Degrees of dissonance

[graculus]

In the six or seven years I've been in fandom, I've read widely in a number of fandoms. I'm wondering if my tolerance levels are the same as they were, or whether it changes as new fandoms gain my interest, or is dependent on the fandom itself.

I've been reading a lot of Harry Potter fic recently. Some of it is excellent and some of it can only be described as god-awful. In essence, no better and no worse than any other fandom, as far as I can see. But where it differs in one respect is the couple of fics I've given up on early on because they just don't work - there's some fundamental flaw to the story premise that is only evident to me because I have a knowledge of the law and mores of the culture the stories are based in (not the wizarding world, of course, but mid-90's England).

So, I was wondering about this - I know there are people reading this entry that read in an equally wide variety of fandoms, or focus intently on one to the exclusion of all others, people with a wide variety of life experiences and areas of expertise. Can you get past a glaring error in something you have knowledge of and move on to read the rest of the story? Are you someone who, once they've started reading something, have to finish it? Or is it dependent on the quality of the tale, that if it's good enough then you can ignore something you know to be incorrect?

Inquiring minds and all that...

Comments

[obelix]

You probably already know this about me, but yeah I will overlook glaring errors if the story is good and keep on reading. But it does depend on the fandom in certain fandoms I expect more then in others.

An example of this is a story in Numb3rs where the author had Charlie as a student and it wasn't an AU. The story is good except for that particular fact which is wrong (Charlie is a full tenured Professor). So I let it pass but in other fandoms I am more demanding and grammar and spelling unless really really bad usually doesn't make me stop like it does others.

If I truly don't like a story then I won't keep reading it, I'll stop. ;-)

[cycnus39]

Oh you know I'm a picky old cow. Anything can throw me out a story -- be it spelling, grammar, character fuck-ups or glaring errors. Even if I'm enjoying a story an error will send me off on a rant. Would I keep reading post rant? It depends. If the characterisation was really good and the error was unconnected with that solid characterisation, maybe. Then again, it depends on the error. If it was glaring as in obvious to me and kept resurfacing in the plot (for example the main characters moving around a completely fucked up fictive Edinburgh) it would probably wind me up so much I'd have to quit. Or maybe skip to the dialogue...or the sex. As with everything else, I take what I want and leave the rest. I don't feel compelled to read every word of every story and actually rarely do so. ;-)

[xochiquetzl]

I must be easy. I stopped up short at Quinn's AU fic where Jack is given a dishonorable discharge and told Daniel will be fired if Jack ever sees him again, ground my teeth, and soldiered on because I was curious about the story.

It was a good story, but the premise was terribly flawed by a factual error. DADT does not apply to Daniel. Period. The end. And for Hammond to threaten to fire Daniel under DADT--well, civilians are protected from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, so Jack could have gotten Hammond in a lot of trouble. A LOT of trouble.

[katyabaturinsky.livejournal.com]

Oi! Well, yeah, okay...true enough. (Hey, there's a reason I adore Rodney, after all.)

[katyabaturinsky.livejournal.com]

Nice to know I serve a purpose. ;P

[katyabaturinsky.livejournal.com]

As Certain People have already pointed out, I do tend to complete stories that are absolute crap simply because I want to see how they'll turn out. Plus, I want to make sure that I can then criticize them -- even if only in my own mind -- while feeling that I have all the facts on hand and am completely justified in my opinions. Having said that, however, there are entire reams of stories that I won't touch with a 10-foot pole once I see the name of the author. I usually have a group of authors that I simply avoid in each fandom. Now it's always possible that I might skip a story in which one of these authors makes a great leap forward and produces an absolute treasure, but I'm not willing to take the risk. And I find that the longer I'm in fandom and the more I've read, the less tolerance I have for bad fic.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

Get back to a proper fandom, wench! :P

[graculus.livejournal.com]

I slogged through two or three books in a pro series because they were fast reads and I could overlook the bad GSP (which I think in a pro novel just should not be there), but when a major revelation in one book depended on what I felt to be a faulty understanding of paleoanthropology, I just stopped reading.

I guess my curiosity is over how much tolerance people have for that kind of thing... and GSP?

[graculus.livejournal.com]

An example of this is a story in Numb3rs where the author had Charlie as a student and it wasn't an AU. The story is good except for that particular fact which is wrong (Charlie is a full tenured Professor).

It's those kind of things that make me go even more batshit. Because that's not a failure to do research, that's a failure to actually take in what's on the show. Which doesn't bode well for little things like characterisation... ;)

[graculus.livejournal.com]

Oh you know I'm a picky old cow.

Well, I wasn't going to say it... ;)

If it was glaring as in obvious to me and kept resurfacing in the plot (for example the main characters moving around a completely fucked up fictive Edinburgh) it would probably wind me up so much I'd have to quit.

I had a lovely one a few weeks back, where an HP character was working in a fictional Edinburgh (or was it Glasgow? I don't recall) petshop for some stupid amount of money a week and selling pedigree puppies from the shop. All kinds of wrongness there...

[graculus.livejournal.com]

I must be easy.

*cough*

It was a good story, but the premise was terribly flawed by a factual error.

And that's always galling. Because essentially if you have to pummel or amputate reality (however reality works in that universe) in order to make your story viable, then maybe you're working a little too hard?

[graculus.livejournal.com]

I usually have a group of authors that I simply avoid in each fandom. Now it's always possible that I might skip a story in which one of these authors makes a great leap forward and produces an absolute treasure, but I'm not willing to take the risk.

Sadly, in my experience the writers who put out real stinkers tend only to develop in terms of being able to put out more stinkers more quickly... ;)

And I find that the longer I'm in fandom and the more I've read, the less tolerance I have for bad fic.

At this rate you might catch up with the rest of us sometime next decade! :P

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

Do you think this has an effect on what you write yourself and how hard you try to make sure things are 'right'?

Well I'm really meticulous with research. I make sure that factual stuff is correct. I even like to do background research that I might not actually use for a story, but like to know anyway.

Now you know I'm going to have to ask... ;)

You mean I've managed to avoid telling you thus far :-) It's a fairly odd one and one that no one would warn for (yet one that, surprising when I do mention it quite a few people say 'me too'). It's sex and food in the same scene. Romantic dinner is super, partner feeding (as long as it's from fork or fingers if finger food into mouth at a table) is nice, but when they take food into the bedroom and it becomes part of the sex act, smearing jam on the other's body and licking it off, etc. etc. etc. that's it, I'm gone. It makes me feel so sick that I simply cannot go on reading, even when the story is by my favourite author (which has happened once) and even if I'm loving the story. I just can't go on as I'd spend the whole time worrying that it'd occur again. So there you go. Told you it was odd.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

Well I'm really meticulous with research. I make sure that factual stuff is correct. I even like to do background research that I might not actually use for a story, but like to know anyway.

I was curious about this because I always try and do as much research as I can (it partly comes from being in a fandom where there are way too many people who'll notice straight away if you mess up on the medical stuff in particular, but also from being a perfectionist control freak...) and I wondered if those of us who are insistent on researching our stuff are more or less tolerant of other people's mistakes and/or omissions?

And I think you have mentioned the food sex kink before. It's something that doesn't do anything for me, so I tend to skip that kind of thing... ;)

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

I wondered if those of us who are insistent on researching our stuff are more or less tolerant of other people's mistakes and/or omissions?

And I've proved that this isn't the case, at least not for me ::sigh:: I'm tolerant of other folks, but not my own :-))

And I think you have mentioned the food sex kink before.

LOL It does tend to crop up from time to time :-)

so I tend to skip that kind of thing...

I really wish I could just skip it, but.... I can't.

[xochiquetzl]

Yeah. It's always a shame when that happens.

I considered emailing her to tell her, but she pretty much would have had to do a massive rewrite. I mean, her initial incident wouldn't happen.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

The more extreme versions of this behaviour leads to all sorts of character mangling as you try and shoehorn characters into a particular plot idea.

Besides which, Hammond is a nice guy and wouldn't be mean to Daniel... ;)

[xochiquetzl]

She actually had an interesting take on that. Jack thinks to himself that Hammond was almost reacting like he'd laid hand on one of his granddaughters. And he doesn't threaten Daniel directly, he just uses the threat of firing Daniel as a STAY AWAY FROM HIM. So it was more a homophobic protective grandfatherly Hammond who thought Jack had seduced Daniel to the Dark Side the gay side.

[xochiquetzl]

P.S. Forgive my unclear referents. ;)

[graculus.livejournal.com]

Well, Jack is extremely gay... ;)

[penfold-x.livejournal.com]

It always depends, but for the most part, yes (I couldn't read any fic that dealt with legal issues otherwise). But not if it's a piece of canon that I really like or is foundational (there is, for example, a LOTR story I cannot read because the author makes the Undying Lands into a physical realm, just realm with a really hokey name. THERE ARE NO BARS IN THE UNDYING LANDS. It's the LOTRverse version of heaven, or an alternative plane of existence. It does not have bars, hotels, or chainstores. *sigh*).

[khek.livejournal.com]

Can you get past a glaring error in something you have knowledge of and move on to read the rest of the story?

I can move past a glaring error ONLY if the rest of the story is so compelling that I want to know how the author gets to the end. Otherwise, I just go read the end to satisfy my "so, what happens" craving and forget about it. And to be honest, I can only think of a couple stories where a glaring error hasn't made me give up, read the end, and move on.

If I start something, I do have to read the end, just to have a conclusion. That doesn't mean that I can't stop at page 18, check out page 50, and read page 88 and 89 to the "the end" posting that signifies that my torment is over.

If something is very well written, or if the plot makes so much sense except for one little niggling detail that doesn't work...I can keep reading and somehow justify it into my world view of THAT particular written world.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

If I start something, I do have to read the end, just to have a conclusion.

Occupational hazard? ;)

[khek.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think so.

[shinymarigold.livejournal.com]

Apologies for the late response--really miss having my own Internet access. Anyway, I guess my tolerance level is inversely proportional to the level of knowledge I have on the subject and the degree to which the subject is important to the story.

GSP = grammar, spelling, punctuation. Is it crazy of me to expect attention to these little details in a pro work? Never mind.