Personally, I've written some long stories, but rarely use "limped" unless there's a specific reason to use that word. Instead I'd rather describe House's walk -- the way it sounds, like his cane hitting the ground a split second before his foot -- or the way it looks, I once had someone think of him as listing to one side like a small sailboat in a heavy wind. You can describe the way he holds his cane, or have him tap it against the floor, or have him lift his leg up onto a table. I've had Wilson notice that he moves slower on occasion, or that he doesn't get out of his chair or asks someone to get something for him so he doesn't have to get up. In short, I think there are a lot of ways to show how House moves, and how his disability affects him, without falling into the trap of using the word "limped," and that's a great way to avoid the cliches.

All wonderful, I agree. It takes a truly observant and talented author to find such turns of phrase... But why is using the word "limp" a trap? Is it not a legitimate way to describe how he moves? Why is it a "cliche"? Just because some people decide it is so? Certainly one should try to be creative in how they use phrasing and figurative language. A writer should try to present things in new and fresh ways if possible, but forcing the issue to the point that people become so fearful of using words like "limp" that they agonise over whether to post their work, or give up on writing and decide they are mediocre writers because they dared mention eye color in a story, stikes me as rather elitist. And I have certainly read stories in which the author tried so hard to avoid using general phrases like "limped" that they twist themselves into knots trying to find ways of saying things without saying them. Figurative language works best in moderation. Too many listing sailboards and the writing becomes so convoluted and burdensome you just wish they would say, "limp" and get it over with! Again, I think it comes down to the talent of the writer. Good writers can use the occasional "cliche" (as determined by the cliche police) and still present a wonderful story. Poor writers can follow all the rules and still have trouble pulling a piece together.

But why is using the word "limp" a trap? Is it not a legitimate way to describe how he moves? Why is it a "cliche"? Just because some people decide it is so? It's not "limped" itself that is the cliche. It's the people who always use limped. "House limped into the office." "House limped across the room." "House limped to the door...." To me, the limp is his natural state of motion. The limp is his walk, so he walks into the office, he crosses the room, he moves to the door ... When there's an exception to his motion, then it's worth mentioning, otherwise, it's just who he is. After all, we don't continually mention that Wilson is left handed. We might refer to his writing being difficult to read, or perhaps his hand is smudged by ink when he's doing a lot of writing, but it's just a part of who he is as well.

It's not "limped" itself that is the cliche. It's the people who always use limped. OH! Well, why didn't you say so.... :P In that case, I totally agree. One should try to shake it up a bit! Toss one of those listing sailboats in there! I think I see where you are coming from now. Thanks for clarifying.

It's not "limped" itself that is the cliche. It's the people who always use limped. I agree 100%, Namaste. When you're talking about someone who doesn't limp, you don't have to constantly assert that they walk. X walks to the fridge, X walks to the letter box, X walks across the garden, blah blah blah. It all comes down to using descriptions for a reason. "Limped" is a cliché in fanfiction because it a description of House that can be overused, perhaps unwittingly, perhaps because the writer doesn't know what else to say. We know that House limps. What's interesting is to discover a new, and more interesting, way of saying it.

Finally, I read all 92 pages of this thread and I have to thank everybody for those wonderful comments. I found a lot of things very useful for my own writing. This leads me to my point. I'm writing House fanfiction in German. How many people here are not writing in English? I saw a post by Hibernia, who said she writes in Dutch. Any other people? I started writing fanfiction about six months ago after having read so many awesome English stories. Some ideas formed in my head and I brought them to paper, which turned out to be immense fun and I think writing has become a new hobby of mine. Up to now, I wrote about 80,000 words. If you're writing in another language, do you encounter problems? For me it's very strange when writing, because in my head the characters speak in their original (i.e. English) voices just in German. House in Germany is dubbed (awful!), but I don't watch it in German and only saw the first few episodes in German before ordering the season 1 DVDs. However, I sometimes find it hard to write German stories about characters that I only watch talking in English. A lot of dialogue I write initially is in English in my head and every so often it's nearly impossible to bring this to paper in German without having it lose puns, snark or intensity. Another related problem is that I write a lot of fics with House, Wilson and Cuddy. In the dubbed version on German TV, Wilson and House use the formal address "Sie" for Cuddy (and Cuddy for them), which I think is totally inappropriate for them. So, as I perceive their relationship to be less formal (judging from the English original) I use the informal "du" for them. However, I got criticism from some reviewers who said they hated this because it's not on the (German) show. I'm a bit lost as in what to do. One of the reasons I finally started writing my own fic was that in my opinion there are only very few good fics in the German fandom. After having read so many wonderful English stories I was very disappointed with German ones. A lot of them are moderately to extremely OOC, heavily House/Cameron (which I don't like), and lack in style, depth and intensity. Unfortunately, you don't get a lot of feedback in the German fandom (except you write a touchy-feely House/Cameron story in which they have cute little babies, etc.). I am of course also writing for myself, but I wouldn't publish it on the internet, if I wouldn't like to have comments. I get very motivated by feedback and need criticism to improve my writing. So sometimes I get a bit frustrated. But what I'm always wondering: What does the comment "interesting" mean. Good or bad? What should I do with that? I got such a comment for my latest story (and some others before) and it just doesn't mean anything to me. I wish the person would write something else than just this word. I mean if you think the concept is good but the execution poor or something like that, you can just write that. Very sorry for this long post. :oops: (btw: What ever happened to snark-bait's "Five Years"? This was the only House/Cameron fic I dearly loved and I would like to read it again.)

I'll preface this by noting that I'm not fluent in German by any stretch of the imagination, but I'd definitely go with the "du" for Cuddy to House and Wilson and back. After all the times that House has mentioned Cuddy's breasts, I'd think it would be canon that they're completely informal with each other. Plus they knew each other in college and likely slept together at some time in the past. Do they think that "sie" is more proper because she's his boss? That's one benefit of English is that you don't have the noun gender issues (typically) and there is no formal/informal levels of speech. I actually think you could argue that House intentionally would never use "sie" for anyone just because it's counter to his character, and Cuddy would certainly never use it back at him if he didn't. I could see an argument for Wilson using it, but since he and Cuddy have gone out -- either as friends or dates or potential baby daddies -- I'd think the "sie" form would be unlikely there too, except in occasional office situations (such as a board meeting). And yeah, the comment: "interesting" is a pain. It's better than nothing, but I just take it for being that the reader finds the story interesting in a good way, thank them and move on. (I once got the single word response "ouch" to a story, and actually asked if they meant that to be good or bad.)

That was exactly my argumentation when I replied to those comments, Namaste. I just think they made a mistake with the dubbing and I don't like to take this as a basis for my fics. I think they use "Sie" because she is his boss and thought it would be appropriate, but this is a bad reasoning with a character like House who doesn't like to accept authority and all their implied backstory. I wonder if he will still adress her with "Sie" when he puts his hand on her ass and tells her that he gave her everything she needed one night. I'm afraid so, but I will really laugh if they do this. (We'll have those episodes in February in Germany.) I now asked the person with the "interesting" comment if she could elaborate on this a little bit. I'm really interested in her opinion as I didn't get a lot of feedback for this fic and it was the first one that moved me to tears when writing. So I started thinking that this got lost somewhere and others didn't like it that much. :(

Yeah, the one word 'interesting' drives me nuts. Once I got "YES! *DANCES!* as a feedback line. While not substantial, it made me laugh and I assume they liked it. LOL. I'm sorry to hear about that, Elompanti. It is a pain when you work hard on something and no one comments on your story. GRRR.

I'm writing House fanfiction in German. How many people here are not writing in English? I saw a post by Hibernia, who said she writes in Dutch. Any other people? I've seen stories posted in Spanish and French. It's amusing to me to put them through Babelfish :) In all seriousness, if you want to post stories in German go right ahead. There will be people out there who can and will read them. In the dubbed version on German TV, Wilson and House use the formal address "Sie" for Cuddy (and Cuddy for them), which I think is totally inappropriate for them. Is that like addressing someone as 'vous' instead of 'tu' in French? I'm not fluent in either but I would agree that it would be OOC of House or Wilson to address Cuddy that way; well, Wilson might if he were speaking to her in front of patients or other doctors. I'm curious now though, in the dubbed versions do the duckings use "Sie" to address House?

I've gotten a few "interesting" comments. I think the only thing more irritating than getting the word "interesting" as feedback, is getting absolutely none at all. Usually, I took it to mean that the commenter couldn't really think of anything much to say. The story didn't really strike a nerve in them, good or bad.

While we're on the subject, I have Season One and Two in French and love them nearly as much as the originals (I'm English) and at first I was surprised at the 'vous'-ing between House and Cuddy, and, as time went on, between House and the Ducklings. But then I thought that perhaps rather than for formality (which I assume French!House despises as much as the original), he was using the formal address as a sort of distancer, to keep the people around him from becoming familiar towards him. He only uses 'tu' with Wilson, which I think is true to character. Of course, I may be reading into it too much ;D And this is my first post, yay! Hopefully a few of you might remember me from TWoP, although I'm joining the exodus late :D