NightScribe

Dakota Fanning is appearing in a new film in which her character is raped. Full article here: "Hounddog Controversy" Note that the article points out that there is no nudity or graphic/explicit depiction of the assault. My question to these crusaders is whether they're going to ban the Brooke Shields film "Pretty Baby" from ever being shown again, since she was a pre-teen, played a child whore, and was naked throughout huge chunks of the film. This crap reminds me of when Adrian Lyne did the remake of "Lolita" and couldn't find a U.S. distributor, until Showtime stepped up and ran it on cable. I watched the premiere and Lyne taped a segment thanking Showtime for having the stones to air his film (btw, I proudly own it on DVD, guess that makes me some kind of perv). Sorry, this makes me grumpy.

Like a few others, I can't have songs with lyrics, I end up singing along or accidentally typing them into whatever I'm writing. I usually don't listen to anything, but have the t.v. turned down to white noise level. I have listened to Vivaldi concertos at low volume; they're all pretty much the same so it's just a seamless blend of pleasant music.

You're right nikola, I haven't written any slash, but I do read some from time to time and the ones I enjoy are where both men are masculine, not one masculine the other feminine. There's plenty of het stories out there to fill that need. I guess it irks me because it's the idea/stereotype (did Eve mention this or Agaib?) that one half of the pairing has to play the "female" role. I'll leave it to the slash writers to duke this one out.

I agree with nikola and Iggy; MANLY MEN please, I'm totally old school. Consider this though: teen pop idols and a lot of actors nowadays. Very few rough and tumble, deep voiced Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck, Clark Gable types, you know? Men who were men, sounded and looked masculine (baritone voices make me swoon ) I think part of it is that some (female) writers do a bit of self-insertion with the "girlier" character and some of them (not on this site I hope) are young teenagers. "Softer" looking/sounding men are less threatening. Broad shouldered, deep voiced gents have that aura of danger and experience that could be "frightening" to a 13 yr old. This even extends to operas and musicals. The young hero or love interest is usually sung by a tenor and the sidekick, comic relief, villain, father figure is sung by a baritone or bass baritone (due to the "color" of the voice). I never really got that; why fall for a guy who can almost sing as high as you? Sorry, I'm digressing, but just thought I'd put in my opinion.

ROTF

Is it possible that the lillies have formed a guild to prevent from being gelded?

I almost wrote under another name. I was having a bit of a fit after completing a lengthy fic and getting no responses. I came up with a clever pen name and was going to write absolute shit, (with spelling, grammar errors, the whole works) as a sociological experiment. Glad to say, I regained my sanity and never did it. I'm extremely attached to my pen name, I don't think I'd "feel" right going by another. Even if I did, my style of writing and the themes I work with would be a dead give away, I wouldn't fool anybody.

I lose "it" with every story, it's part of my M.O. In fact, it's just happened again; I know what I want to do, I'm just not doing it. I think re-reading is a good suggestion, I've done that myself. Don't focus so much on the stuff you're dissatisfied with, instead, revel in what makes you say "damn that was some good stuff!" I don't know if you outline or jot down notes for your whole story ahead of time, but sometimes, to get the flow back, I'll start with a later chapter and ease back into the writing thing in general. Once the creative juices get flowing and I'm jazzed again, I'll go back and write the next chronological chapter. Now, if I could only practice what I preach.

I've got to agree with some of the other folks here; some of these "Well, I never...I'm leaving!" people will be back. I remember when the site had problems last year and people were threatening to pack up then. They're still here or have come back (albeit quietly).

Hang in there, DA. Isn't it interesting/ironic how some changes meant to protect a site that's for adults brings out the juvenile, reactionary, immaturity of some assholes?

Although it's a bit of a pain to enter the verification info (especially when on the fly at work, where eyes are everywhere) I'm for it. AFF feels like home to me, and you've got to keep your home safe and in shape. We all need to adapt and be patient, is how I look at it. Plus, I'm no where near as psychotically obsessed with checking for hits & reviews like when I first joined, so I can manage (I think)

The only thing that I dread (maybe too strong a word, but I'm a cynic) are the fanbrats. I've seen it happen where a story has a five star rating, thirty reviews (all of the squeeing "you're an awesome writer, this is the best fic on the site, OMG that was SOOOOO HOT!!! variety) and when you click on the story it turns out to be: a shameless Mary Sue badly formatted, riddled with typos and bad grammar a flimsy, plodding plot with holes so big you could sail the Queen Mary through it completely devoid of lemons (not even a wedge of lime) or if there is sex it is so laughably bad you're convinced they couldn't tell the difference between an erect phallus and a flashlight Now, you leave polite concrit. You know, the usual, watch your spelling, work on your grammar, don't be in such a rush to post, get a beta, learn basic anatomy, etc. Author and fanbrat following don't like that and retaliate by hitting your story and telling you it sucks and spitefully rate it down. Anon or aliases can be an advantage for the well intentioned reviewer just covering their ass from the above scenario. But, I admit, the evil little trolls conscript it for their own dark purposes, and I'm not too fond of the little assmunch responsible for plaguing a fandom, that's just bogus. Ah, well, we must adapt; anything to stymie the annoying buggers is ok by me.

I don't get tons of reviews, but I've gotten my share from Anon, or non-members, and I'd hate to see them go. But I hate those freakin' trolls, too. Maiafay brought up a good point, though. Will there be some kind of message to readers that they don't need to post fics in order to join up with the site? Some people may hesitate, thinking if they don't post an actual story, their account will be deleted.

From the good 'ole days, I liked Homicide: Life on the Streets and especially Barney Miller, both of which are in syndication limbo, nobody runs them.

Since I have to *ugh* work during the day, I only have evenings and weekends to write. If I'm still awake, I tend to get more creative as the midnight hour approaches. I write at night, basically, but I like the term scribe, hence NightScribe. Plus, to me, the night implies darkness and a bit of mystery and I always like to put dark elements in my stories.

I've done exactly what you're talking about, Eve. In fact, I've got a chapter coming up and I'm going to put a little AN caution that it's an extremely dark chapter, containing QRSXYZ. People can decide if they want to skip it, or carry on. Always better to be safe than sorry.

Your summary sounds okay to me, too. Mine usually suck, they're so short and bland. To wit: "The Malfoy family has a secret, which begets still more, with tragic results" or the equally lame "Post HBP: Snape's in hiding, Hogwarts is in trouble, and Voldemort has big plans." (Of course, followed by proper codes). Thanks Big Sam, I always wanted to know what it felt like to spew ice cold Pepsi out of my nose!

My two part sig is a shameless quote from my WIP (eventually subject to change) but the second part is a quote from the Marquis de Sade, taken from a draft to a book forward, written in 1788. Given the nature of fics on the main site, I thought it kind of said it all, and very concisely at that, proving that everything old is new again.

Pete Townshend

Ewan McGregor

ROTF!!!!

The thread mentioned already is a good place to start. You can also check out Sex-Lexis

Congrats, Adara!

Penn & Teller did the same kind of petition as the 9th grader on their show "Bullshit." That was pretty damn funny.

A report came out today, that J.K. Rowling announced the title of the 7th book; "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow's". What do you think? Personally, it's not really grabbing me (if it's for real, I'm actually a bit skeptical); it doesn't really seem to flow. Any opinions? Think it's a ruse?