(no subject)

[jadesfire]

Dear Successful Historical Novelist,

Please, please, please stop with the epithets. Seriously, if this was a fanfiction rather than a library book, I'd be taking a red pen to it. You gave your characters perfectly good names, and the story flows a whole lot better when you use them.

I'm sick here. Please to not be upsetting my stomach more than it already is.

No love
Me

Comments

[miss-zedem.livejournal.com]

Isn't it annoying? I find it really off-putting in published stories, even though I know it's a perfectly valid stylistic choice.

[with-apostrophe.livejournal.com]

Aww - sorry you're not feeling well. Get better!

Epithets - I find that a few are fine, and even prefer a few of them (if they're not too esoteric) to reading "Jack said" "Gertrude said" ALL the time, but, yes - too many is IRRITATING.

PS (Did you send the story and I didn't receive it? Or has not being well meant you couldn't? I can help tonight, but not tomorrow. If you found someone else, no worries. I'm just asking incase you sent it and I've just not received it.)

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

The only epithet I really don't mind is "the other man" when you've got two men in a scene. Otherwise, I tend to recast my sentences so they don't need repetitions - I find name repetition much less distracting, but that might be because I tend to skim read, and like "he said", my brain doesn't really register names.

PS(No, it wasn't you - I decided to drop out rather than put myself under pressure. I may still write the story, but couldn't get it done for the deadline. If I do write it, I'll send it your way just in case you have time, thanks!)

[karaokegal.livejournal.com]

That is so fucking annoying. Here I am on the "stamp out epithetitus" rampage in fanfiction and professionals are going around doing that crap giving bad fanfic writers the ammunition they need to go on offending.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*nodnodnod* I think especially because this book sells itself on being by "historical mystery masters". The story may well be fine, but I keep getting distracted by "the Cornishman" and "the grizzled Crowner" (I kid you not) and I'm really put off from reading the rest of the stories, even though they're by other people!

Grrr. Argh.

[karaokegal.livejournal.com]

It's hard to fend off "the Welshman" and "the oncologist" with that kind of crap going on.