Slayitalldown

Author: Slayitalldown Title: There's A Third Option? Summary: Abaddon finds a new weapon in her war against Crowley, forcing Crowley to recruit Team Free Will to his cause. They find a third option to their mounting problems. M/F,OC - An adventure story mixing Norse and Egyptian mythology. Feedback: Yes please! Still looking for a beta so all current chapters (3) are unbeta'd. Fandom: Supernatural Pairing: Not sure yet? Solo story or chaptered story: Chaptered

I have a completed work that I require a beta for. This is a one-off project. It is complete it can be sent in one go (or broken down into manageable sections). No rush. An interest in SPN helps but isn't essential - it's not particularly spoilery. Het, AU, current season, original characters/monsters including original female character, smutt, violence and swearing but not much higher than MA or NC-17 (is the the mature audience one?). A few different pairings but nothing outstanding. Basically a short-season arc story of adventure against an ancient mythical foe using an even more ancient mythical figure as an ally. Alpha input would be appreciated! First Chapter of the story in question.

Hi! Marvel 'Verse might need a new category for Loki - the popularity of the character is going through a bit of a heyday. I have a starter - http://xmen.adult-fanfiction.org/story.php?no=600091256

Author: Slayitalldown Title: Loki: Hel Hath No Fury Summary: Stand-Alone Loki Story. After the events of Thor 2: The Dark World, Loki's story picks up. Beginning with a forgotten time in his own past, Loki's reign on the throne of Asgard comes to an abrupt halt. WIP Feedback: Yes please! This is an experiment on my part to write a fic following a tight movie-script outline format. Pacing and structure are my focus (as well as you know, a ripping good yarn) but any and all concrit is warmly welcomed. I would much prefer to start conversations - I am still learning so I am always after new insight and information! I would love to hear thoughts, good bad or indifferent as it helps me develop as an artist and I appreciate others taking the time. I'm not much of a reader myself but would like to be more involved so examples are helpful too! Fandom: Marvel Cinema Universe/Marvel Comics - Thor Pairing: None Warnings: Spoilers for Thor 1, Thor 2 and possibly Avengers? Solo story or chaptered story: Chapters - Currently a WIP - Three chapters available so far. URL: http://xmen.adult-fanfiction.org/story.php?no=600091256 Author's Note: This story has had a little bit of beta work for which I am extremely grateful but 99% of it is unbeta'd. I have yet to find a reliable beta who is compatible with my quirks - a rather tall order given their multitude and variety - so any and all errors are my own. I apologize in advance if any mistakes have made it through and distract from the story. I don't mind if they are brought to my attention, I appreciate the effort should it occur. Thanks for reading!

I should probably have added that I am currently working on a Marvel spec script of sorts, masquerading as fanfiction while I try out something new. So far... surprisingly successful... I think...

Hi, I'm a writer. I would like to evolve some day (soon) into author and to that end, devote almost 90% of my existence to it in a fairly even ratio of learn:practice:panic. I live and breathe writing in all its forms. Am I any good at it? If I had any friends I would have to ask them. I'm kidding, I have friends, I don't care what they think, they love me for my lewd humor. As a wanderer, I keep relocating myself to different towns/states/countries with the only criteria being reliable postal service and steady internet connection. I'd join a writer's group and ask them but then I'd have to leave the house and I JUST got it the way like it. Besides, my social skills would be characterized as a 'work in progress towards a more equitable distribution of give and take with genuine segways between topics... and less pop culture references', so I prefer the diversity of the internet with the option of 'leaving' without actually having to go anywhere. It suits my disposition. And sleeping habits. Finding a beta and building a relationship with them is important to me, I believe it should be a mutually beneficial arrangement based on respect and at least a fairly cohesive outlook on work quality and desired outcomes. I'm passionate about ideas but I like to see them well presented so I'm something of a snob, I guess. I'm always 'working on something' and its usually a one-project-per-fandom thing. Never drabbles, always 'epic novel-sized sagas' or screenplays and I am fairly bullheaded about getting to the finish line. I don't post often - for a variety of emotional reasons - and don't delve too deeply into fandom circles as I have too many things I'm a fan of. I prefer to work on one project with all my energy but in the back of my mind my original fiction is always ready to leap forward and take over. I live by my muses. They are fickle little things, keeping them in line is much like using chihuahua's to pull a sled... it can get messy and impracticle if I'm no disciplined! I empathise with the work/life/family/writing balance but I don't sympathise with it due to my genuine obsession with writing and learning - outside of writing lies distractions, delays and irritations to I have discarded them all. This is, of course, temporary (if you call a patch between months and years temporary) - as I live by the cardinal rule that stasis = death - but I am focused 100% on the task and keep my own hours. Lucky me. As I don't post very often I am basically in need of feedback from someone with a keen eye for detail. Not the usually spelling and grammar but someone devoted to the discipline and all its components, someone who reads, studies, listens to any and all writing advice with an insatiable desire to then apply any new tecnique described or word learned to their own work in progress, someone not too picky about what fandoms they enjoy and perhaps a personality that can tolerate the more ambitious side of human nature in someone who has an abundance of outward confidence and yet wobbles every first step like a newborn colt. If I can make it through the phase I am currently in, I will be ready for the far more serious (grown up) steps of agent-to-publisher with an editor somewhere in that mix. I live for the day that I am good enough to be cast upon the mercy of an editor. Like a full tilt masochist. You woulnd't think it of me but there is my dirty little kink. Now you know all my secrets. Please don't hesitate to PM me - I'm sure I get email alerts... although I've never tested the theory. I should go figure out how to turn that on - if you are interested in becoming a beta and/or require a beta. I do a pretty quick turn-around so don't be astonished to have your work sent back almost immediately but as I said I believe in a give and take so what I am more than happy to do for you I expect of equal value in return. I'm not good with drabbles, short fics and pwp as it doesn't hold my attention any more, I'm more of a six-legged-beast-on-a-spit-kind-of-story-girl. I'll be honest but kind, I would never be cruel and if I come off as rude it is completely unintentional, I'm just blunt. It is my way. I'm kind of a living info-dump. That doesn't sound sexy, does it?

On the subject of beta readers... I no longer use a beta reader for fanfiction purely and simply because I write big chapters and I'm impatient. I haven't built the kind of relationships online or in real life where 'hey, read this 10,000 word chapter? kthnxbai' is an acceptable utterance. Maybe its a personality flaw... I actually have a word-count limit dividing 'favor' and 'work'. Seriously, I would rather be a good enough writer that in fan fiction its not needed and as you say, in real life a professional is paid to wave a cat o' nine tails and scream "type, monkey!! Type faster and better!!" at me while I cower and desperately try to please. There doesn't seem to be an in between market of beta-editors who cater to wannabe authors, those stuck in limbo between wanting to be good enough to be professional and not having mastered/perfected the skill despite a vast knowledge or god forbid, the education and training. If I was to send out a manuscript and it was sent back with 'no thanks' and nothing more I'd be driven to suicide. Not because I consider my writing a precious baby or expect it to be a masterpiece at the first, second or even seventieth draft before an editor would take it but because I have done everything in my tax bracket to learn, study and understand this craft. Unfortunately life tests you first then you learn a lesson, not the other way around and writing to write as best one can is hard without a patient beta armed with a red pen. The other issue is that despite understanding the need, I don't believe in the possibility. I'm sorry but I don't believe in the unicorn that is a real-live human being with the experience to guide the leap across the chasm from wannabe to potential by saying 'sure! I would love to set my time aside to do that for nothing!' on a full-sized manuscript so I've aimed for being as good as I can be with what knowledge I have gathered and turning it into practice where-ever possible. I simply assumed that once I was brave enough to feel that what I had produced was worthy of at least an agent's time, the terrible and brutal experience that is making the dream come alive would begin as it does for everyone else without a 'writing-nanny' to see me off. I am sure a beta would be amazing but I'm a kid from the school of hard knocks and we look at unicorn pictures but we know they're not real. We get our hands dirty and our armpits sweaty and we try and try and try out little hearts out but anyone who comes along to say 'hey, why don't you do it the easy way? I know a guy!' usually goes missing, never to be found. Its a long-held natural suspicion of shitty human beings (it could also be cultural) coming to take, rob or steal from the niave and thanks to being churned through that grinder in ways that shattered my life more than once, I have become perhaps a little protective of my writing in the sense that I would rather do things with the lights on... in an office where everyone can see me. I know that might be a self-imposed stumbling block but thems the cards I gots to play with. I can't think of anything to make this less personal so I might tap out of this topic. I feel a bit nudged out anyway, but I did appreciate all the time and effort put into the answers I got and hope this helped out a few others as well. Thanks, Slayitalldown.

I have been vigilantly studying this topic and gobbling up every bit of advice I can find. So far, from what I can fathom there IS a formula but like a really good recipe it’s a lot of ingredients and flavours - the chef decides when it’s done. I have appreciated the answers of all who weighed in - there are so many sides to consider! And it has been good to explore these theories all the way through. For each peice of advice there has been an adventure of exploration. My digging has resulted in a textbook a mile thick and growing but the formula, while elusive, exists in many forms. It sure isn't simple. It’s insanely complicated and depending on the story, subject matter, topic, theme and outcome it’s a sea of variables but underneath are some rules that give you things to aim for. I've listened to nearly 800 podcasts, read no less than sixteen books (with dozens more to go!) and subscribed to... shit, like 40 blogs? There is an ocean of advice out there and I find a lot of it is 'same idea, different words' which has helped me enormously in digesting ideas I wasn't sure on. I am in love with Writing Excuses, and Word Play by K.M. Weiland (she's a little dry and she plugs her own things for nearly a minute and a half but her podcasts are swift, informative and to the point, I haven't given up on her yet!) I sat in on a couple of writing panels at Comic Con which were also fantastic, hearing someone talk rather than reading information has helped me absorb it. I also bought a dictation program to help overcome writer's block - I discovered to my own delight that due to the difference in thought pattern between writing and talking I can overcome 'blocks' by simply dictating. In a way it helps me get down what I'm thinking in the way that I'm thinking it - when I use typing I get a little baffled by visualising words while images are playing in my mind. However if I'm imagining images rather than words and saying what I'm seeing, I get a much better output. No excuses! I also made peace with 'Perfect Idea' syndrome. Some podcasts are very unforgiving in dissecting the psychology of writers and they pointed out things I wasn't even aware of. Perfect Idea Syndrome was definitely in there. Now my new companion is speech-cards to use for writing prompts! There is a place for every bit of advice, it depends what your daily hurdle is. There is advice for the very fundamentals - how you should set up your work-space, what to use (George R.R. Martin uses a computer so old it’s a relic and his assistants live in terror of the day it dies) as an input device, how to look after yourself and manage your time depending on your situation. There is advice on basic English, sentence length and paragraph perfecting... pacing right up to try/fail cycles and how to get the best POV in a situation, whether or not writing exercises benefit writers, the psychology of writing, how to find and deal with agents, when to live the dream and quit the day job and what to do when you finally get a publisher. I’ve heard brand new first time authors, script-writers like Joss Whedon and George R.R. Martin discussing the craft, best-sellers and people who consider themselves almost total failures or rank amateurs interviewing agents, publishers, actors, authors and everyone in between. I have to confess, I am enthralled by all that I have heard and read on this journey. Being immersed in it, living and breathing it – I can’t escape, it’s on my iPhone, iPad, iPod, laptop and soon-to-be “productivity” and “procrastination” work-spaces – yup, there will be two! – has helped me a lot more than forlornly dreaming and tuning in and out. I consider myself extremely lucky (as well as focused, diligent and a little obsessed) that I can pour all aspects of my life into this one dream and see if I have the mettle to make something of it (when I hit the ground, I’m still on walkabout for two more weeks!) but there is a MOUNTAIN of information to climb and keep climbing. I hadn’t realised that it would take so much information to pull the ‘real writer’ inside out. I’m still no closer to being a butterfly but my cocoon is coming along nicely! It also has me pondering the ‘review, no, not that kind of review!’ for the casual review whores among us. Some like praise, others prefer concrit, others want all the reviews, others don’t care and I’m wondering if there’s a way to get an unofficial support network going. The ‘promote a story’ area could easily be used to push not just a story but enough about the author to understand what sort of review they require. Let’s not kid ourselves, reviews are water in the desert. A lot of reader/writers do their best to pay it forward by planting the good Karma, writers often demand reviews, beg for them or have more A/N’s than actual story in an attempt to fish for them and in all fairness as a reader I just want THE STORY and as a writer I just want THE REVIEWS. As a reader I need to be nourished with what I’m searching for before I review, as a writer I try to put as much as I possibly can into the story to ensure readers have a reason to review. I’ve received some spectacular reviews but to be honest the buzz is worse than light beer – it wears off so quickly! I never do get the answers to the questions “did I do ____ right/well and is ____ creating a payoff and did I obey all the rules and did I ____, _____, and ____???” Maybe a ‘promote an author’ thread? Hi, I’m ________ and I write _____ because/for/about and I get the most from reviews that are ______.” Just a random thought. Good writing is still up for interpretation, good writing is broad term for a complex issue and writing – hobby, lifestyle, obsession, interest, career or ambition is either too hard to summarise or I haven’t found the right words. Yet.

No, I think you might be onto something - they suspend your disbelief instantly and let you get carried away, the action and the setting/scenery/imagery are never far away from each other. I try so hard to blend the two together. I find I struggle most with setting and action, I feel like the setting has to come first but it can be built into the boring parts of conversation so by the time its ACTION time to move the story forward the audience has a good sense of where they are where as at the same time, I feel like I should only explain the things people wouldn't know properly. I remember in Forever Amber I always knew what time of day it was, what she was wearing and what her current beef was but the whole idea of that book was to bring the Court of King Charles II alive - people, setting and environment were all a huge part of the story because it took place in the Great Plague, the Great Fire of London AND the Dutch war... while the king was shagging whatever moved and catching smallpox for his trouble... P.S. - I found a trick. When 'creating' I suppose, the brain works differently between writing and speaking. I got a dictation program and I'm finding that when I'm stuck in action its easier to dictate, it flows out and I feel like I'm part of it but if I'm trying to slow down and describe to ground setting and stuff, its easier to get it out of my brain by typing. Not sure this is everyone's cup of tea but if the chance arises for experimentation, its out there now.