As a reader % drives me nuts!

[CoffeeCat]

So I'm reading TnT fanfic on house of tucker and realized i have a few things that writers do that drive me nuts and pull me out of the fiction. I was wondering if anyone else has a list of these pet peeves?

the first one that springs to mind is when writers think they have to write in accents. It's especially annoying when it's the main character and it's in almost every sentence of dialogue.

[dialee]

Haha!! Lots of them. How long do you have?

In this particular fandom, writers simply do not know the difference between the words meditation and mediation. T'Pol meditates a lot but she rarely mediates between two groups in conflict.

I'm always game for a well-written story if the spelling and grammar are good no matter how wild the plot is. You can always tell the quality and experience of the author by the care that goes into the mechanics of the story.

Need anymore?

[T'Arwen]

I second the accent thing, especially when it's done to Trip. A little is fine but accents and contractions in every sentence make him look like a hick. It also makes the story hard to read.

Some authors make T'Pol grab salad for every meal. That's a small thing compared to other parts of the story but it's hard for me to believe she can live off of that. How can salad provide enough calories? Give the woman some avocados or quinoa.

[panyasan]

The accents put me off too. As a non-native English speaker, I find it very hard too read. My whole mind is going "this is not the English I have been taught, spelling mistakes alarm!" I also makes Trip looks stupid in my humble opinion.

Stereotyping Trip and T'Pol drives me nuts as well.

I once read a story in which Trip's mother told T'Pol an whole recipe how makes a dish, I could use the instructions to make the recipe myself so to speak. It was funny, but had little to do with the story.

[CoffeeCat]

Okay I've got another one: too much chunky internal monologues and not enough subtext and action.

[CoffeeCat]

The accents put me off too. As a non-native English speaker, I find it very hard too read. My whole mind is going "this is not the English I have been taught, spelling mistakes alarm!" I also makes Trip looks stupid in my humble opinion.

Stereotyping Trip and T'Pol drives me nuts as well.

I once read a story in which Trip's mother told T'Pol an whole recipe how makes a dish, I could use the instructions to make the recipe myself so to speak. It was funny, but had little to do with the story.

Yeah, I totally agree. I think one can get away with shortning "darling" to "darlin" - but anything more than that is jarring. And writing in the southern accent really does make Trip sound dumb. I'm truly tired of thinking of Gomer Pile when Trip is putting the moves on T'Pol.

And that recipe thing.... Did an author really do that? I've got so many thoughts on how wrong that is that I don't even know where to begin.

And here's some TnT stereotypes that drive me nuts:

Post Terra Prime T'Pol makes up some shit in her head why they can't be together (really, I thought we were past that and that everyone agreed that *the_abomination* sucked because of that same dren)

T'Pol starts calling him "husband" - uh, I think Trip would tell her to stop that. Also the over-use of the term T'hy'la can get annoying. Trip likes being called Trip and I think T'Pol would respect that.

Trip's mother being a cliche southern housewife that doesn't do anything but cook. C'mon, you would think an empty-nester would have something better to do in the year 2155.

Trip getting snappy at stupid shit. Trip is actually slow to anger.

[CoffeeCat]

Need anymore?

Sure! Have at it then!

I agree. No excuse for poor editing when we live in the computer age.

[CoffeeCat]

Some authors make T'Pol grab salad for every meal. That's a small thing compared to other parts of the story but it's hard for me to believe she can live off of that. How can salad provide enough calories? Give the woman some avocados or quinoa.

Didn't you know??? T'Pol gets her nutrician through photosynthesis

[dialee]

I sorry but I would have to disagree with y'all about Trip's accent. When I read the accent in fanfiction, I hear the true Southern accent in my head, not the twangy Hollywood version. True Southern accent is slow as molasses and creamy as fresh milk. I also apologize that I can't give you an example on tv or movies where it's really good and true. I don't watch enough tv or movies to notice southern characters. Also, I get the impression that Hollywood has not been nice in the treatment of Southern characters and literature for the last 50 years or so. I cringe when I hear their version of a Southern accent.

Another things is the humanization of T'Pol. T'Pol is Vulcan, granted one with weak emotional control but still a Vulcan. Her expressions of endearments to Trip will be few and far between and probably not as often as Trip would like but they will be there.

How many times did Trip cry on the show? I seem to remember thinking that for a man maybe, the writers portrayed him as being too emotional.

[T'Arwen]

Post Terra Prime T'Pol makes up some shit in her head why they can't be together (really, I thought we were past that and that everyone agreed that *the_abomination* sucked because of that same dren)

T'Pol starts calling him "husband" - uh, I think Trip would tell her to stop that. Also the over-use of the term T'hy'la can get annoying. Trip likes being called Trip and I think T'Pol would respect that.

Losing a child can be hard on couple. If the writer can show me that in a plausible way, I can believe them going through a rough patch. If it happens because they forgot everything they previously learned on the show, that's a different story (pun intended). I don't mind T'Pol calling Trip husband as long as she doesn't get too deferential about it. In older stories (mostly pre-2006), some authors made T'Pol call him Charles. I can see how that would happen before Countdown but a handful did it after the episode came out. That doesn't make any sense.

How many times did Trip cry on the show? I seem to remember thinking that for a man maybe, the writers portrayed him as being too emotional.

I actually like that they made Trip emotional. Normally, emotional male characters are either outcasts or special because they're ideal partners for a woman and know everything they need. It's progressive that no one in the show ever made an issue of it because of his gender. Characters only brought it up in relation to his humanity. It's refreshing to see an emotional man who just is. I remember that he cried at a movie in Dear Doctor, over his sister in Forgotten and his daughter in Terra Prime. In other words, not as much as people think.

[CoffeeCat]

I sorry but I would have to disagree with y'all about Trip's accent. When I read the accent in fanfiction, I hear the true Southern accent in my head, not the twangy Hollywood version. True Southern accent is slow as molasses and creamy as fresh milk.

And this might be the case for you which is totally valid.

In my case, where I'm not from the south, well - I already said what I hear .

My question to you is this: if a writer chose not to write in the accent, would it still sound to you like Trip speaking?

If it happens because they forgot everything they previously learned on the show, that's a different story (pun intended).

This is exactly what I was getting at.

I don't mind T'Pol calling Trip husband as long as she doesn't get too deferential about it.

I can imagine she might use it when she needed the formality outside the command structure of Starfleet. But not as much as some fanfic writers do it. Sometimes it's almost as if she forgot his name

[panyasan]

I was thinking that when I read fanfic the accent of Trip some into my mind. I actually like his accent. I have no clue what a real Southern accent should be. I just like certain characters from who they are. BTW, I really like the accent of the husband of JJ in Criminal Minds. He is from New Orleans right?

[Transwarp]

Accents are tricky to write. I think capturing a character's voice is more than just the words that character uses; it's in the cadence of their speech, and in the phrases and figures of speech they use. As CoffeeCat said, you can shorten darling to darlin' every now and then, or throw in an occasional "C'mon, T'Pol!" but -- if ya tryta go an' write ever l'il thing he sez inna southern drawl, yer prolly gonna lose me as a reader.

It's WAY too distracting.

My opinion is you shouldn't try to phonetically match his pronunciation. Readers familiar with the character will 'hear' Trip's voice if you simply write the phrases he would use, and readers not familiar with him won't care.

[73Bruin]

I have to agree with Transwarp and the others who have said its too distracting. I don't mind T'Pol calling Trip husband. I seem to recall Amanda calling Serek that in TOS. I attribute it to a Vulcan thing that doesn't translate well to late 20th early 21st century human sensibilities.

[dialee]

I would have to agree with the last two posts on this subject. As Transwarp said, it really is the cadence of speech and turn of phrase that make a character interesting. Also what the other characters think of him/her. Believe it or not, my two favorite characters on Enterprise in the beginning of the show's run was Trip and Hoshi. I was intrigued about the Southerner that the Englishman would "imitate the accent" and of course his brashness when meeting the Vulcan Sub-Commander. I thought Hoshi had to be pretty special if Archer would chase her down in Brazil. The other characters were pretty standard as far as the genre of science fiction goes.