Too much yaoi and other stories that just really shoulden't be there?

[Rain7777]

Hey, what about my stories? Geeze, a guy couldn't get any love around here. Ok, might help if I ever finished more than one of them...

Seriously, it's mostly digging. Stay away from the major fandoms, and you actually tend to see different patterns. The original sections, for example, tend to have more rape/incest/bondage in their fics than something like the Harry Potter section, whose authors have a firm belief that the only thing better than than the Weasly twins enjoying a randy bout of twincest is Harry and Lucius, or Harry and Draco, or Harry and Draco and Lucius, having a horribly torrid and dramatic romance of epic proportions that dwarfs even the scope of the original author's creation.

As a writer and reader, my suggestions are to look at the tags and read the reviews. If people are asking questions about the characters as often as they demand more, its probably a good story. And searching for tags is a good way to sort through what you want in a specific area.

Aww that's not fair There are some really really really good fics in the HP section. And I've only ever read the hetero ones. I write in the Harry Potter section and this really made me feel blue knowing that you felt that way.

**hides**

B x

[Tempestuous]

You can't really throw darts at one specific fandom. There's pros and cons to every section you delve into. I've read plenty of Harry Potter fics, some of which being a complete eyesore, others that were absolutely amazing. This goes for everything: yaoi, yuri, original, fanfiction. For every ten horrible stories, there's one story that will keep you hooked.

But if I find a story that I like despite the author's lack of spelling, structure or punctuation, then I will kindly offer my beta services to the author so that I can help improve that story. And sometimes they decline the offer, but that's their choice. I'm helpful because I used to be so incredibly bad at English, it makes my skin crawl to even think back to those days. If someone had offered to help me improve my writing when I was 14, that would've been amazing and spared me a lot of bullshit stories. But alas, it took a while longer for me to see the light.

I used to be a huge fan of smut and yaoi too, but over time I've grown to appreciate stories that focus more on the plot than the sex itself. And I tend to be more fond of femslash now because of my own experiences. Sure, I look forward to the sex, but it's much better to read with the necessary build-up and sexual tension. That's what I've found, anyway.

And I completely agree with requesting the author if you really want to read something specific, provided you give them the tools to work with. I've had countless of requests that asked me to write them a one-shot with a certain canon character. Either they gave me a gigantic sheet of information on their OC, or they just didn't provide me with anything at all.

And on the matter of English being a second language as an excuse for horrible writing... it really isn't. Blaming your first language for your writing is like blaming your ass for making you eat that 14th hamburger. Nobody banned us from picking up a dictionary.

[CloverReef]

I myself am not the greatest writer, but I think I would feel disheartened if I was told that there is too much of what I write. Yes, there seems to be a ton of Yaoi. Maybe thats because those writers happen to like Yaoi.

I totally agree. Actually I agree with most of the points on there, but I was waiting for someone to say something like that. Thanks animedevildog.

The 'badly' written fics irritate a lot of people, I think that's been established. When I was writing M/F on fanfiction.net years ago I was reeeeaaally bad at it. I had all the usual grammar and spelling errors all of us complain about today - and have every right to complain about so long as we don't hurt anyone in the process - but I didn't realise it back then. I started writing at 11, and I thought I was great at it, and I stuck to a community of people with similar skills. The people in the fandom that were better writers, I looked up to as celebrities. I refused to have a beta back then too, mostly because I was scared and had a few bad experiences with people who were pretty mean about it.

I like to think I'm leagues better than what I did then. Of course I do M/M nowadays, and I have a beta - sometimes two - on 90% of my work. I'm not saying you shouldn't bitch about it. Oh god, that's not it at all! I feel the same way about other sites where the majority is M/F.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think writing horrible, error-ridden stories suffering from plotholes, cliches, and OOC stereotypes is necessary to grow as an author. Even if they refuse to get a beta at the moment.

But, um, yeah... It's frustrating trying to weed through them. Sorry if I rambled, it's like 30 degrees celsius right now at night and I don't have AC! Gaaaah I'm melting!

~C~

[Evertide]

this is an interesting topic!, so will add my two cents.

lol, personally I think this community works in my favor, as I've been into Yaoi for a few years now. If I come across a good story I like... all the better for me.

Personally I don't have to much issue with bad stories, if I think it's worth saying something or giving criticism I will, if not I just move on. It's how you learn and improve. Plus, my writing leaves a lot to be desired, but frankly I'd rather recieve a lot of criticism than have no comments at all.

If I'm looking for a particular theme or story, I asks for rec's, and usually I find what comes back is at least half decent. I'm not under the illusion that AFF authors and other communities with fanfiction will be of the standard of an officially published author. Even with a beta.

And on the matter of English being a second language as an excuse for horrible writing... it really isn't. Blaming your first language for your writing is like blaming your ass for making you eat that 14th hamburger. Nobody banned us from picking up a dictionary.[/font]

In the case of people with a second language, it may be better to be a little understanding. Sometimes there is a HUGE difference in the structure of languages that may contribute to an authors writing. If your picking up a dictionary for every second word in your story, it's a monumental task when you really think about it.

Of course, you get authors who are just outright bad, second language or not, haha.

[Tempestuous]

In the case of people with a second language, it may be better to be a little understanding. Sometimes there is a HUGE difference in the structure of languages that may contribute to an authors writing. If your picking up a dictionary for every second word in your story, it's a monumental task when you really think about it.

Of course, you get authors who are just outright bad, second language or not, haha.

True, but there's also online dictionaries which is really a 2 second job to type in the word and see what it means if you're not sure about it. The problem, however, is that people automatically assume someone's writing must be terrible if English is their second language. I'll admit that my first language made me terrible at English grammar and structure, but that didn't stop me from telling my English friends to slam a ruler on my fingers verbally if I didn't type correctly. If I hadn't done that, I wouldn't be where I am now. I really love writing, so I needed to make sure my first language didn't get in the way of that.

In any case, though, there's just the outright bad ones who make us all look bad. But in the end it all comes down to priorities. I've come across plenty of writers who told me to take my advice and shove it where the sun don't shine because they felt they didn't need to improve. Unfortunately for them, that's the whole point. We improve because there's no limit, just like knowledge has no limit.

[Shunskitten]

i'm a yaoi writer myself, tho i believe more then half my stories are hentai. when i write, i try to use obvious pairings, or not so obvious. but i mainly do requests. i write them because i enjoy it, and not because that character is hot (which i gotta admit, yeah they are) writing is just another talent of mine, and something i do due to nothing around the small town to do but walk, and go to the library for a good book.