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

[shinymarigold.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?

Depends on whether or not it's a passing thing or a major plot point. 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 don't feel obligated to finish anything if I don't like it--I don't have that kind of time.

I like it when a writer does the research. Even if he/she never uses the actual facts, having the knowledge will inform the rest of the work. Then again, I'm very lazy, and I don't necessarily practice what I preach. 8-)

[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?

[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.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

Heh. I kept staring at 'GSP' but couldn't make it into anything that worked. ;)