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I am not a politically correct person, so do not expect me to mince words in this rant. I have plenty to say about the frauds who plague this and other sites. :sarcasm: is now in session because I have already read all of the favorite nauseating, too often written, worn out excuses that have triggered this overwhelmed frustration induced rant. I do apologize in advance for this being such a tactless tirade. I really need to get this off my chest because I am so frustrated with things I continue to read every time I come here. What is the point of writing if the document is a thoughtless piece of slop without merit pounded out willy-dilly on a whim, and posted without revision? Why do some people insist upon placing such infantile things in the archives, and then get angry when someone with a basic grasp of English structure mentions a few of the problems that need addressing to create a better reading tale? Why do some individuals whine incessantly about contrit feedback, instead of considering that there might be a real problem which can be corrected with a little expended effort? If one does not understand the foundations of proper grammar and spelling, why insist upon being vile to those who seek to give actual valid aide? When did writing become a place for cop outs and egotists? Who ever said that everyone should be patted upon the head simply because they bothered to put something up at a free site like AFFnet, or FFnet? What have the lazy done to earn a touch of praise and accolades for the illiterate slop they insist upon posting? Absolutely nothing gets done when a poorly written piece is added to the archives is my response. Give feedback to such frauds, and they delete the reviews, or proclaim concrit reviews to be trolling! Such frauds are too infantile to accept that they can improve if they get off their lazy butts and do a little research! YE Gods Forbid that such individuals ever face the wrath of a genuine editor. I can see the suicide rate escalating fast if they ever had to remove the blinders from their eyes. Such people are the bane of the writing hobbiest, and professional alike. What is the point of giving reviews if the writer is unwilling to consider critical mistake portions of an honest review? Why do lazy, insecure asses bother to beg for reviews while remaining too immature to give such reviews any thought toward self improvement? How can people call themselves writers when they are so obstinately unwilling to learn how to take a fair reading story, and make it into a genuinely beautiful tale that is memorable? Why do such frauds feel so compelled to provide a plethora of meaningless excuses for their mistakes, instead of attempting to change for the better? The reason for my ranting questions: I am so sick and tired of the whining, lame excuses that the vast majority of writers like to pull out of their asses. People seem to love bellyaching, and giving excuses to avoid improving anything they slop together and post. To me, people are flat against learning the diverse aspects, and complex elements involved with writing style. I am also fed up with jerks who refuse to pull their heads out of the asses when it comes to a reasonable review meant to give genuine help. Nobody is attacking when they send a review that something was messed up when they mention grammar/spelling problems. Any idea why I might be so angry about the plethora of bull I read in forums, and in author's notes in the main archive? Reality Check: I had a massive stroke a few years ago. It took two years to get to the point I could use my right side again. Then, I had to reteach myself from the foundation up how to read and to write a second time. Everything that I know I should recall from my time as an employed editor in the 90's was locked behind a wall of damage that I struggle to break down every single day of my life. I also have Dyslexia problems complicated by fine motor skill nerve damage. Do I use these difficulties as a knee jerk excuse for instances of personal, poor writing? THE ANSWER IS HELL NO! To my way of thinking, real writers strive to overcome their disabilities, not use them as a crutch to languish within their flaws! I bought grammar based books and read them repeatedly to recover my lost knowledge. Due to a little thing called effort, I regained the vast majority of the information I once lost due to a life threatening medical crisis. Therefore, I do not give crackpot reviews whenever I take time to read over and consider the most glaring problems I see within a story's structures. I fine comb everything I write repeatedly to get rid of every flaw before I post anything. Yes, I do miss things, which I correct as I get a chance. A person who reads my work can return seven months later to find a lot of mistakes are corrected. I abuse my edit chapter button every few weeks, based upon the errors I get told about when someone reviews my stories. Whenever I give a review to someone, I always endeavor to point out the strengths, and the weaknesses of each story I have read. The reviews I give carry my hopes that the input will help complete strangers to revise their stories to add strength to plots and characters that were devised. It is a real insult to all reviewers who give thoughtful feedback when the reviews get deleted by such frauds who pretend to be writers. Very few writers I have personally reviewed have retained my concrit reviews. Those who have kept their reviews, I am grateful to you for doing so. Your strength in keeping my review prevents me from becoming completely sick and tired of the constant flow of disrespect given to those who take reviewing for others seriously. Put bluntly, I have seen the signs of a real epidemic of fraudulent whiners begging for reviews that are insincere. The ongoing blasphemy of it all has finally tweaked my last nerve. The majority of said frauds beg for reviews in every single chapter's author notes. My conclusion is that such begging for reviews is a form of blatant "stroke my ego or else" guilt tripping. "Please review because I live for reviews," is a blatant lie 9 times out of 10 in my personal experience with giving reviews. That type of bullshit line now reeks of the biggest attention seeking ploy in existence to me, as a reader. In the vast majority of cases I leave very tame comments compared to my actual reactions to such writer's stories. I refrain form taking every single line and pointing out the problems. If the writing is atrocious enough, I am reduced to perhaps you should use your spell/grammar checking features before posting in the future. Getting reduced to such a flippant response really hurts because I would not be writing a review at all if I did not see some kind of merit within the story. I would simply back click and be done with the author, and everything else they may have posted. I do keep a list of the unreadable slobs so I do not have to hurt my eyes by accidentally clicking on anything the royal stink writers have added. During the last three weeks, after seeing how often that line accompanies a deletion of my reviews, experience tells me to avoid such authors as if they have the Black Plague. To date, seven out of every ten concretely focused reviews were erased because my input was not a fanpoodle. My honor code from my previous career as a "shred the writing to get it corrected in time for the sales team to make a profit from it" variety editor experience does not condone "I love it so keep writing" variety pat upon heads. I do apologize for this being such a tactless tirade. I had to get this off my chest because I am so frustrated with "poor me syndrome" type commentaries.

This has been driving me nuts in the Archive. I learned this rule as a ten year old kid so I now question WTH our kids are being taught. This comma makes all the difference in the world in a sentence. Let's demonstrate! "Let's eat, Grandma!" means that we want Grandma to put the grub on the table. "Let's eat Grandma!" means that we have suddenly become cannibals and Grandma IS the grub. A lowly comma, long neglected by lazy writers, completely changes the context! It also applies to terms of endearment or titles: "Yes, Master," murmured the slave. "Good night, my sweet," whispered the dom. If even one person changes their evil ways, I shall rejoice with dancing, dearies!

I surrendered any attempts at beta-reading because the majority of those who sought help did not actually want help. They wanted someone to correct all of their mistakes, pat them on the head, and send them on their way. I can only explain the same rule so many times before I explode. I do expect adults, and children alike, to learn from their mistakes. This is probably a major reason why I left teaching -- no patience! Teaching is rapidly becoming a lost art. Society and the bureaucracy have relegated our educational system to glorified babysitting services. "Don't discourage the poor dears!" "Just love them more!" "We have to pass 'the test'." Sadly, even when the teachers attempt to teach, time and subject matter constraints limit them mercilessly. When it came down to the PSSA writing tests for my kids, guess who taught them to peruse a few short paragraphs and answer an essay question? My kids still have me proofread their writing. Surprisingly, I find I only have to explain things to them once or twice. I find it very discouraging when students are merely encouraged to memorize and repeat rather than absorb, formulate and apply. The greatest gift we can give our children is the desire to learn, thereby improve, at every opportunity. This gift requires more time and attention than the majority, that I have been exposed to, of parents care to invest. I'm not saying this is your failure. I'm just commenting in general. Not all parents are capable of teaching their own kids, and as such, should be able to trust the educational system to help them. Epic fail, in most cases. -- fragment intended for emphasis. I cannot comprehend how so many writers, fanfiction or not, can publish stuff that is so riddled with spelling, punctuation, capitalization and content errors and be praised for such stuff. Typos and blatant blah in published works -- actually paperbacks, etc., set my blood to boiling. No one is perfect. One or two mistakes, I can overlook. Folks eating grandma? No, I cannot bear the cannibalism.

I have a crazy need to review everything I read, irregardless* of wasting my own time. It's a self-imposed rule. I made the decision to support fellow authors no matter what the cost, because I believe in practicing the behaviour you wish others would use on you. Meaning, if I want reviews, I must give them. It's not perfect Karma, but sometimes you need to put out 10 times (maybe 100) more effort to receive a positive response in return. It's the world we live in. Usually, authors complain about not getting reviews, but my complaint is that I can't keep up with the reviews I expect to give. I have a virtual sticky on my desktop with a list of the stories I still need to review. I'm also quite verbose in my comments which makes leaving a review (sometimes for every chapter) a bit challenging. I want to be original, insightful, witty, and sincere. I sometimes offer con crit, but mostly just analyze the content, the affect it had on me, and where my thoughts took me. I imagine its nice for the writer to know what their writing does to a reader, and not just if their writing is coherent or grammatically correct. It's seems silly to agonize over a review, but such is my nature. I agonize over everything I write. Proofreading is a major undertaking, involving the dictionary and multiple rereads. So, you see, my reviews take up a lot of time and effort, and sometimes I lose my impetus to put out. Ergo, the list. Am I the only one with this particular form of OCD? Somebody tell me that I have kindred spirits out there, and I'm not a lonely, weird, old cat lady. *irregardless - see discussion thread "The Direct Address Comma Rule"

My very first sale (coming out soon) is a slash story, and I have three more in the works. I'll write what sells. As Arlo Guthrie said, "I'm not proud. Or tired."

Yes, a beta is probably a good idea. If not more than one. Hahaha, yes, details usually are good to have.... Well, I'm glad you'll keep writing. Certainly I'll enjoy it. And I'll check out this story of yours, but I'll wait until you're done adding descriptions so I don't make unnecessary comments. As long as you use different plots, I see no problem with keeping to the same genre. (*facepalm* I told you already that I can't not write humor; it just doesn't work. So what do I do - or rather, what did I do - but start writing a Bleach fan fic, HC, where Urahara's depressed because Yoruichi just died. Yeah, that's...not flowing easily from my head into my fingers. *sigh* Guess I should've stayed away from the whole depression thing, but in all the yaoi fics I've read with Urahara, he's never the one who needs help first, if at all. And I...wanted to see that. Why I had to write it myself instead of suggesting it to someone else.... Shall I say that I'm a sucker for mischievous characters, especially the sly ones? Kyoraku said he wanted to comfort "Kis-kun"...and then ruined the moment by adding that, if "Kis-kun" wanted, he could be comforted in other ways, too. "Kis-kun" wanted to take Benihime to his head - which urge his blood-thirsty blade of course seconded - and I broke down giggling. Maybe that's why I started it, because they made me laugh. *grumps* Humor. Every time, the humor.) If you ever want to throw in humor but don't know how, you're always welcome to ask me. I can't ever seem to stop it. It leaks in around the edges. (Tried to write a FFVII fan fic for a friend, called it Soaked. It spun out into a few disasters and then, at the end when the guys had gotten together like my friend had wanted, I was going to finish it with something merely mentioning the deviant yet humorous actions of Reno - probably at work the next day or something. Instead, he showed up for dinner while the two newly together guys slept off their exertion, and inspired a line that still makes two of my friends crack up. "Reno: saving men's dignity, one piece of pizza at a time." As it was said in an announcer-type voice, it made us laugh all the harder, and...*shakes head* We none of us can look at pizza the same since. Not mentally scarring - no, it was perverted and therefore not something most people want to explain to their family when dinner's on the table. But it was also Reno and his warped humor and the way the situation turned out. *smiles* Quite fun, in a rather demented way. -- In hindsight, most of my stories wind up odd but amusing. No joke; I've got a Bleach drabble on FFnet with Shinji and Starrk, two characters I've never seen paired together because...I don't know why...but I was in a writing mood and really, really tired, and my mind seizes on this crack drabble notion even though I don't do drugs and I wasn't drinking, and the next thing I know, I've written the moment when their relationship turns from acquaintances/friends to something more...at least on one side. The horrible thing is that every review I've had on it there includes amusement to usually large degrees AND says something about, "Wow, you made them work! I want to read more of them now!" And I...I mean, what the hell? I write...I write a crack drabble and it's hilarious and in character?! *facepalm* I take deep breaths and wonder what's wrong with me when I think on that, I really do. It's not that I don't enjoy my humorous moments, it's more that I...am so perfectionist about having everyone in character that even when I make things amusing, it works. So I suppose you could say that I have your problem in reverse. You can't write humor in intentionally, and I can't leave it out, even intentionally. *makes face* Well, at least I can enjoy reading the other genres....) As to the top/bottom, Dom/sub thing...well, yes. People are unfortunately pig-headed about that and perhaps always will be. (I hope not.) But I'm with you on that, though I will say that sometimes, for the sub, it's about giving up that constant control they keep in the rest of their lives, letting someone else do as they will and just following.

I think a large part of the issue is the instant gratification that the internet and self-publishing sites, like ours, provide. People rush, rush, rush but never polish. For the most part, if the grammar is totally ignored, I ignore the story. The back button is there for a reason, after all. Now what really burns my butt are the authors who ask for betas, are lucky enough to find someone who will work with them, then refuse to learn anything, apply the changes or post chapters before the beta returns the corrections. Hence, at least three reasons I refuse to beta anymore.

Heaven forbid, though, if we point out to someone that they make mistakes or need help. After all, this isn't a professional writing site and we shouldn't treat things in it as such. Or we hold the written word that people post to a standard of readability that doesn't want to make you spork your eyes out or you need a version of Babel Fish to figure out what was said. And, sorry, not buying the dyslexia excuse for poor writing either as I am one that suffers from it and i sure as heck don't put that kind of horribly written stuff out there! Sorry, all the excuses out there for poor writing are just that... excuses! There are ways to get help or fix it if you want to, most just think they don't have to bother. </rant> *goes back to hiding*

If there is one thing I hate about a lot of yaoi-fanfiction (I prefer original m/m slash myself), it is when every single female in the story is a bitch or something. I've seen it so many times, again and again, and I've always found it sickening. I know that mostly young teen girls write it, which I view as ironic in a hypocritical sense, but that kind of a mentality seems rather unhealthy and jealous, even? I've had an instance when I was dating a girl back when I was a teenager, and after like 2 months she decided to show me a few of her stories. We had gotten together because we both liked art, and I do love drawing more than writing. What appalled me was that in all her stories EVERY SINGLE GUY was gay, and ALL the women were bitchy and/or antagonists. Why? How...? I know that stories don't ever have to be realistic, but still-- you want a sense of realism in a story anyway, right? Even in fantasy or science fiction, there are some laws that are kept in all stories, right? I just find that a world in which all females are angry horny bitches that try to turn males straight (because somehow all of them are gay, or maybe all the heterosexual men got eaten?) is just a waste of writing. I am sorry if this offends anyone, but really. :/ I do not mind it if there are sexist characters in a story, that is a character. That is their flaw. But when a story itself is sexist, that's just ... no. That's all it really is. Just, no. Then again, if there is a world where all the men are gay, I truly would not blame the females for being bitches. Hell, I'd be one of them. I mean, I have never, in all my life, come across a story in which all the woman in the world somehow were lesbians and all the men were abusive assholes that forced woman to be straight (I bet they'd all be rapists or something...!). If I wrote that I'd probably get my head beaten off for being such a sick person-- which makes me want to write one as a parody. I'd write it well, but make sure it's bad all the same. NOT that I agree with sexism against men either ... it's just not that common. And nooo I'm not talking about something a texan politician would write (no offense, but have you seen the attacks on planned parenthood? I may be Canadian, but thanks Obama for supporting woman, and stating that females are not an 'object of interest' <3 ). And for those who disagree with me, I do not see why females should be viewed as such. I am a female, I do not, and would never in my life, try to make a man straight to fuck me O______O;. BLAH, I guess that's ... all I have to rant about on that subject. PS. To be fair, I do know that most of the stories I'm talking about are written by teenagers.

I've noticed this not only in stories, but, as the OP mentioned, in media as a whole. I've always wondered why, consistently and across the board, in yaoi manga where two guys like each other, there's always a female who's pissed off about it. But this all falls under a greater whole of females generally being depicted as caricatures in most media - at least in my opinion. Females are nearly always depicted as either being a sidekick to a male character (the supportive, sweet wife, the woman behind the man, the nice girlfriend), the love interst/unobtainable sexy woman, the rape victim, or anything else that does not depict the female as a human being with her own independent story to tell, but something stereotypically "female." (Incidentally: this is in no way to trivialize rape, of course; this is to say that there are in fact tragedies that can happen to women that are bad that are not related to their personal space and physical body, or that emphasize their physical vulnerability specifically as females). What bothers me about this is that when it comes to specifically females, you often see their identity reduced to their most base and rudimentary physical form, where the question is "what can or can't be done to her?" - Compared with male characters, where you often see higher traits involved unrelated to their physical body (cognitive function, work ethic, social issues, etc). It had got to the point where I would rather not see females present in a story/show/movie/etc at all, because more often than not they are portrayed in a way that ruins it for womankind. I don't think it's meant in deliberate intent to hurt women; rather, sadly enough, it's what we're exposed to from every direction in the media, so people write women that way without even thinking about it, it's just what comes to them from the exposure and experience they'd had. More often than not, if a woman has strength of character in something that actually isn't directly related to stereotypical "female" traits (love interest, supportive little helper to a male, mother, seductress), the writer also makes her into a sex object at the same time. That is to say, you will be very hard-pressed to find a woman written the way men usually are: no mention of how pretty/sexy/young she is, and purely appreciated for higher virtues like courage, work ethic, intellect, etc. Compare this to male characters you often see in films or stories where there's no emphasis on their physical appearance (they could be old men), but the emphasis is on their power, intellect, profession, etc. Female characters wind up unlikeable because they are often written as merely the sweet love interset/unobtainable love interest/seductress, which leaves them as hollow stereotypes and empty shells, and I think that to be likeable, a character must be fully fleshed out as a real person to whom the reader can relate. Likeable female characters I can think of: Haruhi from host club and Leela from Futurama. Notice of course they made them both at least somewhat 'pretty' (yes, Leela too, despite her one eye - she has the 'sexy' figure and not a belly like Fry has). But I digress, they're likeable because they are fleshed out as human beings with struggles to which the audience can relate. Morgana in Merlin is likeable because she is strong and not portrayed as absolutely evil despite being a hated witch (she had struggled, too, and she knows compassion); in contrast, Gwen of Merlin had been reduced to the sweet wife and love interest, and a pawn of Morgana at times. It's hard to relate to a stereotype like that (again, note also that of course they had to have Morgana be "pretty and sexy" because people just can't make a female character who is appreciated for higher virtues like power and strength without also being 'hot and sexy'). If you're gonna write female characters, be very careful about not depicting them as stereotypes. I think it's this depiction of females that deters a lot of female readers from hetero fiction: the female isn't someone they can like or relate to.

I think that the AFF site probably has more than 50% females, maybe even up to 90%? (one of the admins could site a better figure) The irony is that we all seem to enjoy each other, mostly, but this phenomenon of sexist stories is still accurate. You'd think a mainly female gathering would demonstrate the "bitchy, antagonistic" side of us, but our interactions don't manifest that way. Just the fanfic. So I wonder if the characterizations from one story perpetuate the way others are written. I know that when I like the way a male character is portrayed in a story I've read, it influences the way I write him in my own story. I think we have to make a conscious effort to give the females a more realistic personality, drawn from our real life family, friends and coworkers while in keeping with canon, if possible. Hopefully, we can influence future stories with well-written females, even if they're side characters because we like to write Yaoi.