I just thought I would start a thread where we could comment on any particularly good examples of writing styles, and also mention anything that really annoys us when reading a fic, style wise.

Personally I get really annoyed when folk use bold or italics to put emphasis on the wrong word in a sentence, for instance "I don't know where that report came from" to me should be "I don't know where that report came from"

Small things like that, emphasising the wrong word, just through my reading off track, because I always read it as though someone were speaking it, puting the emphasis on when it is indicated.

Anyway, what things really annoy you, or what things make a fic better for you.

 

I don't think you can emphasise the wrong word, since it is one's choice what word to emphasise, as long as it fits the context, of course. For example:

"I don't know where that report came from. It just appeared on my desk."
or
"I don't know where that report came from. I can guess though."
or
"I don't know where that report came from. Fred can tell you though."

So emphasis can only be wrong if it doesn't fit the context.

The one thing that annoys me the most is when people can't distinguish between where, we're and were or you're and your... I can't stand that.

One thing I like is when the location/date is not simply stated, but slowly let on in the text.

 

It really annoys me, when authors write in blocks of 30 or so lines, without space. Since I can't really write this in English, I'll try to show you:

Annoys me:
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Should be:
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Like Mordecai said, it annoys me if the authors emphasize the wrong word, or forget the " so that you don't know who is saying what.

 

I once came across a fic, where instead of " the author used - which was damnably annoying, since it was a ctually quite a good fic apart from that.

Something else that gets on my nerves is when an author who is putting a letter of some sort, or a newspaper article or something or that nature in their fic, uses the exact same font or font style sa they do for the rest of the fic. Instead of this, they should put letters in bold or italics IMO.

 

I can't stand when writers put different people's quotations in the same paragraph. There was a fic I read about a month ago where I thought one person was talking for the entire first chapter and had some sort of split personality until they finally used a name instead of he/she (since there were line breaks, but not between who said what).

Lilly instead of Lily always really bugs me too. I don't know why, it just turns me off immediately.

 

I hate it when people put some sort of code at the beginning of the chapter for whose thoughts each type of writing style is. For example:

James' thoughts:
Sirius' thoughts:
Remus' thoughts:
Peter's thoughts:

Because NO real authors write like that, and as far as I'm concerned, if no one does it in a published book, you can't do it. The same goes for bolding or underlining things when they should be italicized.

 

I get annoyed when authors get sloppy and let their bolb or italisised text carry on past where it should end. Like they have put in a letter, and put it in bold, which is good, but then after the letter they continue in bold for no apparent reason. It is sheer sloppyness and laziness.

 

I hate when the author uses the same structure of the sentence repeatedly. Like:

Walking to the loo he looked at the front page of the newspaper. Relieving himself Harry thought about the article. Leaving the bathroom he met Dudley. Smacking Dudley on the head he walked back into his room.

And I hate when the author has a list of descripted names or titles for the charcters and uses them instead of the name overly much. Like:

The green eyed teen, the raven haired boy, the newly appointed Bla, the savior of blabla, the defeater of the basilisk ...you get the idea.

 

Olfrik:
I on the other hand hate it when the author always states the name again and again:

Harry said: "No."
Dumbledore replied: "You have to."
Harry said again: "No."
Dumbledore sighed. "You must."
Harry stayed calm and said: "No."
Dumbledore shook his head. Harry waited.

A bit of variation could be nice...

 

What annoys me is when I enter a fict and find that it violates the English language, especially when most people on the site have had a english class in their life time.
Some people have great writing style, yet they choose to badly format their work, making it unreadable. Such as the font being too small and the sentences all condensed into one block.

 

I thought this post was to give examples of Author's works, not "I hate this, I hate that.."

Anyhow, I really enjoy Razz's writing style, it has the focus on the small stuff, not just big details.

For Dark/Insane, I like DarkSayoran's latest oneshot. It has the childish yet serious way of writing that I like.

Generally I like third person, professional, non-omnescient, "follow" writing where the story focuses on a single character at any one point.

Thin, wispy, emotional and casual, 3rd/P NonOm, follow writing is what I prefer for Dark above all - It's what I tried to do with Equal and Opposite Chp 2 and 3.

 

Amersion, the thread is to say what we like and/or dislike writing style wise. If you want to give examples of fics, then feel free, but it isn't required.

Something I just found that I have decided I seriously dislike, is the way the author of Tamper with Time (HoshiHikari) rights dialogue.

The way they use a string of periods, after every clause basically, jsut so annoys me, that was how ever block of dialogue was.