thing that bothers me about aus
Nov. 3rd, 2019 07:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI'm reading a pseudo medieval au
and it does the thing where people speak in overly formal old fashioned language
to show it is olden times.
the problem with this is twofold.
one, by the time we're reading text, about the only thing we have left of the characters is how they speak. how they move and how they look are both out, and in aus how they act is going to be variously translated. and now this style of writing removes how they speak. at that point it pretty much loses me, because they aren't them any more.
two, many people aren't very good at writing old fashioned. they lose all the different registers, getting stuck in formal, but not super fancy formal or anything, just kind of stiff. and they wander around eras a bit. there might be fan writers that are good at doing shakesperean, but what often happens is they throw a few thous in and call it a day. Shakespeare had different vocabularies for different social classes, different styles of writing, applied rhyme and meter, but by the time people are writing vaguely shakespeare prose? I guess it's a lot of work and unless the fandom is shakespeare nobody much will notice anyway.
and people rarely get as old as shakespeare, let alone rewind enough to go Chaucer or similar. Medievalish setting yes, anything like medieval language no, not least because then it's not same English.
So then it's just... stilted and with no degrees of formality to suggest they're talking to bosses or friends and it's... it removes a lot of a writers tools before they get started.
Fantasy epics can do something of the sort, but they're crafting characters from scratch so it dont smack you in the face quite as much.
I just open up fanfic and nope out on style grounds.
... I mean I shouldnt complain because I dont write, but, if anyone cares, that's the things you've got to figure out how to write old fashioned: levels of formality, styles of address, and how to keep unique character voices when they've changed both history and geography.
Not simples.
My other pet peeve is when people mix up Majesty and Highness and suchlike. There's rules, and it's like calling a General Captain if you get the wrong one. But those rules do differ by country and era so there's a lot of room to manuever in imsginary places. Still, consistency helps.
/grumble
I am out of sorts and frustrated and bored today, so the internet gets to hear my opinions. oh well.
and it does the thing where people speak in overly formal old fashioned language
to show it is olden times.
the problem with this is twofold.
one, by the time we're reading text, about the only thing we have left of the characters is how they speak. how they move and how they look are both out, and in aus how they act is going to be variously translated. and now this style of writing removes how they speak. at that point it pretty much loses me, because they aren't them any more.
two, many people aren't very good at writing old fashioned. they lose all the different registers, getting stuck in formal, but not super fancy formal or anything, just kind of stiff. and they wander around eras a bit. there might be fan writers that are good at doing shakesperean, but what often happens is they throw a few thous in and call it a day. Shakespeare had different vocabularies for different social classes, different styles of writing, applied rhyme and meter, but by the time people are writing vaguely shakespeare prose? I guess it's a lot of work and unless the fandom is shakespeare nobody much will notice anyway.
and people rarely get as old as shakespeare, let alone rewind enough to go Chaucer or similar. Medievalish setting yes, anything like medieval language no, not least because then it's not same English.
So then it's just... stilted and with no degrees of formality to suggest they're talking to bosses or friends and it's... it removes a lot of a writers tools before they get started.
Fantasy epics can do something of the sort, but they're crafting characters from scratch so it dont smack you in the face quite as much.
I just open up fanfic and nope out on style grounds.
... I mean I shouldnt complain because I dont write, but, if anyone cares, that's the things you've got to figure out how to write old fashioned: levels of formality, styles of address, and how to keep unique character voices when they've changed both history and geography.
Not simples.
My other pet peeve is when people mix up Majesty and Highness and suchlike. There's rules, and it's like calling a General Captain if you get the wrong one. But those rules do differ by country and era so there's a lot of room to manuever in imsginary places. Still, consistency helps.
/grumble
I am out of sorts and frustrated and bored today, so the internet gets to hear my opinions. oh well.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-03 09:36 am (UTC)So, try writing! I mean (looking at your profile), wasn’t that your intent? And Doctor Who is a perfect venue for demonstrating what you mean.
[Mind you, it can be overdone. There was some user on LiveJournal who would probably have been a successful professional writer if they’d aimed that way, but instead wrote prolific, interminable, double-digit-chaptered Doctor Who fanfic. Story after story after story. What a waste.]
As for your other pet peeve, that sort of thing is an on-going problem!
no subject
Date: 2019-11-04 07:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-11-14 09:05 pm (UTC)