoring the basic rules decreases the chance of the readers' receiving those ideas in their full glory.

If reading/writing fanfic is "just fun" then part of the implicit deal the writer makes with the reader is to be entertaining. And struggling to read a story is not fun. So this is going to be my blog entry on common errors which get in the way of the fun of fanfic. Expect a link to it to crop up in reviews on ff.net.

• If this entry seems to stop suddenly, click on refresh. Blogspot seems to get a bit confused by long entries.
• If you think there is something worth adding to the list of bugbears, use the comment link at the bottom of the entry.

Resources
useful things to buy, borrow or read online
I just got a copy of Eats, Shoots & Leaves for Christmas. It's not nearly as good as Bill Bryson's Troublesome Words (which as well as explaining the meanings of misunderstood words also has a section on grammar and punctuation) but it would be a handy starting place for writers who know they have yet to master the its/it's difference. Other places would be:

• English Chick's Grammar Lessons and Common Errors in Fanfic
• Mapletree Publishing: Grammar Basics
• Common Errors in English Usage

My bugbears
things that are can improve writing 100% with very little effort

I'm making up the examples, by the way.

• dialogue formatting
  sometimes you read fanfic which is written like this:

  Hawkeye said let's have a drink. Why not said Trapper then we can go make passes at the nurses. I'm too tired for nurses Hawkeye said.

  Each bit of dialogue ought to be marked out with quote marks. Each time the speaker changes, a new line should be started. So the example above becomes:

  Hawkeye said, "Let's have a drink."
  "Why not? said Trapper. "Then we can go make passes at the nurses."
  "I'm too tired for nurses," Hawkeye said.

  Now it's easy to see who is saying what (and that we appear to be heading for Hawkeye/Trapper slash...)



• soundalikes aka homonyms
  Some words with different meanings sound the same. If you rely on a spell checker in a word processor, it won't tell you that you have used the wrong one. A particular bugbear for me is the they're/their/there confusion. They're is a contraction of they are; their is a possessive, indicating that something belongs to someone; there is a location. For example:

  "Look at those two over they're," Margaret commented acidly to Frank, "their always getting drunk."
  "The Colonel really shouldn't allow them to keep there still."

  should be:

  "Look at those two over there," Margaret commented acidly to Frank, "they're always getting drunk."
  "The Colonel really shouldn't allow them to keep their still."

  because the words are being used as follows:

  "Look at those two over there [location]," Margaret commented acidly to Frank, "they're [they are] always getting drunk."
  "The Colonel really shouldn't allow them to keep their [possesive] still."

  This error gets to me more than the its/it's one, simply because I still make its/it's typos and know how confusing it can be whereas there is little excuse for not learning the difference between they're/their/there.



• past/present tense
  As a general guide, it's more common for fiction to be written in the past tense. Like so:

  Hawkeye realised he was unconsciously licking his lips as he watched Trapper pour another martini from their still. He tried to believe that it was in anticipation of the drink but suspected it was from some other anticipated thrill.

  This could be written in the present tense, like so:
  

  Hawkeye realises he is unconsciously licking his lips as he watches Trapper pour another martini from their still. He tries to believe that it is in anticipation of the drink but suspects it's from some other anticipated thrill.

  If you're not familiar with tenses, stick to the past tense. The present tense is OK for short stories, but is quite hard reading on longer works. Don't mix up past and present tense - it only confuses. If you're not familiar with tenses at all, check out the English Chick's notes on it.



• POV
  The Point of View (POV) is the character whose inner thoughts we are privy to: we see events from their point of view. Ideally, stick to one POV for any given scene within a story. You can alternate POVs (fun for romance stories) but the change in POV should be indicated with a double line break or a row of asterisks. The POV is the writers' chance to show off how well they know the character. It should be possible to indicate the POV not only through having stuff like:

  As their eyes caught, Hawkeye wondered about the sudden catch in his breath.

  which tells us Hawkeye is the POV character, but through using the speech patterns of the characters:

  It was crazy, nuts, fruit-de-loop. Like Trap had seen more than could ever be spoken in that glance."

  A joy of working with POV is that you can start reducing the amount of times you type a character's name: don't be afraid of the pronouns (but always be sure it is clear which he is which!).

I think it's safe to say the previous entries here have revealed some of my narrative cliche bugbears, so that's for now. Until I read something that I just have to add to this list.