fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2216 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2216 ⌋

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

01.

__________________________________________________

02.

__________________________________________________

03.

__________________________________________________

04.

__________________________________________________

05.

__________________________________________________

06.

__________________________________________________

07.

__________________________________________________

08.

__________________________________________________

09.

__________________________________________________

10.

__________________________________________________

11.

__________________________________________________

12.

__________________________________________________

13.

__________________________________________________

14.

__________________________________________________

15.

__________________________________________________

16.

__________________________________________________

17.

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 05 pages, 120 secrets from Secret Submission Post #317.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 2 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - personal attack ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

06. http://i.imgur.com/xqu8lRN.png

THANK YOU. Parentheses in dialogue are nonsensical. Some professional comic book writers do this and I'm always like WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN? Excellent secret :D

If it's done in a comic or other visual medium I always assume it's an (not quite breaking the fourth wall) aside, like what Fran Fine did in The Nanny.

(no subject)

likeadeuce - 2013-01-26 21:36 (UTC) - Expand

I talk in parentheses.

It can be an aside, a clarification, a side joke, or whatever.

It's set off by tone of voice, set of head (tilting it if the latter two, turning to face whoever I'm making the aside to for the former), and hand gestures.

Stewart Francis bases a lot of his act around that sort of thing.

likeadeuce - 2013-01-26 22:30 (UTC) - Expand

(Anonymous) - 2013-01-26 23:25 (UTC) - Expand

I always thought of that kind of thing as the person who was telling us the story having a little private thought, like 'Mrs. Doe's feather muffler and skinny neck gave her an odd appearance (like a vulture), and her grating voice didn't help.'

That's how i've always interpreted it.

likeadeuce - 2013-01-27 02:56 (UTC) - Expand

(Anonymous) - 2013-01-28 06:51 (UTC) - Expand

It looks awkward. And sometimes I can't tell if it's a sidenote the speaker is making or if it's something the narrator interjected.

Maybe he's making a parentheses gesture - like air quotes... and then people laugh at him when his back is turned.

(Anonymous) - 2013-01-27 01:31 (UTC) - Expand

I get confused by it too (MY PRECIOUSSSS), OP.

I've always read it as an aside? A way to show the character muttering to themselves mid-sentance without dropping out of dialogue tags and then back in.

Mind you, it's hard to pull off well, so I can see how it'd get annoying.

kaijinscendre - 2013-01-26 21:53 (UTC) - Expand

(Anonymous) - 2013-01-26 22:47 (UTC) - Expand

kamino_neko - 2013-01-26 22:50 (UTC) - Expand

(Anonymous) - 2013-01-26 22:59 (UTC) - Expand

(Anonymous) - 2013-01-27 00:17 (UTC) - Expand

(Anonymous) - 2013-01-27 00:39 (UTC) - Expand

(Anonymous) - 2013-01-27 00:51 (UTC) - Expand

(Anonymous) - 2013-01-27 16:06 (UTC) - Expand

(Anonymous) - 2013-01-27 01:48 (UTC) - Expand

(Anonymous) - 2013-01-27 06:03 (UTC) - Expand

tabaqui - 2013-01-26 23:19 (UTC) - Expand

(Anonymous) - 2013-01-27 00:20 (UTC) - Expand

tabaqui - 2013-01-27 00:29 (UTC) - Expand

I've never actually run into this, but yeah I'd imagine them whispering or muttering it as well. Is that not the intention?

Ahahahahahahahahahhaaa. Yes. Very good point. I haven't come across a lot of dialogue like that but it seems a very ridiculous convention. Asides belong in plays as direction for the actor. Prose writing has other ways to let the reader know the character is muttering to himself or whispering behind his hand such as saying, "He muttered to himself" or "he whispered behind his hand" LOL.

I just always assumed that the author--like most people out there--used parentheses because they were uncomfortable using the wily beast that is the dash.

In my many years of betaing I have never seen this.

Let me be the first to comment on the pic rather than the secret: oh fuck yes-

why not just use dashes?

but this secret made me laugh :)

In comics or videogames, sometimes they'll "(have the whole line in parentheses)" to denote either whispering or that it's being said in another language, but not in general fiction no, I really don't see that. After all, you could just write "Blablabla," he whispered, or something to that effect.

I've never seen this before in my life, so hearing that it's a thing kind of makes me sad for dialogue everywhere. :/

... who the hell writes like that, I just cringed so hard

I generally think parentheses don't belong in any kind of literary, fictional writing unless you have a REALLY good reason for it. But hey, can't argue about style.

(Anonymous) - 2013-01-27 01:49 (UTC) - Expand

Well, if was Carrot from Discworld it'd mean he said "You are very pretty, parentheses, like a rose, parentheses, and smart". But I doubt that's what happened in this particular instance.

That seems rather silly, why not use dashes? People are defending this stuff because they feel very strongly about the fact that they do express themsleves irl that way, but uh... it's just a bad stylistic choice. There's proper thingies for that stuff - and I'm sure most of you have seen them used too - so why go with something that's obviously not sending a clear message for everyone?

I've done it a couple of times when writing dialogue, but not often. I mainly used it to include an aside that the character might say, but was more of an afterthought than the non-parenthetical dialogue.

LOL WAT. DO PEOPLE ACTUALLY DO THAT?

omg dead.

I LOVE YOUR BRAIN. (I do, really, I do.)

Try playing Baldur's Gate. Edwin Odesseiron (a Red Wizard of Thay) talks like that. It's characterised in the audio as him muttering to himself. I think he even gets called out on it at one point in BG2 and seems surprised that anyone knows he's said those things, so maybe he thinks he's just thinking without realising he's saying it out loud.

I can't say for sure on this though, as much as I love BG, Edwin was never on my team much (I preferred to collect up a mostly Chaotic Good team, to match my favourite alignment to assign my Charnames).

(Anonymous) - 2013-01-28 06:58 (UTC) - Expand

mimi-sardinia.livejournal.com - 2013-01-28 13:45 (UTC) - Expand