5 Star Ratings

[Guest Jackie_Boi]

I think that if a list of stories should be put up, it should go by hits, or number of reviews, not by ratings. I find ratings fickle. I always look at the number of hits, and in this, a thousand leaves me wet. tenthousand leaves me delirious

I've seen some pretty bad fics with high number of hits, prolly because the pairing was inticing. But, then you DO have some wonderful stories that have a lower amount of hits, some of which perhaps in a very small fandom. But, I understand what you're saying, most stories I've ADORED usually had tons of hits.

[NightScribe]

in the long run she's the one that has to be happy with it. I've gotten critism and seen other people give critism that really boils down to, "Don't write it your way, write it MY way!" That always irritates me. Especially when they start telling me what to write next (Not suggestions, I'm taking about, "You will do this, this and this." Uh, wait a moment... who's story is this again?)

First, Mel, I can't believe some people would have the cajones to demand you write what they want. Then again...years ago, I tried collaborating with someone on a story, this guy wanted help with writing dialogue and then suggested we write something together. O.K. sounds interesting.

What a tyrant and a wack job. He sent me his idea and when I finished asking myself WTF? I went over his outline, pointing out inconsistencies, discrepencies, plot holes, flat characterizations and making constructive suggestions to make it more believeable. One minute his heroine was straight, then she came off as gay, then maybe bi. Make up your damn mind. Also, he wanted her to be, I don't know what...hippie, goth, white witchy in her appearance, but work for this real straight laced old fashioned lawyer. We were doing this about ten years ago, so I said, that kind of guy would not hire someone who had a pound of piercings and dressed like Stevie Nicks on acid on a bad day. Maybe, to reinforce her restlessness, she should have to dress more professional during the day, allowing her to feel more "free" and herself at night; the duality of her personality and/or life. Yeah, it's called inner conflict. Every male character was gay (including the teenage runaway pining for the older guy who's lover had died of AIDS and as a result had become relationship shy); the formally trained dancer (re: ballet) who instead became a stripper (with a heart of gold, of course, who was maybe a lesbian...or bi), and a psycho cyber stalker. Every freaking cliche you could image. Given all that, I asked questions and made suggestions.

Well, he didn't like that so much. So instead, he just assigned me to start writing chapters. Hello? We can't even agree on what the hell is going on! Face it, all he wanted was for someone to read his mind, write what he wanted and never mind if it's shit. Yeah, that experiment didn't last long.

I got way off the point with that story. I would never tell an author what to write, (except in the above case where I was basically beta-ing and making suggestions on an outline). In the end, it

is up to the author on where to take the story. It is up to the reader whether to follow along.

[Guest Melody Fate]

Well, he didn't like that so much. So instead, he just assigned me to start writing chapters. Hello? We can't even agree on what the hell is going on! Face it, all he wanted was for someone to read his mind, write what he wanted and never mind if it's shit. Yeah, that experiment didn't last long.

Wow, what a douche. This is why I don't write with others. Because I know I'd probably become the douche myself.

It really sounds to me like this guy didn't want a partner, he wanted a slave to do half his work.

Sometimes I wonder when I get letters saying, "This will happen next" if I'm just reading it wrong, but it does bug me. I can see, "Boy, it would be awesome if this happened" but "This will," doesn't come across as very funny to me.

Again, I didn't think you'd told that person what to write. It just reminded me of people who in the past have told me or friends that they were giving "helpful critism" when what it really boiled down to was, "I like this story, but I shall like it more when you write it the way I want it written."

This is why when I do give out critism, I try to come up with ways to improve. I try not to insult the plot or the pairings, I try to only suggest improvements for the things that are general, like needing more narative or maybe to cut down on the one or two word dialoge like:

"Yeah," she said.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said again.

"Really?" he asked again.

"Yeah."

(Don't laugh, I have seen the above used before in fanfiction.)

Unless a writer says, "I have no idea where this is going, I'm just waffling along with it," I assume the writer already knows what will be happening, or has a good idea. At that point, while I might speculate on what will happen, to show the writer that yes indeed, she has me curious, I would never even hint that they should change their story to suit my ideals.

Again, I'm sure you made your suggestions in the nicest way possible, I'm not saying you didn't, and were it my story, I would have said, "Thanks for the advice, but I'm already sure how this will play out." Which it sounds like she did.

[NightScribe]

Sometimes I wonder when I get letters saying, "This will happen next" if I'm just reading it wrong, but it does bug me. I can see, "Boy, it would be awesome if this happened" but "This will," doesn't come across as very funny to me.

Couldn't agree with you more. I could totally accept it if they phrase it as, "I'm hoping" or "I think" or ask "Is this going to happen next? Can't wait to find out." It shows they're interested in the story, thinking about it, but the "this will" can almost sound like they're saying "Ha! I've got you figured out, you formulaic hack." This would lead me to want to strangle someone.

I've got a quintet of HP stories that I originally was going to leave as a trilogy. After the third fic, a reviewer said "I'm not sure this story is actually finished yet, as it's a cliffhanger. Literally. (something consciously unintentional, but ah, the subconscious is a marvelous thing)... If you write more, I'll read." I was glad for that feedback, and replied that I wasn't sure if I'd continue, since I had an OFC and maybe people were sick of her. Since nobody else said anything, that one review helped me make a decision to go for the five interconnected stories.

When I began posting the fourth, the same person asked "What the hell did Voldemort do?" and "Is Circe (my OC) going to show up?" I've had no feedback since then, and at this point, all I can do is go by hits, which have remained consistent. But I've thrown so many twists and possible plot developments into the story, I would have liked to have seen what people were thinking, or expecting, (if anything). Would I have changed major things to appease people? Uh, no. Would I have considered expanding on some things if that's what they were really grooving to? Possibly, if it wasn't detrimental to the overall outcome.

On the flip side, I started an HP fic with a different canon character and the rating went from 4 to 3 with no explanation (reviews). I pulled it. The only thing I can think of was that the canon character at times was a tad dominated by a woman and I think people have such a fixed idea in their heads that he should always be dominant that they weren't buying it. Shame, really. I had some killer dialogue (not to mention sexcapades) planned for that one. But no one said "he's ooc, you write too many OFC stories, I don't like him portrayed this way," so that's still kind of mystery to me why people didn't like it. I'll file that experience under **cue ominous music and echo effect** Great AFF Mysteries.

Oh, and Melody, your description of that guy I was talking about as a douche slayed me!

[Guest Knorg]

I don't really pay much attention to star ratings, because it's so easy to manipulate and a lot of good stuff doesn't have any rating at all. I tend to go off the summary, and sometimes the codes.

[Bargle5]

I agree the star rating isn't always indicative of a story's quality. I know there was one story in the Harry Potter section where the author had some troll leave mutiple one star ratings to drag the story's overall star rating down.

Hits is a better indication, I think. For my first story that I put up here, I checked the number of hits for it after it had been up for a while. I compared it to the numbers for other one shot stories on the first 30 pages of stories. It was something like 2nd or 3rd of the fics I checked. I'm sure my count is a bit inflated because I kept finding typos and formatting mistakes. Correcting them moved the fic back to the first page of stories so I'm sure it got more notice because of that. Still, it does seem to have been a popular story. It's certainly my most popular story.

On one of my own stories that I didn't think was near my best, I gave it a 3 star rating. Someone had left a 5 start rating for it and I didn't think it deserved it, so I left a lower rating to bring it down.

[StoryJunkie]

I don't think I could rate my own fic.

I'm too close to it. It's too subjective for me. I'd have to let say, oh, a year or two go by then get back to it and then, if I think to myself, "Hey, this is damn good!" then I know I've done a good job. Kind of like getting an unexpected glance in the mirror at yourself and thinking for a split second, "Who is that? Not bad... Oh, its me, well damn, I'm not as ugly as I thought..."

[Guest Alien Pirate Pixagi]

Has anyone else noticed that the hit counters count multiple hits by a single person in a day? So, basically, all this shittastic fics with hundreds of hits could just be people reload-monkeying their stories.

I found this out while rereading on of my stories to check for errors and it occured to me that if I had to refreash for any reason the number would go up 1.

...+1 to HP... :: is shot ::

[Guest Pepperedjack]

I think I used the star system maybe once, and that was for someone who had no stars.

When selecting a story that I feel like attempting to read, I go by the summary and the first two paragraphs of the actual story. If it doesn't look so promising, I may scroll down to find a naughty part, and then I'll get bored and move on.

Perhaps they need several catagories to place numerical values in, ala newgrounds, ex: Grammer and Syntax: 3, hotness: 5, pacing: 2.

It wouldn't solve anything, but at least reviewers would have to sit there for a second, and actually think about rating one aspect of the piece lower or higher than another. It'd be interesting, maybe.

Reviewing oneself has to be the dumbest thing I've heard in a while. Why bother write and post stories at all? You could save time and misery by simply sitting back with a self-satisfied smile on your face, and think about how awesome the story you could so totally write is.

[Guest cu-kid]

I'm not even sure that I look at the ratings anymore. I do the same thing as Pepperedjack -I read the summary first. If it's full of grammatical errors, says something to the effect of, “it gets better as the story goes on,” or immediately tries to justify itself, I, more likely than not, won't bother to strain my finger clicking on it. I think many authors miss the whole point of the summary; it's your initial selling point! If you can't grab my attention with two or three sentences, then I doubt you're going to do it in two or three paragraphs -or chapters for that matter.

There are, of course, always exceptions and I will admit to reading stories with overly used plotlines and the same tired conflicts -but only if they are written with few grammatical errors and show at least some effort. These stories are kind of like mindless television -I don't have to think too hard when reading them- and are sometimes nice at the end of an day spent exerting my brain entirely too much. Unfortunately, most of these, and others that are more poorly written, always seem to have the highest number of hits and reviews. I think it's because most people out there want the mindless television effect that these give. I also believe that, excluding a sadly small group of people on this fanfiction site and others, no one wants a “smart” story. Intricate plot? Attention to detail? The gratifying feeling of reading a story that slowly builds itself to a climax that has nothing to do with orgasims? Bah. Why would anyone want that when there are literally thousands of stories out there that have delightfully sinful -and usually not very good- smut in the second or third chapters?

As for leaving ratings and reviews, I'm as guilty as everyone else out there for not doing either. Mostly, I don't do it for the stories that I mindlessly read because I feel that they are toddling along at a nice pace and, hopefully, by writing more they will eventually learn to walk and then run. Also, it's really hard to leave constructive criticism anymore because people really just can't take it.

However, I feel that those who do leave “constructive criticism” should be aware of what the term means. I received a review that I re-read several times before I found myself entirely amused by it. My initial reaction was to be angry with the reviewer -how dare they say such things about something I had written!- it was my first negative review after all (I think...I received one that was written entirely in Finnish, and my dictionary didn't have all the translations, but I'm pretty sure I was insulted). But, as I re-read it a second time I began to smile. My reviewer kept insisting that I would take the review as a flame. When I read it a third time, all I could do was laugh. They insisted that it was constructive criticism, but there was never anything really constructive about it; just cleverly written personal insults.

I'm getting off the subject at hand. I usually don't rate, even if I leave a review. Again, like Pepperedjack, I have rated a story that I thought was exceptional when it had no stars at the time. But, I find the reviews to be more personal and are a better way of, on some level, connecting with the author -even if it's no more than a few words of encouragement- rather than a random and anonymous rating.

[bookworm51485]

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.

I don't bother with the ratings system. It's crap because despite what a lot of them think, I've noticed that A LOT of people who read fanfics have no standards whatsoever. I've seen crap get 5 stars and good stories with 2. Half the time people have bad ratings because there's somebody who had a weird grudge against them, or their good because they vote for themselves or have friends who vote for them. It's not something to go by. I usually look for an interesting summary, read the first chapter (or at least part of it) and if it's not interesting I just quit.

What I find bad is that I've seen the biggest pieces of crap get raved over but some of the better stories are just ignored. And of course if you have the nerve to actually tell the truth, expect to get bitched at, by not only the author but all their discriminating readers.

[bookworm51485]

That may be true, which is sad because people want to come here for the mature fanfiction. IF we are writing mature stories, then why can't we be mature when it comes to getting negitive feedback?

I personally would love to recieve some feedback that tells me what I'm doing wrong, as long as it doesn't degrade me (like calling me names and whatnot, telling me I should never write again). I've yet to recieve any review that has offended me and if someone doesn't like my story then I just accept it. I don't understand why someone whould get terribly mad if someone gave them some advice (even if it IS harsh), cos I mean, isn't that what getting reviews is all about? Someone giving you advice so that you can improve and do better next time? Hmm.

I've cut down on the amount of reviews I leave, usually I stick to the people I either know will take it well or those who say that they want constructive criticism (though often they're just saying it but they don't really mean it). I don't understand why an author would just want someone to kiss their ass and tell them lies. I've done different things that require critique and I prefer for them to tell it to me straight when I'm frigging up. And I'm not really big on cushioning either (which could be part of the reason I annoy people a bit). I feel that no matter how it's said, what is being said will always remain the same. But unfortunately if you nice it up, a lot of the time people will lose the criticism and just take it as a positive.

But the reason I responded was because of what happened to me the other day. This person had a story posted, and there were problems with the dialogue and the flow of the story, there were some events that took place in the canon that the author decided to put into the story, but within her storyline they made no sense. So I told her all of that and suggested that she work on it in the future. She wrote me back and told me that it's her story and she can write her story however she sees fit. And that what I wrote wasn't constructive criticism, it was just me trying to tell her what to do. But in a way, isn't that what cc is, you give an author suggestions on what you think could be done to improve their story. But in the end, she was annoyed that I had the nerve to try to help her improve her story.

I have to say though, sometimes I will continue reading a story just for how an author takes cc. I've read some stories that were just mediocre and there were some obvious improvements needed, so I send out a review with these improvements. Most of the time I don't expect a good response, but if I see an author respond positively and try to put some suggestions into play and they seem like they truly would like to improve, then I'll continue reading a story just for that alone.

[Squallfan]

I do put no flame warnings at the beginning of some of my stories, but there is a difference between a flame, and someone being critical. I delete flames, plain and simple. A flame to me is, if the person is outright being negative toward me personally. I had one ass actually tell me I was a failure at life because they didn't like my story. Now that's fucking pathetic and rude. I have only recieved one critical review so far, on this site anyway, and I left it on my reviews, because the person was trying to help. I have no problems with that.

Other than that, I love to rate and review peoples stories, just because I like getting them myself. I would like to know if anyone actually is enjoying my stuff. If I don't like a story, I move on.

[NightScribe]

I also believe that, excluding a sadly small group of people on this fanfiction site and others, no one wants a “smart” story. Intricate plot? Attention to detail? The gratifying feeling of reading a story that slowly builds itself to a climax that has nothing to do with orgasims? Bah. Why would anyone want that when there are literally thousands of stories out there that have delightfully sinful -and usually not very good- smut in the second or third chapters?

For a second there, my heart went pitter-pat...someone who may have actually read and appreciated one of my stories! ("smart", intricate plot, attention to detail, all staples in my serious fics). Then I realized I'm insane and it's just wishful thinking.

But I do agree with you. "Adult" and "mature" don't necessarily have to mean smut in every freaking chapter. And poorly written smut at that. As I posted on my blog today, uh...I'm kind of quitting writing. Maybe for good, maybe just an indefinate hiatus. Because frankly, I'm tired of killing myself trying to write quality stories and getting nothing from readers. I'm already unappreciated at work, but at least I get paid for being taken for granted. Does this sound too bitter? Naw!!!

Seriously though, I am taking a sabbatical. I just posted the fourth installment of a five part saga. Of course, I know how it all ends...so who has the last laugh now? I am Queen of my Universe!!! *laughing maniacally*

[Iggy_lovechild]

. Because frankly, I'm tired of killing myself trying to write quality stories and getting  nothing from readers. I'm already unappreciated at work, but at least I get paid for being taken for granted. Does this sound too bitter? Naw!!!         

I know how you feel (and I have read a bit of your writing and even left a review. You're very good). I think the only thing that keeps me writing is the fact that I must or go mad (or start drinking on a daily basis again *chuckles*) and that I have a small, but strong fanbase on a certain community at live journal.

It still frustrates me, to pour my life's blood into my stories and be practically ignored while hacks and the far less talented are showered with praise. Even though I don't like admitting to it because it makes me sound petty, you're not the only one who's bitter.

[Guest Evil_Labs]

A lot of people are more into the overall pairing and the theme of a story than the actual writing and the depth of its plot, unfortunately, so those kinds of stories can garner a lot of views and reviews, whereas something that's well written and long doesn't always satisfy the ADD fix fast enough and requires too much thought. However, I will continue to write long, detailed stuff, because I want it to be somewhat intellectual, and well done no matter what the subject matter and able to display there can and should be plot.

[bookworm51485]

I know how you feel (and I have read a bit of your writing and even left a review. You're very good). I think the only thing that keeps me writing is the fact that I must or go mad (or start drinking on a daily basis again *chuckles*) and that I have a small, but strong fanbase on a certain community at live journal.

It still frustrates me, to pour my life's blood into my stories and be practically ignored while hacks and the far less talented are showered with praise. Even though I don't like admitting to it because it makes me sound petty, you're not the only one who's bitter.

I'm not a writer myself, but that frustrates me too. I've seen some of the biggest piles of steaming crap get review after review after review while the truly quality stories (or even the ones that aren't completely there yet, but are still leagues above some of that other crap) get snubbed. It makes no sense to me, I don't get why people would enjoy reading horrible stories. Maybe it's a way to validate their own crappy writing.

[StoryJunkie]

Uh, is it just me, or does no one else notice that we post for free

Nobody pays us. Why are we sweating to get every detail down right?

Why do we care?

*looks deeply into shallow heart*

hm, no answer there. Do you suppose we have like, standards of some sort? Something like, "even though I'll never get paid for doing this, it's a good experience"

*sighs* There's something in that, I'm sure. I just can't figure it out.

(On the one hand, monetary gain) (On the other, aesthetic satisfaction)

Ah, maybe it's just smut and we have to get it out of our systems one way or other and may as well get petted doing it.

Note to self: did you just alienate 1/2 the board?

[Guest cu-kid]

Uh, is it just me, or does no one else notice that we post for free

Nobody pays us. Why are we sweating to get every detail down right?

Why do we care?

I think the biggest reason that we care is because the process of writing is... well, it's kind of like giving birth. Not that I would know from personal experience... I mean, about the whole giving birth thing, but I'm sure you can kind of get where I'm coming from. Authors who are truly into bettering themselves and their writing spend hours, days, weeks, months to produce something that has come from them, is, in reality, a part of them. We use life experiences in our writings, we use other people's life experiences in our writings, we sometimes live vicariously through our own characters and have them feel the way we once felt or, even better, have them feel the way we wanted to feel.

In the end, we share these intimate thoughts with others and say, "Here, look at this small piece of me that I have given you. What do you think about it?"

And of course you're bitter and angry when you see stories that are inferior getting mad reviews. They say everyone is their worst critic, but let's get honest. There is always a part of you that says, "Wow... I can't believe I just wrote that. That was frickin' awesome! I just did some major crazy plot twist that everyone is going to love!" I agree, the whole point of posting anything is so we can perhaps learn something from someone who can honestly and constructively critique our work. And there is such as thing as being able to do it in a manner that will garner positive results... let's face it, no one wants to feel like they're being attacked -especially when what's being attacked is akin to a small child to some of us.

[Guest Jackie_Boi]

But the reason I responded was because of what happened to me the other day. This person had a story posted, and there were problems with the dialogue and the flow of the story, there were some events that took place in the canon that the author decided to put into the story, but within her storyline they made no sense. So I told her all of that and suggested that she work on it in the future. She wrote me back and told me that it's her story and she can write her story however she sees fit. And that what I wrote wasn't constructive criticism, it was just me trying to tell her what to do. But in a way, isn't that what cc is, you give an author suggestions on what you think could be done to improve their story. But in the end, she was annoyed that I had the nerve to try to help her improve her story.

I recently got a pretty negitive review on one of my stories. It was probably the most negitive and honest one to date. But you know, it's actually what I had been asking for. At first I was like "Wow...they really don't like my story..." and I felt a tad bummed out, but I summoned up all the courage to send them an response and explained a couple things. Basically, what happened in that story was that I got lazy quality wise, because I was being treated so nicely by reviewers, incourageing me to continue. So, this review made the next update a very difficult one to write. I found myself wanting to rip my hair out so that I wouldn't repeat old habits.

The reviewer basically told me that my writing style sucked (altho they didn't use those exact words...that's basically what he was getting across). But, even after reading all of that negitivity, he said something that brought me some hope. He said I wasn't a lost cause and that I seemed motivated. So that little "sugarcoating" made me feel a tad hopeful. But I must say, I took that review a hundred times better than I expected. I wasn't angry at the REVIEWER. It seemed as if I was angry at myself for making such a horrible piece of work.

So, the next update took awhile longer than the previous ones, but, I'm sure there is at least a smidge of a change in quality I hope.

I look at this as something I can grow from. Each fic that I've written, I can say proudly that I've grown at some point from it. Now I can add this one to the list. Even tho I felt angry at myself, I kept in mind that I'm just 18 and that I still have many years ahead of many (god willing) to improve on my writing and if I have to WILL to get better, then I'm sure I can do anything I put my mind to

Oops...sorry, that sorta turned into a confessional . Thanks for listenin anyways hehe.

[NightScribe]

I think the only thing that keeps me writing is the fact that I must or go mad (or start drinking on a daily basis again *chuckles*)

The other day I thought to myself "now I know why some famous writers (or any artists for that matter) drank themselves stupid or dead."

Please don't mind my occasional psycho rants. I'm just venting. Please note my new tag; I think that explains everything. There's no real way in hell I'd ever stop. Because to stop writing is like a form of suicide. I can't do it. I touched on this theory before, in my PotO fic.

He had irrevocably altered this young woman’s life. He had inflicted physical and emotional trauma on her, not just by robbing her of her sight and a living, but by cruelly denying her her art. The dance. Any artist; painter, poet, musician, nourishes their souls, their lives, by the work they create. Whether wealthy and world renowned, or penniless and anonymous, it is the art that drives them, the need to express themselves all consuming, in whatever form it takes. What he had done to Cecile was the same as if someone were to excise his larynx, amputate his limbs, but leave his mind and soul filled with melodies. Deprived of his voice, his hands...unable to compose, to sing, to play!...he would starve, wither. Die. Cecile, the petit danseur, would she, too, starve? Because of him?

We keep doing it because we have to. It's like breathing to us.

Oh, and thanks Iggy!

[Guest cu-kid]

We keep doing it because we have to. It's like breathing to us.

I couldn't agree more. I went to a private art school for two years, but couldn't cut it because, unlike my mother, I don't eat, drink, sleep, dream, and breathe art.

But I can write everyday -would probably start to go crazy if I didn't get out all the things filling up my head.

I've tried writing while drunk a few times and the results were...amusing. I think what really kind of scared me was the fact that, aside from some really major spelling and grammatical issues, my sober mind almost kind of like what I had written while intoxicated.

Oh, and I also wanted to mention that I've never poked around in the HP fanfiction section (I can hear the gasps as people read that ), but seeing the mature and easy manner that's here just in the forums, I have to say that I am definitely starting to look into it.

...although, don't be mad at me if I leave a review and just say, "Oh, I really LOVED it."

[Nanaea]

...although, don't be mad at me if I leave a review and just say, "Oh, I really LOVED it." 

Certainly not!

Honestly, I don't mind the simple "I loved it!" one-liners (or the gushing, squeeing fangirl paragraphs either for that matter...). I just whish more people would take the time to make constructive comments. I actually got my first one after 4 stories with a combined total of 65 reviews - yeah!! She pointed out that I sometimes confuse than/then but that I hadn't done it in a while. I was so psyched that someone actually pointed out an error my Beta hadn't caught and actually took the time to let me know about it. WOW! How cool is that?

BTW - Am I the only one who can spot errors while reading other peoples work but not see them at all in my own? I mean, I know the difference between than & then but when I write I seem to loose that knowledge somewhere between my brain and my fingers.

I think I'm lucky as far as rating and reviews go in that I write in a popular fandom about a popular pairing. Three of my stories have 5 stars and one has 4 stars. My Lupin/Tonks one-shot only has 13 review but my Granger/Snape one-shot has 22 reviews. Of course it also has about half the number of hits as well....

[NightScribe]

I think I'm lucky as far as rating and reviews go in that I write in a popular fandom about a popular pairing.

D'OH!!! So that's what I've been doing wrong! So, I need to pick the really popular pairings and leave off that "I'm gonna throw a few OCs in, just to mix it up" line of thinking. Got it. (I'm doomed).

[Guest Alien Pirate Pixagi]

D'OH!!! So that's what I've been doing wrong! So, I need to pick the really popular pairings and leave off that "I'm gonna throw a few OCs in, just to mix it up" line of thinking. Got it. (I'm doomed).

:: pets :: Be we love you! Don't you know? The only people in the 'Verse that matter are on the forum!

(Yeah, so doomed)