That's what you call a telltale sign, right there. As soon as I saw "the chocolate-haired man", I'd lower my expectations by half. I'd probably keep reading, though.
I would definitely stop reading! "Dark-haired man" I could live with - the author is unsophisticated but might still have a decent story to tell. But "chocolate" is so pretentious I'd know right off I wasn't going enjoy the fic.
There's tons of HP stories out there so I don't have any trouble abandoning them early. It's different with books. I don't give up on a book unless I've got a really *really* major issue with it.
Haha yeah... I'm glad you agree! Man, I was worried I really -was- too anal. I did keep reading for a couple of chapters, but it wore me down 'cause basically all of it was bad, head to toe :D It's really hard to write a decent story in other ways if you think 'chocolate-haired' and 'violet orbs' are valid ways to describe people. I really wonder -why-, honestly. I just don't get how that sort of thing comes about. I can understand inexperience, but pretentiousness is a lot harder for me to grasp intuitively. Like... 'oh, but it sounds RICH and CREAMY', ahahahah, I just can't picture it :D
On the bright(?) side, this wasn't an HP fic... I'm actually a lot more impatient with those. Heh. Just earlier to day I found someone reccing an awful badfic, though. Just really amazingly, spectacularly bad-- not even badly characterized so much as completely eradicating any resemblance to canon (...it had a Harry make-over. 'nuff said.) I think I'm a bit elitist, but I honestly don't get how people get to the point where this level of crack is something they need to read in such a big fandom. Or write. -.-
Well, grand generalisation time... show-offy people tend to be self-absorbed and to lack understanding of others and the world around them, which makes them less likely to write well.
OK, I was aware as I wrote it that this argument can be shot down very easily. I can think of exceptions (both fandom and non-fandom) off the top of my head. But not too many.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2007-01-15 03:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-15 11:01 pm (UTC).......though I kept reading myself *coughs*
no subject
Date: 2007-01-15 07:13 pm (UTC)That's what you call a telltale sign, right there. As soon as I saw "the chocolate-haired man", I'd lower my expectations by half. I'd probably keep reading, though.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-15 11:02 pm (UTC)Well, it's kinda almost worn me down to stopping by the end of chapter 1, where the tiny agonies have now accumulated :>
no subject
Date: 2007-01-16 12:41 pm (UTC)There's tons of HP stories out there so I don't have any trouble abandoning them early. It's different with books. I don't give up on a book unless I've got a really *really* major issue with it.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-16 01:38 pm (UTC)On the bright(?) side, this wasn't an HP fic... I'm actually a lot more impatient with those. Heh. Just earlier to day I found someone reccing an awful badfic, though. Just really amazingly, spectacularly bad-- not even badly characterized so much as completely eradicating any resemblance to canon (...it had a Harry make-over. 'nuff said.) I think I'm a bit elitist, but I honestly don't get how people get to the point where this level of crack is something they need to read in such a big fandom. Or write. -.-
no subject
Date: 2007-01-16 04:37 pm (UTC)OK, I was aware as I wrote it that this argument can be shot down very easily. I can think of exceptions (both fandom and non-fandom) off the top of my head. But not too many.