NightScribe

Has this happened to you? You're looking for a fic, and as you scroll your fandom, or subcategory, you see a glut, a plethora, a cornucopia of 5 star rated stories. You click on one...and immediately find it is a piece of shit. Or that maybe it's an o.k. story, 3 or 3-1/2 star (I know the 1/2's don't exist, but you get my point). This bugs the hell out of me. So many times, I have lost minutes, nay, hours, of my life that I will not get back because so many stories are given excellent ratings. I understand that these kind of things are subjective, but come on. A rambling "fuck you if you don't like this" author's note (I just saw one like that, I wanted to bitch slap that little punk) followed by a fic loaded with punctuation and grammatical errors and a half-assed plot. And a story that wasn't even freaking completed from a year ago. That does not constitute 5 stars. I'm sorry. I saw somebody in the HP fandom asking what were some good stories to read, they were having a hard time finding any. Now that's pretty sad, but it kind of proves my point; they probably got fed up seeing all those highly rated fics and finding they were mediocre. I think what bugs me the most is the younger crowd (read: underage punks) who think that just because there's a badly written anal sex scene or blow job with lots of use of the word "fuck" and "cock" it's great. The worst part is, how many really good stories, deserving of the high rating, are overlooked because a reader is just burned out or given up because of misleading ratings (not to mention reviews?) I guess I rambled a bit, sorry about that.

Is it just me, or is there something off about the arrest of this Karr guy for the murder of JonBenet Ramsey? I'm not a cop or a lawyer, (however, I am not an idiot), but my instinct is telling me something is way off. Even when I first heard about this yesterday, I was like WTF? The more I hear, the weirder it seems, things aren't adding up. Is it just me? The guy looks incredibly freaky, true, but the pieces of the puzzle aren't exactly fitting. Also, any opinions on the Detroit judge who ruled the domestic spying program was unconstitutional? I say, way to go! Serves those little sneaking fascist bastards right. Any thoughts? Anybody? Anybody?

I understand exactly how you feel. I hardly ever get reviews, so your situation is different from mine. I've seen a few fics in my fandom that I know have been inspired by something I wrote, which is fine, except for the fact that there's no shout-out. Something along the lines of "I really like so-and-so's work and this kind of inspired me." It sucks that this person has actually reviewed your stuff and then not mentioned they were influenced by you. There's not much that can be done, unfortunately. I've found I'm just going to have to live with it.

Agreed! Agreed! I rather like stories with a twist and not knowing who one of the parties is, that's what makes it great. Funny, this thread is playing into the dilemma I have for a short fic I have planned. Noting the pairing isn't so much the problem, it's one of the codes. And I absolutely have to put the code in and reiterate it in the AN (major squick alert for some folks). But that's going to ruin the twist at the end, and I want it to be one of those OMG!!! moments. **shaking head sadly** The more I think about this, the more I realize the simple truth; I'm screwed.

Did you notice our dear Meg left two reviews on Media Minder for that story? The first was her usual, in Nov, then in April she said the same thing, with the added, "put it on AFF?" Who is this elusive Meg? Are we being punk'd? Are we on Candid Camera? As for BRP: It had to be said.

True, but it can be difficult sometimes. If you have a lot of codes, it takes up space, thereby limiting your summary, so one thing or the other is going to sufffer. More detail can be given in an AN, but a lot of people skip over those, then complain. But you're right, if a story is M/M that should be noted, without question. And the parties involved, if they're the main players. I started reading a story once that had a lot going on, they couldn't possibly code everything. They made mention of a particular thing that squicked me and that's when they lost me. They never said anything in their AN about it (which I do read). I was like, I know people are into that, but uh...no, thanks.

I can back up Pixagi's quote with an example. This does not apply to the story or author I used to start this thread, but a different one. I'm going to be throwing out a spoiler of my own stuff, but it doesn't matter. My first fic was Snape/OFC. First chapter starts in the Great Hall during dinner, with Snape sitting next to one Circe Amante (OFC-yes she's a knock-out, I believe Snape should shag beautiful women) who's a guest lecturer at the school. They engage in a "conversation" that mainly consists of snarky insults. *Spoiler Alert* I reveal in the sequel that Circe is a goddess, an immortal, a descendent of the Greek Gods (Circe duh). Her last name, Amante, is Italian for "love" or "lover". Got it? Good. Early April of this year (I posted my fic almost a year ago) a new story shows up. It starts in the Great Hall during dinner when a new teacher arrives, who is a knock-out. She sits next to Snape and engages in conversation that consists of insults (that were absolutely terrible; neither clever or funny). This other OFC's last name was "Astarte." Why is that familiar? I thought. And not just because of the Amante/Astarte similarity. So I looked it up. *Ahem* Astarte is the Semitic goddess of love and fertility. Uh, "goddess" "love"? Puh-leze. Mind you, all this crap happened in the first chapter. And it didn't get any better, I could predict what was going to happen next. It was a bad case of deja vu. I left a review, pointing out the similarities and they pulled the story in a New York minute. They knew they'd been caught, the little bastard. What's my point? I don't think I have one, other than, hopefully, it helps to explain my slight case of paranoia. Now that story was a blatant rip off, no doubt about it. With others, you just have to let some stuff ride. Still others are somewhere in-between. There was another story with similarities (OFC) and they denied having been influenced by my WIP. How many freakin' HP stories have a character close to Snape who's a deaf-mute and have Snape involved in an adulterous affair with Narcissa once her husband gets locked up in prison? And reveal that Lucius was a sexually abusive husband and have Snape living in a house protected by spells and Snape's deaf-mute daughter being molested by Voldemort in her dark bedroom and I've got Voldemort doing weird ass shit to Pansy in a black magic ritual chamber and Snape comforts her later in a very paternal, fatherly way? Yeesh!!! Oh, sorry, I went off on a tangent there. Gosh, the world is full of crazy coincidences, isn't it?

I prefer to know the main pairing myself, although it is difficult if there's more than one. I ran into that problem with one of my own fics. As I generally write SS/OFC, that's a no-brainer, it's right there in the coding/summary. However, my WIP is a story on a very large scale. It isn't just an OFC; I also have a Snape/Narcissa pairing, Harry/Hermione, Draco/Pansy, Snape/Pansy and some activity with Ginny/Remus and Ginny/Remus/Hermione. I think that's it. (It sounds demented and out there, just a sex-fest, I know, but really, it's not, it all works, trust me ) So how am I supposed to fit all that in a summary? And to reveal all that in an AN would ruin the story (which I guess I kind of just did!) No compaints, so far, and I'm working on the last chapter, so I guess it's not an issue. There are certain pairings that I just don't want to read; like Pink, it's not what they're doing, but who's doing it. But reading what I just wrote above, I guess I'm guilty of doing that exact same thing.

Mel, I agree with you. I have noticed the people saying they were here when they were underage, but they never posted, they waited, etc. Okay, but I think they should keep that to themselves because, as you said, if other minors are reading that, it may appear to them that they can skate. What I mean is, they may think "AFF says one thing but does another, so why not?" And I understand what you're saying about your story. Just because your character is 15, does not mean it is intended to be read by 15 yr olds. I can't say whether my stuff is tame or not, at times I think it is and others maybe not. But thinking about it now, there are themes that are definitely not appropriate for a child/teenager to read. A teacher having sex with a student, an adulterous affair with a married person, a character who has had a lot of partners; those are all themes that I believe an adult will understand are being used for fictional plot purposes only. Someone who is 14 or whatever may not be able to fully realize that those things are used for character or plot development. I'm in the planning stages of another story with a controversial theme and I absolutely do not want anyone reading it who can't handle it. I'm with you, let common sense prevail.

Yeah, I thought the same thing. Their OFC has the same first name as one of mine (that could be totally coincidental, but I've written four fics with her going back to last year) and the OMC hails from Düsseldorf, a town I mentioned in my recent fic. Their OMC is from Germany, speaks German on occasion and plays the bass. I have an OMC who's Italian, speaks Italian on occasion and plays the lute. Their OCs have to return to Hogwarts to save it from her psycho father who's taken over. Mine...He Who Is A Psychopath has a plan to take over the school, and somebody has to return to stop him....That's kind of why I dropped them a line in the first place. They said no, and I'm like "yeah, cool, whatever, knock yourself out. Goodnight and good luck." I must have pissed them off for them to go with the ALL CAPS: Funny! Of course, they could have come up with all this six years ago or something. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. (NOT!)

So, a week or so ago, I had e-mailed an author with some similarity questions about their fic. They responded right away and everything's cool, fine, hunky dory. Last night, I noticed they updated, so I thought I'd check it out, just for chuckles. I was rewarded! They've reworked their AN/Disclaimer, an obvious slam against me for questioning them in the first place. I thought the occasional words in ALL CAPS to emphasize their point was an especially nice, laugh inducing touch. I was so close to leaving a review, saying "Dude, relax....I got your e-mail and everything's cool. Sorry I didn't e-mail you to tell you I got your e-mail and everything's cool." Then proceed to tweak them a bit by reiterating what their disclaimer says, complete with ALL CAPS. But, it is a beautiful day in my part of the world, and I'm in a great mood and feeling magnanimous. Now I'm off to buy more paper and ink cartridges so I can finish my WIP and get started on my next project!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks so. I'd so love to write an Erik/OFC where he meets someone named, oh, I don't know....Raven Dahlia or something equally stupid. They get it on (of course, it has to be the Gerard Butler Phantom, can't use the canon and spoil the fantasy). After talking incessantly to him about her sexual fantasies, he obliges her while Christine is forced to watch...Erik then garrottes Raven with his Punjab lasso, because she never shut up, and she's crazier than he is. Erik and Christine then do the nasty, repeatedly, all the while laughing madly. Man, I am one sick puppy!

This doesn't apply to traditional novels, but one of the first stories I read on AFF started off great. It was a round robin, but I thought it was really interesting. Left a great review, rated it, couldn't wait for more. Then, the next few chapters and...squick! They lost me completely; that plus the fact that the P.O.V. kept changing and things were getting repetitive. I don't think I would have minded the particular fetish if it involved a fandom character I wasn't so fond of; I would have let it pass otherwise. That's how my squicks usually work, strange I know. That, I find, is true with me as well. There are some things that I won't necessarily say are one of my squicks, but usually the fics dealing with that particular thing (let's say, incest for this argument) are so shoddily written it's a joke. Then I read one that was so well done it makes you realize if it's approached in a mature manner, it works. I'm in the planning stages of a story dealing with something I've never written about before and I like the challenge; not to mention I'm finding it more than a bit of a turn-on.

Okay, totally sorry for my last post, I skipped ahead and didn't see the details of the Machiavellian plot (color me stupid). I'd like in on this. Hmm....I had an original story with a rape/torture/strangulation scene on a beach, which will never see the light of day. Maybe I'll just cannibalize from that...oooh, Meg devoured by cannibals??? As her entrails are being devoured and she ingests some of her own organs as part of a ceremonial ritual..."I like that alot. Could you please do that some more?" Then she dies of kuru.

Indeed it has, but absurdity serves a purpose; if not for it, we'd go insane. My question is how to get BRP (Black Rose Phantom) to actually leave an intelligent review or shut the f*ck up, instead of posting her bizarre Erik fantasies on the reviews page. Seeing five or six posts for a chapter, and stories with 60 reviews, 55 of which are her babbling about bitch slapping Christine and porking the Phantom, is annoying as hell. It falsely inflates the hits and, I'm sure, drives readers away who might otherwise read and enjoy an author's work. I freakin' hate that.

ROTF I've never had the displeasure of being reviewed by this little Stepford Wife, but I've seen what she's left for other writers. And I want to cyber strangle her. I love the story idea. Do it...pleeeeze???

All I could find was that some unknown actor named Alec Hopkins is playing young Snape. We'll just have to wait and see....and I repeat, I do not have an abnormal fixation.

If I can't fit all the codes in the summary, I'll definitely put them in an AN. The only thing that sucks is that I've got an idea for another fic (I like to have at least two in the hopper when I'm coming to the close of whatever I'm working on) and I'll absolutely have to code it and put a big warning in the AN. Reason it sucks is the "revelation" comes at the very end, so I'll be tipping off the reader straight away. But I'd rather have to code it properly, then have it pulled for non-compliance or have people complaining. It's not our fault people don't read the damn disclaimers/warnings.

Link to pic Veritaserm Site; Young Snape Seriously, Madapple, this picture is tiny and I initially saw it at work on a decent sized monitor. On my home laptop, it's the size of a gnat. If I can find a better one (not obsessive, not obsessive) I'll post another link.

I'm here, too, fashionably late, of course.

So, out of boredom, rather than actually work, I was cruising the internet. On one of the HP sites, they had a tiny, tiny, miniscule picture posted of the filming of the Pensieve incident from OotP. Now, the pic is so small, you can't make out the actor's faces, but I will say this; the dark robes, black hair, looks like a young Snape to me. The location is beautiful and I'm giddy as a 7th grader to find out they actually filmed the damn scene; after GoF, god knows what they might have cut. And no, (take note, Iggy Lovechild) I do not have an "unhealthy obsession" with Snape.

Extremely annoying. Maybe I'm outside the norm, but I do read ANs, knowing there's not a hell of a lot of space in the summary. I was reading a PotO fic once and nowhere did the author mention they were doing a hybrid of film and some other Phantom novel, which I never read and have no f***ing clue what that's all about. I've also seen stories with codes that really don't apply. Lemon, uh...no, that's a lime (but I guess they were just covering their butts). I read a fic where they had it tagged for necrophilia and there was none in the story. There was a dead person (I think) but no nobody had sex with it. And I really hate HP Mary Sues where some fan of the book is sucked into that world or an HP character is sucked out into theirs and it's not coded as AU or posted in the right sub-category. Argh!

And I thought it was just me. I tried getting into anime, so I could broaden my horizons and read some fics, but I was like...WTF? All that "inner dialogue". At first, I couldn't figure out if these people were telepaths or not and I kept thinking, so, what is this ninja X-men? Maybe I just chose the wrong anime to watch, but that show killed it for me. I'd like to beat that title character with reeds, force feed him a ton of ludes and lock him in a trunk. Forever!

I read a blurb in the paper last week that Warner Bros. is going to pull the first 3 HP DVDs from the shelves by the end of the year and GoF by Feb of next year. Huh? If this is true, they are either 1) incredibly stupid, or 2) incredibly greedy. Are they...pulling a Disney? You know, "available for a limited time only, then it goes back in the vault for 20 years. Get your copy now!" Or are they pulling a George Lucas, releasing a new version to make more money. "More stuff, better than ever! Includes cool holographic packaging, a booklet, lame commentary by Gene Shalit and Leonard Maltin, and one of three Death Eater Pez dispensers (Voldemort, Lucius or Snape)!" Come on. With each book and film release, people get into this story. If they want to go back to the beginning as new fans, they should be able to buy the flicks. Am I wrong?

Mine's a black jaguar (the animal, not the car, obviously). I've been fascinated by those big cats for a long time and it's quite sad they're hunted to the point of extinction. Powerful, sleek, mysterious, they're hypnotic to me. Also, it ties in nicely with my multi-part HP fic.