[ SECRET POST #6872 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #6872 ⌋

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


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 14 secrets from Secret Submission Post #981.
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.

Comments

[fscom]

General comments:

(If the thread contains spoilery/triggery content please warn/post as 2nd comment so it collapses!
Please collapse images, too!)

Do you have any games on your phone?

[(Anonymous)]

Anything new or interesting?

Re: Do you have any games on your phone?

[kaijinscendre]

Yep. Marvel Snap and Pokemon Go are the two I play the most. I also play Cryptogram, Bag It!, Logic Puzzles, and Word Search.

Re: Do you have any games on your phone?

[iff_and_xor]

I like weird artsy games with some kind of puzzle aspect

My newest one is Framed, where you have to re-order comic book panels in order to adjust how the story unfolds. I like the noir aesthetic, with this very simplified illustration style and a chill jazzy soundtrack.

Re: Do you have any games on your phone?

[tabaqui]

I do, though I never thought I would. 'Drop Away', 'Color Block Jam', 'Color Dots' and a solitaire game. I never spend any money on them, so i have to sit through ads, but I only play them a little bit at work when I'm bored (I do overnights) or for a few minutes before I fall asleep.

What are some of the worst gender swapped names you've seen someone give a character?

[(Anonymous)]

I've seen Derek as Darleena. Why would you add the A???

Re: What are some of the worst gender swapped names you've seen someone give a character?

[(Anonymous)]

My pet peeve is giving Stede Bonnet any other name as a woman. “Stede” isn’t exactly a common male name. I’m willing to bet most people haven’t even heard it unless they’re into pirates. It’s unusual. No reason it also can’t be an unusual women’s name as well.

Re: What are some of the worst gender swapped names you've seen someone give a character?

[(Anonymous)]

Female Harry Potter names. Hyacinth. Hepatica.

Things that take you out of the story

[(Anonymous)]

I'm reading 'The Dead Take the A Train,' which I'll admit I already have mixed feelings about. I've come across a paragraph that probably shouldn't be irritating enough to take me out of the book, but, well, it has. Here it is:

Julie twirled glass noodles around her fork. Years ago, a friend had explained to her that the ubiquity of chopsticks in Southeast Asian-American restaurants was a lie, a concession to racist presumptions. White people expected chopsticks everywhere, so the proprietors made sure to have a surfeit of cheap wooden eating sticks. No reason to argue cultural accuracy when pad thai was verging on too exotic for the clientele. Since then, Julie had gone with what felt natural: in this case, a solitary fork.

Why is this bothering me so much? Well, while it's true that most Thai food is eaten with a spoon and fork, noodles are the exception. Glass noodles often are eaten with chopsticks. And that means that I can't really figure out what the authors were trying to do with this passage. Are they telling us something about the character, or is this an attempt at cultural sensitivity that missed the mark in an ironic way? I suspect it's the latter based on the overall tone of the book, which is making me ruminate in what I acknowledge is a very silly way.

In any case, what are some things that have taken you out of a story, whether silly or not-so-silly?

Re: Things that take you out of the story

[philstar22]

Modern language that doesn't fit in the particular fandom. Nicknames being used by characters that don't sound like they'd actually use them. Villains being entirely fluffy in ways that don't feel in character.

Basically anything that feels OOC.

Re: Things that take you out of the story

[iff_and_xor]

Things like that, where it feels like the author is awkwardly trying to make some point and clumsily presents it as characterization. I think I mind it less when it’s in first person. I’m fine with a character directly telling me some fact they learned or opinion they have.

Re: Things that take you out of the story

[(Anonymous)]

I'm bilingual and nothing takes me out of a story faster than seeing incorrect phrases in my native language unless it's a plot point (like a character learning the language or something). You can tell the author just fed an English sentence into Google Translate and didn't bother to double-check it with a native speaker.

Re: Things that take you out of the story

[(Anonymous)]

Your example bothers me because it sounded like the author wanted to cram in a little piece of trivia they learned or unload a pet peeve and it's hard to imagine that it flows smoothly within the larger context. It's clumsy, and feels artificial. That alone would take me out of the story, too.

In addition to that, there's a layer of attempted cultural superiority in there. SE Asia is an enormous region, with many cultures. My family is from SEA, and we would not eat an Asian style noodle dish with a fork. If the author wants this character to do so without looking foolish, then this seems like a really clumsy way to do it. Just have the character eat with a fork and nobody cares, like they do IRL. No need to spin it as they're ackshully more sophisticated than the other white people around them.

As for other things that take me out of a story:

* anachronistic speech in a historical context.
* adults acting like children, usually for cutesy reasons or woobie reasons. It's not that I don't believe a grown man who is otherwise capable can't have a breakdown, but it's not likely to look the way it's often portrayed in fanfic where they're acting like a helpless toddler and being treated like a helpless toddler by their love interest.
* heavy handed messages, even if I agree with the message - it's just sloppy writing. Very few authors can write with a messagey intent and not have it sound preachy or like propaganda instead of a good story.
* calling eyes "orbs"... just... no.

Re: Things that take you out of the story

[(Anonymous)]

What an odd paragraph.

Re: Things that take you out of the story

[greghousesgf]

phone numbers starting with 555
the character having the exact same birthday as the actor (shows up a lot in fanfic). I don't mind the same birth year though.

Re: Things that take you out of the story

[(Anonymous)]

That sort of reminds me of a scene in a book I read where the characters were at a Japanese restaurant and arguing over the merit of calling edamame, "edamame" instead of "soybeans." One of them said it was pretentious to call them that when there's a word for them in English, and the other said in Japanese cooking we call them edamame out of respect for Japanese culture.

Both are wrong and that might have been the point, but it was hard to tell because I came away with the feeling we were supposed to side with the one who thought it was pretentious and to see her as a victim of a classist microaggression. I don't think the author knows that even in the Japanese language, the word for soybean, generic, is not "edamame" and you only use that word if you're talking about the thing that tends to be steamed and eaten out of the pod.

That sure did take me out of the story because I put down the book, distracted by how wrong they were, even if it was intentional to a degree.

Re: Things that take you out of the story

[(Anonymous)]

Anachronistic words and expressions. My special pet peeve is the word "okay" in (medieval-ish) historical and fantasy settings. I don't know why this in particular bothers me so much but it takes me straight out.

Passing our ramen for Halloween

[(Anonymous)]

I'm thinking of passing our ramen for Halloween. I will also have candy. Should I give kids both, let them choose, give the ramen to the parents (if with them), or not give out ramen?

Re: Passing our ramen for Halloween

[philstar22]

Honestly, I feel like people giving out things that aren't candy (or maybe a toy or something else kids might like) is a little weird. Trick or treating is about kids. Sure, adults can do it and have fun too. But the focus is kids. If you don't want to give out something kids would like, maybe just don't give anything out?

Re: Passing our ramen for Halloween

[(Anonymous)]

I’m pro giving out things other than standard candy in addition the stuff people expect. Ramen is a new one for me, but while it’s a little weird, I don’t think that’s bad and I don’t see any harm.

Re: Passing our ramen for Halloween

[(Anonymous)]

Whether or not this is a success is just too dependent upon your audience, but I think if you have both on hand, giving them a choice is pretty good? You could also consider other shelf-stable snack items like sandwich crackers.

Re: Passing our ramen for Halloween

[(Anonymous)]

I think anything that is individually sealed + that kids would like is fine.
I'd love to have got a random collection of ramen as a kid!

Re: Passing our ramen for Halloween

[(Anonymous)]

Include potatoes as an option. Kids love potatoes.

Re: Passing our ramen for Halloween

[(Anonymous)]

We don't use ramen for instant noodles, so I had such a great vision of a person giving kids candy and bowls of steaming ramen :D

Do you get along with your parents?

[(Anonymous)]

I envy people who have great relationships with their parents. Mine aren't terrible, but we're never going to be besties, you know? If they weren't my family, we would not be friends. There's just very little common ground, they make very little effort to understand or get to know me as an adult, and they're still trying to micromanage my life like I'm 8 even though I haven't lived at home for 15+ years.