Really? Last year everywhere i checked everyone hated OotP.

 

I think any shortcomings of the book are outweighed (speaking from the point of view of someone who reads, potentially even writes, fanfiction) by the plot elements that it gives you. That's why OoTP is probably the most common jumping off point for AU HP fanfic.

You get the dementor attack at Privet Drive, which opens the door for many different plot lines involving the corrupt ministry, a way to put Harry in Azkaban before 5th year, a starting point for a reformed Dudley/Dursley family (if that floats your boat).

Dolores Umbridge and the shit she pulls while she's at Hogwarts has launched a million fanfic moments.

The Order, 'nuff said.

Grimmauld Place, Sirius' mother, Nymphadora 'fucking' Tonks, Bellatrix, Kreacher, a host of other Order members. Luna Lovegood, Thestrals, Grawp...

The DoM, the ministry fight, Harry's brief possession by Voldemort, visionsm The DA, the failed Harry/Cho relationship, The Veil, Sirius' Death (which = will readings, a staple in HP fic, for good or ill).

The list goes on. I know some people don't like it but compared to the books that followed, it was friggin' wonderful and, if nothing else, a goldmine of plot elements, characters and whatnot to cannibalize for fics.

...

Oh yeah, there are three names no one seems to be able to get right; Grimmauld Place, Kreacher and Grawp. How do you misspell Grawp? It's five fuckin' letters! Only one vowel! I've seen Gurp, Gawrp, Gawp, Gwap... God damn, you don't have to own a book to find these characters' names, just go to the Lexicon or Wikipedia or some shit.

If I had a knut for every time I've read the phrase 'Private Drive' instead of 'Privet Drive'... Ugh. Then they turn around and write 'Privet' every time they mean 'Private'.

 

Haha, seen this quite a few times. Seriously, you think they'd catch that in a reread... oh, that's right, 12 year old fan girls don't reread anything... ever.

Of course I use '...' way to much when I should just be using commas, but still...

 

Hermoine anyone? How about the Weaseleys? And Pavarti/Parvarti really annoys the hell out of me. It's Parvati people! Its sad they can't even spell the name of a hot girl right.

And don't get me started on Fluer.

 

I might be completely fucking tired, but did the left guy in your avatar just fucking move, lucullus?

 

At first when I started to read fanfiction I tried to ignore typos like that. But meanwhile I see a severe lack of grammar and spelling as a lack of respect for the reader.

Sometimes it looks as if the author just allowed M$-Word's spell-checker to 'correct' everything automatically. My version also tried to replace 'Dolores' with 'Delores', 'Arthur' with 'Author', etc. I sometimes suggest to add canon-terms to the user-dictionary, i.e. by copypasting HP-Lexicon-lists. Half the time I get nasty replies.

Quite a lot of them seem to be too impatient to invest some time in proofreading their texts. They spend two or three hours typing a few hundred words and want to publish it as fast as possible. It's an urge I think a lot of people feel when writing or creating something - and some just aren't able to suppress the feeling.

Most stories with this problem lack more than just correct spelling of canon-names. That's usually just one symptom for horrible authors with bad grammar and terrible style. More often than not their stories also feature incomplete sentences, inconsistencies, plotholes, etc. - just because they didn't reread the text.

So if the first chapter of a story has already that kind of spelling-problem, I don't read further.

 

Yes, you are completely fucking tired, and probably hallucinating too.

 

Most *people* can't spell, write or think. Including, dare I say it, most posters here, a few years back. Far as I can tell, FFN etc let people who know no better write, and enjoy it, and maybe even learn something. Half the fandom AT LEAST started out reading and posting fic on the Pit and its fellow hell-sites, and the cream and scum rose to the top - everyone knows both rise, very few can agree which is which.

Basically nobody's making you read, and there are plenty of sites with higher standards. Sure, the comparatively small number of DLPers have trouble finding fic we like on those sites, which impose basic rules of sanity we.... don't always like in order to keep out the morons, but they're there and summaries and search functions can be wonderful things. Note that I'm not saying don't correct howlers, just there's no need to hate people for them if their ideas are salvageable. Gentle criticism and the odd rocket up the backside are probably the way to go to improve the standard of grammar, spelling etc. Those who can't take it will sooner or later give up and go away.

 

My spelling disability is one of the reasons I am a reader not a writer I tried once and went back to read and nearly lost my eyes in horror.

 

LOL Funny shit.

I've read a few stories like all these people have told as well. Its not really surprising all these people don't get a Beta, or "try" to get the names right. All they care about is "Reviews", and people telling how good their story is, when in fact, it totally sucks, and riddled with so many flaws.

Richard.

 

Lawl, did you catch your own two spelling mistakes in a thread about not spelling canon names correctly? Hermoine and Weaseleys?

 

I think he's aware, just that he only addressed Parvati

Something that I read isn't exactly a misspelling, but was just as bad. Dumbledore or Voldemort said "stuff". They were never meant to say that.

 

I'm fairly sure that he misspelled them on purpose to show which mistakes are commonly used.

My 'favorite' canon misspellings are the Dumbledore ones, because half the time they're not accidental.

EDIT: @Andromalius- what about Hermione saying 'like'? As in, 'Hermione was like seriously sad'. Which is a quote from a fic posted in the bashing thread.

 

Misspelling canon names is the one thing that annoys me more than anything else. It may just be because I have a great memory for things like that, but how hard is it to remember a name that is written every fucking page? Mcgonagale and Dumbldorr are seen all too often for my tastes (missing the capital G in McGonagall is especially aggravating).

Aekiel

 

I actually don't mind typos/mispellings that much. They alert me to a really bad story so that I don't have to read for a few chapters before realizing that I'd wasted 10 minutes of my life. A few typos in the first paragraph shows that the author doesn't take the work seriously. So why should I?

 

My grammer is so bad it has too be horrible for me to catch it or I have be paying very close attention. Like I said my eyes still hurt when I proof a paper or something

 

Wow, I don't know why I didn't catch the question marks at the end of both of those names.... I'm tired, that's my excuse

 

Another fairly common misspelling is "Parcel", "Parcelmouth" or "Parceltongue"

Add bonus points if they also misspell "Tongue" as "Toungue" -----> "Parceltoungue"

 

A lot of these people who write are review-whores and don't have a beta. If they do have a beta it's most likely their best friend who's always been too ashamed to tell them she can't read. Few people go into writing fanfiction seriously, probably because no money can be made from it like original writing.