mini-rant

[wook77]

First - thanks for the comments on my mopey post. Peche went to sleep at 3:15pm CST yesterday. It was very peaceful.

Second - I've changed my layout again. I don't like it but I didn't like the other one either. Anyone good at coding and be willing to help me out? I'll pay with fic or really shitty art. Honest. I'll write any pairing for a layout that I like for more than a month.

Moving on... I've recently noticed a lot of things that annoy me when people are advertising their stories and/or art. So - a mild but long rant about what makes me read or not read a story.



1.) I admit it. I judge by the icons. If the icon is childish and/or annoying, unless it's a name I already know, I won't read the story. When the icon doesn't make a good first impression, I don't go further. Am I mean and bitchy when it comes to this? Nope. I simply ignore the post other than making a mental note of the lj user so that I don't peruse it later.

2.) If there is no summary, there won't be any reading from me. It's as simple as that. I'm not going to get suckered into reading a story I don't want to. Even an excerpt of the story would be wonderful. Give your reader a few thoughts about what you do. (I've learned this one the hard way. I don't read dark!harry very often and I've been sucker punched into it a few times. This wookiee can learn a new trick or two.)

3.) If you don't tell me who you're writing about, I won't read. It's another simple fact. I detest Snarry or, in fact, any teacher/student pairing with very rare exceptions, likewise for anything involving a romantic or sexual Filch, Dumbledore or Hagrid. Sorry, it's just a personal preference. I'm not going to get suckered into reading a Filch/Dumbledore simply because the writer decided not to clarify who the pairing was.

4.) If there is self-deprecation in the A/N or intro (other than a "I'm new to this pairing/comm/fandom" or the like type comment), I won't read it. If you don't like it, why the hell should I? If there isn't a chance in hell of me liking it, why should I waste my time reading it when there are plenty of things out there that I will like?

5.) Continuing #4 - I will read new authors. I will give everyone a chance when it comes to my chosen ships. I will offer concrit, advice, commentary, etc. Why? Because I was new once (and still am in many circles) and I know how much I appreciated all of that. However, if you think I'm flaming you when I request that your story go through a spellchecker before being posted, I will mark you down on the "wook will never read again list". If you can't use a lj cut, I won't read you. If you are argumentative, arrogant or condescending, I won't read you. (I realize that by me saying this, it is arrogant and condescending.)

6.) Continuing #5 - If there are blatant misspellings and/or grammar mistakes in the "advert", I will avoid you like the plague. Why? Because I can't be pantsed to read your stuff if you can't be pantsed to spell check/grammar check. English not your native language? Get a beta. There are plenty of them out there. Hell, I've been known to beta a couple of times.

7.) #6 holds true for netspeak and that annoying tYpnLYkDiS as well.

8.) If your username annoys the shit out of me, I won't read you. Example? If you have a username of dracoisawhingingbitchthatdeservestodie, I won't read you. Insulting people, places, things that I like doesn't float my boat. UsEAusRNMlKDs and I won't read you either. Why? It annoys the shit out of me and goes back to the first impression.

9.) Continuing in the vein of #8 - If your summary, a/n, etc. are insulting to characters or people, I won't read. (I recently saw a story with "Hermione is a dumbass know it all and I'm happy to kill her off in this story. I'm sure you all will agree." as a summary. Err, no thanks.)

That being said for why I won't read you - here's why I will read you.

1.) If your advert is cleanly laid out and you're writing a ship I adore or want to try, I will give it a try. Cleanly laid out means summary, pairing, title and any a/n's in a clear concise order. Most communities have requested advert formats. People who adhere to these are beautiful.

2.) Irregardless of your pairing (other than my squick ships), if your summary sounds interesting, I will give it a try. I read a wonderful Seamus/Draco story that had a very intriguing summary. Am I a Seamus/Draco shipper? Err, no, not at all. I still enjoyed it because it was well written and the summary intrigued me. I made sure to also tell the writer this because comments are golden.

3.) If you give me a teaser and you don't violate #6 above, I will probably give it a try. Why? Because your teaser gives me a taste and I'm one of those "once you pop, you can't stop" kind of girls. I have to know the ending. If it is a WiP, I will eagerly watch the comms for updates.

5.) If you comment on one of my offerings, I will normally pop over to your journal and peruse all fandom related things and comment as well. Why? Because it's polite to return the favor. More than that, I'm always curious about what other people can offer to fandom as well. Comments are gold. They let the person making the offering know that people are reading and appreciating. More than that, concrit is platinum. Concrit lets the person know what they're doing wrong in a polite manner that will insure that they're not going to be part of some big cosmic joke. (ie, did you see how wook77 always mispells Madam Pince? What a tool.)

6.) I'm alright with crossposting when done over a matter of hours (not seconds). Why? Because sometimes I don't catch the first post. Sometimes I don't catch the second or even third posts. I belong to a lot of groups so that I can have the exposure to new offerings for a reason. If I minded cross-posting, then I would defriend a bunch of the groups.

7.) If you are recc'd by a friend of mine, I will give your stories a go. If they liked it, chances are, I'm going to like it.

8.) If you offer something new, I will read. That means a non-cliche, a cliche used in a new way, an AU that hasn't been done, a pairing that sounds intriguing, etc.

9.) I will normally give crack!fic a try, irregardless of the pairing. Why? Because the idea of Snape being caught in a tutu cracks me up. Dumbledore shagging Fawkes is like a trainwreck I can't look away from. New uses for Hagrid's pink umbrella make me go "ew but OMG hilarious" if done well. All these characters are normal squick for me but if the crack! is right, I'll be coming on down to your story.

10.) You're in a ship that I follow religiously and you don't violate any of the "no thanks" things above. Self-explanatory.

I'm interested to hear what makes any of you read or not read a story. Tell me all about it, people.

Please note that this is not to turn into a "I don't read soandso because they're horrible" type post. I'm honestly curious about what makes or breaks an offering for you. What draws you in? What pushes you away?

Anon is on and ip logging is off. Wank will be deleted with no explanations.

Comments

[chaeldub.livejournal.com]

Here by way of why_me_why_not. You make some really good points, I would agree with 99.9 % this whole heartedly. The one thing that gets me about fic summary/warnings is... what if I give to much away. If I tell you there is a character death before you start reading a fic thats say 10,000 words, your going to be thinking who's gonna die and when and how. I think we get tied up in warning for that a little to much... I understand some people want Happy Potter, but, in that little world it usually not.

PS - Find out Harry's parents were murdered.
CoS - Moaning Myrtle was murdered
PoA - Street full of Muggles.
GoF - Frank and Cedric
OotP - Sirius
HBP - Dumbledore
untitled 7th book - People are going to die again!

plus all sorts of other angst type stuff, racisim, teen problems, and many others. If we got warned at the start of the book by JKR... I'm gonna kill someone in here, how many people would then not read? So warning's other than some pairings and sex squicks can be a bit hard, I think.

I try to read a varied cross section of characters, avoiding Dumbledore and Hagrid and most of the teachers but I will give Snape a read as he always(should) have good writing to go along with him. Mainly I read H/D but I like other pairing's and a good story I can usually tell in about 150 - 300 words whether I can enjoy reading something. Bad spelling is, yeah, a real turn off.

I'm like, anael, I try to comment on anything I look at, pic or fic. I think that if you took the time to click the link, then take the time to comment. Although - 'liked it' and 'nice' are not comments, they are words. I try and tell why I liked it or didn't, I would expect the same back.

There's probably more but I think i'm filling up your journal... :D

Character death warning

[lilian-cho.livejournal.com]

Here via why_me_why_not too.

I think it was a v. good move of Rowling to warn for character death for HBP, actually. Some small kids actually have nightmares over Dumbledore's death and parent have to form support groups and all :-/

And...if I pretend that the HP books are fanfics, I would post the character death warning only for OotP and HBP, because:
1. Both Sirius and Dumbledore play quite major roles in that specific book
2. Sirius is a constant character since CoS, Dumbledore since PS/SS
3. The deaths are watched by the main character and therefore have more emotional impact on the reader

I wouldn't post a character death warning for the first four books, because: 1. The characters that die are not that important (anonymous Muggles) or
2. Harry doesn't have any emotional ties to the character (Myrtle, Cedric)
3. The deaths were not witnessed by Harry (except Cedric)

So um, even if character death is not noted in the warnings (because it will be spoiler-y or whatever), it should at least has warning for "extreme angst" and/or "darkfic."

I mean, I love Cinnamon's Windfallen and Beautiful World and all (they're what sucked me into the HP fandom), but I haven't had the emotional climate/weather/whatever to read deathfics lately (read: more than half a year now).

Re: Character death warning

[wook77.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of "extreme angst" as a warning. *makes mental note*

However, if I see "angst" as a warning, I'll be prepared for almost anything. Both the stories you mentioned, had there been a huge character death warning slapped all over the place, would not have made such an impact on me. I like fics that twist me unexpectedly. I really do enjoy it in a masochistic sort of way.

I'll agree with the Dumbledore warning simply because of the intended audience/age and the way the death happened. It allowed for parents to prepare their children, especially as there are very small children out there currently reading the books that have not experienced death firsthand like that.

However, in a fanfic, especially the ones I read, the intended audience is of age and should realize that "extreme angst" could mean character death.

Re: Character death warning

[lilian-cho.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of "extreme angst" as a warning. *makes mental note*

*g* Now I know what that means when I see it connected to your name. lol.

Both the stories you mentioned, had there been a huge character death warning slapped all over the place, would not have made such an impact on me.

I agree. Which is why I appreciate that Cinnamon posts"very dark" for Windfallen. On the other hand, I'm not as disturbed with the character death in Beautiful World because the fic builds up to it, basically. Plus the H/D romance is still sweet even though it did end with death :-P

especially as there are very small children out there currently reading the books that have not experienced death firsthand like that.

I mean, some children get traumatized by Narnia, for goodness' sake (The Last Battle).

And I do agree that having character death warning where the death of the character is a vital plot twist (or a looming threat) takes the fun out of it :-/

Re: Character death warning

[wook77.livejournal.com]

ditto, ditto and ditto.

There are times and readers that require that visceral gut-wrenching pain of an unexpected character death.

It's still traumatic for some children to experience death firsthand. It's up to the parent to make that decision. Then again, I have multiple other rants about parents and parenting skills, so I'll leave it there *winks*.

[wook77.livejournal.com]

I'm ok with not warning about character death. Not to make (another) huge deal out of a situation but I yanked my one story off of an archive and basically severed the relationship with that archive simply because they thought there should be a character death warning because that's how they assumed the story ended. Not to self-pimp but if you're curious which one - it's Moments (http://archive.skyehawke.com/story.php?no=10231). It was specifically written to leave the ending up to the reader. By putting a character death warning on it, the archive basically said, "we don't fucking care what you meant, we're the gods here so sod you".

There are a few times that character death should be warned for... for example, the dumbledore comment below. By allowing parents to plan that a character in a children's book was going to die, it alleviated the traumatic effect on the kids. However, in fanfic, sorry but I'll hardly ever warn over it. When I write it, I WANT people to be shocked and hurt. That's one of the reasons I have "angst" as a warning.

Like I said above, I'll give any of the pairings a try unless they're a squick. I've recently become really intrigued by femmeslash. Bad spelling is not only a real turnoff but a complete never again moment for me. A few and I can forgive as it slips past. There are certain rules of grammar I'm willing to let go of. However, way too much and I'm outta there.

I really really try to click on anything I look at but lately, I've been horribly remiss (I'm hypocritical when it comes to that right now).

Feel free to continue. I really love a good debate/discussion/etc. When I say concrit is welcomed when I intro a fic, I really do mean it. Please point out where I'm wrong. Feel free to point out where I'm right as well *snirt*.

[chaeldub.livejournal.com]

Self-pimp away I say... just finished reading and like, whoa. Angst my favourite type of fic. Also a fic after my own heart, I love story's that jump around in time. Yeah, it's dark, there's violence in it, implied character death...maybe...maybe not, but that's the idea.

I don't hate the idea of HAPPY Potter stories, it's just I don't think your staying true to canon if everyone gets along, there's no angst other thatn what dress to wear and who's dating who. I agree also that to warn about a ddeath can be negative to the story.

I will have to agree to disagree in regards to JKR warning about Dumbledore's death... she didn't for Sirius. Also she has gone on record as saying that even though they are read by children she doesn't consider them to be just books for them. I agree that fanfic is different but, you can regulate who does and doesn't read your fic once it's posted somewhere. If it's Harry they might read it anyway. Luckily I had managed to avoid hearing about any death's in HBP and so it came as a surprise, which was great, as was Snape. I agree the only warning should be 'angst', and that should cover all bases. The term Dark!fic can get a little grim, so een though I like it, it's probably a tough one to use unless it really is DARK. If you want Happy Harry, go trot of and read .... *eek* can't think of any happy books - even all the fairytales, Grimm, Narnia are all angsty.

On a side note about ship's though... in reference to Snape and Draco and what happened in HBP, I will read almost any story... more so if I like the pairing. However people who avoid a story because of a pairing or a minor pairing...gggrrrrrrr. Ok, so say I'm not fond of Snupin(I do like it though)... I wouldn't stop reading a fic if I was and found they were a minor pairing, yet for some people this is a problem. Why? Variety is the spice of life. You need more paings in your diet. Also by reading more pairings you get a better understanding of their dynamics, helps me in writing them I hope.

Thanks for letting me vent...

[wook77.livejournal.com]

I like a good happy story or at least a happy ending. However, that being said, I really like a story that doesn't give you that happy ending either. There is an angst/fluff challenge happening over at slythindor100 that has some really well done angst from enchanted_jae and janicechess. I'm enjoying the offerings over there.

It's more the fact that children really got attached to Dumbledore and saw him as a parental/grandfatherly figure. To have him suddenly murdered and by Snape, really ripped the rug out from under a lot of kids. Not only did it give parents time to prepare their children, it was a brilliant marketing plan. It really got people talking both before and after and really got people excited about the franchise.

Yeah, most children's stories have at least a small amount of angst. Without that overcoming, the hero myth dies and it's a boring recitation of facts. Have you read "The Hero With a Thousand Faces"? It's a really interesting book that compares Luke Skywalker with Hercules, etc.

I won't stop reading due to a minor pairing in the fic. I'll absorb and continue on. I read a wonderful H/D with Hermione/Snape as a secondary pairing and continued on, even though I was a bit *ew* about it. Why? Because it wasn't the main thing and the author did a good job on making it believable.

I will avoid a story that focuses on a ship I don't like. In school cross-generation is not my cuppa so I avoid them. That being said, I will read cross-generation if it's not in school. I read a fantastic Remus/Harry (I wish I remembered titles) that was after school. Not a pairing I would normally seek out but it was recc'd by a friend and it delivered.

I'm with you on the variety thing. I enjoy H/D as my OTP and will read it above others. However, other pairings inspire me into situations with H/D and get me to thinking about the possibilities. So, yeah, I agree.

Vent away... I'm having fun!

Finally (as the main point wasn't to self-pimp but...)I'm so glad you liked Moments. It's my favorite thing I've written. It was challenging and wonderful and took me weeks of tweaking to make sure I could write it into a "choose your own ending" ending. I agonized over verb choices, adjectives and flow. The end comments are based on a NIN song from Further Down the Spiral. It's just those phrases sung over and over. It's very hypnotic and, as I was in a dark place in my life at the time, it really fit. I have another darkfic coming out for the challenge over at darkones that I hope to finish in time. It's hard going, though *pouts*