To the reviewer who responded to a slash fic:

Please don't post a paragraph-long, homophobic rant about how much you're SO disgusted and dissapointed at the slash pairing, and then stick in the sentence: "I don't actually have anything against gay people in real life." If you're homophobic, FINE. There's no need to be a hypocrite as well.

 

( Read more... )

This is about a manga but the same thing pisses me of in every fanfic it popped up and I have to read because I like the pairing and I want them to get together again. Do they really have to make them so stubborn, so that a bit of drama comes in the story?

I'm freaking out!

( Bitching about a stupid Girl who breakup with her teacher-boyfriend because of his ex girlfriend and a idiot Teacher who let the girl go and doesn't talk to her even though he is innocent and love her and know she loves him and shit like that. In fact, I'm talking about a manga I'm reading. Warning: Much cursing! I can't help it. )

I am so glad you wrote this pairing; it's one I adore and a rare one even in its already-rare fandom. I am not so glad about how you wrote them.

First, she's something of an innocent in sexual and romantic things, and he likes the parts of her that are innocent and wouldn't want to ruin them. You said this in your fic, actually, which was Doing It Right. Having them shrug this off after a couple paragraphs and sexor randomly anyway? was Doing It Wrong.

Next, she's not going to jump into bed with... anyone. It would never "just happen" as the fic said, and certainly not because she initiated and wanted it. She is the type of person who has other priorities, is not sexually experienced, and would need to develop some sort of real connection first, which they don't have at this point and you did not develop or explain in the fic. Oh, and she slapped him for trying to touch her in canon. Jumping into bed with him in a fic set in the same episode? No.

Now let's get to the sex itself, because that's sexy. Only, not. It was written like very awkward teen sex. This would actually be a refreshing change from most smut fic and fit for her, but the problem is that you made the awkward all about him. He is pretty much the opposite of an awkward teen; he is confident and self-assured and suave; not to mention mature enough to be a mentor figure and a leader. You could convince me he's not sexually experienced if you went from a 'he'd be too demanding and not consider anyone good enough and worth the chase' angle, but you cannot convince me he'd be made of awkward fumbling.

Last, he is a very emotional person, yes. But these emotions are kept very firmly internalized. When they start to threaten to affect his judgment, we see him do anything to shove them down and act only according to his rational goals and motivations. This? Does not really describe the sort of person who'd cry over having good sex and suddenly be in touch with the emotions he's been denying so well that even he is unaware of some of them. (Healing vagina instead of healing penis? Should we count that as novel?)

You wrote a long, supposedly plotty fic with what appears to be an amusing storyline and everything. I won't know for certain because I won't be reading it. Why in the world, after a good lead in and summary, do you feel the need to bash not only a secondary character, but the actress who plays her in your author's notes?

Puck should probably not be described as "sweeter than usual."  This implies that he is usually sweet.  That's kind of like describing Sue Sylvester as "more reasonable than usual."

 

On the other hand, given that in this fic he is - without any development or explanation - the ~best boyfriend ever~, just slightly gutter-minded, likes being called Noah, and enjoys going for long walks in the park with Kurt while holding hands and talking about their future children, that phrase really isn't a problem at all.

This is the scenario that I encountered in a otherwise (semi)decent fic.

This guy had an accident. Apparently he has burst his aorta. It's very tragic, especially when he passes out in his saviours arms. He's taken to a hospital for he needs emergency surgery.

But, oh! There has just been a major car accident so the blood bank are depleted. And our hero has the rare blood type A+ so his parents are called in so we can find out which one of them can donate to our anaemic champion.

But there is a deep dark secret lurking! His father is not the real father! The suspense is immense. The real father finds out about our brave mans plight and freely gives of his life blood. Anonymously, of course. We would not want the reveal to happen to early, do we?

( Now let's take a moment to talk about all the points in which this story fails: )

Hey Cold Case fandom, I've a bone to pick with you.

( cut for possible rape triggers, and possible spoilers )

I know that we're all not the best at history. It's fine to get dates, events, etc mixed up and all, so what if it's just a small fact to keep your historical fanfiction going? I don't mind that at all.

But, when you're writing a fanfiction about aristocracy still existing in Russia, drinking tea out of silver samovars (no, it's not caviar, caviar is a type of fish eggs, dear) , after (key word, after.) the Russian Revolution, while your whole plot takes place in the Soviet Union, (communism=/=aristocracy), well I have an objection to that. Also keep in mind, that not every Russian person says 'da' at the end of every sentence, I understand that if you use a little bit, but the entire page coming up with over four hundred 'da's out of a 3K fic, is well...da, that's fail, forgive me for using da, and cause da, da...er...da?

And what's worst, it's CANON in their verse that the Soviet Union was around (takes place after WWI, starts with WWII, Soviet Union comes in), so I'm expecting just a tiiiny bit of y'know, historical accuracy. And the 'I've read Anna Karenina' doesn't work in this case.

Love and a history textbook,
Me.

Authors, let's talk about narrative mode. You can write in first-person, second-person, third-person, multiple-person, alternating-person, whatever. It's your decision.

But remember to keep to the same mode within a single paragraph.

Dear Very Specific You,

You only post your fanfic in one place - your personal journal. As far as I know, you don't have a writing journal, which is perfectly fine. The problem I'm having is with the way everything is presented. It's very mixed up, with no tagging system and no 'master post' that lists every fic you've written and posted in that journal, which means that anyone who just wants to read your fics and isn't on your friend list has to scroll past many long and uncut personal entries we have zero interest in.

Normally, I don't find this to be a problem because I can just scroll past quickly without really looking at the content of the entry. However, when you start posting entries about your opinion on a certain recently-aired episode of a show you write fics for, I get curious and I read what you have to say. This is all fine and dandy until one little thing pops up.

You make a remark that is very clearly bashing fans of this show who are actually looking forward to what happens next. You are entitled to your opinion, but if you're going to bash part of your potential fan base, don't you think you should, friend-lock those entries?

-Me, the reader who is very cautious about your fics now

Just saw this on 4chan and Sankaku Complex (site NSFW); there's a magazine scan with more info about the new Code Geass project, and it looks like it will be a full tv series.

( Low-quality scan behind the cut )

Sadly the scan is so poor that I can't actually read much info, but there's something about a "new birth." Probably not a continuation, but a remake of the original series?

Edit: ANN has part of the scan with info about a possible musical.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-01-06/geass-producer/stage-musical-versions-considered
Until we get higher quality scans I don't think we can get more info than this right now.

'Bemused' is not the opposite of 'amused'. Really, it's not. No matter how many times you write it, it won't make it correct.

Begging you to pick up a sodding dictionary,
     Me

Okay, fic writers. You know that little thing called creativity? It kind of exists, but I guess you tend to like beating it with a crutch or something, because when I see you posting a fic where the title doesn't even exist? I kind of ehhh, what? at you.

But then I have to ask, are you really asking for people to give you their name so that you can put them in? On top of the title lackage? I guess I don't even have to mention that you only posted the. Oh. Summary. For a fic that doesn't exist. MY BRAIN SPLODED, NICE JOB, NOW I WANT BRAAAAAAAINS. But yours is a bit too dumb. Possibly too tough when cooked, but I don't have experience with that. Really.

But hey, at least you aren't the one posting the mary sue fanart banner fic. Which really, how am I supposed to take that person seriously when they decide to misspell the fic name. Sorry kid, it's Boundaries. Not Bounderies. I mean, you could get the post title right, but noooooooo, not the banner!



Edit to clarify the first one, since I make generally no sense at one in the morning: a person posted the summary for a fic they were going to write to a comm, and were requesting numerous self-insert characters for, quite honestly, 98% percent of the characters in the fic. A little creativity couldn't hurt em.

I don't know anything about Twilight vampires except that they sparkle. I do, however, know that any hunter from Supernatural who encounters a vampire from Twilight will not automatically reach for a stake. This hunter might try a stake in the process of trial-and-error to see what kills these sparkly things that can't be vampires however much their behavior resembles vampires, this hunter might take it at its word about being a vampire and then take a machete to its neck, but this hunter is not going to assume that a stake will kill a Twilight vampire. Because the only vampires this hunter knows about are Supernatural vampires, and in Supernatural, staking a vampire only pisses it off.

( Cut to save flists from pictures )

tl;dr author makes up silly rule that has no canonical basis, and makes an impressively built woman disguise herself perfectly as a man.

I count myself lucky to be the author of a fanfic with many reviews. I am also proud that pretty much all of them are positive. I understand that I am not owed these reviews, and I am always happy when I get an alert that I have received a new review.

That said, could you reviewers write a little more than "Loved it! Write more!"

It's not that I desperately need long flowing reviews to satisfy my ego. It's that detailed reviews, especially constructive criticism, help me become a better writer. They illustrate what I'm doing right, and where I need improvement. From your perspective, more detailed reviews results in a better story!

So if there's a fanfic that you really like (especially a WIP), you might want to take the time to write up a detailed review. Explain what you liked best, and what you think the author could do better at. If the author seems to have contradicted canon by mistake, point it out (politely). If you have any excellent ideas for where the author could go next, suggest them.