Rants

I was in a pretty good mood today. Cardiology was understandable for once (if only they could manage to put physiology in terms of balloons and gas tanks!) and it got done early, another bonus. My afternoon study session was fairly productive and I didn't get too freaked out when I heard the third and fourth years talking about the horrors of rotations--I so don't even want to think about it, but I'm not being given that chance.

Came home, had a fairly relaxing evening and sat down to watch some television and within ten minutes my blood started to boil.

(I'm still exploring this Livejournal thing and just figured out how to do the cut thing. Of course, I can't resist playing with it! And since it is spoilerish information if you haven't seen it....)

( Rant Number One )

What I think irritated me the most about that episode, besides the once again lousy representation of doctors, was the poor research on part of the writers. It's the same problem that I've had with a lot of fanfiction: if you're going to put something in, you'd better know something about it. I don't care if you've never experienced it or it's out of what your interested in--with the internet there and Google, it's not that hard to do it a tiny bit of research. It's been especially grating with all of the pregnancy fics that are floating around on ff.net--last week, I read a story about how Rory slept with a male character, thought the next morning that he was cheating on her--and took a pregnancy test that afternoon!!! I wrote(I thought) a very nice review, told her that I enjoyed it and pointed out that pregnancy tests don't work for at least two weeks. For me as a reader, it was jarring because it made her story unbelievable and because all of a sudden, I didn't know the timetable of things--did two weeks pass and she just not mention it or what?

Of course, my comments didn't seem to encourage her to try to rewrite that scene....

Contrast that with one of my current favorite stories, by starsinhereyes (Angeleyez on ff.net), Over Time. I don't think that the author has spent any time in a coma, or knows what it's like to come back from one--but she did her research! She read up on comas and amnesia and found websites that explained what swiss cheese memory was. It didn't sound overly medical or preachy, but it was fact-based and that made her already wonderful story even better.

I guess that's why I think the review process is helpful and why I try to give lengthy reviews in return. I do research on just about every one of my chapters--I spent three days tracking down the perfect restaurant for Paris and Brad to go, looking at pictures, even deciding what they ate. Was it too much detail? I want to know where I'm failing, where I'm succeeding. More with where I'm failing--I know when I'm good (there's that modesty issue again). On my last chapter kimlockt reviewed and told me that while she thought I did a good job, she felt that my Jess dialogue wasn't in character. She was right and I knew that, and it's sent me into massive rewrites, where I'm stilltrying to get into that boy's head--still haven't got it, but maybe by the end, I'll be there.

Well, at least I'm not so grumpy anymore.