lunaticfringe13

Greenwizard, I agree with you. Deathly Hallows was a debacle and I've ranted to anyone who would listen (as well as to those who didn't want to hear it). Practically everything in that book was out of left field, it was like someone else wrote it. I wouldn't be surprised if Rowling combed through all the fanfic and HP sites and borrowed bits and pieces from fan stories. She was never a great author, but she managed to write entertaining books (in the beginning) that appealed to the 9-12 year old set, but that adults could enjoy as well. If she wasn't up to writing the seventh book, she should have waited until she was. Rather than resolve things set in motion in earlier books, or things she "hinted" about in interviews, she left things hanging, or tied them up in a manner than can only be described as lame; then she proceeded to focus on a needlessly lengthy Dumbledore backstory, the titular hallows that were never freaking mentioned in six previous books, the excruciatingly boring camping trip from Hell, and Frodo's ring (sorry, Harry's locket). The announcement she made so soon after DH's publication about her "encyclopedia" with more facts about characters, etc. is an obvious attempt to grab more money by keeping the franchise alive. Truth be told, I lost all respect for her somewhere around page 6 of that monstrosity known as Deathly Hallows; I couldn't give my copy away fast enough.

I've never altered the direction or outcome for any of my stories to appease a fan. It is, after all, my story. If I was writing something on spec (a challenge with very specific criteria) that would be different. Look at it this way; have you ever read a novel where you hated the direction it took or the finale? You can't contact the author and say "change the ending, thanks." I say, if you truly believe in your vision, stay with it.

Your situation was totally different from what the others were talking about and I'd probably leave the review, too. I think what was burning them up was that apparently whoever the author was didn't write very well, but left multiple raves, one after the other, which is beyond lame. Yeah, that does kind of suck, having to "review" to respond to people's comments. I always felt a bit sheepish doing that.

I've been lucky, I haven't gotten stupid reviews or flames on the stories I've posted to AFF. I did have a story on another site and even though I clearly labeled it as a parody, A/U, humor story, and mentioned in the author's note it was a just-for-fun crack!fic, some moron said it was OOC. Well, duh.

For a historical story, if an author wants to go the extra mile, they could always look for the Anglo spelling of the Chinese word for "anus." Can't help with the stone age fantasy story, as I'm not conversant in Stone Age-ese. But, wouldn't a stone age story, written in the 21st century, already be filled with Latin based words? I mean, unless it was written in Cro-Magnon or Neanderthal?

Not much turns me off, except for poorly written stories and atrocious spelling and grammar. If it's more hardcore, go with hardcore terminology. Tender and romantic, use flowery euphemisms. A humorous story, indulge in amusing metaphors. I suppose the only thing that would leave me cold/indifferent would be reading nothing but clinical terms in a sex scene: He inserted his penis into her vagina, moving it back and forth until he ejaculated, the semen from his testes travelling via the vas deferens until it was expelled and deposited into her vaginal canal when he orgasmed. Man, that's steamy. If I want something that sterile, I'll curl up with a copy of the Merck Manual. Two words I didn't see on the list: Quim and cunny (popular in Victorian era porn/erotica). Cunt (overcame my aversion to that long ago, it's just a word) and pussy don't really bother me if they fit the overall tone of a story. Personally, I don't see how you can write any kind of anal sex scene without the use of rectum or anus at least once or twice. I tend to use "come" or "came" when referring to climaxing; "cum" for ejaculate/semen.

You know, I think I saw that on the Food Network once and darn it if I can't remember! Maybe Google it?

Maybe because of use of the words "subversive," "strife," and the phrase "intentional desire to harm the environment," piques people's interest, especially if they haven't read these letters of resignation. I believe another post in this thread used the word "sabotage." Sabotage, to me, would be if the site was inaccessible, archives filled with stories about goat farmers, or users were redirected to some weird site with video of paint drying. None of those things have happened, the site is still here. A member, who seemed to have read the resignations when they first appeared, started this thread to ask about it. For people coming in late, they're probably a bit lost in regards to all the hub-bub. Like myself. But by deleting/moving/hiding those posts, the right to free speech was squelched. I haven't read those letters of resignation, but if they said things like, "so-and-so is an ass," or "this person is a brain dead jerk-off," then that could be considered inflammatory and I could see those particular passages being edited or something. I have now taken the time to read some of those letters. Hardly any mentioned DA (the old admin??), nor did they all say disparaging things about Jaxxy, it seemed they felt like they were not getting information about changes that may or may not have been coming to the site, which would have impacted how they did their jobs. Most, if not all of those letters, mentioned the friendships and good times they had had here. I think perhaps they wanted to say goodbye to the members they interacted with on a regular basis, rather than just disappear without a word? Well, they are gone now. Please note, I'm not saying any of this to anger anyone, or hurt anyone's feelings. I'm trying to sort through all this myself, to separate the wheat from the chaff. I apologize if anyone is offended by anything I've said here.

*raises hand* The epilogue felt like an after thought and tacked on. I was disappointed with, and disliked, the book as a whole. I gave my copy away.

lunaticfringe13 here. I'm more a reader than a writer, but I just may try my hand at something soon!

Something about the way Grindenwald was described made me suspicious. And how "enamored" Dumbledore was of him.