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Ginevra

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Everything posted by Ginevra

  1. No worries, I did invite folks to pick it apart, didn't I? Nice to hear from a genuine Cajun. You have no idea how much effort I have put into trying to research dialects and languages for my stories. Everyone I asked seemed to know less about it than I, myself, did. I've also had to tack on a few bits of proper French, German, and Russian for one story or another. For the German, I've actually got a few watch-dog readers that will correct me if I wander too far off the mark. Most of my compatriots tend to go too heavily into the text-book French when doing Cajun dialect, in my opinion. Oh! And thanks for clearing up the spelling of "cher." I've been going with what Marvel Comics used, since all my other sources seemed to conflict. Luckily it was right! Thanks for offering your help.
  2. I write mostly XMen and one of my favorite characters to play with is Gambit. So far, I've gotten few complaints or criticisms about my Cajun dialogue. There are two voice sources I have in memory. The first is Justin Wilson who used to do a lot of cooking shows for PBS. The fella told wonderful stories while he cooked, looking and acting like the granddad you wished you had fixing dinner. The second was the old XMen animated series where Gambit often spoke of himself in third person -- I don't think that's a genuine part of the dialect, just a quirk the comic book writers gave the character, though I find myself using it anyway. When I'm writing the dialogue, I play the words through my head, listening for the distinctive cadence that I recall from the voice sources. I've lived thirty two of my thirty five years in the South, so the dialect I write is based a great deal on the southern drawl I've grown up with spiced up with some bits of French here and there. One of my favorite resources for researching anything having to do with my pet Cajun is http://www.gambitguild.com/ . I think there's actually a thread in the forum intended to help folks with their French. I think you've gone more classic French than Cajun with your dialogue, myself. I'll take a shot at putting it the way I'd have done it and ya'll are welcome to nitpick. It's always a learning process: "Welcome to Louisiana, Mr. Shore," she said in a thick Cajun accent. "Did you have a good trip?" "Welcome to Louisiana, Mr. Shore," she said, her words thick with the accent peculiar to the region. "How your trip go? Bon?" The first line sounds like a relatively formal greeting taken without context, so I'd think the character would try a little harder to speak text-book English than usual. In the second, it sounds like the characters have had a little more time to get acquainted and it could be taken as flirtatious or at least friendly, and so less "correct" English. “Looks like we're 'ere, monsieur,” she said, opening the door. “I know we have a hard day ahead of us, but maybe you’d like to have a little fun before you rest up, chare?” "Look like we here, monsieur," she said, opening the door. "We got a hard day ahead of us, but dere no reason you can't have a little fun before you rest. What you say, cher?" In general, I try to hit a certain rhythm, dropping a lot of plural endings and often substituting a "d" sound for "th". I also choose the words I use to showcase the dialect, avoiding the ones that are harder to make conform. Hope that helps some.
  3. I think first hand experience is best, but it's not always practical, or even possible. If I'm writing about something I've never done or experienced, I research it. I ask questions (I'm the chick that posted the question about what it's like for a man to receive a blow job.) Of course some things are only possible in a fictional setting, but even there, I would seek out descriptions of the closest real world equivalents. I do cringe when I come across stories where the author obviously has never experienced what they are trying to describe. I've read sex scenes that were anatomically impossible. Scenes where characters reactions to events were just preposterous. Scenes that just jarred me right out of the story, scratching my head and going "Are you kidding me?" Experience shows more often than not, I think. I'm thirty five years old. I've experienced quite a few things and researched quite a bit more. I put real work and thought into my stories and I'd like to think others do the same. Sadly, that's not always true. Thank the gods for the back button.
  4. Hmm... I read the poll question as asking if there is a line that I draw for myself as a writer. And the answer is, of course. I don't write smut that involves pre-adolescent children. I may deal with it as character background, but not as smut. So far, I haven't touched bestiality or true incest, either. I don't do snuff. And I avoid writing about sexual activities and kinks that happen to squick me. Like scat play. But, I don't try to impose the line on anyone else. I just read the story summaries and author's notes and try to avoid the content I don't want to read.
  5. Yeah. If things are going well, I'm not capable of saying much more than a two word phrase. In the U.S., "cunt" is one of the ugliest things you can call a woman. I don't know how the word got that kind of baggage, but it is ugly enough to end relationships over. Were I dating a man and he whipped that out in an argument, I'd probably dump him. If he weren't already in the process of dumping me. It's worse than calling a woman a slut, whore, bitch, or nearly any other single word I can think of at the moment. "Pussy" can be used playfully and is often used to refer to a man as being wimpy. "Twat" isn't something commonly used in my experience, I think it's more of a European term, though most Americans would understand what you mean. For reference. I live in the Southeastern U.S. Regional usage might vary a little.
  6. While I typically don't do a whole lot of talking during the act...Um...The things I actually do say are usually my husband's name, "Oh God" or "Fuck me." So I tend to use those words when I write dialogue during sex scenes. You write what you know, I suppose. It may well be a cultural thing, I haven't the breadth of experience to judge as all my lovers have been American. I do find it kind of funny and silly when there is tons of dialogue during sex. Sometimes you make an effort to "talk dirty" to your partner. But how many folks actually hold full conversations?
  7. Personally, I don't care to read or write about: Scat, Watersports, Snuff, Canon characters being permanently maimed Things that may or may not squick me depending how they are treated: Rimming, Sex between adults and pre-adolescents-If it is character background or part of the plot and treated as abuse, fine. If it is written in such a way that it is intended to be sexually stimulating, no thanks. Between adults and underage adolescents -- more on a case by case basis, but the greater the age difference and younger the child, the more suspect it is. Bestiality -- Anthropomorphic characters don't bug me. A dude killing a chicken or a dog by having sex with it -- ick. There are probably other things that I simply haven't run across. I'm into D/s, Light to moderate S&M, that sort of thing. I've got little problem with sex between underage characters who are old enough to want to have sex with one another. Age varies. Incest doesn't bother me, but I don't go looking either. Got no problem with M/M, F/F, or group sex scenarios. I do like dubious and non-consent stuff that doesn't fall under the above squicks. Probably more things I've forgotten, but I think this post is long enough already. Don't you?
  8. I can't recall being turned of on a fic because of a single word or phrase...But I do hate overly florid euphemisms like "purple headed warrior," "love pudding," or "throbbing manhood." Blech! I actually prefer the terms "cock" and "cum" if I'm reading or writing something graphic. I have an aversion to the word "cunt" but it would take more than one instance to make me drop a fic on that basis alone. "Pussy" I can deal with in moderation, it doesn't have the same negative impact. "Dick" is all right in moderation too, though it strikes me as a little wimpy compared to cock. If it's hardcore sex, I like to see or use the hardcore terms. Clinical terms are OK in moderation. For tender love scenes, I prefer avoidance or milder terms. More words I don't care for: Jizm, spunk, love juice, and many other rather disgusting or cheesy terms for semen that I just can't remember right now. But as I've written a fair bit of smut now, I do see and understand how difficult it can be to come up with new ways to describe these things. I do try to vary my language when I write and prefer to see others do the same.
  9. I'd probably like it two to three times a week. But I have two young kids and not as much privacy as I would like. Hubby and I manage about once a week together. I'm pretty sure he masturbates about close to daily. Me, rarely, mostly from lack of privacy again. I think about sex all the freakin' time, though. It is pretty common to be a little out of sync with your partner. Anything from several times a day to once every week or two for a couple who live together is considered normal, I believe.
  10. When I started this topic, I used the term "sin" figuratively. As a pagan and practicing witch, I believe neither in demons nor in "sin" in the biblical sense. And truthfully, I am much more concerned with the theology and connection to the Greater All of the universe than I am in spells and charms and such. But I have taken the time to learn the theory and practice of magic. Actually, within my own religious creed, had I wished to seek retribution on him, I would have been fully justified. I don't care to discuss some of the things he did to me, which were not solely confined to lying and adultery. But we had a young child and he had a family. So I did nothing. I even footed the bill for the "amicable" divorce, made sure all the bills were paid when I left, coordinated my leaving with him moving in roommates to help pay for the apartment, and demanded a ridiculously small child support payment. I was far kinder than he deserved. I turned a lot more cheeks than most Christian folks I know have would have done. My opinion is that it was his own karma coming home to roost. He needed no help from me in that respect. Or if you want to go with the Christian interpretation...He was "saved" and God called him "home."
  11. Actually, for the time being, I've decided to leave off on restructuring older stories. I have settled on a general chapter length for most of my stories. For me, that is generally around 3500 words, give or take about five hundred words. I've settled on this for a couple of reasons: First, I do tend to write in chunks this size without meaning to, for some reason. Second, I find that this length works for pretty much any venue I decide to use for my posting, including Live Journal. It's long enough to do about three good scenes and to make some real plot progress. Much shorter, and I feel I'm rushing. Much longer and either I feel I've gotten too wordy, or I've gone off on a tangent. If it's too long, and I may have trouble posting it in all the places I use for my stories, especially Live Journal. I would prefer to run longer rather than shorter if there is a choice. I only grip over it if I really have to worry about the chapter being too big to post as a unit. I hate having to divide up a chapter I've just written because it is too long to post somewhere. It took me a while to realize I could get away with larger posts if I saved my stories as Rich Text Files instead of regular MS Word files. Silly me -- I'm learning this stuff as I go along.
  12. I don't grip over not receiving reviews. If I get say a hundred hits and/or one review per chapter of a multi chaptered fic, I consider that a success. My chosen fandom isn't the most active and some of the stuff I write is definitely for a niche audience. I do have a small, loyal following for my Nightcrawler-centric works. Those tend to get pretty dark. Were I writing one of the really popular fandoms, like Harry Potter, I might be disappointed. If you really love feedback, Live Journal has so far been really good to me. My buddies there never fail to comment when I post. But it is a much smaller audience.
  13. Is it work? I suppose so, but it is necessary. Minor editing and tweaking isn't much of a hassle. I tend to do it as I go along. I get interrupted often when writing and frequently have to reread whatever chapter I'm in to get back into the flow. I tend to edit and tweak as I go along. Then I do a full read through for to check for errors and to tweak the chapter before using MS Word's grammar/spellcheck tool. If it's one of the stories my Beta has agreed to look at, I send it off. If it isn't, then it gets posted. I'm not sending everything to my Beta because I've been churning it out at such a rate it isn't fair to keep her from working on her own stories. Though I think working with her has improved my abilities to edit and tweak my own work. I really don't find it a big chore at all. If I needed to do major editing where the structure of the story itself were to be changed, then I would find it a chore. I don't do that very often.
  14. My original characters usually name themselves with little need for thought on my part. Though I do keep a baby name book handy, mostly for naming babies born into my Sims 2 game. I will sometimes search the Internet if I'm looking for something specifically ethnic. For example, I wished to name a character "Eurydice" from the Greek myth. I needed a Greek surname to go with it, so I looked up Greek surnames and famous Greek persons and came up with "Savros." I do like names to have meanings. Especially if I'm writing in the X Men comic-verse, where character names are often descriptive or have a meaning that is supposed to clue you into the nature of the character. Examples: Reynard (french derived, meaning "fox") Wylde, his daughter "Kit" Wylde a.k.a Winter Fox Wylde, and her mother Winter Moon -- a family of mutants resembling were-foxes. If I'm really stuck, I do prefer the book I have to the name generators I've seen online. It's 20,001 Names for Baby. It actually has my name in it, which is rare, or at least it was before the HP craze. That's why I bought it so many years ago. It's older than my first born by several years I think.
  15. Kanashii makes a wonderful point about communicating, in person, by IM or whatever. I've recently begun working with a Beta...who I think goes far beyond what a Beta is expected to do. We have been IM-ing like mad, bouncing ideas back and forth for both of our stories and it has kept us moving. And it is marvelous to be able to cut and paste a bit of in progress work to get an opinion. Or ask some off the wall question that would send your spouse running for cover--before you get too deep into whatever piece you are writing and have to rewrite. This relationship has sparked a number of plot bunnies for both of us and has kept us moving on our works in progress. I am really enjoying the collaboration of working with her and my Live Journal friends. Much more intimate than here at AFF, though AFF is reaping some of the rewards through the stories I post. Great point. Writing isn't solely about pleasing yourself. If others don't enjoy your work, what was the purpose of posting it in the first place?
  16. Don't worry too much about being "too big." Honestly, there are "size queens" out there of both genders. And normal women with no medical issues can stretch to accommodate anything that isn't absolutely ghastly in size. Patience, lots of foreplay, and lube will help. Average length is about 6 inches, if ya'll didn't know. Seven is above, but well within most ladies' tolerance I did once run into "too big" to get me off. It just was uncomfortable enough that I just couldn't get there...But I had to try it twice, just to prove it to myself. That was in my much, much younger days -- about 20 years old and enjoying a new "toy" away from home and my parents. I suspect now, after having had two children and quite a bit more experience, things would be very different.
  17. I am assuming, pardon the pun, that since you used the term "uke" you are referring to receiving anal sex. In that case, I'd have to pick the 4-6 inch category...somewhat small to average. Should you be referring to the other, it would be more like 6-8 inches, average to well, but not excessively endowed, -- if you must put a number on it. It's usually a dead give away that a story was written by a male when the character's penis is actually described in terms of inches or centimeters....
  18. Creativity... That's something I don't think I've addressed in my response so far. Writing in someone else's world is a challenge. A challenge to my own creativity. A challenge to step into that world and become a part of it. To continue the story in a way that is both unique to me and plausible enough for my readers to become engaged in. It is a challenge like those thrown down by my Creative Writing teachers. You know the ones that give you these lovely little topics or scenarios to write from? I still have a few examples of those, going all the way back to middle school. I had the great fortune to be taught by a the same woman twice, in two different grades and in two different schools. Once in middle school and once in high school. Writing from someone else's canon is an even greater challenge than those little class assignments. To step into the shoes of a beloved and well known character, to portray that character so well that people remark on it, to interpret that character and give him or her more depth, yet still keep that character true to form...That is a wonderful, marvelous challenge to my creativity. And I must be challenged. I must push my own limits. Stagnation is death, even in fiction. When the reader closes the book and thinks no more on the contents of those pages, then the author has, in part, failed in his or her mission to spark the imagination of his or her readers. Fan fiction, even bad fan fiction, is a sign that an author's work was powerful enough and creative enough to survive those two little words "The End." If fan fiction writers are not "real writers," then how many famous "authors" are frauds? Tolkien did not dream up elves and dwarves and dragons. Heinlein did not pen the Oz books or Gulliver's Travels, yet he sent his characters to those fictional lands anyway. What of The Chronicles of Narnia ? Did C.S. Lewis plagiarize the Bible in writing this tale? Certainly Anne Rice did not dream up vampires herself. Nor even did Brahm Stoker. There were tales and legends of such creatures before the man ever set pen to paper. J.K. Rowling didn't dream up witches and wizards out of nothing, nor even the idea of a magical school. But she gave the idea new life and her own unique flavor. And hell. I write X-Men fiction, primarily. Books, T.V., and the movies. All of these "originals" were collaborative works where several different writers had their fingers in the pot. Stan Lee, Chris Claremont, Jack Kirby...the list is long. Each of these people participated in defining this "canon." Each writer put his own interpretation on the story. Are all those that followed Lee and Kirby nothing more than uncreative, unoriginal hacks? People who can't come up with their own original ideas? Hmm... 'Nuff said.
  19. First, I wouldn't shop my work out to a publisher that is so badly mismatched. As a pagan, I'd be highly unlikely to go anywhere near a Christian publishing company, and they'd probably want nothing to do with me. But, as the customer, a publisher has every right to ask me to make changes. I can make them if they aren't too unpalatable. If they are, then this is probably the wrong publisher for this work. And If I've got enough of a reputation to be offered that kind of money, I can walk without too much worry. Professional writers who do it for a living often spend years writing to formula in order to get that paycheck. Once you make it big, if you do, then you have the luxury of thumbing your nose at "suggestions" and insisting on publishing your work as is and damn the consequences. Anyway, I consider reader suggestions and my Beta's input as "customer input" and take them very seriously with my fan fics. It often depends on just how big a change they are asking for whether or not I use them. I consider that part of the craft of writing and why I value venues like AFF and Live Journal where I do get feedback. Twisting your work until it is unrecognizeable is selling out. Making a few changes to make a work more saleable for yourself and the publisher is not.
  20. I'll toss my hat in the ring for a few moments: There is nothing inherently wrong with fan fiction. I like to think of it as the modern day off-shoot of the old oral tradition, where stories were passed by word of mouth. Each person who delivers it adds a bit of their own style and interpretation to it. And everyone deserves the opportunity to try their hand at it. Some will excel at it, many will not. Many of us learn best by doing, I know I do. Writing fan fiction is only plagiarism when the author attempts to present the canon it draws from as his property or having been in some way authorized by the creator. That's what disclaimers are for, my friends. And yes, the analogy of fan fiction being equivalent to the "lets pretend" of childhood is quite appropriate. Much like the playing of interactive role playing games. Why do I read fan fiction? I read it because the writers of the official versions can't possibly satisfy my insatiable need for more. More content, darker plot lines, behind the scenes, what ifs...Time, money, and the FCC simply won't allow them to fully explore what they have created. And while I can write it myself, that takes all the mystery and "aha" out of the experience. There is a lot of badly written fan fiction out there, here and elsewhere. Stories so poorly written that you cannot wade through even the first paragraph. Or there may be no paragraphs at all. But there are some very good writers there as well. And, from what I've been reading, a few of those writers are actually professionals who do this for fun. Other than a paycheck, how different is a fan fiction writer from someone who is hired to write a new Star Trek novel or to join the Star Gate Atlantis writing team? Hmm... Why do I write fan fiction? That's complicated. It has reached the point where I almost have to, to maintain my own inner balance. Whether or not I write them down, these stories whirl around in my brain. Often the only way to get them to settle down and allow me to move on is to sit at my keyboard and nail them down with the stroke of the keys. It allows me to work out some of my own personal demons and explore new parts of myself through my characters. It is a great stress reliever for me. Why don't I write original fiction? Who says I don't? Part of the reason I am writing fan fiction is to develop my writing skills. One day I would like to try my hand at professional writing. That day will likely come after I've retired and I no longer need my "day job." Right now, I am the bread winner in my family and we have far too many chronic health issues for me to consider giving up my benefits. I don't post original work because it is original. Once I post it to the Internet, anyone could take it and claim it's theirs. Maybe I'm being a bit arrogant to think my work is worth stealing. I can't get paid for the fan fiction, so I risk nothing but possible embarassment. I have gotten marvelous feedback from some of my readers and my writing has improved greatly as a result. In fact, now I have a handful of people who are constantly feeding me plot bunnies because they want more. Some of those bunnies are evil little devils, but I'm certainly flattered that they like my work enough to ask me for more. Honestly, I'm so busy writing now, I'm not reading much.
  21. I suggest just sprinkling a few Portugese words and phrases in here and there to give your character some flavor. But use mostly English. What I usually do is have my characters that speak a foreign language as their first language speak more text book English than your average American would, with bits of their native language thrown in here and there. So far it seems to work for me. I often use Babelfish for coming up with words and phrases. Hope that helps.
  22. Mostly due to limited free time, I tend to stick with shorter stories for reading (1-5 chapters), unless I'm familiar with an author's work and know that a long story is worth the effort of finding the time to read it. Of course, it's a bit different if I'm following a work in progress and the author has not defined how long it is expected to be. As for writing, I tend to write mostly 9-12 chapter pieces, with 12 often being the "magic" number. While I do usually have a general outline for the story in mind, I don't actually outline chapter by chapter, but somehow they work out to 12 more often than not. I do have one novel length piece published on AFF at 38 chapters. I'm currently actively working on about 4 projects: "Catspaws: Lost Innocence," a dark fic that should come out to between 9 and 12 chapters. I've just completed the rough draft of chapter six. "A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed," a slash piece written specifically for my LJ Community and dedicated to one of my fan fic buddies. I'm only one chapter into it, but I suspect it will fall in the 6-9 chapter range. "The Mutant Sue Virus," another LJ project posted to a friend's Community. My rough draft is up to two chapters, but I suspect this one will top out somewhere past 30 when it is complete. "Legacy," I've tentatively started a sequel to that aforementioned novel length piece and would expect it to be in the neighborhood of 20-30 chapters if I take it to completion. Hope that's what you wanted...
  23. Reading slash, it is obvious that many people who are writing slash have never actually participated in the acts they describe, especially anal sex. So, because I really have nothing better to do this morning, I'll poke a few holes, figuratively speaking. Please forgive me if I'm covering something someone else has said. 1. Myth: Anal sex always hurts and causes bleeding. --Um...Come on. If it was that unpleasant, why would people do it at all? Obviously, it feels good to many people (yes, I have and I like it!) Lubrication, patience on the part of the "top" and relaxation on the part of the "bottom" make things go smoothly. Going too fast or skipping the lube can be unpleasant...very. Small tears in the skin sometimes happen, but they don't bleed much and are usually caused by not enough lube or going too fast. 2. Myth: Condoms aren't needed if the characters are in a committed relationship. --STD's aside...Condoms help quite a bit. There is bacteria in the rectum that could cause plain old normal infections for the "top" if there is a break in the skin somewhere or it might possibly work its way up the urethra. That is why women are always told to "wipe from front to back" after using the toilet. Also, condoms decrease the amount of friction to the "bottom," even more so if they are lubricated, which I personally recommend. Condoms are also great for keeping insertable toys clean. 3. Myth: (Flip side of #1) No preparation or lubrication is needed and the characters can go at it all night. No...How much preparation or lube is needed varies a lot, and I have heard that some veterans can go with no prep or lube whatsoever...But, I suspect some boasting is involved. There is no natural lubrication there, so things are going to chafe, eventually. Unless the characters are super human or nonhuman, they are going to need rest periods and repeated applications of lube. By the way -- men do sometimes stay hard after ejaculation and can go a second time without a rest period. But, it's not something that you can expect or count on. If you start again right away, it will probably take quite a bit longer for him to reach orgasm than the first time, or he may not be able to reach it at all. Continued stimulation can help encourage this, but some men find being stimulated directly after orgasm too intense and won't go for it. (Bummer!)
  24. It's free. I have a free plus account. My personal LJ is set to "Adult Concepts" and my Community page is set to "Explicit Content." I'm pretty sure it's an across the board thing. I suppose, if you have a profile and didn't include your age, you may find yourself locked out of things until you add your birthdate. So if you suddenly find LJ pages you frequent unavailable, you should check that. There's also a "safe content" search feature that defaults to the medium setting until you change it.
  25. I've been having a grand time using Live Journal to sling plot bunnies and other sillyness back and forth between my online buddies. One thing that made me nervous was that there was no way to keep minors out without keeping almost everyone else out. Sometimes we get a bit naughty. That is until now...They buried the announcement halfway down a News post that talked about holidays and silly gifts you can buy other members. It's easy to miss. But it is there. Two options, one for 14-17 year olds and one for 18+. Awesome. Just thought I'd give a heads up. I know a lot of folks use LJ around here too.
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