what takes you out of a story?

[dbskyler]

I just finished reading a really good story on Teaspoon that had one tiny flaw: the writer kept referring to the city of Berkeley, California (and once to UC Berkeley), but kept misspelling it as "Berkley." No big deal, right? One little missing "e." Except each and every time I came across the misspelling, it took me straight out of the story.

This particular mistake probably only affected people like myself who are very familiar with Berkeley. But it got me wondering: what takes you out of a story?

For myself, I think the number-one thing is OOC behavior. (Or, to put it more accurately, behavior that I consider OOC, which I recognize may not be the same as what the author considers OOC.) After that, it's misspellings and grammatical mistakes, but this depends on their frequency -- a typo or two isn't a problem, but a consistent error drives me crazy (I start waiting for the next time it will show up). Cultural errors are also big issues for me. Well, since I read mostly in Doctor Who, I probably don't notice a lot of the cultural errors (and maybe even make some myself), but if I do happen to come across one, it takes me right out. Finally, I also have a problem with canon errors, which can be difficult when I'm reading a story that has been jossed. Usually I can think, "Oh, this was written before 'X' happened" and then go on, but I can never not notice the discrepancy.

How about you? What takes you out of a story?

Comments

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Canon errors in Doctor Who???!!??? Surely you jest!

Remember, "Time Can Be Rewritten." All of those seeming discrepancies were carefully planned out over 49 years. ;D

I'm kind of surprised to hear that an avid Five/Tegan shipper (or someone who was avid enough to write a Five/Tegan fic, anyway) would not have seen "Black Orchid," or remember Peter's chest in it. And actually, I think we've seen a lot of the Doctor's chests over the years. Someone ought to do a picspam. In the interests of fic accuracy, of course.

[pitry.livejournal.com]

Wait, are you suggesting at least 2 of the three times they drowned Atlantis didn't actually happen? *sadface*

[thisbluespirit]

But of course they did - there have been three major rewrites to the Timeline, which should accommodate each of them quite happily somewhere in there. Otherwise, they were in an AU and didn't notice.

[thisbluespirit]

Someone ought to do a picspam. In the interests of fic accuracy, of course.

:lol: Yes... Now, Three definitely strips off in Spearhead, Eight gets examined by Grace and has his shirt undone and Nine gets chained up bare-chested at some point, I think? It seems likely Ten must have undone his shirt at some point, but I forget. And Eleven did some stripping off and showering a la Three in The Lodger.

And for Six, there's always that thing that nobody is allowed to mention. Just One, Two, Four and Seven needed? Internet, where is all the nekkid!Hartnell? Ohhhh dear... :lol:

And, yes. I was *so* amused. I'm bad at reading Doctor-related ship fic at the best of times (as you say, you've got to work a bit not to make it OOC). Throw in an inaccurate hairy chest, and I'm lost. And sniggering. (It doesn't stop me trying Five/Tegan though sometimes. Some people can do it right and then it's lovely. But it's an art. I just wind up with them arguing and only shipping in unspoken ways. *sigh*)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure we saw Seven's chest in the TVM, and we saw at least part of Ten's (or Ten II's, anyway) in "Journey's End." Four wore that white pirate-y shirt in some of his later episodes, right? Wasn't there at least one scene sometime where it was fairly unbuttoned?

But we're probably out of luck when it comes to Hartnell and Troughton, oh well.

What is the Six thing that we're not allowed to mention?

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, of course! I had forgotten. (I was too busy being traumatised by them killing off my Doctor.)

Well, Two has a medical examination in one of the surviving eps of The Wheel in Space, and I am pretty sure he unbuttons his shirt, although whether we see anything, I couldn't tell you. But he swashbuckled as Robin Hood, so there may be evidence Troughton-wise... You are right. Clearly this is a matter for careful study!

70s pr0n Colin? ;-) (Ask Clocket sometime.)