How do issues in the non-erotic parts of a story affect you?

[LaRascasse]

I was reading this multi-chaptered story an hour or so back. It has great ratings, deservedly so. The plot was engaging as well as the story wore on. The sex scenes were scorching.

And then it happened.

The male protagonist using Linux threads (or something of the sort) to create a GUI which he then used to hack into something or the other (by this time I am curled into a ball and crying).

I fully realize that I have opened a sex-story and not a CompSci journal and should not expect complete accuracy, but jeez. WTF was that? It's not like I am being frightfully nitpicky either, since what he wrote is the computer equivalent of "let's use the cantaloupe as a condom".

Any of you face such problems?

Any doctors here who feel the urge to self-medicate at the descriptions of the female anatomy?

Any lawyers who hit the bottle after reading some of the "divorce laws" in LW stories?

Or are we geeks singled out for this kind of torture?

It's bad enough that I have to endure movies and TV shows *cough*Mission Impossible*cough* where a password screen is hacked by the characters showing up in sequence (ending with the green "Access Granted/Success" message).

 

[glynndah]

I once read a book where the characters kept referring to a local landmark by the wrong name the entire time. They were trying to appear "in the know" by using a nickname only the locals would know, but couldn't pull it off. The hospital's official name is Sarah Bush Lincoln Memorial Hospital. The characters kept saying Lincoln Hospital when everyone knows it's Sarah Bush.

 

[litmlove]

I was reading this multi-chaptered story an hour or so back. It has great ratings, deservedly so. The plot was engaging as well as the story wore on. The sex scenes were scorching.

And then it happened.

The male protagonist using Linux threads (or something of the sort) to create a GUI which he then used to hack into something or the other (by this time I am curled into a ball and crying).

I fully realize that I have opened a sex-story and not a CompSci journal and should not expect complete accuracy, but jeez. WTF was that? It's not like I am being frightfully nitpicky either, since what he wrote is the computer equivalent of "let's use the cantaloupe as a condom".

Any of you face such problems?

Any doctors here who feel the urge to self-medicate at the descriptions of the female anatomy?

Any lawyers who hit the bottle after reading some of the "divorce laws" in LW stories?

Or are we geeks singled out for this kind of torture?

It's bad enough that I have to endure movies and TV shows *cough*Mission Impossible*cough* where a password screen is hacked by the characters showing up in sequence (ending with the green "Access Granted/Success" message).

I used to cringe but now I accept it necessary nonsense for drama's sake. Real life is the ultimate anticlimax. I wish writers would make up stuff instead of butchering real terminology.

 

[Carnevil9]

It's the endless dilemma: Is he a bad writer? Or am I just bad at suspending my disbelief? You could argue it either way.

That's one advantage to sticking to reading (and writing) fantasy.

 

[PennLady]

It's going to depend, as you found out, on how much you know about the subject being discussed in the story. I might have raised an eyebrow at such a section -- I have some computer knowledge -- but it probably wouldn't have gotten such a reaction from me.

However, a year or so ago I was reading a romance featuring a hockey player, and I got quite annoyed because the writer had the rules and other information wrong. (There are no three-minute penalties!) Another romance with a hockey player, by Luann Rice, got a similar reaction because although she had the rules right (the few she mentioned), other things about the story were ridiculous. Likely, though, someone who didn't know about those things probably wouldn't notice, let alone care.

Such things are just the risk you run when reading, I think. And I believe it's true that some dramatic license will be taken at times -- putting landmarks in the wrong places (as I understand Dan Brown did in "DaVinci Code) -- so you just have to roll with it.

For me, when writing, I try not to go too much in detail beyond what I know, at least not without some research. For example, if I wanted to write about someone hacking a system, I'd either ask someone with more knowledge, or keep it very general, e.g.: "He sat down at his terminal, jacked in, and busted through the bank's security." No muss no fuss.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I've edited your work, you know how nitpicky I can get about that sort of detail

Hmm, condom cantaloupes.

 

[LaRascasse]

I've edited your work, you know how nitpicky I can get about that sort of detail

Hmm, condom cantaloupes.

Note to self: double check any computer jargon you put in a story before sending it to BT.

 

[MSTarot]

I've run into that once or twice. Some writer that thinks something sounds good and in fact is insane.

In construction I find a lot of architects that do the same thing.

MST

 

[Desiremakesmeweak]

A geek? You're a geek?

Okay then, what about when you - the geek - are in front of some dame in a bar, and you geek on about everything you know about hacking and Linux and all this...

Yes, you ARE singled out for this torture because you guys can be some of the most cringe-worthy people in the whole entire multiverse of sex. Goddamit. I have hired enough programming subcontracts to know what fucking cringe IS.

Jeezus. The number of times some GEEK has tried to tell the waitress how to make a low fat froth milk flat white coffee....!!!!!

Most ordinary people would not be able to judge whether a 'Linux thread' meant anything specific anyway and that is the way it should be.

...On the other hand(!) Since I kind of DO know what you are whinging about, if it is something you happen to know about, what about sending a pm to the author and suggesting that he/she alter the particular segment to 'get it right.' I personally would not object if someone wrote to me about something that should be changed on account of technical errors.

Especially if the section makes you react so strongly and you happen to have knowledge of that field. It probably means the writer needs to make the necessary changes.

That's the way I would view it.

And then on the other OTHER hand ('cause I have lots of these), I sometimes make sure the technical references are quite obscure because I sometimes... refer to real things that real people are really developing in real big laboratories and wouldn't want anyone to really know anything accurately about them yet. I'm not sure I've ever assumed a geek would read anything of mine. Although one day I might write a parts list of exotic sexual accessories for robots... Or something attractive to geeks like 'how to overquote for a disability services app and really anyone the least deserving people in the world.' That would really turn on the geeks I know. Bastards, all of them.

When I worked as line manager for Blaupunkt 'special developments' in Singapore, they had a saying: 'kill your subcontractor off in one year - or else he will surely kill you off!'

 

[Desiremakesmeweak]

And there's some 'technicals' for you that nobody in the field of production management would ever argue with you about because they know it happens to be true.

 

[Desiremakesmeweak]

Not that, as a geek, the first thing you might do is argue with it, of course.

I love geeks.

: )

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I once read a book where the characters kept referring to a local landmark by the wrong name the entire time. They were trying to appear "in the know" by using a nickname only the locals would know, but couldn't pull it off. The hospital's official name is Sarah Bush Lincoln Memorial Hospital. The characters kept saying Lincoln Hospital when everyone knows it's Sarah Bush.

I see this all the time. Partially, I blame television. A national broadcast of the Dolphins or Heat will inevitably cut to a live shot from South Beach for no reason whatsoever. People think everything is on South Beach. The basketball arena is across the causeway on the other side of the intercoastal. The football stadium is about 15 miles away.

EVERYTHING IN MIAMI IS NOT ON SOUTH BEACH.

I was reading this multi-chaptered story an hour or so back. It has great ratings, deservedly so. The plot was engaging as well as the story wore on. The sex scenes were scorching.

And then it happened.

The male protagonist using Linux threads (or something of the sort) to create a GUI which he then used to hack into something or the other (by this time I am curled into a ball and crying).

I fully realize that I have opened a sex-story and not a CompSci journal and should not expect complete accuracy, but jeez. WTF was that? It's not like I am being frightfully nitpicky either, since what he wrote is the computer equivalent of "let's use the cantaloupe as a condom".

Any of you face such problems?

Any doctors here who feel the urge to self-medicate at the descriptions of the female anatomy?

Any lawyers who hit the bottle after reading some of the "divorce laws" in LW stories?

Or are we geeks singled out for this kind of torture?

It's bad enough that I have to endure movies and TV shows *cough*Mission Impossible*cough* where a password screen is hacked by the characters showing up in sequence (ending with the green "Access Granted/Success" message).

I see things on Lit. regarding my profession that make Bugs Bunny look like a documentary. Minor misconceptions I can deal with, but some are so shockingly awful that I have to shut off the computer and go cool off. There's a thing called research and there are people on the boards who can be consulted about things they know. I use these tools when I'm writing about something in which my knowledge is lacking. I can't abide hacks who don't take the time to be at least within a stone's throw of reality.

 

[lovecraft68]

I can overlook most inaccuracies simply by telling myself this is a free site and its also in a porn story so let's not get too crazy about it.

The only thing that does get to me is when someone attempts a fight scene-and I mean more than one person smacking someone, I mean an actual fight- and just botches it. I don't see writing a fight scene as much different than a sex scene as far as describing two people doing something to each other, yet there are serious flops out there.

 

[lovecraft68]

A geek? You're a geek?

Okay then, what about when you - the geek - are in front of some dame in a bar, and you geek on about everything you know about hacking and Linux and all this...

Yes, you ARE singled out for this torture because you guys can be some of the most cringe-worthy people in the whole entire multiverse of sex. Goddamit. I have hired enough programming subcontracts to know what fucking cringe IS.

Jeezus. The number of times some GEEK has tried to tell the waitress how to make a low fat froth milk flat white coffee....!!!!!

Most ordinary people would not be able to judge whether a 'Linux thread' meant anything specific anyway and that is the way it should be.

...On the other hand(!) Since I kind of DO know what you are whinging about, if it is something you happen to know about, what about sending a pm to the author and suggesting that he/she alter the particular segment to 'get it right.' I personally would not object if someone wrote to me about something that should be changed on account of technical errors.

Especially if the section makes you react so strongly and you happen to have knowledge of that field. It probably means the writer needs to make the necessary changes.

That's the way I would view it.

And then on the other OTHER hand ('cause I have lots of these), I sometimes make sure the technical references are quite obscure because I sometimes... refer to real things that real people are really developing in real big laboratories and wouldn't want anyone to really know anything accurately about them yet. I'm not sure I've ever assumed a geek would read anything of mine. Although one day I might write a parts list of exotic sexual accessories for robots... Or something attractive to geeks like 'how to overquote for a disability services app and really anyone the least deserving people in the world.' That would really turn on the geeks I know. Bastards, all of them.

When I worked as line manager for Blaupunkt 'special developments' in Singapore, they had a saying: 'kill your subcontractor off in one year - or else he will surely kill you off!'

Great post.

I am however, guilty of using my vast(and mostly useless) knowledge of comic books to get a date with a very attractive young lady.

I think when someone feels the need to set someone straight on a minor detail that most people wouldn't notice anyway its a form of ego. I'm right, you're wrong and even though this is a sex story on a free site I am going to tell you and rub your nose in my superior knowledge.

I admit something written that I feel is not accurate might break the flow of reading, like a little speedbump of "hey, that's not right' but it ends there and I move on, I don't need to spend time pointing things out to people over a story

Now if someone makes a mistake like calling the characters by two different names through the story I might send a message, but that's because it screws up the entire story, its not a small thing at that point and even then I'm nice about it "You might want to fix this...." and that's it.

 

[lovecraft68]

I once read a book where the characters kept referring to a local landmark by the wrong name the entire time. They were trying to appear "in the know" by using a nickname only the locals would know, but couldn't pull it off. The hospital's official name is Sarah Bush Lincoln Memorial Hospital. The characters kept saying Lincoln Hospital when everyone knows it's Sarah Bush.

That's why most of my stories take place in RI, I know everything here and never make a mistake.

The fact no one else is from here makes that a moot point:rolleyes

A person made my day back in my Earth Day story by thanking me for giving a shout out to "Mackeral Cove" in Jamestown. Nice to know someone else here might have lived here once.

 

[vWrath]

In my latest novalla (not on lit because it's non-erotic), I did the exact opposite. I was trying to put the science back into science fiction.

The story talks about applicable nanotechnology in great (maybe even agonising) detail. Most people didn't like it.

 

[Handley_Page]

The hospital's official name is Sarah Bush Lincoln Memorial Hospital. The characters kept saying Lincoln Hospital when everyone knows it's Sarah Bush.

I think you and others may have missed an important thing, here.
As I understand it, there's a bit of a problem with naming real places; it has something to do with some readers thinking with any event thereat is all fact, when it ain't. So the wise author will call it something else for the time.

Far safer to put an inaccurate name than assign fiction to a real place.

 

[Hypoxia]

Far safer to put an inaccurate name than assign fiction to a real place.

I take both approaches in fiction, depending on 1) if I want the reader to KNOW where I mean, and 2) if I want to fake it. Some real details are more fantastic than fiction, or easier to steal than to invent, so why not use them?

Verifiable technical bullshit is another matter. I've thrown a token fetish Mustang into a couple stories. I know nothing of the pony-car's mechanicals, so if I *must* refer to such, I put the words in the mouth of someone who also knows nothing.

And if a writer makes a mistake with Ohm's Law, I'll burn'em to the ground.

 

[someoneyouknow]

That's why most of my stories take place in RI, I know everything here and never make a mistake.

The fact no one else is from here makes that a moot point:rolleyes

A person made my day back in my Earth Day story by thanking me for giving a shout out to "Mackeral Cove" in Jamestown. Nice to know someone else here might have lived here once.

I spent my last two years of college in RI though it was many, many years ago. I can't claim to know every little detail, but if someone said the mansions were any place other than Newport, I'd know they hadn't done their research.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

And that's why I write Science Fiction...deep into the future Science Fiction.

Geek speak you can make up, with no basis in reality.

Although I have delved into the near future stuff, but left the geek speak out.

Except for what I know, deep, deep, deep down know. Vehicles, weapons, bullshit.

I know a lot about bullshit.

Dogs and horses and vintage cars. Pre-1980 cars.

Anything after 1980 was a death trap with a life expectancy of about a year.

 

[lovecraft68]

Anything after 1980 was a death trap with a life expectancy of about a year.

wait, what was wrong with the Fiero and the Beretta?

 

[lovecraft68]

I spent my last two years of college in RI though it was many, many years ago. I can't claim to know every little detail, but if someone said the mansions were any place other than Newport, I'd know they hadn't done their research.

Only one of my daughters went to college here (PC), the other went to BU.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

wait, what was wrong with the Fiero and the Beretta?

GMC Pintos.

 

[redzinger]

There's a series been on here called Hinterland, filmed in my home town area.

It's become quite a joke how they travel from one place to another, via the most obscure of roads 20 miles in the opposite direction.

The local trainline has a regular 10-minute service, instead of the reality of one every two or three hours.

And they called the bog a marsh. It's not a marsh, it's a bog.

Gah!

 

[redzinger]

However, a year or so ago I was reading a romance featuring a hockey player, and I got quite annoyed because the writer had the rules and other information wrong. (There are no three-minute penalties!) Another romance with a hockey player, by Luann Rice, got a similar reaction because although she had the rules right (the few she mentioned), other things about the story were ridiculous. Likely, though, someone who didn't know about those things probably wouldn't notice, let alone care.

Just reminded me...

Such an attempt at including rugby in a romance got me so pissed off, it started me writing.

This book actually:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Princes-Waitress-Wife-Mills-Modern-ebook/dp/B002RI9VBC

I can't tell you how bad the rugby references are, although I do remember an archetypal 'stupid blonde' commenting on how sad it was a player had fallen over (in the act of scoring a try) and how they shouldn't be getting their nice clean kit dirty.

I'm actually feeling waves of fury building up now, just recalling this.

Anyway, so I started writing my own rugby-orientated erotic romance stuff. The stuff in my sig. It's mostly club rugby too, which generally has a better class of people rather than the pissheads who frequent the internationals.