- 1Q84: The title is pronounced "One Kew Eighty-Four", not "Kewteen Eighty Four" or "Eye-Kew Eighty Four". Failure to pronounce the title correctly in the presence of fans will rouse those fans' ire.
- Making serious but inequivalent comparisons concerning censorship or political (in)correctness to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four is not a good idea. As anybody who's actually studied the works of George Orwell can tell you: the novel was intended as a condemnation of a very specific brand of authoritarian government—specifically, militaristic totalitarianism built on mass surveillance, political indoctrination, control of information, and perpetual war. But as the meme "Wow, this is just like 1984!"note demonstrates, you can get away with it if you're Playing It For Laughs.
- Fans of Dante Alighieri (and literature lovers in general) tend to get annoyed at people who refer to his most famous work as Dante's Inferno. For the record: the work in question is called The Divine Comedy, and "Inferno" is the first part of it (followed by "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso"). Referring to The Divine Comedy as The Inferno is a bit like referring to Star Wars as The Phantom Menace.note This may at least be in part because literary critics tend to enjoy the imagery and events of "Inferno" but find "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso" a bit of a slog, and only talk about "Inferno" as a result.
- J.M. Barrie has been on the record as Not A Pedophile since around the time of his death.
- Go ahead and say that Battle Royale — either the book or its film adaptation — is inspired by, an adaption of, or worst of all, a rip-off of Fortnite's Battle Royale mode. It will totally end well.
- Lewis Carroll:
- In the world of The Hunting of the Snark, if your snarknote happens to be a boojum, "you will softly and suddenly vanish away, and never be met with again." Not "softly and silently". This did cause arguments way back then, with one fan, Snarkophilius Snobbs, becoming infamous for persisting with this misquote.
- In the presence of hardcore Carrollians, never refer to the Hatter as the Mad Hatter, or to the Jabberwock as the Jabberwocky.
- For the love of life don't claim Carroll was a pedophile, repressed or otherwise. Or on drugs. Given the nature of most Carrollians, though, you're less likely to get flamed and more likely to be firmly sat down for a Wall of Text essay on how whichever myth you claimed as truth came to be, and a healthy helping of evidence debunking it.
- Lewis Carroll's surname is spelt with two L's, not one.
- Mistaking Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as a fairy tale, would have a Lewis Carroll fan politely correct you that it's a novel and not a fairy tale or correct you that it's a children's book.
- Don't ever refer to The Chronicles of Narnia in chronological rather than publication order. This gets especially bad with The Magician's Nephew, a prequel about the creation of Narnia published second to last which is drenched with Call Forwards that can only be appreciated if you've read all the other books, yet even some official publications label it the first book.
- Do not claim that Susan was "banished from Narnia for being/becoming a woman". Fans will pull out their copies of The Last Battle and make you read the actual chapter that explains her absence. Lewis himself was saddened that many readers missed the point and stated he'd like to write a novel focused entirely on Susan and how she might get back after all. Unfortunately, he died before being able to do so.
- Cthulhu Mythos:
- Don't insist there's a good versus evil dichotomy between the Outer Gods and Elder Gods; while there are some authors (most notably, August Derleth) who use this idea, Lovecraft never intended for the Mythos to be reduced to humanly comprehensible morality, and doing so kind of defeats the purpose.
- Really hardcore fans will yell at anyone who calls it "The Cthulhu Mythos", preferring the term "Yog-Sothothery" instead, since the former was coined by Derleth and the latter by Lovecraft's circle.
- Terry Pratchett fans love discussing the many references and homages in his work, especially the Discworld novels. Using a phrase such as "nicked this bit from..." is another matter, and may result in irony being deployed, especially if you're talking about a work that actually postdates Discworld, or a concept that existed in many forms before Sir Terry used it. If it's Harry Potter, just stop now.
- Older Than Radio: In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, Victor Frankenstein constructs and brings to life his Creature or, if you prefer, Monster. The Creature itself is never named. Thanks to many films, comics and stage plays running the whole gamut of quality, people have been using the term "Frankenstein" to refer to his Creature (and being criticized for it) since the 19th century, to the point that using "Frankenstein" without clarifying immediately makes people think that you're erroneously referring to the monster! For example, Monster High got called out on this when it first came out and still does. It's a weird situation, because Frankie is indeed the daughter of the Monster and his Bride, but the Monster learned mad science from his creator, and in turn created his daughter.
- Don't claim that the monster is a low-intelligence brute. This misconception comes from his Adaptational Dumbass portrayal in the 1931 film, not the original novel. The monster from the novel is highly intelligent and can speak eloquently.
- Some fans of that lady who wrote the Pern books are rather grumpy about "McCaffery", probably because her last name was "McCaffrey".
- Don Rumata from Hard to Be a God is not a Progressor, and don't refer to him as a Progressor in the presence of Strugatsky Brothers fans.
- Harry Potter fandom is large and diverse enough that almost anything is acceptable in some circles, but in general the following rules hold:
- Electric technology at Hogwarts isn't permissible in any dose. Things that work electronically, like anything that runs on batteries, do not work. Things that work mechanically, such as Harry's watch, are okay.
- Cell phones are not permisible technology needs to be highlighted. For one, it's because of the above bullet point. For another, the books take place in the mid-to-late 1990s and cell phone tech was not as ubiquitous then as it is now (and even in 2023 Scotland (where Hogwarts is located) is plagued with cell phone dead zones
). Make a Potter fan explain that more than once and you will be dragged to one of said dead spots and Buried Alive. - Hermione's name is Hermione. Unless you're Grawp or Viktor. There are absolutely no other exceptions. "Hermy" is an elf from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
- Ravenclaw House has the eagle as its mascot, not the raven, and its colors are blue and bronze, not blue and silver or black. This one really isn't helped by the fact that the films got it wrong.
- For newcomer and casual fans, referring to Hufflepuff as "the loser house" or implying it was only created as filler to complete a Four-Category ensemble (or alternatively implying no Hufflepuff did anything of importance) will get you mauled by a mob of angry badgers.
- Mis-housing characters (e.g. saying Cho was a Hufflepuff or Luna was a Gryffindor) will get you an avalanche of corrections and maybe a few hexes.
- Also, any serious mention of House stereotypes (Gryffindors are impulsive and dumb, Slytherins are evil, Ravenclaws are nerds, Hufflepuffs are losers) in any corner of the fandom can make things get ugly really fast. Hogwarts houses are Serious Business for the fans.
- The first book is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Only the more noobish American fans will unironically refer to it as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, its Market-Based Title in the U.S.
- Do not say that Beauxbatons is an all-female school, and Durmstrang is an all-male school. It really doesn't help that the fourth film got it wrong.
- For fans of the books, do not refer to Ron Weasley as an idiot. Unfortunately, he was subjected to Adaptational Dumbass, Adaptational Wimp, and some level of Adaptational Jerkass in the films.
- Parvati Patil's twin sister, Padma, is in Ravenclaw. Period. Referring to her as a Gryffindor because of the films will lead to angry fans just because you never read the books.
- The Hunger Games:
- Don't make the mistake of referring to Catching Fire and Mockingjay as Hunger Games 2 and Hunger Games 3, or calling Peeta Mellark Peter!
- Don't say that it is a rip-off of Battle Royale. It was inspired by the Roman Empire's gladiators and Greek mythology, specifically the story of Theseus and the Minotaur.
- P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves is a valet, not a butler. Not that you can exactly be blamed for making the mistake, since it even occurs on book jackets. That he can and has acted as a butler (one book has him as one for a temporary stint) confuses the matter further.
- Readers of Chinese web novel (later Animated Adaptation) The King's Avatar despise any comparisons to Sword Art Online or insinuations it is a rip-off of the latter. While both integrate similar Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game elements into their respective settings, The King's Avatar takes the approach of delving into the Professional Gaming "e-sports" scene, something Sword Art Online does not use. Furthermore, The King's Avatar averts Fantasy and Science Fiction tropes in place of Truth in Television by way of an e-sports narrative.
- Land of Oz:
- Pretty much anything that confuses the MGM adaptation for book canon.
- Glinda is not the queen of Oz; Ozma is. This misconception is due to First Installment Wins and Adaptation Displacement: Glinda is the most powerful witch at the end of the first book and is an authority figure, but the Scarecrow is temporarily made king until the rightful heir Ozma is found at the end of the second book.
- Oz is not All Just a Dream. It's an actual country in the series' setting.
- It's the "Tin Woodman", not the "Tin Woodsman," and definitely not the "Tin Man". The latter name is from MGM adaptation.
- It's also "Glinda" and not "Glenda."
- The Wicked Witch of the West is never actually named. She is not named Elphaba or Theodora. She's also just the Starter Villain of the series, not the true Big Bad.
- Malazan Book of the Fallen:
- The book was written by Steven Erikson, not Steve Erickson, Stephen Erickson, or even Erik Stevenson. Have the decency to take a look at the cover.
- One Hundred Years Ahead is the book. Guest from the Future is its loose TV adaptation. Unless you want to seriously upset Alice, Girl from the Future fans, don't confuse the two.
- George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire:
- While not likely to get you flamed, referring to the series as "Game of Thrones" (the title of the HBO show based on the series which takes its name from the first book) is a good indicator of what kind of fan you are.
- Don't refer to Asha as Yara unless you want to be laughed at. Also, it's Jon, not John; Robb, not Rob; Grey Wind, not Greywind; and Shaggydog, not Shaggy Dog. However, many fans give a pass at people misspelling Jaime as "Jamie", as it happens too often to bother dealing with.
- Daenerys has several. Her name is Daenerys, not Danaerys; some people make this mistake because her father was Aerys. She is nicknamed Dany, not Danny or Dani. And "Khaleesi" is one of her titles, but should never be treated as if it's her actual name.
- Additionally, Daenerys' apparent immunity to fire and heat in general, which is not fully explained and hinted to be magical in nature, has led many to believe that ALL Targaryens are immune to fire, thanks to lines like "Fire cannot kill a dragon". This is clearly not the case as many Targaryens in history have died by fire or heat, including Daenerys' own brother Viserys.
- While fans themselves often make this sort of comment, describing this series as "the one where all the characters die" is likely to get you subjected to a list of all the characters still alive by the end of Book 5 (and it's a surprisingly long list, so maybe the geeks do have a point).
- Don't call the books "fantasy porn". The TV adaptation intentionally played up the sex scenes, even adding a few (but also cutting several) in what was admittedly an effort to avoid being mistaken for a children's show. The books themselves do have uncensored sex in them, but hardly to an over-the-top level, and compared to other novels in the genre, have about an average amount.
- Likewise no doubt also influenced by the show, referring to the books as nihilistic or in celebration of cruelty and ruthlessness can spark arguments on discussion boards. The books have a more open and pragmatic view of morality (good people tend to have their dark sides too, and sometimes even bad people have sympathetic sides), but heroism isn't sneered at nor villainy admired. Rather, it's more that having good intentions isn't enough, and that you need to have good planning to go along with your intentions and simply assuming that "things will just work themselves out as long as you're being heroic" is a recipe for disaster. The books also seem to have a general view that being evil and cruel might work out better in the short run, but has serious long-term consequences. Show-only watchers might be surprised to realize that by the end of the books published thus far, Ned Stark has a much better legacy than Tywin Lannister.
- Don't assume that Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire have identical plots: while Game of Thrones is a reasonably faithful adaptation, it makes several changes to the source material, with many key characters and plot points being merged, tweaked, or cut entirely. And since the books (as of this writing) haven't been finished yet, many fans don't appreciate the general assumption that anybody "already knows" how the books will end just because they've seen the TV show. In particular: don't assume that Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark are Jon Snow's parents just because that turned out to be the case in the show; until it's officially confirmed in the books, it's still just a popular theory.
- In the Star Wars Expanded Universe,
- Even mentioning Mandalorians as having a philosophical point is a good way of inducing vitriolic backlash (or terrible debates) in some circles. And don’t ever say they were pacifists.
- Go on, bring up Skippy the Jedi Droid and say he was canon. You’ll get mobbed by fans correcting you. He was part of the “what if?” Infinities comics and was never canon.
- Scottish fans of Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde do not take kindly to pronouncing the titular doctor's surname as "Jeck-ul". This pronunciation has been popularized by multiple film and stage play adaptations over the years since the 1941 film adaptation to the point where "Jeck-ul" became the standard pronunciation long agonote 1, but it is supposed to be pronounced "Jee-kyll"note 2. The novella's author, Robert Louis Stevenson, was Scottish, and "Jekyll" is a real Scottish surname.
- Do not say that Sword Art Online isn't an Isekai due to the fact that the characters enter a virtual reality video game rather than get transported to another world. The story still meets many of the criteria for an Isekai.
- Fans of The Three Musketeers tend to be annoyed by people assuming that there are only three musketeers, thanks to the title. There are four: there are three at the start of the book, but the story is all about the hero D'Artagnan joining the Musketeers of the Guard. After he joins, the group is openly referred to as "the four musketeers" numerous times.
- In one series of Harry Turtledove books (known, alternatively, as TL-191 or the Southern Victory series), a Confederacy that survives into the 20th century is taken over by the dictator Jake Featherston, who is a Hitler analog. For some reason, people insist on misspelling it as "Featherstone". This really pisses off fans, but what really got people mad was when the misspelling appeared on the freakin' dustjacket of one of the books.
- J. R. R. Tolkien:
- Some fans of Tolkien are grumpy about spelling his surname "Tolkein" or pronouncing it "Tol-kin", "Tol-kyen" or "Tolky-yen" rather than "Tol-Keen". And even spelling "Middle-earth" as "Middle-Earth" in extreme cases.
- Referring to The Lord of the Rings as a trilogy of three novels. Tolkien wrote it as simply a single book, and only very grudgingly agreed to publish it in three parts as paper was in short supply after World War II and putting out a single Doorstopper would have involved such a huge price tag that no one would buy it. He also said it was not a novel or novels but more like a "romance" akin to the older sense of the term.
- Whenever someone mispronounces Smaug's name, usually gets this reaction. The correct way is "sm-ow-g", not "smawg". Ditto Sauron (first syllable rhymes with "sour," not "soar") or any proper name beginning with the letter C (always a hard-c or "k" sound, never a soft-c or "s" sound) (e.g. Cirdan or Celebrimbor).
- Assuming that Middle-earth is a made-up planet, instead of the actual Earth in an imaginary distant past, as intended.
- Writing off Tolkien's works as simplistic tales where the good guys always win and the bad guys always lose. Fans of The Silmarillion will quickly set people straight in that regard. Even The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings feature the deaths of several major heroic characters and the latter story has a Bittersweet Ending at best.
- Assuming that Middle-earth only refers to the landmass shown in the map that comes with the book, and subsequently believing that the lands of Rhûn and Harad are not a part of it. In actuality it refers to the giant continent that made up all the mortal lands of Arda that grows increasingly fractured as the ages go by (early texts refer to a separate continent known as the Dark Land, but even that was originally a part of Middle-earth).
- Warrior Cats:
- Many of the fans of the Warrior Cats series will scream (or at least groan) should you make the mistake of not capitalizing the word "Clan". There are four Clans (five if you count SkyClan). The main characters are in ThunderClan. Their ancestors are StarClan. And don't you dare suggest otherwise. Perhaps justified in that this is pounded into your brain for over twenty books, and not bothering with grammar rules automatically gets you labeled as an idiot on the major forum.
- Capitalizing the second part of a cat's name annoys fans; it's Firestar, not FireStar.
- Wings of Fire: Similar to Warriors, fans of Wings Of Fire will be irritated if you misuse the capitalisation rules. The tribes are NightWings, SkyWings, etc., however, NightWing names are not capitalised; it's Deathbringer, not DeathBringer, Death-Bringer or Death Bringer.
- Many The Wicked Years fans aren't fond of people (mainly fans of the musical) who insist that the book is canon to The Wizard of Oz. It isn't—it's not a Perspective Flip but an Alternate Continuity that, if anything, takes more inspiration from the original Land of Oz books. By that merit, it's also not a Perspective Flip on Baum's books. The series composites various Oz adaptations into one narrative.
- The Witcher fans will be annoyed if you pronounce Geralt's name as "Gerald". It's a hard G.
- Accusing The Worst Witch of being a "rip-off" of Harry Potter is not wise unless you want to anger fans. Especially since it is factually incorrect, as the series predates Harry Potter by 24 years (with the first book being released in 1974).
- Anne of Green Gables: Don't suggest Anne is in love with Diana unless you want to be hit with a slate by the fandom. The two are just friends (or "Bosom Friends" as they're described in the books) and their romantic gestures with each other are strictly due to the books being a product of their time, since Pseudo Romantic Friendships between girls were considered normal at the time of writing. Despite their Les Yay, Anne and Diana are both straight (having only dated men) and would ultimately be engaged to men (Anne to Gilbert, and Diana to Fred) in later books.note
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