[Meme] author identification
Jan. 19th, 2006 07:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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isiscolo:
How to identify stories written by Liz, or, those things I do over and over and over again and can't seem to stop even when I know I do them.
1. People grin. A lot. Sometimes, for variation, they quirk up their lips in tiny smiles or things of that nature. But mostly they grin.
2. People tend to have one or two habitual gestures. If they don't have body language quirks, they have characteristic verbal ticks.
3. There is a female original character, minor canon character, or major canon character, somewhere near the center of the story. (I think the only true exceptions to this are my Peter and Sirius monologues, one very brief Harry POV ficlet, and "Wearing Thin." Scary, that. But then again, nobody apologizes for writing men, so...)
4. Sensory description is minimal, and generally a blink-and-you-miss-it sort of thing.
5. There is world-building (or world-analysis) in all but the shortest snippets. This may detract from the plot.
6. If it's at all plausible within the story context, the world will be in the early stages of an industrial revolution. If not, brief mentions of technology and infrastructure will sneak in anyway, if only under the guise of transportation systems and trade patterns. If possible, magic is systematized and treated as technology.
7. There is no Romance. There may, however, be sex and/or romantic love, but they will generally be glossed over.
8. Families, friends, and the social context of the characters' lives are important, one way or another. This may also detract from the plot.
9. If themes and symbolism appear, the author gets a little carried away and may beat them into the ground in her effort to use them as a unifying device for potentially disparate scenes.
10. People internalize things and get philosophical. After thinking, they do often go out and do things, but still.
11. If the story is written in first person POV, the narrative tone and word choice will suddenly take on a flavor of English term papers. (In other words, I get stuffy.)
12. Some or all of these usage quirks will appear repeatedly: A) sentences that begin with conjunctions; B) multi-clause sentences joined with semi-colons or dashes; C) indirect dialogue attribution; and D) sentences that follow this form: She [verb]ed, [verb]ing, and [verb]ed.
13. All characters are presumed to be sentient beings, and as such are allowed to have motives that make sense to themselves, if not to others. Sometimes this goes a little too far and the author begins to empathize with sociopaths or otherwise evil characters.
14. The emotional payoff is more important than the physical payoff.
isiscolo:How to identify stories written by Liz, or, those things I do over and over and over again and can't seem to stop even when I know I do them.
1. People grin. A lot. Sometimes, for variation, they quirk up their lips in tiny smiles or things of that nature. But mostly they grin.
2. People tend to have one or two habitual gestures. If they don't have body language quirks, they have characteristic verbal ticks.
3. There is a female original character, minor canon character, or major canon character, somewhere near the center of the story. (I think the only true exceptions to this are my Peter and Sirius monologues, one very brief Harry POV ficlet, and "Wearing Thin." Scary, that. But then again, nobody apologizes for writing men, so...)
4. Sensory description is minimal, and generally a blink-and-you-miss-it sort of thing.
5. There is world-building (or world-analysis) in all but the shortest snippets. This may detract from the plot.
6. If it's at all plausible within the story context, the world will be in the early stages of an industrial revolution. If not, brief mentions of technology and infrastructure will sneak in anyway, if only under the guise of transportation systems and trade patterns. If possible, magic is systematized and treated as technology.
7. There is no Romance. There may, however, be sex and/or romantic love, but they will generally be glossed over.
8. Families, friends, and the social context of the characters' lives are important, one way or another. This may also detract from the plot.
9. If themes and symbolism appear, the author gets a little carried away and may beat them into the ground in her effort to use them as a unifying device for potentially disparate scenes.
10. People internalize things and get philosophical. After thinking, they do often go out and do things, but still.
11. If the story is written in first person POV, the narrative tone and word choice will suddenly take on a flavor of English term papers. (In other words, I get stuffy.)
12. Some or all of these usage quirks will appear repeatedly: A) sentences that begin with conjunctions; B) multi-clause sentences joined with semi-colons or dashes; C) indirect dialogue attribution; and D) sentences that follow this form: She [verb]ed, [verb]ing, and [verb]ed.
13. All characters are presumed to be sentient beings, and as such are allowed to have motives that make sense to themselves, if not to others. Sometimes this goes a little too far and the author begins to empathize with sociopaths or otherwise evil characters.
14. The emotional payoff is more important than the physical payoff.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-20 03:28 pm (UTC)12. Some or all of these usage quirks will appear: A) sentences that begin with conjunctions; B) multi-clause sentences joined with semi-colons or dashes; C) indirect dialogue attribution; and D) sentences that follow this form: She [verb]ed, verb[ing], and [verb]ed.
I also do most, if not all of that. Especially that last.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-20 11:57 pm (UTC)The dashes are completely J.K. Rowling's fault. :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-20 09:20 pm (UTC)I hoep withthe philosophising t's not ful of obscurereferences qotatiosn or injokes or to muc hfood forthougthtat distracts fr the story.
And with conjunctionsdo you mean the infamosu startign asentence with 'And' that one beta is tryignto beat out of my head.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-21 12:00 am (UTC)I start sentences with 'and,' but I start even more with 'but.' I really, really overuse oppositional sentence structure -- that is, I overuse the words 'but,' 'though,' 'although,' 'however,' and other words of that nature.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-21 12:18 am (UTC)oh those words. nto so bad as telegram style though. or..*sudder* one-centence paragraphs..or do ithe breadley wayand stick sixdifferent pov's i noen chapter. idont' say idon't liek that-oen but it took time alogn with oen of myfriends lognfics who does he sameto get used to that sort of thing.