The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction' started by MacsGirlMel, Dec 28, 2006.

  1. letizia

    letizia Civilian

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    Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

    Thanks for looking
    actually the place with the hotel could work, as to where keep a person captured
     
  2. lostladyknight

    lostladyknight Pathologist

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  3. letizia

    letizia Civilian

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    Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

    Thank you so much


    Another question I've got is ok forinstance if you've got a couple and they got a child together but due to his alcohol/drug abuse and aggressive moods because of it they split up and he gets taken away his parental right on the child. Later the new husband of the woman adopts the kid as his. Does the biological father still have the posibilty to reclaim his parental right proving he's clean and calm?
     
  4. Kemy

    Kemy Dead on Arrival

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    Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

    For your father-child problem I only know that the fathers rights last until he goes to court to give them up. But only for being agressive or taking drugs his rights can not be taken away so he still can go to get the children back. But when the cildren became adopted by the new husband he had to say "yes" or the adoption is impossible. So when they have been official adopted the rights are gone.

    I've only got a very short question..maybe I've overseen the answer somewhere: Is there also space for ShortCuts or just for FanFiction with more than a chapter?
     
  5. lostladyknight

    lostladyknight Pathologist

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    Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

    For the time being there is an error with Fanfiction.net's login system. People aren't going to be able to post new chapters, private message, or leave signed reviews. It's been cutting in and out over the last few days but has been down consistently today since about 12PM EST.

    I just thought I'd make a post letting people know about the issue.
     
  6. happyharper13

    happyharper13 Pathologist

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    Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

    I hope this is the right place for this question. I have had a recent (but small) problem with a reviewer. I have written a rather long story. The feedback I've gotten on it has been very positive. I have one anonymous reviewer who has posted twice that they find the story boring and are giving up on it. I'm always looking for concrit, so I would like to know what they find boring. On the other hand, a part of me suspects that this poster is a flamer, as both reviews have basically said the same, decidedly negative thing, and I haven't gotten any other reviews like the ones given by said poster. That said, the story is close to 150,000 words, and, were I a flamer, I doubt I would read that many words worth of a story I didn't like just for the purpose of flaming it. Were it a signed review, I wouldn't have an issue, as I could just reply to the review. However, it's not, and, despite searches of the site and of reviews on similar stories, I have not yet managed to find any contact info for the reviewer. Still, I want to respond to him/her, just to let him/her know that I would like to know what it is they find boring because I do appreciate constructive criticism. I would also like to let him/her (these pronouns are getting annoying...) that if they're not going to provide any further information other than 'it's boring,' and are a flamer, then they can just bug off. So I guess the question I really mean to ask is -- how do you guys recommend dealing with possible/borderline flamers, especially when you really do want constructive criticism?
     
  7. GregNickRyanFan

    GregNickRyanFan Holographic Moderator Moderator

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    Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

    If they posted the same exact comment more than once, that to me sounds like trolling. The only thing I would suggest is maybe making it to where only signed in viewers can review your fic. That should take care of this anonymous person. :) Unless you want to post a message at the beginning of your next update asking people if they are reviewing you'd appreciate it if they would give constructive criticism and tell you what you can improve on rather than just post to say "its boring". Hope that helps. :)
     
  8. happyharper13

    happyharper13 Pathologist

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    Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

    I'm trying to write fluff, for the second time ever, having only done longer chaptered mostly mystery stuff before, and realized that it's a lot harder than I expected. I never had trouble coming up with ideas for my chaptered fics, but I just can't think of any ideas for fluffy oneshots. Anyone have any suggestions for popular prompt tables, particularly ones that are often used in the CSI fandom? Any other suggestions on generating story ideas?
     
  9. GregNickRyanFan

    GregNickRyanFan Holographic Moderator Moderator

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    Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

    I'm gonna PM you about this, happyharper. :)
     
  10. Urban Legend

    Urban Legend Captain

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    Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

    I'm wondering if anyone knows where to find this short fanfic. I think it's with the pairing of Nick/Sara, Nick's watching a Nascar race sitting on the couch and he doesn't agree with the driver Sara says is her favorite

    :) Thanks.
     
  11. egeria

    egeria This mod is Ready for the Laughing Gas!

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    Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

    Not sure if this is the place to post.

    I published Chapter Two of a story on FF.net this evening. 10 minutes later someone had reported me. I didn't realise I had the wrong rating and the first chapter has been up there for months with no complaints.

    Does anyone know if this means I'm going to be banned? I've already backed up the stories I have published there.

    I'm pretty angry because the person could have sent me a message to at least give me a chance to fix the mistake. I sent them a reply saying as much.

    Has anyone else been reported there? What happens now?
     
  12. happyharper13

    happyharper13 Pathologist

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    Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

    I've never been reported, but I've reported others (albeit rarely, and for really blatant disregard of the rules like plagiarism and total disrespect of the English language). My impression is that they don't necessarily do anything if it's not something serious like plagiarism. The story I reported for grammar and spelling was written almost entirely in chatspeak abbreviations and had no punctuation, and each chapter was about two sentences long. I don't think it was actually taken down though. The one that was plagiarized was definitely reported by various other users and was taken down. If it's for something like ratings, I'd say you can probably just change the rating ASAP and nothing should come of it. As for banning, I am 99% certain that you don't have to worry about that. You have to break some major rules (I would guess advertising would be one of the big ones, or just really obvious spam). FF is a pretty diverse and liberal place, so you should be good to go once you've changed the rating. GL :)
     
  13. egeria

    egeria This mod is Ready for the Laughing Gas!

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    Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

    Thanks for that happyharper. I've been panicking and swearing and fretting all evening. I did fix the rating, so hopefully that will be the end of it.

    The person who reported me has a really pretentious profile too. :rolleyes: And doesn't write any fics.

    I'll stop worrying though, I've seen worse on the site that's for sure!
     
  14. happyharper13

    happyharper13 Pathologist

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    Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

    So true. There are so many bad fics out there, and yours are strong, well-written fics.

    I thought more about your conundrum and had a few more things to add --

    I would think that at least part of it might have to do with the content -- specifically the slash. My understanding is that, as sad as it is, slash stories tend to get an inordinate amount of reports and flames, which really does suck.

    Nonetheless, I can't imagine how the site mods wouldn't be aware of this trend and I'm sure that they keep that in mind when viewing reports. More than anything, what defines 'M' is so incredibly subjective. As poorly as it may reflect on society, most 13-year-olds are probably pretty savvy to most of the stuff going on in M-rated stories. I think most of the reason that FF even has its rating system (including the ban a few years ago on NC-17 rated fics) is to avoid lawsuits.

    As a result, I think that the whole reporting and removing fics system is more for legal purposes -- so just to be able to say that it is there in the case of a lawsuit against the site -- than because the site admins and/or board are actually genuinely invested in removing fics that violate some undefined rule about what constitutes 'inappropriate.' I'd adhere to that old Supreme Court quote on this one (spoken by Justice Potter Stewart, I believe) -- "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it".

    Basically, it's impossible for FF to define what is inappropriate, as is pretty much evidenced in their ridiculously (or, more likely, intelligently and strategically) vague ratings guide. Without an adequate definition, they don't have a lot of reasons to remove a fic (let alone block a user) unless they get a lot of reports on it just because there is absolutely no real definition of what violates or define a given rating.

    But because the rating system is so vague, you can pretty much post anything. If you're nearing the edge of what you think may or may not violate the rating system in some way, add an extra warning in the summary. If you put a warning for slash and smut (or, better yet, if you have the letters necessary after your regular summary, a reminder of 'T/M warning for a reason'), then nobody really has any legit grounds to report or complain since you warned them ahead of time.

    If worst comes to worst (which I really, really can't see happening), then you can always repost. Another worst-case scenario option is to contact the site admins. They're generally pretty good about responding promptly.


    Ugh. Users like that are so annoying. If they have criticism, then they should post it in a review. Reporting a fic without even making an effort to contact the author first about the issue is so cowardly.
     
  15. egeria

    egeria This mod is Ready for the Laughing Gas!

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    Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

    You know something, everything you've said is entirely correct. I know they need to have ratings for legal reasons, and yet, like you said the ratings are so vague no one understands them.

    The biggest issue I have is the lack of a 'Yes I'm 18' button when a person wants to read an M rated fic. :rolleyes:

    My fics all have warnings on the summary, and that's another beef I have with FF. The RSS feed doesn't show the summary, or the ratings or any kind of warning. So anyone using RSS to see new CSI fics *raises hand* can click into a story without knowing what they are getting themselves into.

    I'm more surprised that the story has been posted for MONTHS without complaint. Then within 10 minutes of posting a second chapter WHAM I get reported.

    So far, nothing has happened. And I'm told by more than a few people that nothing will happen. But in future I'm going to be a lot more careful about making sure I have the right rating :lol:

    The pretentious reporter never responded to my reply. Cowardly is a good word for them. If you do go look at my reviews you can see for yourself the person who posted.

    Oh and thank you for the compliment. :D I'm glad you like my writing!

    Thanks again for talking me through all this. I really did panic, thought I'd lose everything! Panic over though, back to writing more fics!
     

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