Fanfiction Lounge

Uh, I can't click your eggs.

Because I can't open the spoiler.

And I can't really quote your sig. xD

But I've already warmed them after you did to mine.

Ah, computer. You tried and failed to keep me from coming back yesterday.

Lesson learned: Windows sucks. I'm getting Linux this weekend. =|

Ninja Caterpie said:

Eggs, anyone?

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Scrambled? I skipped breakfast.

An-chan said:

I just want to know I got this right. So, essentially, what you've been saying for a while now is that people shouldn't go around the internet saying "LOL that fic was so bad", but instead go to the author and say "this was bad and that was bad, you might want to work on those things". Did I get it right? Or not?

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Exactly. Because if all you do is complain about something without actually pointing out there's a problem, the problem will just still be there. Also, you're assuming most writers are stupider than they might actually be.

But what annoys me even more than unfinished conversations and stuff like that are people who want reviews, but not the review kind of reviews.

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Agreed with you here. It's annoying, but luckily, out of every ten writers, I might only encounter that once or twice. And when I encounter it that once or twice, the resulting wank ends up being stressful at the time.

In hindsight, it becomes kinda hilarious (especially if the reviewer is correct, and there's really no room for argument -- like when it comes to things like when to use commas), but it's just a waste of time as it's happening.

If anyone remembers the course of creative writing I'm attending now, there's a girl on that very course who said that she can't handle criticism.

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WTF? O_o Why is she in a class if she can't stand criticism? Egotism and the need for a blow-off course?

Do you prefer having huge plot twists that hit your readers like a runaway train over having smaller, tamer plot twists throughout the whole story? Or does it depend on story?

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For longer stories, a combination of both. The smaller plot twists often work to keep the readers' interest, but it often leads up to a huge flipping plot twist that breaks people's brains. I do it like this for two reasons.

First, as I've said, it keeps the readers' interest because they're always trying to guess what's going on. The story becomes unpredictable because anything could happen, and that gives me a lot more freedom to work because I'm not expected to do anything except what I feel like. Not to mention the reader's enticed to come back and read on if I can show them I can screw with their expectations.

Second, I like the reaction I get when the huge plot twist hits. ("WTF JUST HAPPENED?" "lol.")

However, for shorter stories (namely one-shots), I tend to swing with one or the other due to a lack of time to do both at the same time.

Do you prefer having huge plot twists that hit your readers like a runaway train over having smaller, tamer plot twists throughout the whole story? Or does it depend on story?

I agree with the above's 'combination of the two' notion.

Valentine said:

Exactly. Because if all you do is complain about something without actually pointing out there's a problem, the problem will just still be there. Also, you're assuming most writers are stupider than they might actually be.

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Mm-hmm, people tend to assume that bad writers are also stupid writers. How can you write well if you don't know any better? Granted, some of them are more or less stupid - or at least pretend to be - but I figure in most cases they are only young or new to writing. It hasn't been that long since my stories didn't make any more sense than some of the badfics out there.

Then again, this has all been said already. Why am I repeating what has already been said?

Agreed with you here. It's annoying, but luckily, out of every ten writers, I might only encounter that once or twice. And when I encounter it that once or twice, the resulting wank ends up being stressful at the time.

In hindsight, it becomes kinda hilarious (especially if the reviewer is correct, and there's really no room for argument -- like when it comes to things like when to use commas), but it's just a waste of time as it's happening.

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:> Maybe I'm so annoyed by them right now - I also think the world is filled with that kind of people - because I keep running after wanks. It's always oh-so-hilarious to follow the conversation between annoyed reviewers and ignorant authors, but in the end, it only makes me mad. So, yeah, going through that wank to get your point through might be a waste of time, but watching other people do it is even worse.

Apparently, I have nothing better to do. Except, well, I do.

WTF? O_o Why is she in a class if she can't stand criticism? Egotism and the need for a blow-off course?

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Exactly my thoughts xD I couldn't help but to roll my eyes when she told it on the first lesson. Essentially what she said was that she doesn't like it when people don't like what she writes, but she used a lot more words to express her thoughts. *sigh* So, now no-one really dares to say anything negative to anyone on that course, and negative things is precisely what I want to hear.

Also, I really dislike her style. She says she likes to write aesthetic stories and she's a teenage girl, so you might be able to guess how her texts are like. I've always liked that girl as a person, though. She's really friendly and talkative and has also some interesting opinions so I've chatted with her before... Oh, well.

Out of curiosity:

Choose a reviewer you'd want to review your fic:
1) A mind-numbingly harsh but very professional critic who never says anything nice or encouraging and hits you in every possible sore spot
2) Overly friendly and encouraging critic who never says anything negative and focuses on encouraging you and making you feel excited
3) Yourself from an alternate dimension
4) Someone that is your polar opposite when it comes to opinions, interests and points of view

I'd take 1 myself, since I've noticed I don't really learn unless someone beats me up with a fish while educating me about my mistakes. Then again, 4 would also be interesting. I suppose there would be a lot of hating the fic in that review. =D So, what about you guys?

An-chan said:

Mm-hmm, people tend to assume that bad writers are also stupid writers. How can you write well if you don't know any better? Granted, some of them are more or less stupid - or at least pretend to be - but I figure in most cases they are only young or new to writing.

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*nods* Exactly. And even if you get that young writer who's extremely confrontational when it comes to negative reviews, you wouldn't have known the writer's like that before you review if you're the first person to come along with concrit (if that makes sense). That and the young always have a tendency to change. I can't count how many young reviewers who snapped at me for being harsh chilled out awhile later and turned around. Some of them even thanked me a year or so after having a huge wankfest about my review. (I met a lot of good friends that way.)

And besides, yeah, everyone has their badfic days. It's just a lot of experienced or older writers like to forget they did. Denying someone of a guiding hand is a lot like denying yourself at that age of any hope to improve.

Probably repeating what you said, and if it is, sorry for the repetition. XD I'm just saying you're definitely not alone about early crapfics. In fact, feel free to get lulz from the stuff before 2005. I'd offer the OT fics I tried to write in 2000, but I was too embarrassed to keep them on the web.

So, now no-one really dares to say anything negative to anyone on that course, and negative things is precisely what I want to hear.

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*facepalm*

'Course, on the other hand, I'm not entirely surprised because it's easier to ignore "I can't take negative reviews" on the 'net. I mean, in real life, you need some serious balls to tell someone they're doing something wrong because then you have to see the expressions on their faces.

On the other hand, if this actually stopped concrit partway through a semester... then geez. XD

She says she likes to write aesthetic stories and she's a teenage girl, so you might be able to guess how her texts are like.

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XD Oh, that kind of writer. I knew someone who did that constantly. It's cute, but no one could figure out what the crap his stories were about.

'Course, some of mine were like that too. Oh, angsty teens.

Choose a reviewer you'd want to review your fic:
1) A mind-numbingly harsh but very professional critic who never says anything nice or encouraging and hits you in every possible sore spot
2) Overly friendly and encouraging critic who never says anything negative and focuses on encouraging you and making you feel excited
3) Yourself from an alternate dimension
4) Someone that is your polar opposite when it comes to opinions, interests and points of view

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All of the above. 1 would be the hardest to deal with because I'm an open egotist, but after the initial surprise, I'd probably appreciate that a lot, probably a bit more than a reviewer like 2. 3 would be a lot like 1 only with a paragraph or two about what's good, and I think it'd probably be tied with the all-negative review in terms of stuff I'd love to hear. 4 would be a surprise to have hanging around a fic that's completely my interests (mmm, straight sci-fi), but it'd be interesting to see what someone like that would have to say, sort of like a different perspective.

So, uh, long story short, I'd love a little bit of everything, I think.

An-chan said:

Choose a reviewer you'd want to review your fic:
1) A mind-numbingly harsh but very professional critic who never says anything nice or encouraging and hits you in every possible sore spot
2) Overly friendly and encouraging critic who never says anything negative and focuses on encouraging you and making you feel excited
3) Yourself from an alternate dimension
4) Someone that is your polar opposite when it comes to opinions, interests and points of view

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*lol* I have an ego in many things, but in the areas of grammar and spelling I also know I am awful and still learning, so I am more than open to the fact my eyes just don't see many many errors even after three drafts and a beta. I make edits right away nowadays :)...

5. Someone that tells me what is wrong, but at the same time is not so in love with giving 'mind-numbingly harsh' reviews that they don't also adknowledge what I am doing right, in such a way that they don't just add it in to sugar coat anything, but also can say "You are good at this, as a reader I think if you did this also it might make what you do well even easier to understand." That would be my dream reviewer...

That with a mix of 4 I have actually gotten many times, in that they have been reviewers from outside my fandoms. It is nice to have someone say, for all the flaws they point out, that they still basically enjoyed a story and could do so without knowing the fandom you are writing about. Getting a reader interested in new shows they would otherwise not even think of watching is an exciting feeling for any fan, I think :).

Also, I really dislike her style. She says she likes to write aesthetic stories and she's a teenage girl, so you might be able to guess how her texts are like.

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Everyone has their favorite and most hated styles I think. It's funny how the more aesthetic styles are most often linked to being only a teenage writer when a novel of that type (written by an adult) becomes a bestseller among adults as well. For every style there is a fanbase, I suppose :). I personally don't care for very technical sci-fi, but some people swear by it...

Valentine said:

XD Oh, that kind of writer. I knew someone who did that constantly. It's cute, but no one could figure out what the crap his stories were about.

'Course, some of mine were like that too. Oh, angsty teens.

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Yeah. I know some people adore that kind of style even long after they're not angsty teenagers anymore, but it has never really been my cup of tea. I like writers that have a healthy amount of self-irony, because too serious writers just suffocate me. Whenever I read something like that, I know the author thinks they've poured their souls on the paper and I feel that if I dislike it, I'm being awfully mean.

I've just never liked it. Of course, there are exceptions, as sometimes that kind of style is just pulled off really well and mixed with other ingredients. That I can like.

On another note, I just remembered something I wrote some six years ago... I wrote a philosophical story about a snowflake. Snowflakes have no limbs, you see, so they have no other choice than to go where the wind wants to blow them *sob* It had a nice idea and everything, but the story was utter crap. It was like the very definition of a speshuul snowflake... It's stories like these that make for the most hilarious memories xD

Oh yeah, and the point in that reviewer question was exactly the fact that none of the reviewers 1-4 are perfect or dream critics. I just wanted to know what you guys think would be the "lesser evil" out of those choices :laugh:

On a completely unrelated note, I need a new online name. One that isn't already taken in half the places I try to register to :< I've just been An-chan for so long, I can't think of anything else anymore. *sigh*

An-chan said:

Yeah. I know some people adore that kind of style even long after they're not angsty teenagers anymore, but it has never really been my cup of tea.

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Nor mine. Well, after my "nobody loves me" high school years, anyway.

As a random side note, to clarify about that one guy I knew, basically, the story I'm thinking of was basically written just to be pretentious. He had a lot of flowery, purple-prose-esque words, all meant to overdescribe a girl's death and how she died in a garden (pierced by the thorns of roses or something, only far wordier than that). As I've said, it's cute, but the audience literally could not understand what was going on.

And then he told us, and then some of us realized it wasn't actually a plot.

For a poem, that sort of thing is passable, but, uh...

I like writers that have a healthy amount of self-irony, because too serious writers just suffocate me. Whenever I read something like that, I know the author thinks they've poured their souls on the paper and I feel that if I dislike it, I'm being awfully mean.

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Amen. And it's rather uncomfortable either way because you're not quite sure what to say to an author who seriously and literally writes about a girl dying when her heart is pierced by the thorns of black roses.

Oh yeah, and the point in that reviewer question was exactly the fact that none of the reviewers 1-4 are perfect or dream critics. I just wanted to know what you guys think would be the "lesser evil" out of those choices :laugh:

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Well, out of the lesser evils, I'd say three, if only because of the treat-others-as-you-wish-to-be-treated-yourself sort of philosophy. As in, I give harsh reviews with something positive at the end, so I actually want that kind of thing in response. I'd like to think I leave a decent balance, at least. 'Course, I could use a bit more balance, but.

On a completely unrelated note, I need a new online name. One that isn't already taken in half the places I try to register to :< I've just been An-chan for so long, I can't think of anything else anymore. *sigh*

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Ooh. Good luck finding something. Which ones are you thinking of now?

Choose a reviewer you'd want to review your fic:
1) A mind-numbingly harsh but very professional critic who never says anything nice or encouraging and hits you in every possible sore spot
2) Overly friendly and encouraging critic who never says anything negative and focuses on encouraging you and making you feel excited
3) Yourself from an alternate dimension
4) Someone that is your polar opposite when it comes to opinions, interests and points of view

Number three, I believe. The things he would need to go through to get to this dimension would help him understand my plots. XD You put the what in the what now?

Anyway, An-Chan, why not choose a Finnish name?

Choose a reviewer you'd want to review your fic:
1) A mind-numbingly harsh but very professional critic who never says anything nice or encouraging and hits you in every possible sore spot
2) Overly friendly and encouraging critic who never says anything negative and focuses on encouraging you and making you feel excited
3) Yourself from an alternate dimension
4) Someone that is your polar opposite when it comes to opinions, interests and points of view

Three. Definitely. I review the way I like to get reviewed. I used to pick out grammar, but point out what's good and what's bad. =D

Choose a reviewer you'd want to review your fic:
1) A mind-numbingly harsh but very professional critic who never says anything nice or encouraging and hits you in every possible sore spot
2) Overly friendly and encouraging critic who never says anything negative and focuses on encouraging you and making you feel excited
3) Yourself from an alternate dimension
4) Someone that is your polar opposite when it comes to opinions, interests and points of view

I would have to say number 1. As much as I love friendly reviews (well, I like all reviews really) and different opinions, I write fics to improve. So if someone wanted to come, stick with me and constantly help me improve then I would like it.

Of course I would prefer to have a mix, of people who can't get enough of the fic and people who provided helpful crit. :)

Choose a reviewer you'd want to review your fic:
1) A mind-numbingly harsh but very professional critic who never says anything nice or encouraging and hits you in every possible sore spot
2) Overly friendly and encouraging critic who never says anything negative and focuses on encouraging you and making you feel excited
3) Yourself from an alternate dimension
4) Someone that is your polar opposite when it comes to opinions, interests and points of view

#4 most definitively. I know how I think, I think (I think, I think, I think, ...), and I may moderately understand how a person who is mostly "like me" may react, but if I want a truly unbiased vision of my work, the actual thin I won't be able to get by myself is a completely opposite vision.

Of course, for a "first reviewer" I'd go with #1. All subsequent ones, if I could choose them, would be #4.

An-chan, are you looking for a specific kind of name? Finnish something sounds good. Even better if you later teach us how to pronounce it (The Pokémon Fan Fiction, Poetry & Speech Forum). :cheeky:

Choose a reviewer you'd want to review your fic:
1) A mind-numbingly harsh but very professional critic who never says anything nice or encouraging and hits you in every possible sore spot
2) Overly friendly and encouraging critic who never says anything negative and focuses on encouraging you and making you feel excited
3) Yourself from an alternate dimension
4) Someone that is your polar opposite when it comes to opinions, interests and points of view

Can I blend #1 and #2 together? Someone encouraging but who points out what you did wrong without proclaiming you 'stupid' or anything else some reviewers of the #1 type come out with.

Valentine said:

Amen. And it's rather uncomfortable either way because you're not quite sure what to say to an author who seriously and literally writes about a girl dying when her heart is pierced by the thorns of black roses.

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...Excuse me? Yeah, you're right. I have no words. But it doesn't even have to be that much over the top to render you practically speechless. Of course, I would have a lot of things to say, but I can't because I don't want to be mean. Just that... Oh, dear.

I'm especially fond of the kind of text where people use single, beautiful-sounding and supposedly deep words as a sentence. Like this: "Darkness. It pierced me. But then, from the depths of the blackness that was my universe, I saw them emerge. Angels. The angels of universe. And they embraced me. Darkness. It was no more." I just... Oh, dear.

Also, the story you told about sounds interesting. What exactly was it about, then, if I may ask? My curiosity is insatiable! I'd also like to know how someone dies because of (black) rose thorns. I wonder if there's a medical name for a death cause like that?

celuthea said:

Can I blend #1 and #2 together? Someone encouraging but who points out what you did wrong without proclaiming you 'stupid' or anything else some reviewers of the #1 type come out with.

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Of course you can, but as I said, that wasn't really the point.

Hmm, my space bar is acting up. And lol, I totally realized only now that space bar is space bar!


As for new user names, it has to start with an A, since I've never had a username that didn't start with the letter A. When in IRC, my secondary nick was always "aneue", because sometimes some annoying person stole my An-chan... Yeah, so this isn't a new problem. I also recently found out that
1) An-chan means a man in Hiroshima dialect of Japanese
2) Anchan is a spa resort in Thailand
3) Anchan is also apparently someone's last name.

Right now I'm thinking of derivating something from the Finnish word for sun, "aurinko". I don't want a name that means something... So, maybe Aurincha or something...? I really don't know! I've been An-chan practically for my whole internet life (since I was 13 and first began to explore the wonder that is the world wide web), so this is really hard for me. Lol, I'm having some sort of indentity crisis here. Well, it'll take some getting used to, but I'll manage. Now, all I have to do is to come up with the damn name.

I've always been known as duncan, ever since I first signed up at SPPf with it in 2004. I have tried a few times to come up with a better name (for some wildly incomprehensible reason that's a common name in most forums), but I can never come up with something that really is my own.

Although it doesn't take much to beat Duncan McNeil.

Amen. And it's rather uncomfortable either way because you're not quite sure what to say to an author who seriously and literally writes about a girl dying when her heart is pierced by the thorns of black roses.

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...Well...I suppose it might be able to work if...yeah I've got nothing.

Choose a reviewer you'd want to review your fic:
1) A mind-numbingly harsh but very professional critic who never says anything nice or encouraging and hits you in every possible sore spot
2) Overly friendly and encouraging critic who never says anything negative and focuses on encouraging you and making you feel excited
3) Yourself from an alternate dimension
4) Someone that is your polar opposite when it comes to opinions, interests and points of view

Number one, waiter! My only two goals in writing is to write something people will enjoy and to improve. I don't want people to sugarcoat anything; I want them to be critical of everything when they're reviewing. From the most obvious (nowadays Bagon is not found outside Pallet Town) to the smallest aspect (I remember someone who told me I had used the wrong sort of window pane, as it didn't exist at the time of the story).

Choose a reviewer you'd want to review your fic:
1) A mind-numbingly harsh but very professional critic who never says anything nice or encouraging and hits you in every possible sore spot
2) Overly friendly and encouraging critic who never says anything negative and focuses on encouraging you and making you feel excited
3) Yourself from an alternate dimension
4) Someone that is your polar opposite when it comes to opinions, interests and points of view

#3. I actually review a combination of #1 and #2. I would tell it as it is on the mistakes I see, but at the same time I always encourage the writer to keep writing and improving.

And heh, I have been known as Bay for a long time now, so I don't think I'll change my name...although, I have been called "baygel" recently, so I might in a little while. XD

An-chan said:

Right now I'm thinking of derivating something from the Finnish word for sun, "aurinko". I don't want a name that means something... So, maybe Aurincha or something...? I really don't know! I've been An-chan practically for my whole internet life (since I was 13 and first began to explore the wonder that is the world wide web), so this is really hard for me. Lol, I'm having some sort of indentity crisis here. Well, it'll take some getting used to, but I'll manage. Now, all I have to do is to come up with the damn name.

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You can be Aurin-chan? Then we can call you Oran-chan or An-chan.

xD

An-chan said:

I'm especially fond of the kind of text where people use single, beautiful-sounding and supposedly deep words as a sentence. Like this: "Darkness. It pierced me. But then, from the depths of the blackness that was my universe, I saw them emerge. Angels. The angels of universe. And they embraced me. Darkness. It was no more." I just... Oh, dear.

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XD My thoughts exactly.

Also, the story you told about sounds interesting. What exactly was it about, then, if I may ask? My curiosity is insatiable! I'd also like to know how someone dies because of (black) rose thorns. I wonder if there's a medical name for a death cause like that?

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To be honest, I don't remember all of the details, but that was pretty much the gist of it. It wasn't actually about anything except a girl sitting in a garden dying.

Right now I'm thinking of derivating something from the Finnish word for sun, "aurinko". I don't want a name that means something... So, maybe Aurincha or something...?

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Ooh. I like it. 'Course, "Aurinko" itself sounds very cute.

Guys, today, I wrote my first drabble. It was 111 words, but I edited it down and changed a few sentences to make it 100 words exactly.

Then I read the fic over, and realized that it just didn't work.

So, power to those who can write drabbles and make them work. I just fail in doing that.

There was no point to this post, btw.