sunflower

I've found that with some unmoderated sites, (some Usenet groups as one example) what happens is an unofficial form of moderation emerges after a while, usually led by the most mouthy regulars. Or else the site gets filled up with spambots and everyone else leaves - sure freedom of speech is being exercised but no-one is reading any more. This is your group and you want to have ground rules. That's fine. Is yours the only site of its kind in the world? No. So you're only denying the 'freedom' to publish one-sentence chapters full of txt-spk on your little corner of the internet. Best make it clear from the start that a story that hasn't even had a cursory run through of the spellchecker isn't likely to be published, and you won't get too much whingeing when you reject something. Who knows, some of them might come back with something better after a while. I'd watch out for one thing, though. I've noticed a lot of self-appointed literature critics on Livejournal in particular (eg some of the sporkers). When you read some of their own fiction it's clear that they are blind to their own weaknesses. They are wasting enormous amounts of energy on critiquing bad writing - whether as betas or via bitching - when they could be honing their own writing. I fell into this trap too when critiquing someone else - it is good for a while but it's a massive time sink.

Category name: Guild Wars Section category to be in: Games Do you have any stories for it?: I have an idea based on the Eye of the North setting in Guild Wars which is all worked out in my mind. The only thing that's stopping me from starting on it is that there isn't anywhere to post it yet, but after that I'll be able to post up a chapter or two quite quickly. --added.... The Miscellaneous subcategories are for exactly that, stories which belong to something which do not have a subcategory yet.

It still seems like an odd way of describing them to me, and you may find that others react similarly. If you mean pale blue why not say so? Weird-sounding eye shades on humans without obvious recourse to contact lenses can be one of those things that set off the Sue-detector.

It depends on the fandom, for me. I only read fanfics based on games I've played, and I prefer them to be fairly consistent with the way the game set-up without going so far as to be a complete rewrite. If it's based on something like Tales of Symphonia, where there's a fixed number of characters, a set leader and you don't create a player character, it feels like a self-indulgent intrusion suddenly having a new one turn up just so they can smooch their favourite character. If it's based on a game like Hordes of the Underdark it's a different scenario. There you create the player character and have a strictly limited number of henchmen, one of whom (possibly two with if it's a male character) has the potential to romance your character. In that case, I fully expect to see an OC in a fanfic related to that game and it doesn't come across as jarring - I'll evaluate it from there based on how they portray that character. The story would have to be changed pretty radically to avoid that scenario since the player character is really set up as entirely central to the story. Same with Neverwinter Nights 2, only there are more companions around.

The eye description brought me up short, particularly in combination with the race. I guess it depends on the precise racial mix, but brown eyes tend to be more likely to be inherited genetically than blue eyes, as far as I know. So, not impossible perhaps but not especially likely. Also 'silvery blue' sounds both metallic and non-human, which might work for a non-human character but that's not the case here. If you really mean greyish-blue, it would be better to say that. As for the Mary Sue issue, I can never tell from a bunch of stats alone - I have to see the way the character turns out in the actual story. Absolute perfection can be a pointer, every character loving them (or hating them) without exception can be another, and if there's one thing that screams Sue to me more than anything else, it's a description of how incredibly talented or how beautiful they are on virtually every page. I'm actually less inclined to think it based upon background. I have read about characters with incredibly Sue-ish backgrounds who came over as interesting and engaging in spite of that, and I have also read cardboard cutouts of that kind too. It's good to have flaws but don't go completely overboard as it's just as easy to create a cartoon villainess type as it is Princess Perfect.