What erks you in fandom???

[halojones]

babs--throw some stories our way!

as for the topic: yeah, ffland is an odd place because you have such a diverse crowd wanting some good stories. So, you have 12 year olds and 40 years mixing and mingling in the oddest ways!

I think alot of young authors start out with a great premise, but then out of insecurity's sake, they may not make good on the idea and fall into line with ffland canon. Ie...emmetts a dumb jock horndog; alice is a mall rat ditz; bella has a "kick me" sign eternally taped to her back;,etc. Or else they may have a great premise, but aren't sure how to get from point "A" to point "T"--and so they fall back on cliched storylines or stop altogether. Which is understandable too, if they are young and not quite sure how to execute things.

So, a lot of times you see a lot of "great expectations" that aren't met. lol

oh, and you know about a/ns? Sometimes if you bring it to people's attentions that's helpful. I was getting alot of international reviewers asking me questions about American pop cultural references, and so I started leaving a/n's right after the references in the middle of the story.

Someone then was like "that's really nice how you explain what an awesome blossom from chili's is for the international readers, but could you put them at the end of the story?" ahahhha It never even occurred to me so it was helpful someone mentioned it.

[cdunbar]

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for A/Ns at the beginning or end of stories. I actively use them myself. My pet peeve is the unnecessary ones in the middle of the story that breaks the flow of the story.

[babsenchanted]

Ok I have an idea, but really I am going to have to play dumb and ask...... what are A/N's??

[cdunbar]

Author Notes = A/Ns

[halojones]

oh, no---I think that's a legitimate pet peeve, the a/n thingy. It just never occurred to me how distracting they were, because to be honest, I read maybe two fanfic stories before I went off and started writing my own stories.

So, I was actually glad someone brought it to my attention, because I tend to not really read my chapters after I'm done. And as a result, never realized how distracting they truly were. I just mentioned my case to say sometimes it's helpful to mention this point to the authors in a pm or a review(worded nicely of course) cause it may be helpful to them in the long run.

[cdunbar]

Ooh...I tell them. In a very nice, polite way, of course.

*shrugs* But it doesn't matter much anymore, because I stopped reading ff.net stories randomly. I only read the ones that come recommended now...like yours, Halo.

[arlverde]

babs--throw some stories our way!

as for the topic: yeah, ffland is an odd place because you have such a diverse crowd wanting some good stories. So, you have 12 year olds and 40 years mixing and mingling in the oddest ways!

I think alot of young authors start out with a great premise, but then out of insecurity's sake, they may not make good on the idea and fall into line with ffland canon. Ie...emmetts a dumb jock horndog; alice is a mall rat ditz; bella has a "kick me" sign eternally taped to her back;,etc. Or else they may have a great premise, but aren't sure how to get from point "A" to point "T"--and so they fall back on cliched storylines or stop altogether. Which is understandable too, if they are young and not quite sure how to execute things.

So, a lot of times you see a lot of "great expectations" that aren't met. lol

oh, and you know about a/ns? Sometimes if you bring it to people's attentions that's helpful. I was getting alot of international reviewers asking me questions about American pop cultural references, and so I started leaving a/n's right after the references in the middle of the story.

Someone then was like "that's really nice how you explain what an awesome blossom from chili's is for the international readers, but could you put them at the end of the story?" ahahhha It never even occurred to me so it was helpful someone mentioned it.

I am all for staying with cannon as much as I am all for OCC I think though when the go for cannon it turns into cliche. When I started reading fanfic I stayed away from the all human stories. I was like huh way off cannon, can't be any good. Of course now most of the stories on my alert list are all human. I love them.

I like reading the authors notes at the begining of the stories or at the end. And I also like when the author gives links to music or pictures of what they have in mind. It allows me to see what their ideas are and if I have my own vision I don't click.

I admire anyone who posts their stories it takes courage. I have an idea for a story that keeps lingering in my mind and I just might find the nerve to actually put it on paper. I am pretty decent at description. My problem comes when I try to write dialog. And that is funny cause I love to talk.

[Steph]

Emmett being stupid.
Rosalie simply being a huge bitch and nothing more.
Jasper being whipped and doing anything and everything Alice suggests.
Bella being almost unable to walk and tripping every other paragraph.

I don't mind a/n's as long as they explain something. I hate when it's random commentary like "lol this happened to me last week lololol".
I think they're ok to just add at the end too, though. Even reading a published book, and not being American, you can get confused by some American things, but you can always look it up at the end of the chapter if it's that confusing. So it doesn't matter so much if they're all put at the end in fan fics for me personally.

[cdunbar]

I absolutely LOVE it when Emmett has a brain.

Him, brainless = epic fail, in my book

[float.away]

I hate when people write Emmett as this big loud moron who doesn't have two brain cells to rub together.

And I don't like it when authors post pictures of what people/clothes/whatever are supposed to look like... I feel like if they described it in the story then I should get a good enough picture in my head without needing an outside picture. Maybe that's just me though.