Well, to me, the props around Lex (Lex in particular, though the same can be said for other characters too) are part of his characterisation. The heavy wood desk and expensive leather chair are stereotypical of what a rich and powerful man would be expected to have in his office, and so Lex's choice of furnishings that don't fit the mold seems that much more indicative of his personal quirks.
I find the desk in particular fascinating, because it's transparent; between the glass top and the narrow, bare-minimum legs, there's no way to hide anything behind or below it. Even the back of the chair isn't solidly opaque, and I suspect there's both substance and style to Lex's choice of these furnishings.
Would it honestly not jar you if, in an otherwise well-written story, Lex was drinking from a bottle of Evian instead of Ty Nant, or worse, chugging a 40? How about if the pool table in his library suddenly turned into a foosball table? Or if he drove up the Kents' drive in a Mazda Miata? Sure, I could believe any of these things of Lex, given appropriate set-up or explanation, but I'm not going to accept them as fitting the Lex we know without the author convincing me why I should.
Is every single prop important? Of course not. But neither are all props unimportant, to be discarded or altered at whim for no discernible reason.
Characterisation-via-props aside, getting unambiguous and obvious details wrong is just plain lazy. I hope I never see a story where Jonathan Kent (in anything other than an AU) has a profession other than farmer, or the Smallville High sports teams go by the name Smallville Sharks, or the town is located in Louisiana.
And I'm firmly of the opinion that it's never the wrong time to make your stories better. I'm as guilty of letting little things get by me in my fanfiction as any other writer, but I'd hate to see all the good writers in Smallville (or any) fandom up and decide that they don't need to be bothered using proper English, spelling characters' names right, or respecting the laws of physics and anatomy, so long as they're telling a good tale.
I empathise and agree with those who are weary of the recent debates over style. I'm not on any of the mailing lists myself, in part to avoid just such pointless kvetching, so maybe I'm not as sensitive to the concept of meta discussion at this point as some of my peers. But there's a world of difference between me saying "I don't like stories written in X tense or from Y POV or with Z pairing" and me pointing out flaws of storytelling that are being shared by multiple authors, which, if addressed, would lead to more enjoyable stories for everyone.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2002-08-17 09:32 pm (UTC)I find the desk in particular fascinating, because it's transparent; between the glass top and the narrow, bare-minimum legs, there's no way to hide anything behind or below it. Even the back of the chair isn't solidly opaque, and I suspect there's both substance and style to Lex's choice of these furnishings.
Would it honestly not jar you if, in an otherwise well-written story, Lex was drinking from a bottle of Evian instead of Ty Nant, or worse, chugging a 40? How about if the pool table in his library suddenly turned into a foosball table? Or if he drove up the Kents' drive in a Mazda Miata? Sure, I could believe any of these things of Lex, given appropriate set-up or explanation, but I'm not going to accept them as fitting the Lex we know without the author convincing me why I should.
Is every single prop important? Of course not. But neither are all props unimportant, to be discarded or altered at whim for no discernible reason.
Characterisation-via-props aside, getting unambiguous and obvious details wrong is just plain lazy. I hope I never see a story where Jonathan Kent (in anything other than an AU) has a profession other than farmer, or the Smallville High sports teams go by the name Smallville Sharks, or the town is located in Louisiana.
And I'm firmly of the opinion that it's never the wrong time to make your stories better. I'm as guilty of letting little things get by me in my fanfiction as any other writer, but I'd hate to see all the good writers in Smallville (or any) fandom up and decide that they don't need to be bothered using proper English, spelling characters' names right, or respecting the laws of physics and anatomy, so long as they're telling a good tale.
I empathise and agree with those who are weary of the recent debates over style. I'm not on any of the mailing lists myself, in part to avoid just such pointless kvetching, so maybe I'm not as sensitive to the concept of meta discussion at this point as some of my peers. But there's a world of difference between me saying "I don't like stories written in X tense or from Y POV or with Z pairing" and me pointing out flaws of storytelling that are being shared by multiple authors, which, if addressed, would lead to more enjoyable stories for everyone.
Also? I'm just really, really anal.