I ain't never seen such fuss.

[jedibuttercup]

I don't know why it bothers me so much to see reviewers praising people for the proper use of language, English or any other. I mean, given the sheer quantity of drek produced by those who fling the contents of their daydreams up on the 'net for any and all to see without bothering to do any research or at the very least pick a beta reader to make up any deficiencies of their own (realized or not), a little encouragement for the minority of those who do take that time is a very good idea.

I've always been a bit of a snob about this, I guess; I appreciate that to many people a well-imagined clever/amusing/cathartic/sexy idea is more important than the execution of it-- I would agree-- but at the same time, it's hard for me to respect anyone who doesn't feel it necessary to present the highest quality product they can, in any setting, real world or fictional. I don't always live up to my own ideals, I'll be the first to admit that, but I do try. I can't even fathom not wanting to make that effort.

Of course, I am an introvert, and an INFJ at that. Someone whose motivation comes more from internal sources than external, and tends to have fixed, difficult standards to hold herself to. I'm more like Fitzwilliam Darcy than Elizabeth Bennet, to use a comparison from one of my favorite novels, than I'd usually like to admit. Most of the world is not like me, and I know that, and I shouldn't let it bother me; everyone should be able to have fun in their own way so long as it harms no one else. I know that. But it's still hard not to be disturbed regardless.

So what brought all this on? Firefly fandom. There's a distinct dialect in use in both show and movie, completely aside from all the Chinese slang mixed in (which most people present in their fic by spelling its pronunciation, rather than bothering to look up the actual spelling, though I can understand that as the subtitlers/novelist/etc. do so also for ease of reading aloud). That dialect is very Deep South slash Old West, and unless you pay close attention or grew up speaking it like I did it can be difficult to get a handle on its rules and quirks. I shudder sometimes at the approximations and exaggerations thereof I repeatedly come across even in longer, better-written stories.

It ain't the murderation of the dialect itself that bothers me the most, though. I disapprove, but I'm used to that kind of thing, just like I'm used to the exaggerated mischaracterization of River that some people use (having her only ever refer to herself in third person, for example); it's no different from the kind of detail-bungling that takes place in just about any fandom. The thing that really gets to me is the sheer quantity of praise I see being left on stories (including my own) that do get the dialect right, especially Mal's.

I've never seen anything like this in any of the other fandoms I've followed. Not even from the Britpicking that goes on in the Buffy, Angel, and especially Harry Potter fandoms. In those 'verses, when someone gets it right readers seem to assume that either (a) the writer is of that background, or (b) the writer has done their homework. Not so with Firefly. Is it just that the dialect is natively spoken by such a comparatively small number of people? Or are there actually that many readers out there who don't even know that the dialect is still natively spoken by real people?

Correct use of language is IMHO one of the mechanics of the story, like punctuation or grammar or knowing how the names of the characters are spelled; people hardly ever get praised for those things when they do them well (though I have, on occasion-- also to my amusement). They rightly should be invisible to the reader. They should not be getting more attention-- negative or positive-- than the style and subject matter!

Anyway. Reason 0, Emotion 1; despite knowing better, I'm still disgruntled.

Don't worry, though. It won't stop me from writing.

~

Comments

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Correct use of language is IMHO one of the mechanics of the story, like punctuation or grammar or knowing how the names of the characters are spelled; people hardly ever get praised for those things when they do them well (though I have, on occasion-- also to my amusement). They rightly should be invisible to the reader.

Mmmm. I agree with you, the correct use of language should be invisible to the reader.

I'm not quite sure that applies to Firefly fanfic, however. Not only is the dialect spoken by a very small group of people, it's also a glorious mix-in...it's not strictly Deep South/Old West, it's those filtered through Joss and his Shakespeare-like love of inventing new ways to use language.

I'd place this sort of language use more in the vein of getting a character's "voice" right--something which I feel a writer should be praised for, since it doesn't happen all the time, and takes a good deal of imaginative effort (well, usually, anyway).

One reason I've stayed away from writing much Firefly fic is because I *know* I'll mangle the dialogue. River and Wash were okay, because neither of them speak it heavily (one wonders if Wash is originally from a Core planet).

Anyway. My $0.02.

[jedibuttercup]

> I'd place this sort of language use more in the vein of getting a character's "voice" right--something which I feel a writer should be praised for, since it doesn't happen all the time, and takes a good deal of imaginative effort (well, usually, anyway).

I do appreciate the praise, and think it's a good idea to encourage people in general. It's just what that says about the expected quality of fan fiction in general that bothers me, I think. We-- as readers and writers both, speaking in general terms-- set the bar pretty low.