fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3142 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3142 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

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02.

[Fantastic Four (2015)]

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03.

[Final Fantasy XIV]

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04.

[Hunter x Hunter]

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05.

[TES4:Oblivion]

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06.

[Yukigumi, Otozuki Kei]

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07.

[Vocaloid]

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08.

[Sailor Moon -~ Petite Étrangère~ / Takarazuka OG]

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09.

[A Fire Upon the Deep]

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10.

[clockwise from top right: Static Shock, The Justice Friends, Teen Titans]

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11.

[Sugar Sugar Rune]

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12.

[Sword Art Online]

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13.

(Little Shop Of Horrors)

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14.

[Rookie Blue]

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15.

[Final Fantasy VII]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 051 secrets from Secret Submission Post #449.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

http://www.hemingwayapp.com/

Holy shit, this thing is fucking terrible. Who thought this was a good idea? Did someone wake up one day and say, "Hey, y'know what'd be great? An app that helps people strip their writing of anything that’s too 'hard' to read! Then everyone will write just like Hemingway! What a brilliant idea, I should start developing this at once!"

You've gotta be fucking kidding me.

I put the first four chapters of Moby-Dick through this piece of shit, and guess what? Moby-Dick, widely considered one of the greatest novels of its time, doesn’t hold up to hemingwayapp.com's high standards.

Sorry Moby-Dick; it doesn't matter that you're a classic nautical adventure epic that explores such themes as cooperation between people from different cultural backgrounds and the futility of man attempting to do battle with nature; YOU ARE NOT EXACTLY THE SAME AS For Whom the Bell Tolls, THEREFORE YOU ARE WORTHLESS AND IN NEED OF EXTENSIVE CORRECTION.

Memo to all writers: ABVERBS ARE THE DEVIL AND MUST NEVER EVER BE USED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. ANY SENTENCE THAT'S TOO "DIFFICULT" FOR THE MASSES TO COMPREHEND MUST BE DUMBED DOWN. ALL HAIL HEMINGWAY, GOD OF BLAND, BORING PROSE! HIS WORD IS LAW; HIS STYLE IS THE ONLY CORRECT WAY TO WRITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jesus H. Christ on a cracker with cheese, no fucking wonder the modern literary landscape is so saturated with dull, dreary tripe about pretentious middle-aged white men being whiny bitches.

And no fucking wonder so many self-important idiots feel think that "literary criticism" means propping up their own personal stylistic preferences as The Objective One True Way to Write.

/rant

It's probably a joke

I really, really hope so.

Hemmingway

it's spelled with two m's

Tell that to hemingwayapp.com.

I'll write them an email

It's...not, though?

lol no

To be fair, Moby-Dick is kind of a hard book to read. It's generally known for being long and a little boring. That doesn't mean it's bad...it just is what it is.

Most of the bad writing (Creative Writing I bad) I've read has a lot of adverbs attached to the dialogue tags. I don't understand eliminating adverbs completely though.

"That doesn't mean it's bad..."

See, you hit the nail on the head right there. Just because something is difficult to read doesn't mean its badly written and needs to be "corrected"!

As for adverbs, yes they have their place and can easily be misused, but that applies to everything.

Yeah, most of the really bad amateur writing I've read over the years has been... purple. There's a reason why a lot of writing exercises involve simplifying your sentences, and it's not just because Hemingway Worship. It's because writing in "dumbed down" prose for a brief time can help you to learn how to be more thoughtful in what details you choose to include in your usual prose. The goal isn't to change your writing style so it looks exactly like what the app spits out, but to put thought into every word you write down so that your prose is more polished and effective.

Yup, this. It's a good exercise, and figuring out what's important to mention and what's not is a skill. But I find some crit groups take this to an extreme -- NO adverbs, ever. No use of was/were because that's "passive voice" (... no, it's not, but you can make a more compelling sentence, sometimes, by avoiding it; however, "never use it" is too much).

TLDR: Absolutes in writing are bad. Yeah, I know I just used an absolute there, but I'm being a smartass. :P

I always took the site not as a "everything complex is bad always" but more of a "acknowledge where you can trim unnecessary adverb usage, etc."

This.

It's about unnecessary shit.

IDK. I think if it's NOT taken as gospel it can be helpful to bring a writers' attention to large amounts of adverbs and such -- the writer can then decide whether "hey, it's right, it would be better if I changed this" or "nope, it works the way it's written."

Just treat it as "hey, notice this so you can decide for yourself!" rather than "THIS SUCKS CHANGE IT TO BLAND."

And I utterly loathe Hemmingway and his writing, mind you, and I totally agree with your CAPSLOCK rant. However, I think that app could be useful as a tool -- not a law -- for writers whose writing is too wordy and purple and who want to improve it.

Bwaha. I threw one of my shortfics into it and it's red from top to bottom.

[ SECRET POST #3142 ]

Hemingway worship taken to its logical conclusion.

Re: Hemingway worship taken to its logical conclusion.

Re: Hemingway worship taken to its logical conclusion.

Re: Hemingway worship taken to its logical conclusion.

Re: Hemingway worship taken to its logical conclusion.

Re: Hemingway worship taken to its logical conclusion.

Re: Hemingway worship taken to its logical conclusion.

Re: Hemingway worship taken to its logical conclusion.

Re: Hemingway worship taken to its logical conclusion.

Re: Hemingway worship taken to its logical conclusion.

Re: Hemingway worship taken to its logical conclusion.

Re: Hemingway worship taken to its logical conclusion.

Re: Hemingway worship taken to its logical conclusion.

Re: Hemingway worship taken to its logical conclusion.

Re: Hemingway worship taken to its logical conclusion.

Re: Hemingway worship taken to its logical conclusion.