Desiderius Price

If 3+ is central to the story, then please advertise it! 
We're kinda using tags to serve two roles, one to warn about objectional content, and the second is to advertise.  I’ve been keeping mine to the first purpose, because that makes it easier to apply them where needed.  But, if people are treating them as advertisement, that’s where it gets tougher.  That’s because using abortion] for mentioning that “Ms Charming” had an abortion, is different than [abortion] for describing the fine details of the procedure, a distinction crucial to somebody looking for a fic centered around an abortion.
I’ve given this some thought.  We could, for instance, tag each chapter with a severity rating, *but* such a system would be very prone to leaking spoilers if you know that chapter 7 has [abortion++], chapter 10 has [MCD], with [nec] in chapter 11; plus the time to code it up, get people adjusted, etc. 
In the end, the simplest solution is to keep doing what we’ve been doing, tag as a warning to objectional content, and advertise via category/summary. 
That’s my $0.02 worth on this.

Hmm… if the parasite is doing the control, might [toy] count?

Add in another human and you’re covered by 3+.  Now, [xeno] might be applicable too. 
And if this isn’t related to some new president of the United States, I think that requires its own tag, with big warning all around it.
- DP

Add in another human and you’re covered by 3+.  Now, [xeno] might be applicable too. 
And if this isn’t related to some new president of the United States, I think that requires its own tag, with big warning all around it.
- DP

I wrote this several years ago on LJ. *amuses herself way too much* I thought it might be helpful for people worried about writing a Sue or anyone who just wants a little chuckle.
How to be a Mary Sue by Jezebel Haddo
Have you always wanted to write a Mary Sue character but weren't sure how? Now you can with these 15 easy steps!
1. Prattle endlessly about their hair - Hair is the most important aspect of a person. How can we understand a character if we don't know every minute detail about their hairstyle?
2. Give your character at least two nicknames. It makes them seem more interesting that way.
3. They should be drop-dead sexy. Even if they have traits that are not commonly thought of as sexy, they should have multiple people falling in love with them for no good reason. Only evil and/ or stupid characters should be ugly and/ or fat. Cool characters should be gorgeous or at least ruggedly handsome.
4. Don't waste time developing their personality. All you need to write is that they're a cute, smart, sassy, fun-loving, badass rebel who's good at everything and is popular with the in-crowd. That makes it true to life.
5. Don't give them discernible flaws. Your character will be much cooler if they come across as more god than human.
6. Put an emphasis on music, sports, and dating. The best characters are always listening to hip rock bands, are their team's MVP, and have lots of people falling for them (though they only date equally cool people). That's what life is all about!
7. The rules of any established universe should bend for your character's awesomeness. If anyone complains, they're jealous. Laws and consequences are for losers.
8. Why not make your character a twin? Twins are really common! Every twin has at least one twin.
9. Your character has the right to treat everyone else like scum and still have said scum love and worship them. Hey, how can anyone not love their coolness?
10. If it's a girl, make her super-skinny, yet super-buxom. What's the point of having a nice rack and an incredible arse if she isn't thirty pounds underweight? And we all know that's how most girls are built. If it's a boy, he must be ripped, with a six-pack stomach and bulging biceps, but he's not too muscular, of course.
11. Employ a deus ex machina whenever possible. It's the fun way to solve problems.
12. Make blanket statements with nothing to back them up. If you say your character is friendly, I'll take your word for it, even if they never do anything to show that they're friendly.
13. Oxymorons, stereotypes, and anachronisms are your friends. Just because your character goes to Hogwarts doesn't mean they can't be immersed in Muggle pop culture. A Chinese character doesn't have to be at all Chinese as long as they're named Lee or Wong and they like egg rolls. And just because grunge rock came about in the 90's, doesn't mean someone in the 70's couldn't be listening to it.
14. It's okay to give your character rare abilities, famous relatives/friends/lovers, and a high profile job. While you're at it, why not several of each?
15. Make sure they've experienced lots of trauma, but don't bother showing them actually being affected by it. You don't want the character's coolness being watered down by things like human psychology. Emotions are only good for eliciting sympathy. As long as the character whines about the bad stuff, it will seem authentic.

Welcome back Jungle drums.  Like you, I’m here because I don’t feel like self-censoring my works.

Report and ignore it, that's about the only option that won't drag you down with the trolls.  Plus this documents the issue in case it comes back up.  (Assuming this other sites mods care as much as AFF's do...  Anything to the trolls will just bait them further.  IMO.

Courtesy of the brilliant and extraordinary Dafdes:

Dear God, grant me the serenity to accept those things that are not TOS violations, the courage to read through fiction that probably has missing tags somewhere, and the wisdom to know I'm here because I write shocking and socially unacceptable pornography too.

I’m going by the more traditional usage of the terms, and even the expanded definitions don’t provide the clear age ranges I need as far as archive content warnings. Reading about a 16 or 17 year old having sex is one thing, but when the character is under 13, it’s a huge trigger for many readers. Even being under 18 can be a trigger. Neither shota, gay or straight, nor loli provide that clarity. I will grant you, in most of the shota I’ve seen lately, the boys are definitely falling into the Minor1 age range, so do we consider shota one of the major trigger tags, too?
Loli got its name from the Nabokov novel, of course. That artificially enhanced young-girl image appealed to the ecchi audience, and it’s still a big part of the Harajuku cosplay scene.

Looking at it from the readers perspective, a sudden change of tags is kinda like bait and switch, IMO, because if it happens after they’ve already invested hours, and potentially hundreds of Kwords, reading the story, only to suddenly have it change.  Outside of a oneshot collection, where each story isn’t really related and hence skippable, it could be rather maddening.  A reminder on a particular chapter, sure, but I’d rather not make it the first introduction of a tag.  That said, as I’ve got WIPs, I’ve had new ones suddenly decide to invade the story, at which point, a chapter-level warning is a good way to let the regular readers know about it (while also updating the story summary).

Looking at it from the readers perspective, a sudden change of tags is kinda like bait and switch, IMO, because if it happens after they’ve already invested hours, and potentially hundreds of Kwords, reading the story, only to suddenly have it change.  Outside of a oneshot collection, where each story isn’t really related and hence skippable, it could be rather maddening.  A reminder on a particular chapter, sure, but I’d rather not make it the first introduction of a tag.  That said, as I’ve got WIPs, I’ve had new ones suddenly decide to invade the story, at which point, a chapter-level warning is a good way to let the regular readers know about it (while also updating the story summary).

Writing Descriptions
 
When we walk through the world, we’re surrounded by a huge range of things, but we usually don’t notice everything in intimate detail. And that’s because much of what we’re surrounded by just isn’t that important to what we’re currently doing; it’s little more than visual background noise. So when your character walks into a room, just how much of what’s in that room should you describe?
In every situation, there are things that need to be described, things that shouldn’t be described, and things that don’t really matter whether you describe them or not. Some people might even cut it down to the first two I just mentioned, and suggest that you never describe anything that isn’t relevant to the story. I disagree with that. While it’s never a good idea to go waffling on describing a whole laundry list of irrelevant crap, mentioning things that might enrich the story in some way is never a bad idea. If it doesn’t enrich the story or a character in any way, though, then leave it out.
So what should you describe? You need to provide enough detail to allow the reader to create a visual in their mind that follows your guidelines but is still distinctly their own. People have their own imagination, and we all visualise things differently. By trying to describe every tiny, insignificant detail, you’re attempting to ride rough-shod over their imaginations and force your own into their heads, which can annoy enough to pull them out of the story. By giving your readers the necessary descriptive tools, you allow them to visualise the scene and fill in the blanks, rather than trying to do it all for them.
Some writers just love to use extremely flowery language peppered with obsolete words, because they presumably think this makes their descriptions better. Personally, I find this unnecessary at best, annoying and frustrating at worst. You shouldn’t need a dictionary when reading a story. A thesaurus is handy, but make sure your new favourite word hadn’t already fallen out of fashion when Queen Victoria was still a girl.
 
Describing rooms
Here’s an example of BAD description and BETTER description.
BAD:
Stephen turned the door nob and gently pushed the mahogany door, which eased open without a sound. It was a smallish room, perhaps about the size of an average bedroom, or maybe a bit larger. The only light came from a shiny silver candelabra which sat on the mantel over the unlit fireplace. The three candles cast dancing shadows around the room, but there was enough light for him to make out the details.
A well-worn three-seater leather couch sat in front of a low, rectangular coffee table. Strewn on the coffee table was a magazine called Country Life, an empty glass, car keys in a small silver dish and a circular metal ashtray filled to the brim with ash and cigarette buts. A wing-backed leather single seater sat near the couch, perched at an oblique angle.
The walls were lined with sideboards and glass-fronted cabinets, all stuffed with glass and porcelain ornaments and knick-knacks of all shapes and sizes. What little of the walls he could see were adorned with old-fashioned wallpaper, with stylised patterns of flowers alternating in vertical rows.
As Stephen stepped into the room, he felt the thick, shag-pile carpet under his feet. It was hard to tell the exact colour in the dim light, but he thought it was probably a dark red.
Taking a seat on the three-seater, Stephen’s first impression was that it wasn’t quite as comfy as he thought it would be; he could feel one or two springs pressing against him. It was only now that he noticed the gentle ticking sound, and saw the mantel clock sitting at the other end of the mantle.
 
BETTER:
Stephen eased open the mahogany door without a sound and stepped inside, feeling the plush carpet under his feet. A fireplace sat cold and empty, but a lit candelabra on the mantle cast dancing shadows around the room. The warm glow revealed a busy room bordering on cluttered, but it was the leather lounge in the middle that he made his way to. Leaning back in the slightly uncomfortable chair, Stephen’s gaze fell on the coffee table, showing a small assortment of objects including a glass half full of some dark liquid, but it was the ashtray that caught his attention the most. Ash and cigarette butts filled it to overflowing, with a dusting of ash surrounding it.
 
The ‘better’ description is certainly shorter, but that doesn’t make it worse. Does it really matter exactly how big the room is, that there’s three candles in the candelabra, the other single seater chair, the exact shape of the coffee table, the name of the magazine, the car keys in the dish, the ornaments, the wallpaper, the colour of the carpet, or the clock? I mentioned the ashtray because, in my mind, that has some relevance to the story. Also, describing the half-full glass suggests to the reader that there’s likely to be someone else in the house. If there’s nailhead trim on the leather couch, then mention that, but only if someone is going to snag their clothing on it later, or they subsequently find one of the nailheads elsewhere in the house. Perhaps there’s two empty glasses and a bottle of wine on the coffee table. Or maybe the ornaments are important. But for me, none of that other stuff was significant enough to warrant mentioning.
One way you could end up describing more of that room is by having the owner enter the room, strike up a conversation with Stephen and begin talking about some of his ornaments. You’ve already described the fact that the room is cluttered, so the fact that there’s ornaments in the room won’t come as a surprise. On the other hand, if the owner starts talking about the dog in the room then the reader is going to think, ‘Hang on, what dog?’. Adding detail a bit at a time is better than doing it all in one big block of text.
When you’re describing an interior, the most important thing is to convey the feel of the room. Is it sparsely furnished or cluttered? Brightly lit or dark and forbidding? Give them enough detail to provide the overall feeling you want, and leave them to furnish the rest of the room in their own minds. Remember, though, if there’s some object in that room that will have significance later in the story then you need to discuss it. The longer you hover over that object, though, the more you tip off the reader that this object is very important.
 
Describing external scenes
Describing external scenes can be a lot easier, at least as far as describing landscapes is concerned. Is it a forest dense enough to make it difficult to walk through, or an open forest? Open flat grass plains or rolling hills? You don’t need to – nor should you – attempt to describe every rock and tree. If the weather is cold or hot then you should describe the effect it’s having on the characters. Describe the ice and snow, and how he’s still shivering in spite of his warm clothes. Or how his sweat trickles down his face, and how the sun beats down on him like hammer blows. You shouldn’t need to specifically tell your reader what season it is; that’s what good description is for.
If you’re not an architect then describing buildings facades can be difficult, but who wants to read that level of intimate detail? If the style is important – Gothic or Art Deco perhaps – then describe it, but remember that you’re not writing a story on architecture. Describing the condition of the building is important if it’s run-down. Talk about the peeling paint, the cracked and broken windows, the holes in the walls, the kicked in front door; that’s if it’s an abandoned building. If the place is simply run-down rather than abandoned then you’ll probably want to dial that back a bit, unless you wont people to be surprised to find someone still living in it.
 
Describing clothing
It’s usually not important what exact clothes your characters are wearing. While you’re spending a full page describing in intimate detail what Samantha is wearing, your reader is working overtime putting all this together and visualising what you’re forcing down their throat. If an item of clothing that she’s wearing will later become significant then discuss that, but only in as much detail as strictly necessary. For example, let’s say Samantha goes jogging. You could mention that she’s wearing her usual tracksuit or active wear, etc, including her old and battered, but comfy, sneakers. You mention the sneakers because later, after she’s been reported missing, these sneakers are found. A detective talking to Samantha’s best friend describes how these shoes are her favourites and was dreading the day she would need to buy new ones, so there’s no way she would simply throw them away. So you could have initially had Samantha having an internal monologue about how these are her favourite shoes, etc, but that’s usually silly and unnecessary, especially when you could have her best friend later relate this information to someone.
If the character wears very weird clothing, then describe it; if they’re wearing an ugly tie, then describe it; if there’s something significant about their clothes, then describe it. If you want to convey the idea that it’s hot or cold outside, then describe it. Otherwise, don’t.
 
Describing emotions
There’s an old writer’s maxim: Show, don’t tell. You should never have a reason to say “Jeff was angry”. It should be obvious that Jeff was angry from your description. Facial expressions and body language are invaluable in showing what a person is feeling, regardless of what they’re actually saying. Does your character have a nervous tic? Do they blush even more than normal when they’re embarrassed? Or maybe they stammer a bit, or get angry? Do they always scratch an imaginary itch when they’re lying? It should also be obvious that a person is in love with someone, without you needing to type the word ‘love’.
 
 
Descriptions are vital, but they can also bore readers with great speed. Try and break up your descriptions over various scenes. Bite-sized pieces of descriptions are more palatable than big blocks of them every other paragraph.

While I wanted to reply at work, I figured I ought to be working at work…. (not to mention, replying on the tablet is painful).
Several different ways, depending on whether you’ve got a receiver pad, or not, and whether it’s got to be permanent or just temporary.  Obviously, with a permanent receiver pad/device on Earth, it could be moved, defaced, destroyed by us, or be used as a chamber pot by some soul who doesn’t realize what it is. 
Now you could go with electromagnetic interference because that has changed in 2017 years, choosing your favorite gadget for causing this, on the “specific frequency” needed for the beaming to work.  (ie, microwave, or wifi blaming our porn habits, or, if you need night time only, the sodium vapor common in street lights)
Another possibility is pollution in the atmosphere, blocking the frequencies needed for the beam in/out to work.
A non-human possibility is a geomagnetic storm (ie, a solar flare) from the sun.
Several ideas, hope it helps!

Not certain, the sunspot number is going down.  (Which means less activity.)  However, there is a random chance factor, that unless somebody is looking up NOAA’s space weather page, can be easily fudged to make the plot happen.

Good reading.
After I decide I’ll need a character, I typically use a random picker to give me a list of traits/hobbies/allergies/phobias, and I’ll see if any work for what I want out of the character.  If it’s a marginal character, I’ll pick more freely.  If there’s a specific/important reason for the character, I’ll be more selective and reselect until I get something closer.  And, after I select, I will record them (I’ve got dossier files for each character) – this is perhaps the most critical, because if I work with the character later, I can keep him/her consistent.
At the threat of a mild spoiler, this process helped me this week, because a character needed to eat a lot of a particular food.  As I was editing his dossier to make it his favourite, I noticed that I had previously made him allergic to it.  This suddenly made the character richer in his personality for deliberately eating something he’s allergic to (and suffering the consequences of it later), and strengthened the plot a bit since I no longer had to make it ill-prepared food. 
So, for me, my process helps me, helps me have a diversity of characters with different traits, and it helps me when writing because it can fill in those awkward moments, like, when one character gives a gift to somebody else, where the friendship is deep, then what’s the gift? 
My day job involves software so I have to be very rational, logical, and considering subtle nuances; this is something I carry over into my writing.  So, maybe somebody else will find my process useful. 
 

Good reading.
After I decide I’ll need a character, I typically use a random picker to give me a list of traits/hobbies/allergies/phobias, and I’ll see if any work for what I want out of the character.  If it’s a marginal character, I’ll pick more freely.  If there’s a specific/important reason for the character, I’ll be more selective and reselect until I get something closer.  And, after I select, I will record them (I’ve got dossier files for each character) – this is perhaps the most critical, because if I work with the character later, I can keep him/her consistent.
At the threat of a mild spoiler, this process helped me this week, because a character needed to eat a lot of a particular food.  As I was editing his dossier to make it his favourite, I noticed that I had previously made him allergic to it.  This suddenly made the character richer in his personality for deliberately eating something he’s allergic to (and suffering the consequences of it later), and strengthened the plot a bit since I no longer had to make it ill-prepared food. 
So, for me, my process helps me, helps me have a diversity of characters with different traits, and it helps me when writing because it can fill in those awkward moments, like, when one character gives a gift to somebody else, where the friendship is deep, then what’s the gift? 
My day job involves software so I have to be very rational, logical, and considering subtle nuances; this is something I carry over into my writing.  So, maybe somebody else will find my process useful. 
 

As my mother’s said, it’s better to be over the hill than under it.

Not certain, the sunspot number is going down.  (Which means less activity.)  However, there is a random chance factor, that unless somebody is looking up NOAA’s space weather page, can be easily fudged to make the plot happen.

Feeding trolls is a no-win scenario, IMO, and I’d rather spend my time tormenting my characters.  So yeah, good luck and starve the trolls.

Not certain, the sunspot number is going down.  (Which means less activity.)  However, there is a random chance factor, that unless somebody is looking up NOAA’s space weather page, can be easily fudged to make the plot happen.

While I wanted to reply at work, I figured I ought to be working at work…. (not to mention, replying on the tablet is painful).
Several different ways, depending on whether you’ve got a receiver pad, or not, and whether it’s got to be permanent or just temporary.  Obviously, with a permanent receiver pad/device on Earth, it could be moved, defaced, destroyed by us, or be used as a chamber pot by some soul who doesn’t realize what it is. 
Now you could go with electromagnetic interference because that has changed in 2017 years, choosing your favorite gadget for causing this, on the “specific frequency” needed for the beaming to work.  (ie, microwave, or wifi blaming our porn habits, or, if you need night time only, the sodium vapor common in street lights)
Another possibility is pollution in the atmosphere, blocking the frequencies needed for the beam in/out to work.
A non-human possibility is a geomagnetic storm (ie, a solar flare) from the sun.
Several ideas, hope it helps!

While I wanted to reply at work, I figured I ought to be working at work…. (not to mention, replying on the tablet is painful).
Several different ways, depending on whether you’ve got a receiver pad, or not, and whether it’s got to be permanent or just temporary.  Obviously, with a permanent receiver pad/device on Earth, it could be moved, defaced, destroyed by us, or be used as a chamber pot by some soul who doesn’t realize what it is. 
Now you could go with electromagnetic interference because that has changed in 2017 years, choosing your favorite gadget for causing this, on the “specific frequency” needed for the beaming to work.  (ie, microwave, or wifi blaming our porn habits, or, if you need night time only, the sodium vapor common in street lights)
Another possibility is pollution in the atmosphere, blocking the frequencies needed for the beam in/out to work.
A non-human possibility is a geomagnetic storm (ie, a solar flare) from the sun.
Several ideas, hope it helps!

Feeding trolls is a no-win scenario, IMO, and I’d rather spend my time tormenting my characters.  So yeah, good luck and starve the trolls.

I actually have to side with Des on this. Report it, repeatedly if necessary, and if they continue, report the new content. Don’t let up until you get a response from the site. But if you respond on their comments, it will only incite them.

Report and ignore it, that's about the only option that won't drag you down with the trolls.  Plus this documents the issue in case it comes back up.  (Assuming this other sites mods care as much as AFF's do...  Anything to the trolls will just bait them further.  IMO.