Below are the most recent 13 friends' journal entries.

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008
tsukimineshrine [ cygna_hime ]	9:06p	Writer Seeks Beta for Rush Job. Only not that rushed, actually. Here's the deal: I need a beta for a CCS story I wrote for femgenficathon. It's about 3000 words, focused on Meiling. As you all realize, I'm a bit rusty in this fandom and could use some help checking that I haven't completely messed up their voices (and the honorifics). Any takers? (1 Comment |Comment on this)
tsukimineshrine [ peacewish ]	8:12a	Fanfic Theory #3: On Review Etiquette part II Last week we talked about what's appropriate and what's not when it comes to soliciting feedback on your story. Today we tackle a far more controversial topic that most likely affects a lot more people: writing the actual reviews. What's good? What's not? And do we, the writers, have any business commenting on which is which? Positive Reviews This is an incredibly touchy subject. You writers know what I'm talking about: you pour hours into a stunning, masterful story. There are unexpected plot twists, or incredibly romantic moments, or hysterical jokes. You proofread it three times over. Then you post, and you get: omg ur awesome! or, if it's a multi-chapter continuing saga: update quick! You stare at the scant words on the screen, your only compensation for all your work, and quietly sigh. You'd like to complain, but you feel guilty. After all, the review is nice. The reader likes your work. She flattered you. She didn't have to write anything at all. Beggars can't be choosers, and you've got no business snubbing any positive reviews. Or do you? Here's my take on it. We're all here voluntarily. The reader read your story voluntarily, she reviewed it voluntarily, and you wrote it voluntarily. No, she didn't have to leave that flimsy-yet-flattering review, but you didn't have to write the story either. There is no 'have to' in the world of fandom, so that means everything is being governed by common courtesy. If a reader gets hours of free entertainment thanks to your hard work, is it really so wrong to expect a coherent and slightly more detailed review? Personally, I don't think so. I don't see it as being selfish, just reasonably wanting my reviewers to be considerate of my effort. This doesn't mean I strike the reviews off the site if they don't measure up, but you can bet that no flimsy review is going to inspire me to "update quick". GET OFF YOUR BUTT AND UPDATE NOW! (not signed cuz I'm too lazy to log in) is an actual review I got, once. The charming hypocrisy motivated me not a bit in updating, as you can imagine. mellowcandle pointed out other flaws in the flimsy review last week. It's clear enough that the reader likes it, but what are we doing right? What are we doing wrong? Is there a line the reader liked? A character? This might sound like we writers are completely self-absorbed and just want to hear about US non-stop, but it really isn't. We're not omniscient. Telling us what struck a chord and what didn't helps us become better writers, and in the end that works out best for the reader. It would be seriously cool if sites like ff.net had a function where readers could click on sentences they really loved, creating a 'star map' on your story of popular parts... but until then, we need the reader to speak up. I had a reviewer that stuck with me for years on ff.net. She never failed to review each chapter as it came out, but the only thing she ever said was, "Send the next chapter soon." Every time! To this day, I have no idea what she liked about my stories, which one she liked most, or anything. It's frustrating for me, because she was certainly an avid reader, and I feel like I missed out on a chance to get to know her. I think of several reviewers, on the other hand, that I became good friends with because my first impression of them came from frequent and intelligent reviews. Also, concerning intelligent reviews, I need to get something off my chest. Nobody expects you, the reader, to produce a scholarly thesis when you're writing your review. Your honest opinion is quite satisfactory. And I know that some people really do have a problem with spelling; I'm not about to dismiss a review because the occasional word isn't spelled right. But for the love of God, people, we've all passed first grade and I know that you know how to spell 'this' and 'that'. There's no special trick to it. Unless you are Jamaican by birth, you have no business filling the reviews with 'dis' and 'dat'. It's silly and entirely distracting, to the point that I can never remember what the reviewer actually said. Also, it's worth taking a minute to scan over your review before you press submit. The occasional typo is just a typo, but sometimes I get reviews where the spelling is so monstrously bad I literally cannot understand what the word is supposed to be. On a grander scale, the structure of the sentence is sometimes so confused that I can't figure out what the reviewer is trying to say. The whole point of the review has been nullified. Negative Reviews Just as controversial as positive, but in an entirely different way. The story is not completely 'awesome'. It needs work. How best to phrase it, in a way that will convey your respect for the author and her attempt whilst gently breaking the news that her story has some flaws? The short answer, in many cases, is that you don't. There are writers that make honest mistakes, and then there are writers that flagrantly, outspokenly, do not care. I recall a writer that not only had several words misspelled in her summary, sparing herself a tedious ten seconds of proofreading, but even a word in the title was misspelled! She was, incidentally, a Hostage Taker, declaring an update would come about only after ten reviews. Critiquers need not apply. I pointed out the mistake in her title, and my review was promptly deleted. Trying to help fix a story that an author clearly isn't interested in fixing is nothing but a waste of your time. But then there is the other writer, who's come up with something decent and shows real potential. How best to go about it? Here's something that recently showed up in my inbox: ...I feel that some paragraphs need to be broken down into smaller ones, and some of the sentences are...not really run-ons, but a little fast and could use a comma or two. As for some others, they could be worded differently. She almost nailed it, in my opinion. Her tone was reasonable and her concerns were (probably) just. I say probably because this is as far as she went, she did not actually go on to say which paragraphs needed breaking down and which sentences were 'not really' run-ons but could still use a comma or two. All the 'mistakes' she listed were not technically mistakes, just matters of taste. She might very well be right, but I can't search through a ten page chapter for something that's not even an actual error. How am I supposed to look for something that 'could be worded differently'? Fic writers are ultimately responsible for everything that goes into the story, yes. The buck stops here. But at the end of the day, let's again remember that we're all here voluntarily and that writers get no actual compensation for the work they do. Writers have jobs, families, and lives. If you're going to bring up mistakes, be a pal and actually list which mistakes you see, making it clear where in the chapter you saw it. Whether the writer agrees or not, at least you've made it easier for her to see what you're talking about without a lot of wasted time. Things like grammar and spelling are the easiest things to fix. What about broader problems, like characterization or plot structure? Again, sometimes you're just going to have to walk away. Stuff like this can be argued one way or another, but it's going to come down to taste. I chose not to review a brilliantly written story because I thought the writer's take on Li Syaoran was completely off and she was a moron for seeing him that way. Obviously, I wasn't going to do anyone any good by writing that, so I kept my thoughts to myself. Some time ago I got a nasty review slamming me for pairing Sakura with Syaoran in my story, instead of with Tomoyo. Clearly a taste issue - if the reader needs to read S/T, then she needs to find S/T authors, not criticize other authors for not fulfilling her expectations. Plot structure might be a little more objective than something like characterization or couplings, but it's difficult to write and difficult to critique. I think this is a situation where you're better off with having an idea of your own to suggest. Like: I can't help but feel that scene was a little rushed. I would have liked to see X and Y talk more about that Z issue before the scene changed. I really liked both those scenes, but I think I would have understood things better if they were switched in order. Both examples pertained to a specific, fixable part of the story, emphasized a positive aspect, and let your opinion (which of course is never technically wrong) be known. No one can blame the author for not following through on your suggestion, but stuff like that just might filter into her head for the next time she tackles a story. And people, always double-check your own corrections before flinging them out there. It can save you a lot of humiliation later on. I laughingly recall tamchronin's infamous reviewer, who condescendingly informed her that the title of her story should not be 'Vessel' (the story was about a boy possessed by another's soul) but 'Vassal'. I once had a reviewer deign to teach me that Touya and Yukito would never address each other without honorifics, and that Sakura would never attach such an emasculating honorific like -chan to Kero's name. I can only assume she'd just read the manga, and never seen the anime. Pompousness rarely pays off! This was ridiculously long and I bet I didn't even cover a lot of stuff, but I'm starving for breakfast. As usual, please add and embellish as you see fit. Current Mood: contemplative (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, August 18th, 2008
digimonfics [ custom_magnum ]	1:09p	Broken Dreams chapter 6 Title: Broken Dreams Series: Digimon Savers/Mutli Digimon series X-Over Rating: PG13/T Genre: Adventure/Drama, AU Story Summary: Ten years after the fateful fight against Yggdrasil, the lives of DATS agent Daimon Chika, Trainee Noguchi Yuka, and Relena Norstein take a turn for the convoluted as rising tensions finally explode into action. Chapter Summary: The group gets out of Yokohoma, and now a week long break for them is about to begin. Chapter 6: Needed Vacation Crossposted to digimon_savers and digimon. (Comment on this)
Saturday, August 16th, 2008
tsukimineshrine [ amythest_n_ice ]	12:55a	Card Master Touya (Part 7) Title: Card Master Touya Author: amythest_n_ice Rating: 15 Pairing: Touya/YukitoYue Spoilers/Warnings: Off screen Character Death http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4268476/7/Card_Master_Touya link to ff.net for Part 7 Current Mood: content Current Music: nope (Comment on this)
Friday, August 15th, 2008
tsukimineshrine [ peacewish ]	9:14a	ad Return to the Labyrinth's Chapter Three is up. “It’s not your kingdom.” The gargoyles went silent, and Rai whipped around to face Touya again. He hadn’t meant to speak but the words had come out on their own, and now every pair of eyes in the room had fastened onto him with shocked disbelief. “It’s not your kingdom,” he repeated, louder. “It’s Yue’s. You don’t even belong here; you’re nothing but a thief trying to take something that’s not yours. And if all it takes is 'one single human rebel' to make you this nervous, I think you know you’re not doing too good a job of it. Makes me wonder how nervous you are about Yue.” Current Mood: creative (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008
tsukimineshrine [ bananaspit ]	12:51p	Locked Wings (critique please) Title: Locked Wings Penname: globmonster1 Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4024640/1/Locked_Wings Pairings: SxS and ExT Genre: Romance Summary: Syaoran grew sick of being caged in by the Elders and sought a way out. Now, 5 years later, Sakura gets bribed to take him back, even if it means doing the dirty. Warning: POV changes from time to time. Be as harsh as you need to and thanks. (Comment on this)
tsukimineshrine [ peacewish ]	9:14a	Fanfic Theory #2: On Review Etiquette It's been put forward by a few that we ought to discuss just what is appropriate and what is not when it comes to soliciting that most precious of payment in the world of fanfic: reviews. Emily Post never said a word about it, so we'll have to figure it out for ourselves. First, a thought or two on my part. We who write fanfic are way down at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to fan-driven art and its compensation. Cosplayers get treated like celebrities at cons and are begged for photo ops. Artists sell their product in con auctions. Doujinshi artists sell their product too. But for those of us that pour hours of energy into magnificently crafted stories, never a dime shall be paid. Reviews are, therefore, the only return on our time and work. It's a hard life, but someone has to do it. So, no writer should feel bad about craving more reviews for their cherished work. The only question is, how hard can we beg for them? What's polite, and what's not? I suck at summerys, just R+R plezzz!! An obvious no-no. Leaving aside the arrogance displayed by assuming anyone would even want to read a story when the author couldn't be bothered to write a one-sentence summary (the art of a good summary being best left for another post), how can the author demand we put for the effort to write a review for it? Li Syaoran is a biker raised on the streets, Kinomoto Sakura a cute preppy cheerleader from a good home. What will happen when they meet? R+R! We won't bother to wonder about the quality of the story, but the author did at least manage to construct a coherent summary. But the 'R+R' still bothers me. It's hardly review whoring, but putting 'R+R' in your summary seems to me like stating the obvious. It's only natural that when you put a story up on a site, you want people to read it. Tagging your summary with an R that stands for read isn't going to magically make it happen. And people will review depending on whether they like it or not, and the second R isn't going to make that happen either. In other words, the entire 'R+R' code is completely useless and is just taking up space in your summary. Ditch it. I won't update unless I get ten more reviews! The Hostage Taker - we've all met her at one point or another. Forget the churlishness of the act, what puts me off is the overwhelming arrogance of the author. By making such a threat, you assume your story is so amazingly speshul and wonderful that people would naturally be moved by terror of never seeing an update again. I find that in practice, if your story is really that good, there is no need to demand a review ransom. The readers will be falling all over themselves to review. If you have to demand the reviews, it's time to re-examine the quality of your work. PM: Hey there, I was wondering if you'd like to take a look at my new story XX and tell me what you think of it? This is a maybe. If you're a longtime writer and, like me, have a circle of old friends in the fandom, you're not wrong for wanting to hear their opinions on it. They're probably your friends because they appreciate good quality, and can be counted on to give you some helpful, constructive criticism. If you're messaging someone that you know but does not necessarily know you, such as an author you've admired for a long time and are really hoping the author will approve of your story and get to like you, I don't think that's so wrong either. It is, after all, a compliment to the author. But be sure to actually state why you've solicited this person's opinion, and don't get snitty if the author never winds up reviewing your story. I'm always very flattered when I get these requests, but 9 times out of 10 the story is a mess and I don't have the heart to say so. If your author remains silent, that's probably why. Time to re-examine the story. And then there's just randomly messaging people. This is on equivalent to the bulk mail we get in our mailboxes, and you can expect the same treatment (trash can!). And then your name will be forever associated with being a nuisance, and nobody wants that. My advice is, don't do it. Who do you like better in my story, Eriol or Syaoran? The innocuous survey, so innocent at first glance. Or is just a sneaky ploy to generate more reviews? And if it is, is that really so wrong? I've got several published manga volumes on my bookshelf that are packed with Author Notes asking very similar questions, and often survey results are added in at the back of the books. (Kyo's winning in Fruit's Basket, yay.) I'll admit it, I've done it. We fanficcers are putting hours of our lives and precious free time into creating these stories. We're obsessed with them, they are our children. And it's pretty rare - for me, it's never - that we know anyone in the real world we can discuss them with. By virtue of the fact that you're reading our story, we know that you at least are interested. So it's only natural that we want to explore the ideas in our story with you, to discuss the characters and expound on themes. It's less likely that we're doing it to boost the review count than we're doing it just because we're looking for some real intellectual feedback on the story. I can't say that's not selfish, because it is all about us, but I think it's excusable. I'm not saying that because I've done it, either. I'm saying that because it is intrinsically voluntary. If no one is deeply into the story enough to care about your survey question, then they won't review to answer it and that is that. If they care enough to answer the question, then they probably would have reviewed anyway. Nobody's forcing anyone here. All the survey really does, actually, is give some people a focus to center their review on, when otherwise they might have simply gone with omg ur story rox!. And the end result is something much more helpful to the author. So I vote yes, surveying is an acceptable practice. There are probably grounds for others to disagree with me, so I'd be interested in hearing from those who think no. Did I miss anything? I tried to cover all the different methods of review solicitation, but I might have forgotten one in my old age. I was going to cover the flip side, etiquette for those who do the reviewing, but this post is so long already that I guess we'll leave that for another day. Current Mood: busy (16 Comments |Comment on this)
tsukimineshrine [ amythest_n_ice ]	4:48a	New Comm Hello, I just opened a new comm, tomeda_nights If you are 18 or over, and would like to play in Tomoeda when the lights have gone out, come and say hi.   Current Mood: hopeful Current Music: nope (Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 12th, 2008
tsukimineshrine [ amythest_n_ice ]	4:33a	Things you learn when you're dead Title: Things you learn when you're dead author: amythest_n_ice rating: 15 pairing(s): Touya/YueYukito, Fujitaka/Nadeshiko warnings: Character death-kind of.  Summary: Fujitaka finds out that realizing you are dead is not always the biggest shock you have to face, in this world, or the next.  ( Things you learn when you're dead ) Current Mood: contemplative Current Music: nope (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, August 11th, 2008
digimonfics [ custom_magnum ]	12:51p	Broken Dreams Chapter 05 Title: Broken Dreams Series: Digimon Savers/Mutli Digimon series X-Over Rating: PG13/T Genre: Adventure/Drama Story Summary: Ten years after the fateful fight against Yggdrasil, the lives of DATS agent Daimon Chika, Trainee Noguchi Yuka, and Relena Norstein take a turn for the convoluted as rising tensions finally explode into action. Chapter Summary: Memories haunt Relena... and Chika's plans to leave Yokohoma are derailed... Chapter 5: Unnerving Memory Crossposted to digimon_savers and personal journal. (Comment on this)
Saturday, August 9th, 2008
tsukimineshrine [ amythest_n_ice ]	1:01a	Help I hope someone can help me, I'm looking for a friends only banner for a new Comm, preferably a banner showing Touya with Yue or Yuki. *Puts on Puppy eyes*  Current Mood: curious Current Music: Nope (Comment on this)
Friday, August 8th, 2008
tsukimineshrine [ peacewish ]	8:41a	update Chapter 2 of Return to the Labyrinth is up. “In the labyrinth,” Touya remembered out loud, “nothing is what it seems.” Li cast him a sidelong glance. “That’s right. That much, at least, hasn’t changed since you saw it last.” “I’m sure. Speaking of which, why are you really doing this?” Li frowned. Sakura had gotten ahead, admiring the animals, and couldn’t hear them. “I told you. Somebody has to keep the power of the Labyrinth from falling into Rai’s hands.” “Patriotism,” Touya said skeptically. Li looked uncertain. “What’s that?” “It’s… loyalty for your homeland. The reason soldiers die to protect it.” “Well I don’t plan on dying. But okay. Patriotism.” First Labyrinth story here. Current Mood: creative (Comment on this)
Thursday, August 7th, 2008
tsukimineshrine [ peacewish ]	8:21a	Fanfic Theory #1 So, our fearless leader is wanting to stimulate more discussion in the Shrine, and that's good. I miss it too. And though we are still deliberating on what sorts of discussions we may hold, I'm posting now because I need to get something off my chest. And there are several hundred members of this community, many of which are new writers - whether or not you're writing for the CCS fandom - who might benefit from reading what I have to say. I'm going to call this a first installment of Fanfic Theory discussions, and I hope others will have topics of their own to contribute. Listen to me, fanficcers. Listen very carefully, because what I am about to say is directly counter to a disturbing trend in the art of fanfic narrative. Do not ever describe a character's eyes as 'orbs'. If you have done it in the past, stop it. If you've never done it, keep it that way. It's absurd, pointless, and in a way highly disgusting. For those who aren't aware of the actual definition, an orb is a perfectly round, spherical object. Ever watch Brisco County Jr when you were a kid? Yeah, that was an orb. Every time you refer to someone's eye as an orb, that just evokes a picture of the spherical ball within the skull, of which we can only see a small percentage, and picturing that is gross. It definitely doesn't get one in the romantic mood, which is usually the aim of these sorts of descriptions. Syaoran looked into her shimmering green orbs... Moving on from the disgusting aspect, it's inaccurate because not the entire eye is green. Most of it is white. What's green is the small ring-shaped muscle known as the iris. So if you wanted to be technical, you could say 'her shimmering green irisis...' but don't, because that's almost as dumb sounding as orb. Just say eye. Really. No one's going to cast you into unimaginative writer hell for it! I know you've spent X number of years in public education getting told by your English teacher to always use new, fresh words to describe things, but forget all that. Mark Twain said that the difference between the right word and almost-right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug. And orb is just not the right word to describe an eye. Moreover, it's not new or fresh. Unfortunately. It's all over ff.net, much to my chagrin, so it's time we started to fight back. Tell your friends! I'm only telling you this because I care about you and want you to write good stories. My best friends here in the Shrine, all of whom are excellent writers, will agree with me. We have your best interests at heart. Swear you will strike 'orb' from your facial descriptions now and forever more. Current Mood: determined (20 Comments |Comment on this)