GeorgeGlass

I'm bumping this thread because Halloween is coming around again, and I thought some folks might be in the mood for a feel-good Halloween story.

The same thing famously happened to AnonyMPC, who one day learned that one of his stories was for sale on Amazon. He chose not to fight it, though, because (as his name perhaps implies) he values his anonymity more than his copyright. I was plagiarized once (that I know of)--some little creep stole two of my stories, changed the titles, and posted them as his own work on DeviantArt. (Fortunately, it only took a threat of reporting him to the site runners to make him take them down.) I got pretty angry about that, so I imagine I would be absolutely furious if someone actually charged people money for my stolen work.

Having had some time to think about it, I think the simplest solution is for me to remove the "Rape" tag from those two stories, since there is no actual rape in either one. One story has "would-be rapist" in the summary, and the other has the "SH" tag, which should constitute sufficient warning.

Re: "Caitlyn's Punishment" A third and final chapter is in the works and should be ready soon. Thanks for the comment!

This is not so much a request for a new tag as it is for feedback about whether one is needed, and what it ought to be. I've got a couple of stories up that have the Rape tag even though there's no actual rape in them. In one story, a young executive who missed his company's new-employee orientation finds out that, at his new firm, sexual harassment is mandatory and that both his secretary and a woman from Housekeeping have filed complaints against him for his failure to make suggestive remarks about their appearance or to touch them inappropriately. The head of Human Resources informs him that he will need to make it up to his secretary by forcing himself on her. In the other story, a man abducts a woman who turns out to be a Little (a sort of submissive who enjoys pretending to be a little girl). He tells him that he's taking her to the desert to do something terrible to her, she responds with enthusiasm instead of terror ("Can we play I Spy on the way there?"), and comedy ensues. I gave both stories the Rape tag just to be on the safe side, but I know that it will turn away some readers who might otherwise enjoy these stories. Would it be appropriate to have something like a "Rape Play" tag?

Re: "A Little Goes a Long Way" Thanks! The dialogue-only format was new to me, but I enjoyed trying it out. (I'm a big believer in the idea that limitations stimulate creativity.) As for the story itself, it was inspired by the hilarious "The Death of Romance" by Dr. Awkward and Scoundrel over at Hentai Foundry.

Re: "A Little Goes a Long Way" Thank you and you're welcome! (Excuse me, "Yo wewcome".) This was my first experiment with using a dialogue-only format, so I'm really glad you think it turned out well.

That is a high compliment indeed. I tried to make the imagery as comic-like as possible so that readers would envision it that way. That you will. They don't call me Spoiler-Free George for nothing. Okay, nobody calls me that. And I'm kind of glad, because it's sort of a stupid name. Thanks! More beach, bikinis, and busts on the way!

Very best, PW.

I'm jealous; I've written some really vile stories, and I NEVER get press like this.

Thank you! This was by far the most challenging Phineas and Ferb fic I've ever written, so I'm glad that you find so much to like about it. I'm planning to revisit the dream theme again in a future story, albeit in a very different way.

Re: "A Beach Like No Other" Thank you! Yes, there's definitely a bit of mystery to this beach. Hope you'll stay tuned!

Even though I was here long before the HF exodus, I really appreciate this gesture, DG.

Hey, GrayNeko! As a fellow "citizen" of both AFF and HF, I wanted to say, Welcome!

Thank you! Although the description of why Suzy loves thunderstorms was meant in part to illustrate her psycho mindset, given that she loves them for their power and frightfulness. In the episode "Canderemy," it looked like Jeremy was capable of sleeping through just about anything, so that seemed like something Suzy could exploit. I found it a little disturbing just how much I enjoyed writing Suzy's fantasies. I suppose I should concede that, just as Suzy projects her sick sexual desires onto Jeremy, perhaps I'm projecting my own onto Suzy. The more evil they are, the more fun it is to watch them fall. Suzy's defeat was actually one of the first parts of this story that I thought up. Then it was all about how we get from point A to point B and see all the twisted sights along the way. I had been thinking of the episode in which Suzy uncharacteristically tried to help Candace control her brothers, and Candace failed anyway. Thanks! Pants are an illusion! (Bonus points if you get the reference.)

A reader recently asked me whether I had a Twitter account through which I could notify readers about my new stories or chapters. I do not, but I'm thinking about getting one. Before I do, though, I'm wondering what the other options are. What do you all do when you want to let your readers know about new stories or chapters you've posted?

If you're saying that writing in an obscure fandom means that you attract fewer reviewers of the type that KH is talking about, I'm inclined to agree. When I write fanfic, I mainly write for fandoms that are either somewhat obscure (the original ThunderCats) or that don't have a lot of "adult" fic written for them (Phineas and Ferb), and my experience with reviewers of these fics has been extremely positive. By and large, they are appreciative of my efforts, they often go into significant detail regarding what they liked or didn't like, and while they sometimes express disappointment that I didn't include some element they wanted to see, they don't harp on that or make it central to their reviews. Certainly, there are exceptions, but usually those people just leave one-line reviews, not paragraph-long diatribes, so they don't really bother me. I feel very fortunate that my fanfic has attracted such a good readership here. My original stuff, not so much, but I've still had several well-written reviews even there. Besides, this isn't OriginalFiction.org. Thank you, super-reviewers. (You know who you are.)

Thanks, BW. That is very reassuring.

This morning, the administrator of Hentai Foundry announced that sexually suggestive artwork and stories about characters that are less than 18 years old (or appear to be so) will no longer be allowed. Apparently, someone complained to the site's host, which required HF to make this change. This is really disappointing to me, because maybe 70% of my stories involve under-eighteen characters. AFF is now the only site where I have any such stories posted. And not to diss AFF, but those stories tend not to get as much traction here as they do on HF. (AFF readers seem to be more into either fanfics or adult incest, d/s, and rapey stuff.) I guess I'll be using the "exclusively on AFF" tag more often now. Although I have to wonder whether the same thing will happen here.

It would be nice if there were something in the Forum FAQs about what effect this control has. Do "friends" have access to anything of yours that other users don't? Or does clicking the button simply add that person to your list of friends?

This is complete speculation, but what the heck: I'd say that unlike Gaelic and Elvish, Japanese is a language to which a lot of your readers--that is, anime fans--have had at least some exposure but in which most of them probably lack substantial expertise. And fans of anything have a tendency to argue vehemently over things that they have just a little bit of knowledge about.

Wow--I remember watching The Secrets of Isis, but I had forgotten its name. What a reference! Love the commissioned pics. Padoga draws GF characters really well; I've got him on my watch list, too. Seems like Evil Fairy is worth listening to (despite the evil--or maybe because of it). Her "Riley's Replacement" has been on my list of stories I've been meaning to read for like a year now. As for Ark II...I thought we as a generation had mutually agreed never to speak of it again.

I saw #1 more than 20 years ago at an SF convention. I don't remember the name of it, but I can provide a couple more details (which I'm hoping I remember accurately) that may help you in your search. --There were 3 guys with bomb collars. They were all convicted criminals who were being forced to stop a criminal or terrorist plot as a sort of "community service." The collars were to prevent them from trying to escape. --The story involved a tower that was so tall, it needed a kind of gyroscope-like system on one of its upper floors to keep it stable. Also, I second Muhabba's speculation that #4 is AKIRA.

Thanks! I know, I disappointed some folks by leaving that out. See my response to Jomahawk and SWK's reviews (above) for an explanation.

Jomahawk and SWK: Your reviews touched on similar points, so I'm going to reply to them simultaneously. Thank you very much, guys. The ending is surprising in part because the story is told entirely from Suzy's extremely limited and distorted point of view. As I tried to illustrate through her thoughts and fantasies, her expectations are heavily colored by her twisted view of the world. One of the hallmark traits of a psychopath (or whatever they're called these days; I've lost track) is a lack of empathy. Although psychopaths can be great charmers and manipulators of people, they can't really see things from another person's perspective. Thus, Suzy assumes that everyone thinks more or less the way she does, and that any differences between their behavior and hers are merely the result of societal brainwashing, weakness, or stupidity. Suzy doesn't understand love or generosity, so she assumes that they doesn't really exist; love is just an attractive disguise for lust, and generosity always has strings attached. Thus, it never occurs to her that Candace might have feelings for Jeremy strong enough to overbalance Suzy's ability to intimidate her, or that Phineas and Ferb would help Candace simply because she asked. And Suzy's ideas about Jeremy's sexuality are largely a projection of her own savage erotic urges. As a result, Candace didn't even have to be that good an actress--she just had to play along with Suzy's expectations. The most effective lies are often those that the listener wants to believe. I gave a lot of thought to the point at which the story should end, and I seriously considered depicting some or all of Suzy's revenge-rape. And I will confess that the main reason why I denied you, the reader, that gratification is that I didn't know how to write that scene. Specifically, I didn't know what would be going through Suzy's mind, and because the whole story is written from Suzy's viewpoint, that was a dealbreaker. It wouldn't be satisfying if Suzy were in denial of the whole thing or had some sort of dissociative experience, and leaving her swearing horrible revenge against Candace would undermine Candace's victory. Besides, closing the door on the villain as they scream "NOOOOOO!" is such a classic story-ending device, I couldn't pass up the chance to use it. Again, the story is meant to be read entirely from Suzy's perspective, and she wouldn't know what Candace was up to after she left the shed. Besides, the shed is plenty soundproof thanks to Suzy's corrugated-cardboard "decorations" (which is meant to make Suzy's defeat all the sweeter, given that she is effectively caught in her own trap). I meant to imply (but didn't, really) that Candace and the dogs would be watching each other's backs from then on. Thanks again, guys. I am glad you both liked this one so much. Other P&F stories are in the works, of course, but I'm not sure yet which one will be sucking up valuable bandwidth next. And, of course, there's a mess of original stories in progress, too. (I generally have 10 to 20 stories--I kid you not--in various stages of development at any given time.) With respect and gratitude, George