Blimey, mate, I shall now rant
Jun. 7th, 2019 11:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marzipan77 My first response was laughter - I think that's a healthy sign that I no longer take snarky, arrogant reviews for stories as personally as I once did. Of course, my reaction did not stop there. Sigh.
I've been writing quite a bit in the Harry Potter fandom, and I'm pretty obsessive about trying to keep characters' speech true to the character. Snape sounds very precise and enunciates strangely. Dumbledore likes long .... dramatic ... pauses. Hermione is a bit lectury. Etc.
So, today, I received feedback talking about how ridiculously Americanized my latest HP story is. Now, the reviewer (on fanfic.net) is a Guest, so I have no opportunity to tell them to take a hike, or a stroll, or perhaps a British ramble, but, hey, that's what people do on the internet - they shout at you and then click off, feeling very pleased with themselves. After this initial nasty paragraph, they did go on to say they enjoyed the story and thought it was unique and interesting, so kudos for that, but, still. The tone bugs me.
Here's the paragraph: "So far my only complaint is the blatant Americanisms in the story. Remember, this is a British story, we have mums not "moms." I'd advise you to maybe look up some British vs. American terms to get out of this habit sooner. Only other thing is the chapter length - could be longer."
Apparently, these hundreds of blatant Americanisms revolve around one word - mom. I have a few things I'd have responded:
1. British people, depending on region, culture, and upbringing call their mothers many different things, including mum, mom, mother, momma, mama, mummy, amma, eema, etc. I'm sure the reviewer might call their mother mum, but others don't.
2. Is the reviewer aware that there were two different versions of Rowlings' books published and distributed to the USA? One English and one Americanized? In the Americanized version, trainers were sneakers, pudding was dessert, and many, many other words were changed in order to help the American children who were the target audience understand more easily. I mean, come on, even the title of the first book was changed.
3. Do you suppose the reviewer is reading HP stories in other languages telling them to write only in British English? It would be a shame if other cultures in other languages were forced to write only in the language of the story's country of origin.
As for the paragraph length, that is frankly stupefying. I'm sure the reviewer writes to professional authors and instructs them on chapter length all the time, since he/she is, apparently, the expert on this subject.
Sheesh, people! M'I'right?
/rant
I've been writing quite a bit in the Harry Potter fandom, and I'm pretty obsessive about trying to keep characters' speech true to the character. Snape sounds very precise and enunciates strangely. Dumbledore likes long .... dramatic ... pauses. Hermione is a bit lectury. Etc.
So, today, I received feedback talking about how ridiculously Americanized my latest HP story is. Now, the reviewer (on fanfic.net) is a Guest, so I have no opportunity to tell them to take a hike, or a stroll, or perhaps a British ramble, but, hey, that's what people do on the internet - they shout at you and then click off, feeling very pleased with themselves. After this initial nasty paragraph, they did go on to say they enjoyed the story and thought it was unique and interesting, so kudos for that, but, still. The tone bugs me.
Here's the paragraph: "So far my only complaint is the blatant Americanisms in the story. Remember, this is a British story, we have mums not "moms." I'd advise you to maybe look up some British vs. American terms to get out of this habit sooner. Only other thing is the chapter length - could be longer."
Apparently, these hundreds of blatant Americanisms revolve around one word - mom. I have a few things I'd have responded:
1. British people, depending on region, culture, and upbringing call their mothers many different things, including mum, mom, mother, momma, mama, mummy, amma, eema, etc. I'm sure the reviewer might call their mother mum, but others don't.
2. Is the reviewer aware that there were two different versions of Rowlings' books published and distributed to the USA? One English and one Americanized? In the Americanized version, trainers were sneakers, pudding was dessert, and many, many other words were changed in order to help the American children who were the target audience understand more easily. I mean, come on, even the title of the first book was changed.
3. Do you suppose the reviewer is reading HP stories in other languages telling them to write only in British English? It would be a shame if other cultures in other languages were forced to write only in the language of the story's country of origin.
As for the paragraph length, that is frankly stupefying. I'm sure the reviewer writes to professional authors and instructs them on chapter length all the time, since he/she is, apparently, the expert on this subject.
Sheesh, people! M'I'right?
/rant
Thoughts
Date: 2019-07-21 07:08 am (UTC)I hate it when publishers do that. If I wanted to read only American books, I'd shop that way. British English is perfectly comprehensible, just involves learning a handful of new words -- the same as if you move to a new state here and have to pick up the local slang.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2019-07-21 11:36 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2019-07-21 09:46 pm (UTC)