Fanfiction Lounge

God, I'm posting here too much lately. What's up with that? I thought I hated all of you.

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I know, what the heck? Get out of here, you dirty pig-ape.

However, I'm afraid there will be complaints as to why their fics aren't awarded and also they might get hurt. Also, not to mention we recently had a huge argument over awards and "best fic" lists.

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Meh, it'll give us some heads to bash. *cracks knuckles*

The content of this post is in direct conflict with my new avatar, and I'm sorry for the confusion that must result. But not really.

txteclipse said:

Meh, it'll give us some heads to bash. *cracks knuckles*

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I totally agree with you there, txt. I can hold 'em while you bash.

I also predict there will be complaining, but we're not going to care about that. What is chosen is chosen, and if someone whines... Well, we have Astinus and her modstick <3 I love you, Astinus! I also love you, Shrike, no matter how much you hate me! *huggles everyone*

Of course, this is only on the surface. Deep down I hate you all just like Shrike does. You might wonder why I post here so much... But that's simply because I'm utterly insane and way beyond help and it's no use trying to find any kind of logic in my actions.

celuthea said:

I do have a lot of backstory for characters, but I've never considered writing it down before. I have a particularly complicated character, who is a weretiger assassin with more enemies than friends, and she can be quite a nightmare to keep track of, so I may well steal your idea of writing everything down on paper.

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Oh, belive me, it's not always easy to keep track of those papers, either. But, yeah, go ahead, I really recommend writing it down. It's one awesome feeling to find a year-old, forgotten backstory for a character I didn't remember I had created. It also makes writing easier when you have a paper you can refer to when you forget what the name of the grandmother was again. So, yeah, I recommend writing it down. You just might want to keep the notes in one place, unlike I do ^-^''

An-chan said:

Oh, belive me, it's not always easy to keep track of those papers, either. But, yeah, go ahead, I really recommend writing it down. It's one awesome feeling to find a year-old, forgotten backstory for a character I didn't remember I had created. It also makes writing easier when you have a paper you can refer to when you forget what the name of the grandmother was again. So, yeah, I recommend writing it down. You just might want to keep the notes in one place, unlike I do ^-^''

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I have them stapled together - thank the lord for rubbish telly, I had loads of time to write notes for Bailey. Now she scares my other character muses with her epic backstory...

It's really cool, the idea of having a Fanfiction of the Month - we have one for member of the month and signature of the week, so why not fanfiction! I'm just about to hustle my bustle and have a look at the story myself.

One question though; will it be only completed stories that can be fanfiction of the week, or can WIP's be included? Just out of interest.

Hmm. I'll have to see whether I can keep up with my tradition of reviewing the FFotM before the next one is chosen.

celuthea said:

One question though; will it be only completed stories that can be fanfiction of the week, or can WIP's be included? Just out of interest.

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Last time the WIP can be included as Fanfic of the Month. What qualifies as Fanfic of the Month is basically the quality of the story.

Also, I agree that what chosen is chosen, but I don't agree bashing the complainers. Just encourage them to keep writing. :)

Yeah, if people complain that their fic isn't FFotM, then all one can really say in response is why their fic didn't have that particular "spark" to catch my interest and get FFotM, and possibly show them how to improve to get better. Falcon's fic had lines that made me pause and just stare in amazement at my screen. Well, good amazement. Not "How does this person know how to breathe and blink at the same time? @_@" amazement.

I'm hoping (optimism again!) that with the re-introduction of FFotM again, the quality of fics in generally will hopefully improve as people see that the "good" fics get recognized as a sticky thread for an entire month. That's some dang good recognition.

It's different from the Bin, which won't be coming back. (That's another change. I'm going to ask an upper staffer to get rid of it for me.) Publicly shaming those who aren't good writers makes people afraid of posting their fics, in case they aren't good.

But FFotM will be a positive reinforcement for those that deserve it, and those that aren't good aren't placed in a separated group to collectively mock them.

And Bay's right, celuthea. WIP fics can be chosen. A one-shot was just chosen this month because a.) April's already half-over and b.) I only had time to read one-shots this time around because of my work schedule and...my Sims. (They are so poor.) But if things go well, then I can be more prepared in the future and pick longer fics.

So just as long as the fic is of a quality that makes it stand out among the rest of the fics, then it has a chance of being FFotM. (And also, it has to, you know, be posted in the month prior.)

I made a serious post. D:

Personally I'm for the FFotM coming back - sure, they'd be the possible complaints, but people complain about everything these days. =P We'll see how this goes and all.

LET THERE BE OPTIMISM!

Astinus said:

I'm hoping (optimism again!) that with the re-introduction of FFotM again, the quality of fics in generally will hopefully improve as people see that the "good" fics get recognized as a sticky thread for an entire month. That's some dang good recognition.

It's different from the Bin, which won't be coming back. (That's another change. I'm going to ask an upper staffer to get rid of it for me.) Publicly shaming those who aren't good writers makes people afraid of posting their fics, in case they aren't good.

But FFotM will be a positive reinforcement for those that deserve it, and those that aren't good aren't placed in a separated group to collectively mock them.

And Bay's right, celuthea. WIP fics can be chosen. A one-shot was just chosen this month because a.) April's already half-over and b.) I only had time to read one-shots this time around because of my work schedule and...my Sims. (They are so poor.) But if things go well, then I can be more prepared in the future and pick longer fics.

So just as long as the fic is of a quality that makes it stand out among the rest of the fics, then it has a chance of being FFotM. (And also, it has to, you know, be posted in the month prior.)

I made a serious post. D:

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I think you're right, Astinus; the quality will go up because people will have something upstanding to aspire to, and we'll get more interest in the fanfiction lounge without the revision bin. Sometimes you're too clever for your own good, m'dear!

As I said, it was just a general question, but it makes sense what you said - a slightly shorter fic for a reduced month. Your poor Sims, make them work harder ;) Or sell off a family member.

Yay for serious posts! You could have finished with a few rude body parts to bring the sillies?

bobandbill said:

Personally I'm for the FFotM coming back - sure, they'd be the possible complaints, but people complain about everything these days. =P We'll see how this goes and all.

LET THERE BE OPTIMISM!

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I agree. And that would mean I could ask for my fic to be put back there since I voluntarily had it taken off. :P

So apparently one of my OCs' names is a German word for "sexually aroused." I really need to start looking this stuff up.

My main character shares her last name with a mall in North Charleston, South Carolina.

And yay for the return of FFotM. It may prompt me to post a few of my one-shot songfics on here considering my main fic is officially dead and buried.

txteclipse said:

So apparently one of my OCs' names is a German word for "sexually aroused." I really need to start looking this stuff up.

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It's insane how much this made me laugh.

But don't worry, we've all done something like that - I betaed a fic where the main character was an Italian swear word (pretty much the harshest cuss word you can imagine).

Hmmm currently 47 views. Either I've made everyone speechless, or everyone doesn't like the fact that I am killing off characters with zombies.

No opinion on FFotM returning, although part of me's a bit concerned about the judge here. Mostly, yeah, I know, Sims and all, but still, you're usually busy, aren't you, Asty? Would you consider choosing other judges to help you out? Perhaps a rec system in which you're PMed votes for stories (in which a member can't vote for their own or a fic that has previously/in the last month won the title) complete with a short paragraph of why it deserves the title to help you narrow down choices? Okay, that last one has holes in it itself. I'm just throwing out ideas as springboards to see if any of them could possibly lead to something that makes things easier.

Agreed wholeheartedly about the Revision Bin, however, but then again, you know my opinion completely on that.

celuthea said:

But don't worry, we've all done something like that - I betaed a fic where the main character was an Italian swear word (pretty much the harshest cuss word you can imagine).

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This now makes me want to name a character Ucello, if only because it's slang for male bits. That'll keep the reader's attention, right?

Feign said:

Hmmm currently 47 views. Either I've made everyone speechless, or everyone doesn't like the fact that I am killing off characters with zombies.

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Have you tried this to get reviews?

Otherwise, usually, it takes awhile to get a review if you're new or particularly unknown in a community. I know you've posted poetry before, but really, you're still a new face around here compared to, say, bobandbill. Additionally, some people tend not to review a work if the author says (publicly) they're not getting reviewed. You could ask individuals for reviews, but the general thread's a risk.

Hmmm, yeah I guess it is just my unfamiliarity with the way things go here then.

Well I'm glad I at least put my foot in the door nonetheless ;)

Thanks, I'll keep that link handy, and may post in it later.

My anticipation was preceding my excitement anyway XD

celuthea said:

It's insane how much this made me laugh.

But don't worry, we've all done something like that - I betaed a fic where the main character was an Italian swear word (pretty much the harshest cuss word you can imagine).

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Well, it's weird, because it's also used as a slang term, kinda like "cool" or "awesome." I'm now torn between spelling it differently or just leaving it like that for the lulz.

Valentine said:

No opinion on FFotM returning, although part of me's a bit concerned about the judge here. Mostly, yeah, I know, Sims and all, but still, you're usually busy, aren't you, Asty? Would you consider choosing other judges to help you out? Perhaps a rec system in which you're PMed votes for stories (in which a member can't vote for their own or a fic that has previously/in the last month won the title) complete with a short paragraph of why it deserves the title to help you narrow down choices? Okay, that last one has holes in it itself. I'm just throwing out ideas as springboards to see if any of them could possibly lead to something that makes things easier.

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I think the idea of us nominating and voting on the fics would be a good one, and it would mean the pressure would be off Astinus.

txteclipse said:

Well, it's weird, because it's also used as a slang term, kinda like "cool" or "awesome." I'm now torn between spelling it differently or just leaving it like that for the lulz.

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I would leave it, and if anyone picks up on it simply answer, 'Yeah, I know, I just like the name.' That'll shut them up ;)

celuthea said:

I think the idea of us nominating and voting on the fics would be a good one, and it would mean the pressure would be off Astinus.

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Well, perhaps not publicly nominating or voting but more like sending secret ballots to Asty via PM to point her in the direction of particular titles that may have stood out more than others. In other words, they're suggestions. That way, she won't actually have to kill herself over reading every fic that's been updated or published within the past month/time period.

The main reason why I'm concerned about doing it publicly is because I'm worried that doing that may just end up with a popularity contest -- as in, people end up voting for certain fics because they know their ballots would be read or because they see other people voting for a certain fic. That and she's not pressured to go with the fic with the most votes. She's merely told which fic to pay attention to because of whatever reason, and we'd have no reason to gripe over it not being democratic if she decides certain fics with less nominations/votes is of higher quality than one that got over 9000 votes that particular month.

Of course, then the problem lies in the question of who's qualified to pick out quality and what happens if no one except the n00bs who point to cliched crapfic sends in nominations, at which point, the secret ballot system might end up being moot because Asty would then have to decide whether or not to pay attention to those votes or go out and find something that actually stands out by herself. On the other hand, if this system is mentioned in a sticky or something explaining FFotM, then we can be sure that weeds out n00bs because they often don't actually read stickies (at least, in this forum) in the first place. *shrug*

The system also has a problem in that you've got the possibility of underdogs who write goodfic that's simply passed over for one reason or another, but then again, I guess then it wouldn't have qualified for the definition of "fic that stood out" in that case. Put simply, such a fic would inherently not be FFotM for obvious reasons, right?

There's probably other problems with the system I'm proposing, but at the moment, the ones I was referring to in my earlier post have almost completely slipped my mind. Anyone else can offer to shoot the idea out of the air if they'd like. I really don't mind. XD

Ok, hi everyone!
I'm trying to prove a point, so please answer this following question truthfully.

Is there such thing as too much detail?

.Swift said:

Ok, hi everyone!
I'm trying to prove a point, so please answer this following question truthfully.

Is there such thing as too much detail?

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Definitely, besides carrying sentences on, or even paragraphs, it would get tedious and leave out some amounts of imagination in part of the reader. Plus it can also hurt the plot. As it could cause for severe interruptions.

A movie does not have to worry about this as much, but on the other hand, too much detail in a movie will get overlooked, and something else like the acting could be limited.

In terms of fanfics, I'd leave the whole Tolkien detail out, but it would still be wise to include some detail.

This could especially be prevalent in Pokemon battles, as a vaguely written battle would be quite boring.