Oh this isn't about politics or religion so you can rest easy on that front. What I'm writing about is something that occurs in some authors writing on occasion and that is references to other authors and their works. Now I understand that it's nice to be able to mention your friends and fellow authors in your work. I am sure it gives you and the aforementioned authors a nice warm feeling and does the same for many of their friends.
However, and you knew there would be a however, I as a reader find it jarring because it takes me out of the story. It sidetracks the progress and the plot as my mind registers the familiar name. In many ways it's like an egregious spelling or grammatical error that your mind can't easily gloss over. Now I know the latter type of errors will always occur but often the mind will just substitute the correct word or phrase and move on. I can't say the same for mentioning fellow authors even if there is some logic to their inclusion, though to be honest many instances seem to be fabricated to deliberately insert them into the story. It's like an inside joke except most every reader knows it so it's not longer a private little aside to a good friend that others supposedly wouldn't notice.
I would never tell an author not to do this except of course that's exactly what I'm saying isn't it. Using your friend's name in a lighthearted comedy is probably less likely bother me than it jumping up at me in a more serious piece of writing where you've engaged me deeply into the story. And that is a compliment, in that you have drawn me into your story so well that the sudden appearance of a well known name here at BC in the midst of it all actually upsets me enough to write about it. Kind of like a doctor inserting a bad joke in the middle of telling a patient he's dying of cancer. It just seems inappropriate for the moment.
Just something to think about.
Comments
Absolutely right
I, too, get that terrible jarring sensation when the real world intrudes on the fictional world.
It's not just with real people, it also occurs when an author includes real places which I know about. Oh, it's fine talking of London or New York, but when the author gets into a street by street description with which I'm familiar, I'm constantly checking the fictional story against my real life memory.
The skill in writing fiction is to take the reader's mind into the fictional world. Using familiar people and places drags us out of it.
Damn!
... and I was gonna put a character in my new
TG Veggie Tales fanfic called Common Tater.
What borders on pure insanity?
Canada and Mexico.
.
Guess
You'll have to settle for plain old Spud.
Commentator
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Does that mean
we have to use daybreak instead of dawn?
Angharad
Well
You could use sunrise but only if you think the sun revolves around the Earth.
Commentator
Visit my Caption Blog: Dawn's Girly Site
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They'd better not
have a chip on their shoulder either.
Samantha
I think
It's something you need to get over. Fiction works on different levels from full out made up to fictional characters in a real world setting and everywhere in between.
What really jangles is when real world fiction is super inaccurate when using actual locations - some leeway is allowed but other stuff really rankles - I can be a bit of a pedant when it comes to real world travel and locations - as some authors here will know!
I will continue to use real world locations, references and products where appropriate - I spend a considerable amount of time researching stuff from recipes to direction of traffic on a one way system.
If you don't like 'real world' references you don't have to just don't suggest authors should stop something because it irks you - that is called censorship.
Madeline Anafrid Bell
I don't need to get over it
And censorship is not applicable as I have no control over what someone else writes. I am merely expressing an opinion as to a perceived effect.
Commentator
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Possibly not aimed at you?
Sometimes it is difficult to tell who a reply is specifically aimed at, I may be wrong but I felt Maddy's comment was more of a response to one of your commenters as the emphasis was placed on locations.
I fully expect to be proved wrong though.
Hugs
Cat
-
You can't choose your relatives but you can choose your family.
I have done this five times.
I have done this five times. Four were for authors and one for a contributor. The contributor was given the honor of being named as a character twice because she was the one who helped me with a lot of local insight for a story based in her neck of the woods while helping keep me grounded in reality during a tough time.
One author opened my eyes to lesbian transgender characters and who I felt needed a tribute to in some form. I got her blessing to name the character in her honor.
One author was mentioned as a realistic scenario as this site had already been mentioned before in my stories. She sets her stories up in a place where my characters were going to visit and I thought it would be nice to give her a mention and subtly mention the site again.
Two authors helped me bridge touchy subjects and allow my characters a chance to bond over something that I know boys bond over- anime and mangas. Based on what I have seen in animes and mangas the stories mentioned were perfect for adaptation as they had a perfect mix of action, suspense, drama, and comedy that those always seem to have.
I added a mention of a story that has mostly gone into the depths of oblivion here but was good for use as an example of the duality of a person. I asked for and received permission to use the story as a way of helping my character and at the same time it did have the benefit of promoting the story which I felt was a great tradeoff.
I used one story at the suggestion of the author and it was actually one that was perfect as the story was one of the first stories I read that wasn't a Susan Brown, Katie Leone, or Tanya Allan story and given the content of the story it was very apt and worth the effort to incorporate the book. It's why I named the character after the author, it was the first story that broke the mold on stories and led me to read other different stories by other authors and deserved to be honored in my own way.
The fact that the two authors appeared in my story as themselves was done to explain how they could be authors and federal law enforcement people. I was asked to bridge one story where my characters made a cameo to give that story some closure and it was best to simply address it outright with the ladies appearing and doing something that isn't out of the ordinary among people: writing about their lives. They were included and named with their approval and done with a nod that not everything was as it appeared which was why their stories were so different from what I write.
I don't go out of my way to make the real world bleed into my stories, I have enough of it as it is. I don't apologize for doing something that is to me a tribute to several amazing people and ones who go underrecognized. It's not as blatant as the advertising I see done for some, I know at least one person didn't like it but I won't change it if I can help pay homage to someone who earned my respect and admiration.
I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime
This is funny to me.
There is a SF book called "Flying Sorcerers" by David Gerrold and Larry Niven. The book was for years appreciated by the authors of the time. Why? Because their names were cleverly disguised. For instance a major character's name came through the translator as "as a color, shade of purple-grey". So "as a mauve" is Isaac Asimov and winds up with the name of Purple. When I read it I burst out laughing.
The SF community authors read it to see if they were one of the characters and sometimes argued over it.
I can see your point Spud as I wanted to lookup a story name or author a few times in things here and elsewhere.
In all honesty, I can't stand my browser trying to anticipate what I want when I prefer sampling lots of things. Some of those things it hides from me.
The way I see it...
This is a free site with an emphasis on the word FREE
The authors that post here are receiving no payment for the work we post to the site. Most all the stories are also fiction, another word that emphasized... Fiction.
Also most here do not use their real names here. The name Nuuan for instance was created by a random name generator built into a MORPG called Everquest when I created the dark elf necromancer character I played. The name has been used in a best selling fantasy book for its genre and the character in the book by the same name fashioned after how the author (a good friend of mine) perceived me in real life. Most that read the book would have no clue about this and it never takes away from the story.
Using the name of someone known here in a story, for instance: character X is said to be reading a book by Katie Leon, is no more distracting than if the author had written that the character was reading a book written by R.A. Heinlein. The only way it could be a distraction is if the book being read would be out of character, say a Zen Buddhist reading Dianetics by L.Ron Hubbard.
We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
Most that read the book would
And that's my point. When most everyone does have a clue then it can be a distraction.
Whether writing is free or paid for doesn't disqualify one from commenting about the work. I have written over 5000 captions that are posted on my blog so I know a bit about providing free fiction and writing for an audience.
Commentator
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Mea culpa
(And auto correct really wanted that title to be New Cult)
I have done this in an unpublished tale where I said a character had come from somewhere else. I smiled and added the word entirely, in tribute to that wonderful series. I would change that if the author complained, but the entire story is a tribute to JRR Tolkien, and I won't change that. He will be my hero forever for writing the best fantasy novels of all time, and inspiring me to write.
Dawn Natelle