Numbers 5 and 6 bug me too, and I think one of the reasons is they're usually plunked into a story as a big lump of "tell" instead of "show".
And the words 'had been' are starting to make me want to scream: 'Voldemort had been defeated last year.' 'Hermione had been made Head Girl.' 'Ron had been appointed Quidditch captain.' Blah blah blah. I encounter this crap in sooooo many stories - luckily, since it's part of 'setting the stage' it tends to happen within the first paragraph or so, giving me opportunity to back out relatively unscathed.
As for Harry/Snape, I'm waiting for the story in which Snape really couldn't care less whether or not Harry (or any other student) is of age and gets on with doing exactly what he wants without one single sliver of guilt. Ahem... maybe I should think about writing something like that.
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Date: 5/5/03 06:13 am (UTC)And the words 'had been' are starting to make me want to scream: 'Voldemort had been defeated last year.' 'Hermione had been made Head Girl.' 'Ron had been appointed Quidditch captain.' Blah blah blah. I encounter this crap in sooooo many stories - luckily, since it's part of 'setting the stage' it tends to happen within the first paragraph or so, giving me opportunity to back out relatively unscathed.
As for Harry/Snape, I'm waiting for the story in which Snape really couldn't care less whether or not Harry (or any other student) is of age and gets on with doing exactly what he wants without one single sliver of guilt. Ahem... maybe I should think about writing something like that.