[Recent Site Outage: An apology and explanation]

So glad the site is back up. I havent' been very active lately but when I saw all the tweets/Facebook statuses I kinda freaked. This is such a great community, I don't know what I'd do without it. Thank you so much for keeping us all in the loop while you were getting everything sorted. Aff.net staff were amazing, as always.

[New Category Request: Black Veil Brides]

Category name: Black Veil Brides

Section for category: Music/Celebrity

Stories for it: I have 2 chapter stories in-progress as well as a crossover with the a7x category. I also have three one shots ready for posting.

Thank you for the consideration!

[Week 27: 4-10-11]

Pen Name: ZipFlopOhMyGod

Story Link:Callipygian

Fandom: Avenged Sevenfold

Rating: K+

Warnings: NoSex, AFFO

[Bossy readership keeping you down...?]

I've never had anyone out right demand I update (and I am Hella slow with updating) at most it's the usual, "please update again soon!" at the end of the review. If someone is going to be douschy enough they demand you finish your story becuase they think it needs to be done they aren't the kind of reader who is going to stick with you. It feels weird saying this, but I have a core group of fans who read and review pretty much every piece I've posted in the A7x fandom. They've been with me since I signed on and they know it may take a week or two to get a chapter up but they're willing to wait. Honestly, I can't tell them enough how motivating that is. Occasionally real life takes precedence and if a reader has an issue with that they're not worth listening to.

[Ever feel like apologizing for a story?]

I can relate to the feeling of stepping outside your comfort zone. I have a couple stories that I wrote that made me reconsider what I was doing, but once you get comfortable writing with that content or style it opens you up to explore even more things. Honestly, the first time I wrote a sex scene I was so uncomfortable with it, it took me three days to write half a page. Once you get past that initial, "Eh, I don't know" phase you can improve your writing on the content and introduce your own style to it. This site is great because the readers are so diverse you can experiment with any style or content and there's someone out there willing and wanting to read it.

[Character name rant]

There's also the plethora of baby name websites. That's usually what I hit up when I'm looking for a character name. They're especially helpful if you're bit on name symbolism like I am. You can look up the different meanings of names from every continent and time period with just a google search.

[Glowing reviews for very bad fiction?]

While I think the reviewer has good intentions, they're not doing anything to better the writer. I love the praise I get on my fics, but my favorite reviews are the ones that point out what's wrong. They're more substantial and they give me a warm and fuzzy because that's the reader that enjoyed the story enough they read it closely and now want to better it. Reviewers that leave nothing but candy and sunshine reviews aren't helping anything. I think any writer should want to improve their skills, but how can they improve if no one tells them there's something wrong.

I try to leave substantial reviews, sometimes people think I'm just ripping their story apart but I'm not. I just want to help them convey their stories to the best of their abilities.

[What to do when you're writing style changes?]

As a personal preference, I don't change my posted writings. To me, they're like that evolution chart that's everywhere, where the ape becomes a man, they show how I've progressed as a writer through the years. I wholly admit the first two or three fics I posted here make me cringe when I read through them but they're still part of my development.

Going back and re-starting a story that's been left to fallow for a couple years can be hard, but if you still remember where you were going I think you could make it work. It really comes down to you and what you think of the story and if you think you could finish it despite the stylistic differences.

[How do you get your inspiration]

I get inspiration from all over. Mostly though it's when I'm trying to fall asleep, it's like I half-dream plotlines or scenes and then I have to get it all out. Sometimes I use tried and true plotlines, (Boy likes boy, neither knows they have the same feelings for each other, self-discovery ensues) but going back to what's been written is a great springboard for my own madness.