Mad Monkey Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Ooh, I have the opposite pet peeve; when the author refuses to use dialogue tags at all. So after several back and forth exchanges you get lost and have to count back to see who spoke first and who spoke second and third and try to deduce who would have said that. In good books, the character's voices are so distinct that you can tell who is who without having a "Bob said" after their dialogue, but good books never do something that stupid so it's kind of a moot point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unJon Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Agree with Mad Monkey. That is super annoying. And sometimes I'll swear that the person who makes the most sense in conext as the "talker" given what is said, is NOT who the "ttalker" is if you count the lines of dialouge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exa Inova Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Ooh, I have the opposite pet peeve; when the author refuses to use dialogue tags at all. So after several back and forth exchanges you get lost and have to count back to see who spoke first and who spoke second and third and try to deduce who would have said that. Thats when it becomes handy to have voices in your head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cantabile Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 The use of a character's name several times on a single page.X said something something. Something happens in the background. X turns around and glowers at Y. Turning back X repeats his query.. and so on and so forth. It's glaring!I think this is a positive quality in many cases. In fantasy novels with large casts of characters that have foreign names, if the author isn't using their names often then they're going to be forgotten. Repetition is key for remembering all those names we come across in fantasy, and if the author is just using pronouns as much as possible then there's little hope of keeping all those character names in your memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sariel Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 To me it becomes a long and then and then and then and then repetition. There's nothing wrong with using variations in description. Instead of using Cantabile as an anchor for every sentence that contains and action by you, one can alternate with simple words like "he", or "the old man", "the forumgoer", "the troubled grandfather" or a number of others. I wish I could think of a specific example in a book so I could quote it, as I'm not sure I'm getting my point across properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AverageGuy Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 ETA: Obviously, this assumes that Westerosi gravity = Earth's gravity.Also assuming that a Westerosi foot = a modern international foot. Of course, if it's a French foot, the Wall's even bigger. But if it's a Saxon foot, it's shorter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cantabile Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 To me it becomes a long and then and then and then and then repetition. There's nothing wrong with using variations in description. Instead of using Cantabile as an anchor for every sentence that contains and action by you, one can alternate with simple words like "he", or "the old man", "the forumgoer", "the troubled grandfather" or a number of others. I wish I could think of a specific example in a book so I could quote it, as I'm not sure I'm getting my point across properly.I get what you mean, I guess I'm just having a bit of trouble understanding since I've never encountered an author that abuses repetition of names. Usually it's the opposite problem I come across: too many use of pronouns and terms like "the old hag" and such, so that when names are finally mentioned it's hard to remember who is who. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renasko Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 What bothers me most about lightsaber duels is that they're using them as if they were made of metal and that they parry with them : you're supposed to be able to switch a lightsaber on and off very quickly right? Then if your opponent tries to parry your strike, just switch your own lightsaber off just before hitting your opponent's and switch it on again when you're past it...It's happened. ;)ETA: Ack, beaten to the punch. And FYI, Corran isn't the only one who's thought of it. /FanboyThe point raised about the length of duels is a very valid one. It does make my eyes roll when they go on for so long. Bullshit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuenjato Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 I'm not picky on technical stuff, but when a statement is just obviously WTF, it does annoy.I recently picked up The Gathering Storm and on the second page, it describes the farmer on the porch looking at dark clouds 40 leagues away. Seriously, what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grack21 Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Karen Miller, for whom I read for no rational reason I can think of, decided that it would be super awesome if people in one country talked in Yoda speak. I want to find her and shake her silly. And its not like they're talking to other people who don't understand the language and its a tense issue, they talk like that IN THERE GODDAMN NATIVE TONGUE. I thought her first books were entertaining in that its so bad/over the top lifetime movie of the week kind of way, but these recent ones give Stanek a run for the money. Also, one thing that bothers me is when publishers change the look of a series halfway through, so they don't match on my shelf!Edit: I know that that the meaning of decimated has changed, but it still bothers me And I know that's unreasonable. There's probably an English teacher somewhere I have to blame for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turgon Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 I recently picked up The Gathering Storm and on the second page, it describes the farmer on the porch looking at dark clouds 40 leagues away. Seriously, what?Probably very short leagues ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkynJay Posted February 18, 2011 Author Share Posted February 18, 2011 Karen Miller, for whom I read for no rational reason I can think of, decided that it would be super awesome if people in one country talked in Yoda speak. I want to find her and shake her silly. And its not like they're talking to other people who don't understand the language and its a tense issue, they talk like that IN THERE GODDAMN NATIVE TONGUE. I thought her first books were entertaining in that its so bad/over the top lifetime movie of the week kind of way, but these recent ones give Stanek a run for the money. Also, one thing that bothers me is when publishers change the look of a series halfway through, so they don't match on my shelf!Edit: I know that that the meaning of decimated has changed, but it still bothers me And I know that's unreasonable. There's probably an English teacher somewhere I have to blame for that.On the same note, by do the Brits get some covers that are so much better than us in the States and vice versa? But your right, my Pratchett books have no rhyme or reason on the shelf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fan Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 I don't know, looking at some videos, it seems it depends a lot on the circumstances : Obiwan's seems slow but Anakin's is quick, and again around the 1:30 mark : Anakin's is almost instantaneous.Low batteries?If you sit down with your lightaber on your hip and inadvertently hit the switch, you lose your legs, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manmiles Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 On the same note, by do the Brits get some covers that are so much better than us in the States and vice versa? But your right, my Pratchett books have no rhyme or reason on the shelf.I do have to disagree with you here. I think that a lot of UK fantasy book covers look quite bland, as if people who are buying these books might be embarressed that they're reading genre fiction. Things like Pratchett, Harry Potter and His Dark Materials all have 'adult editions' where the only difference is that the cover might be a little more generic, a little less fantastical. The Wheel of Time books may not have the greatest covers, but the UK release with just the illustration of The Wheel itself in a variety of different colours on a black backdrop just looks a little cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinDonner Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Not cheap, classy. The over-fantastical covers that US editions get can be horribly garish. It's not 1970 any more, and fantasy fans like to be treated like grownups who don't necessarily need technicolour dragons to entice us to buy books. :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manmiles Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Not cheap, classy. The over-fantastical covers that US editions get can be horribly garish. It's not 1970 any more, and fantasy fans like to be treated like grownups who don't necessarily need technicolour dragons to entice us to buy books. :PThat's true. But on the same hand, we don't need to be afraid of sitting on a train or a bus or Starbucks with a technicolour dragon on the cover of a book... We should be more afraid that people find out you're reading Terry Goodkind. But you can have a good 'fantastical' cover that isn't garish, like the Joe Abercrombie books, the last thing I want is for all fantasy novels to go back to the days of Gor and Conan with a Frank Frazetta clone of some watercolour of some naked girl in chains. Or God help us, the old 70s NEL Michael Moorcock covers which all look like bad drugs trips gone wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuenjato Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Probably very short leagues ;-)heh. I even checked the glossary - in RJland, 1 league = 4 miles. So farmer whatshisface can casually glance at clouds 160 miles away. The book even comments about how the clouds "jump" forward to only 10 leagues away.It's that sort of stuff, coupled with Sanderson's short. declaritive. sentance. style, which is making this book a bit of a trudge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Croaker Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 I agree with MinDonner.One thing that bugs me is Brandon Sanderson's refusal to use bad words and sex. It gets weird sometimes.Another thing is Tor. All of their covers sucks. And a lot won't ever match. If you look at all of the wheel of time books in one shelf you'll see that the only thing in common is that there's nothing in common. There isn't one pair of matching books.But I get a bit OCD about this stuff sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manmiles Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 I agree with MinDonner.One thing that bugs me is Brandon Sanderson's refusal to use bad words and sex. It gets weird sometimes.Some people are like that, unfortunately. Although, Brandon does have one of the maincharacters in Warbreaker spend a good week having to noisily fake having sex.Another thing is Tor. All of their covers sucks. And a lot won't ever match. If you look at all of the wheel of time books in one shelf you'll see that the only thing in common is that there's nothing in common. There isn't one pair of matching books.I'll give you that, even though all the covers are by the same author, there is no consistancy in any of the characters, especially Rand. I like the e-book covers though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grack21 Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Some people are like that, unfortunately.It still baffles my why this upsets some people. Why does something have to have sex/swearing/GRIMDARKNESS to be good? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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