Tips

[pyrosgf]

Attention Adam fanfic writers on my friends list who post almost daily.  This post is for you.

Hi.  First off I want to say this entry is not meant to hurt your feelings or anything I just want to offer some advice to you.  Having at one time been one of those writers that was so full of ideas that I was always posting something new I learned a few things.  

As far as how I learned them, I made the avid mistake of searching my livejournal address on twitter and found a conversation someone was having about my fics.  I've been writing in the fandom since June 2009 and back then I had a lot to learn.  This persons tweets really pissed me off and hurt my feelings to begin with, but in the end they made me a better writer.  

Tip 1:  If you are posting multiple fics in a day in your livejournal and then into communities think about something for a minute.  A lot of fanfic readers follow multiple communities and have decent sized friends list.  So say you post to your livejournal and then post to three communities.  That's up to four times you could appear on one persons friends list for just one fic.  Then if you're also posting other fics just imagine how other people feel when all they can see on their friends list is you.  I can't speak for everyone, but I know I generally avoid writers who post multiple fics a day because they appear on my friends list so much.  Lesson #1 it's not about quantity it's about quality.  If you insist on posting often and more than one fic a day do people a favor and combine multiple fic descriptions in one post for communities with links back to the fics on your livejournal.  If you don't know how to do this, please ask me or anyone who's been in the fandom for any length of time.

Tip 2:  A beta is a must.  Not just any beta, but a good beta, and even two betas wouldn't be pushing it.  You need a beta who can ream your ass on things that are wrong, look for inconsistencies in your stories, and have a general feel for the English language.  What you don't need is someone who is going to kiss your ass and tell you that everything is wonderful.  I've been writing for a long time and still my beta truly makes everything come together in my fics.  

Tip 3:  I'm seeing a lot of WIPs right now from people posting updates almost daily.  Most of you are working on more than one WIP at a time.  I'm not saying you can't do that, but I will say that you generally should probably focus on one WIP at a time.  Also with WIPs it's good to post maybe three times a week at most.  I generally will read a WIP that's updated weekly over one that is updated every other day.

Tip 4:  If your WIP updates are less than a thousand words long you might want to make your updates longer.  Longer updates means less chapters.  A lot of readers who look at a page and see chapter twenty-eight will be less likely to read your fic because it has short updates and will likely go on forever.  There are exceptions to every rule I'm merely giving advice.

Tip 5: This is a biggie, use livejournal cuts even on your livejournal if you're posting fic.  Nothing turns me off more than having to scroll all the way down a page just to get past a fic that vomited on my friends list. 

Tip 6:  If there's descriptive sex the rating should be NC-17.  If you rate something NC-17 and there's no descriptive sex or hardcore violence/other elements for the rating it just makes you look like you don't know what you're doing.

Tip 7:  Proper spacing.  Livejournal doesn't allow tabs so you will want to double space between paragraphs so your fic doesn't look like one big clump.

I'm sure there are many things I'm leaving out, but those are the ones that have been driving me nuts with the overload of new writers in the fandom.  Please take this for what it is and don't think I'm trying to discourage you from what you love, just be considerate of people on your friends lists.  If you like this please leave me a comment.  If there's anything I'm missing please add to this in the comments.  And to anyone I've offended feel free to unfriend me.  Otherwise, pass it around.

Comments

[valress.livejournal.com]

You speak the words that are in my brain... Everything you said so much!

[pyrosgf.livejournal.com]

lol I got an unfollow on twitter I think over this.

[valress.livejournal.com]

Really? Hmmm their loss. I love ya and all the words in your brain

[scorpio-15.livejournal.com]

I knew you could do it... well said :)

[pyrosgf.livejournal.com]

What do you know? I can be nice. My avi is having a smoke after seeing yours.

[scorpio-15.livejournal.com]

*snort* how appropriate

[tommyglitter.livejournal.com]

You have a beautiful way with words! I couldn't have said that better myself!

[pyrosgf.livejournal.com]

I'm just hoping the people I intended to read it have.

[2pussycat.livejournal.com]

Hey love. Im not a writer, so some of this went over my head. But as a reader you certainly hit on a few points that irk me.
Getting RSI from scrolling through my friends listing, is annoying and a time waster. Please 'cut' people.
And yes please to less but longer chapters. 'A token dribble does not a chapter make'
Some excellent advice and tips here for those wanting to get the most out of their writing and Live Journal.

[pyrosgf.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I was trying not to be a bitch, but I just couldn't stand it anymore.

[sarisynn.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of this is general advice for pretty much any fandom. It's definitely something I see a lot in wrestling, for example.

AND #6, THANK YOU. I hate it when people do that. Fortunately it's not a thing that happens often, but when it does, it drives me nuts. I actually saw someone post a fic somewhat recently that was rated "PG-13/NC-17". Like... what? How does that even? NC-17... you keep using that rating, and I don't think it means what you think it means.

But yeah, I agree with all of these things and I'm glad you said it. I know you mean it kindly and only want to help. I hope nobody gets really mad at you, because I do think it is a thing that everyone needs to hear. I mean, we all heard it, didn't we? You can't get better if you don't know where you're going wrong.

[pyrosgf.livejournal.com]

I don't think a lot of people realize what NC-17 actually means. People rating things NC-17 and then I take the time to read it because I expect some gnarly violence or sexing and it's fluff. Makes me wanna break something.

[maggy-97.livejournal.com]

I'm not really an avid writer with the few fics I've posted. But I'm a reader and as such I think I can voice my opinion.

I am not really bothered by most of your points here:
- LJ cut: yeah, would be nice, but I can scroll
- posting to multiple communities or more than 1 fic a day: again, I can scroll
- daily WIP updates: I don't like reading WIP's, but if I start one I like getting updates every day, actually, and prefer that to getting a new chapter once a week
- rating of fics: I have problems with that when I post fic, so I can understand how it's difficult to choose the right one

So, all this doesn't bother me much, but I can understand that it's annoying for other people.

BUT: I totally agree with your #2 here - beta! I know not everyone is so insecure with the English language as I am, especially not native speakers. But if I, as a reader who's first language isn't English, find easy mistakes like "you're/your" or "there/their/they're" it's kinda confusing, maybe more so than for native speakers. And at that point I always look up at the disclaimer, thinking "couldn't you get a beta"? And it's even more surprising to see, that the writer actually had a beta! What did the beta do in that case, if not even correcting the easiest grammar mistakes?
THAT's something that really annoys me as a reader.

[pyrosgf.livejournal.com]

I think it's the simple mistakes like the ones you've mentioned that piss me off. Especially when they cite a beta.

[tattoo50.livejournal.com]

you are brave. <3

[pyrosgf.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I'm brave or just insane from all the obnoxious posting lol.

[technicolornina.livejournal.com]

ALL THIS AND MORE.


May I add something? I see it sometimes from authors who rarely post, but far, far more, and in far, far greater quantities, from authors who post everyday:


***Think about the character you're writing and what their motivations are. Would Adam really be that much of a jerk to a close friend who just got dumped? Would Neil really be that sweet to someone he barely knows? Is Brad really that stupid? Is Tommy really so unable to take care of himself that having to spend a single day without Adam around makes him fall completely apart? When you spit out work and just force the characters to do what you want them to do instead of what they really would do, you don't create tension or conflict or a resolution--you just create impatience in your readers, who wonder if you've ever seen more than thirty seconds of the people you claim to be writing, and it gives your work all the emotional cadence of a stick of gum.


Also: when someone actually goes to the trouble to individually critique your work and offer suggestions on how you can make it better, it's really a dick move to delete their crit and act like it didn't exist. Even if you don't plan to use it, they took the time to try to help you. A thank-you is in order.

[tommyglitter.livejournal.com]

Yes, that truly needed to be said! I don't bother giving any crit just because of the fragile egos of some of the authors. :(

Now, I hope everyone reads this! :D

[technicolornina.livejournal.com]

See, and this is just me, but I feel if your ego is that fragile then you've got the wrong hobby. I don't write for my ego (not that I complain when I get lots of comments, mind you). I write for love of the craft. Love of the craft should include respect of the craft, and respect of the craft should involve doing it as well as you can--which means that sometimes people are going to have things to say that you won't like, and sometimes you're going to have to accept that the things they have to say that you don't like are valid things.

[pyrosgf.livejournal.com]

Irrational characters are another thing that piss me off... omg rage.

[thrace-adams.livejournal.com]

WORD to everything you just said. This should be required reading for EVERYONE

[pyrosgf.livejournal.com]

If only you had to read something like this before posting anywhere.

[thrace-adams.livejournal.com]

Trufax.

[aislinntlc.livejournal.com]

Agree with all but one of these items. I'm OK with a WIP being updated every day, as long as it does follow tip #4. I'm actually more ok with that than really long time between postings, as I've been burned too many times by abandoned WIP. To that end, I'd add another suggestion: if you don't know how your story is ending, I don't know that you should start posting it. I've seen people get an idea, start writing it, and then not know where to go with it, get bored with it, or keep adding complexity, and ultimately walking away without finishing. It doesn't have to be finished when you start posting, but it's so much nicer for the readers if they can count on eventually having closure from the story, and that's easier to achieve if you start with an end in mind(or at least a vague outline!)

#2 is a big one for me, as I AM a beta, and nothing drives me more nuts than a sloppy piece of writing. I don't care how compelling your characters or plot are, if you use incorrect spelling and grammar, you're going to throw me right out of the story. I've seen comments in some settings of "oh, it's just fanfic," or "oh, it's just a quick fill for xxx(glam kink, bingo square, etc)" It's still the impression you're putting out there to the rest of the world - do you really want that impression to be that you don't care about the quality of what you produce? If you don't, why should we?
*climbs down off soapbox*

[technicolornina.livejournal.com]

YES!! I see these comments too and they piss me off!! If it's just your hobby for fun, shouldn't the fun be in doing it RIGHT?? After all, if you liked to crochet for fun, you wouldn't keep turning out lumpy, uneven sweaters nobody could wear (one hopes). You'd practice your stitches and tension so you could make beautiful pieces you and your family members could be proud to own, or you'd find other things to crochet, like doilies or scarves or dish-scrubbies, that were more to your talent level. Writing should be the same way.

[pyrosgf.livejournal.com]

Please step up on that soapbox anytime.

Re: Hi

[pyrosgf.livejournal.com]

Thank you for taking the time to read it and getting something out of it.

[bdr28.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this! I've actually stopped reading a few of the comms because all that are posted are never-ending WIPs. I went through one time, just to see how many there were and what chapters they were, and there were only 2 non-wips on the first two pages. all others were things like Chapter 47.2, chapter 35, chapter 54, chapter 19/? etc. And there were a few times I saw the same author posting an update day after day, to where there'd be 3 or 4 updates to the story on the first two pages.

When you're a member of so many different fic comms it really gets overwhelming to see that, and eventually I just stopped wanting to try to keep up. I've gotten to the point where I'll just go to AO3 for a lot of my fic and search for completed works, or read the various big bangs.

[pyrosgf.livejournal.com]

Talking to you on twitter about the WIPs and bitching to Scorp about someone on my friend's list driving me nuts was actually the reason I wrote this.

[bdr28.livejournal.com]

ohhh, really? no wonder it seemed like you took thoughts straight from my brain and put them into sentences! :) haha

[pyrosgf.livejournal.com]

Yeah. The more I thought about it the more it drove me nuts.