GeorgeGlass

Really missing that Like button right now. "Star's Crossed Lovers" is very clever and seems particularly apt because Star's ex, Tom, plays an important role in the story. Thank you!

I'm resurrecting this thread to solicit title ideas for a story I'm working on: A Star Vs. the Forces of Evil fanfic in which Star and Marco make a pact to be each other's wingmen in their efforts to get with Oskar and Jackie, respectively, and they make a four-step plan for doing so. A recurring theme of the story is that Star and Marco value their friendship just as much as they do their nascent romantic relationships. I've been trying to come up with a title that captures those elements, but no luck so far. Any suggestions?

Re: "Quiet" Thank you! The story was translated from cave drawings, so some liberties may have been taken with the language.

Re: "Quiet" Thank you! I always love to hear that a reader liked something I wrote even though it's not her usual thing. Part of the reason why I set the story in prehistory was that I wanted the language to be relatively simple and direct. But I also didn't want to use the stereotypical "caveman" tropes of men dragging women home by the hair, the strongest being in charge, etc. I figured that the various tribal, Stone Age societies that survived into the 19th and 20th centuries (when people could make lasting records of their existence) had all kinds of different social structures, and I didn't see that being any less true a hundred thousand years ago. So Paa comes from a culture where it's okay to be the kind of person you describe. I have a fetish, if you will, about people who belong together and who are drawn to each other regardless of how inappropriate their relationship may seem to others. Coming from you, that means an awful lot. Thank you.

To put a less masochistic spin on it: If you're interested in writing fanfiction, then think about the stories told in the fandom you're interested in and then consider what might be missing. Is there a conversation that you think two characters should have had but didn't? Is there a plot hole you've thought of a way to fill? Is there something that you always hoped would happen but didn't? Remember that what you write doesn't need to be a twenty-chapter epic: Readers like a good vignette, too.

I, too, think that Giles would save Buffy rather than Willow, for several reasons: --As dafdes pointed out, Giles, being a Watcher, has a commitment to Buffy that he doesn't have to Willow. --Giles is a rational guy. To his knowledge in S2-4, saving Willow means saving one person; saving Buffy, on the other hand, means saving everyone whom she will save in the future. And NOT saving her doesn't mean the coming of another Slayer, because Buffy's already had her replacement (Kendra). --Giles believes that Buffy is an especially gifted Slayer. (From Nightmares: " I've failed... in my duty to protect you. I should have been more... cautious. Taken more time to train you. But you were so gifted. And the evil was so great.") Even if Buffy would be replaced by another Slayer after she dies, that Slayer probably wouldn't be as capable as Buffy. So saving Buffy still means saving additional lives. --Giles is emotionally closer to Buffy than to Willow, so if it came to a split-second judgment, he might save Buffy for that reason alone. --Buffy's name is in the title of the show.

Re: "Guidelines" Yeah, that's one of my fetishes, too. I mean, obviously. I wanted it to seem a bit real, like something a doctor or scientist might actually write (but publish anonymously to avoid ruining his or her professional reputation). I had intended for "Guidelines" to be a one-shot story, but a while back I got the idea to write an "appendix" that would be a transcript of an interview with the mother of a dominant boy. I've written quite a bit of it now, so hopefully I'll be posting it (as a second chapter of "Guidelines") in the near future. Thanks for the review!

I'm embarrassed not to have an answer for this--not even in Spanish, the only living language I've ever seriously studied, and possibly the language best suited for this kind of thing.

Re: "Quiet" Thank you. I figure social life back then would have been every bit as complicated as it is today--especially when you're stuck in a cave with the same hundred or so people for three months of the year. And I enjoyed figuring out how the tribe's culture worked. (Man, that one anthro class I took in college really paid off. ) Thanks for the review!

I'm sure there's a plausible way to patch it. Maybe Mabel is trying to make Dipper uncomfortable--or at least, that's what she tells herself. How in the world can you write porn with a handicap like that? You're most welcome. Thanks for sharing your stories with all of us.

I think a lot of us come up with story plots that way: We decide how it will start and how it will end, and then we just fill in the map from Point A to Point B. As for the ending itself, I did find it sad, but I also saw a glimmer of hope in it. Dipper and Mabel may not be able to express their feelings for each other in the way they want to, but they don't deny them, either. (IMO, the worst possible ending would be something from the old "I have to protect you by making you hate me" trope, in which, say, Dipper tries to make Mabel fall out of love with him by saying or doing something incredibly hurtful to her. I'm really glad you didn't go that route.) Of course, knowing that there is a sequel story softened the blow a bit, too. Ah, so you write at about the same pace that I do. No worries.

I'd never thought about it, but yes, I could see "What is canon?" being a big issue with fics about books that have also become movies, TV shows, etc. In the case of LotR, the books are obviously canon--to us. But there are probably plenty of fic-readers out there who have never read the books and for whom the movies are de facto canon. There are even a few cases in which, IMO, this is a legitimate stance. The James Bond movies, even from the beginning, were not terribly faithful to the Ian Fleming novels--not merely because of material cut or changed for time or other reasons related to filming, but because there was a deliberate effort to make the cinematic James Bond a different character from the one in the books. So I think its fair to say that the Bond movies form a canon of their own, separate from Fleming's written work.

Here's the more detailed review I promised: At long last, I have gotten around to reading this story, and I must say, its popularity is well deserved. Having written a lot of incest-themed stories myself, I know how difficult it is to construct a believable scenario in which mutual attraction between siblings becomes more than just unspoken longing. You deserve a lot of credit, not only for not taking the easy way out (ie, not using the cheap tricks that I often resort to, like inhibition-suppressing drugs or magic, or enabling the twins to know each other's desires in some quasi-magical way), but also for making the twins’ inner struggles seem so true to life. In addition, I thought the pace at which the plot develops was just right--their revelation comes late enough to be believable but soon enough that there's a good chunk of time for them to reap the rewards. A couple of pieces of (hopefully constructive) criticism: There are points in the story--mostly in chapter 1--where it seems like too much is explained, rather than being shown through action or dialogue. I know there's a lot of backstory to tell, because an entire year has gone by between the end of the canonical story and the beginning of this one, but I would have liked it if some of that info could have been integrated with the present-time story. Also, there are a few mechanical problems, mainly missing or extra words and a few odd constructions. That said, being a professional editor, I am extremely picky about writing quality, so the mere fact that I read this story from beginning to end means that I think highly of your writing skills. What impresses me most, though, is the way that you used those skills to build a story that is emotionally involving: funny, suspenseful, erotic, and in the end, borderline heartbreaking. I teared up at the paragraph in the last chapter where they think of “a secret way to say ‘I love you,’” because—as you no doubt intended—that was when the full meaning of the title suddenly hit me, and realizing it myself before you explained it made the moment powerfully affecting. Thanks for writing and sharing this. I look forward to reading the sequel.

I forgot to mention a couple of things in my review: --I had several LOL moments while reading it. Because SvtFoE is as much a comedy as anything, I feel that humor is essential to making the story true to the show. So well done. --I like Star's stepwise plan for Marco. As it happens, I'm working on a story with a similar theme (although it involves the two of them coming up with a stepwise plan together to help each other get with their respective crushes). So I'm looking forward to seeing whether the plan works, and Marco's rewards along the way.

Re: Make It All Better Thank you! I've been taking a break from this story for a while to work on others, but I will definitely be getting back to it. I love writing these characters too much not to.

Then I guess I will endeavor to put my neuroses aside and just write the thing. Thanks, all.

In writing fanfics about current TV shows, or about movies that are likely to have sequels, I sometimes find myself worrying about my story being rendered AU (“alternate universe,” ie, no longer consistent with canon) by future episodes. For example, I'm nearly ready to begin writing a new Star Vs. the Forces of Evil fic, but I can't shake the concern that when the new season starts (in “late spring/early summer,” as the network is putting it), my story will be rendered AU before it's even finished. I'd feel stupid writing about Marco's romance with Jackie Lynn Thomas when the show has, say, just revealed that she secretly loathes him, or that Marco is actually in love with Star, or what have you. I pride myself on making my fanfics as true to the source material as possible, and being AUed messes with that. Also, I feel like being AUed renders the story obsolete in the eyes of readers. Do any of you ever worry about this?

Re: Some Girl Thank you! Re: Fireworks There's actually just going to be one more story: "Comfort and Joy." My original plan was to get the whole thing posted by Christmas, but if you've seen the one chapter posted to date, you know how that worked out. And although I've got the subsequent chapters partway written, I've been too preoccupied with other projects lately to really focus on it. But I'm sure inspiration will strike at some point and I'll get it finished.

If it makes you feel any better, a counterpoint story: My dad has those "Former Prisoner of War" license plates on his car. Two or three times since he got them, he's reached the drive-through window at McDonald's or Starbucks and been told that his order has already been paid for by the customer ahead of him in line.

Except that this site doesn't have underage character restrictions (except regarding stories about real people)--it just requires tags if you have underage characters having sex. (Which is why AFF shall have my eternal allegiance. ) So no "dodge attempts" are necessary. I'd never heard of the Harkness test. Good to know. And Kes is a good example of a character who is "underage" by our chronological standards but who is clearly physically and mentally mature. If I wrote a story about her that involved sex, I would definitely not be inclined to use the Minor1 tag, and I can't imagine anyone feeling deceived because I didn't.

As one who frequently (and shamelessly) posts stories in which underage characters have sex, I'd say it's best to err on the side of caution. If you're describing the sex scenes well enough for readers to visualize them, then they're going to "see" an adolescent having sex, regardless of the character's chronological age. So IMO, tag that mother. BTW, I would say the same thing if the character had a child's mind and an adult's body instead of the other way around. Because presumably, the character's dialogue would be like that of a child rather than an adult, and that would be enough to justify the tag in at least some readers' minds. The warning at the beginning is a good idea too, of course. I'd probably do both. (And I often do.)

IMO, one thing that can make villains especially hateable is having some kind of justification for their heinous actions that their followers or supporters accept. It could a racist ideology, some kind of moral relativism, some argument that they are serving the greater good--something that sounds reasonable enough (from some point of view) that others will grab onto it, either as a reason to follow the villain or as an excuse to do the awful things the villain wants. A good real-life example is Ross William Ulbricht, who used the username "Dread Pirate Roberts" (a character beloved by many) and spouted libertarian ideology to make himself look like some sort of Internet freedom fighter while using the darknet to make tens of millions of dollars selling illegal drugs and, allegedly, arranging contract killings.

[spoilers below] Remember that Elsa is recovering from being poisoned--she's not quite back to her full strength yet. Nonetheless, things are about to get interesting. I told a friend recently that I think of Anna as the Batman to Elsa's Superman. Elsa has her powers, but Anna has to rely on--and develop--what wits and talents she has. Glad you are continuing to enjoy this story. We're in the home stretch now, so there's plenty of excitement to come!