My brain, why?

[fredericks]

[Poll #1765505]

I ask because I've come across "free reign" twice in works of authors whose writing I generally admire (fanfic, not pro fic, so there's that). I read a metric shit ton of Saddle Club books when I was younger and "free rein" just makes more *sense,* in that it's implied that the party involved has liberty to do whatever. Whereas "free reign" just seems redundant... unless you're a monarchial history buff and you want to make some subtle commentary about dowagers and puppet heads of state and the like.

Yes. I am weird. I know this.

ETA - K, I realize how silly this is, particularly when speaking of fanfic, where it's not uncommon to see "prostrate" used incorrectly. Don't people use betas?

Comments

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

In related news, someone was complaining about the incorrect use of "blown pupils" the other day and it's been grating on me ever since.
What was the quibble? Besides the improbability outside of low light (thus making it harder to see) and/or the idiomatic nature of the phrase?

[paradise-city.livejournal.com]

The quibble was that blown pupils are more a Bat signal for a medical emergency than sexy times. Now whenever I read the phrase, all I think about is seizures and/or head trauma. Thanks, random person with a random peeve! Now it's mine, too. :(

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

*grin* I mean, extreme drug use can bring about dilated pupils, but not the anime-style picture ficcers are going for. My issue with it only came up after you mentioned the other person's peeve (and, funny enough, after I read your initial comment I came across the phrase "pupils blown" during a sexytiem scene), in that you're probably not going to notice dilated pupils unless the person is completely out of it. AKA medical emergency. So now that random person with a random peeve has ruined 1/4 of the fic out there for me as well.

[paradise-city.livejournal.com]

So now that random person with a random peeve has ruined 1/4 of the fic out there for me as well.

For real. There are plenty of blown pupils in X-Men and H50 fandoma, let me tell you what.

My new peeve lately has been the way writers use eyes. People's eyes darken with lust, they change color with their thoughts, they telegraph feelings and decisions from across a crowded room. Now, maybe I know all the wrong people (or just have a working knowledge of lighting and reflection), but you can't read that much in a person's eyes. They're usually a fixed color and unless you're a total staring creeper, you'd never notice such things even if you're trying. Aksldfdjksfds, writers. Honestly.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

My new peeve lately has been the way writers use eyes. People's eyes darken with lust, they change color with their thoughts, they telegraph feelings and decisions from across a crowded room. Now, maybe I know all the wrong people (or just have a working knowledge of lighting and reflection), but you can't read that much in a person's eyes. They're usually a fixed color and unless you're a total staring creeper, you'd never notice such things even if you're trying. Aksldfdjksfds, writers. Honestly

Yup. This. Eyes darkening with lust is way over used. Eyes changing color with thoughts, though? I had that idea waay back in the first bit of fanfic I wrote in the Dragonlance sandbox. When I was TWELVE. Really, adult people actually write that?

I know, writing is difficult. But there's a lot of over-emoting and over-description going on nowadays.