The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

[Smokey]

Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

Hey E! Like HappyHarper says, I've also reported fics for things, but they've never been taken down, so I wouldn't worry about it. I mean, the ones that I reported were the ones where they were writing about the actors themselves rather than the characters. I should think they would remove those, but they didn't, so go figure.

And like we talked about, a fic rated M will not show up in a "new stories" or "new chapters" search, which is the main reason people don't use it, I think. If it was me, I don't think I would have even changed it until someone from FF told you too. And I don't think that would have happened.

That said, I did email them a question late one night and got a response back within minutes sent from someone's "mobile device". That was pretty amazing. :lol:

 

[myfuturecsi]

Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

I wouldn't worry about it Egeria.

As for the slash portion, well, I don't think FF worries too much about the content that is reported because if they did, there would be no slash fiction posted there at all. So its obviously a complaint they simply disregard as people do have a choice, regardless of the rating if you see a story based on a pairing you don't like, you don't read it.

I think you can go back and change the rating though just to feel safe. It was an honest mistake.

And if worse comes to worse (and I'm 100 per cent sure it won't), there are other websits to post slash fanfic on.

But it won't come to that.

 

[happyharper13]

Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

Ugh. I just went to that flamer's user page and ended up surfing over to a forum where she was literally bragging about the number of flames she's submitted. My understanding is that the majority are copy-and-paste, which is doubly lame. Either way, I'm sure that the admins are used to reading unnecessary reports from her.

 

[myfuturecsi]

Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

Ugh. I just went to that flamer's user page and ended up surfing over to a forum where she was literally bragging about the number of flames she's submitted. My understanding is that the majority are copy-and-paste, which is doubly lame. Either way, I'm sure that the admins are used to reading unnecessary reports from her.

Well she certainly takes the fun out of writing fan fiction. She's hyper-critical and pretentious.

Seriously, fan fiction is for fun and enjoyment.

 

[egeria]

Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

Maybe they have that person set to automatically ignore? That would be good.

The even funnier thing is, now that I think about it, another one of my stories I noticed was also rated T when it should have been M. She didn't report THAT one. :lol:

I just wish I could delete her 'review'. Maybe I could report it for abuse? :shifty:

Thanks Smokey and mfcsi...voices of reason! Can't say that I've ever thought of reporting a story before. That's more because I haven't come across one that needs reporting I guess.

ETA: All her favourite authors haven't written any stories either and also have pretentious profiles...I think she has set up multiple accounts. That or a group of people decided they have nothing better to do with their time than to flame people.

 

[happyharper13]

Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

That or a group of people decided they have nothing better to do with their time than to flame people.

Sadly, it's the latter. It's the club of Flame Rising impressionists.

 

[egeria]

Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

That or a group of people decided they have nothing better to do with their time than to flame people.

Sadly, it's the latter. It's the club of Flame Rising impressionists.

:lol: Unfortunately I have now come to their attention. I hope they don't flame me again. That would suck.

 

[myfuturecsi]

Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

Can I ask you guys a question?

What's the difference between a mean-spirited review and constructive feedback. How do I deal with this kind of feedback.

registered after a suggestion at TalkCSI to read your stories and I have to say that I am very disappointed with what I read. Your characterization is way off for not only Nick but Mandy as well. It seemed like a regular fan fiction story that uses the names of Nick Stokes & Mandy Webster. I've read several stories surrounding this pairing and this is by far the worst I've ever read.

Sorry if you don't like negative views but this was my opinion. There is nothing stated on here that all points of views can't be shared. If you don't want to recieve negative reviews my advice is to disable reviews all together. Because honestly...this was terrible and you should go focus on something else.

and I got this

wow your attempt at smut is even worse than your angst/drama type stories

 

[happyharper13]

Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

The first comment is constructive criticism because the reviewer tells you what he/she thinks you are doing wrong and offers enough information about the problem to be useful in solving the problem she thinks persists in your story/stories. That said, their comment about mischaracterizing Mandy seems a bit odd. One of the big advantages to using a semi-recurring character like Mandy is that there isn't a strong sense of her personality/general character to the point where you can play around a lot with the character without making them out-of-character. Unless you turned her into a middle-school girl (sadly something far too many writers do with far too many characters), which, knowing you, seems quite unlikely, I'd say you're good. The second part is odd and could definitely be seen as a flame. My inclination, however, would be to clump it together with the rest of the review as a single piece of ConCrit. Regardless, the only way I know of to really go forward is to ask for advice/input from readers on future chapters/stories on whether they think the characterizations are off, and, if the reviewer left a signed review (so that you can reply), to ask them respectfully what they think is so terrible about the fic. While I really, really doubt that your fic is terrible, you still might end up learning about ways to make it (and your writing as a whole) stronger, which is always a valuable opportunity.

The second one is a flame. Ignore it. He/she is just trying to make you feel bad. I haven't read your smut, but, from what I've read, you seem like a strong writer. I've spent some time hanging out on flamer boards, trying to debate the relative merit of giving flames in the first place, and the impression I get based on that is that flames on smut should especially be disregarded as a significant portion of flamers do not know enough about how "smut" works in RL to really get it in fiction. For all I know, you may very well have gotten the flame about smut because you depicted said smut in a realistic fashion rather than in a Twilight-fangirl manner. (Hope that last part was appropriate; will delete and PM if not.) In my experience, flamers are people with too much time and too much bitterness and anger on their hands. They seem to live in some warped reality and I for one would discount anything a flamer says, at least in terms of their actual flame.

I just got a flame that really cracked me up. It was from an anonymous reviewer, stating "great you didi it, you made this story even more boring , sorry". This was after about 160,000 words. Seriously, who reads 160,000 words that they find boring just so they can make a misspelled comment like that? Someone with wayyy too much time on their hands, and way too much anger/frustration on their hands. Very sad. Flamers make me sad just because I can't imagine a more miserable existence than one spent simply bashing other stories. Honestly, I think flamers can be downright hilarious in their patheticness.

 

[myfuturecsi]

Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

Actually, it was the same person who wrote the second comment. Which to me appears that if she has to go through each of my stories to be rude than she's got an issue. I mean if the first story I read was so terrible, why did she go on and read another?:lol: I mean if I read someone's fanfic and think it's awful, I won't waste my time on another...

..good point on the Twilight analogy-I've read the books, they're okay, but the romance is a bit unreal at times, but it's only a fictional story geared to a certain audience who enjoys those kinds of romances, so be it. Different strokes for different folks.

The second one is a flame. Ignore it. He/she is just trying to make you feel bad. I haven't read your smut, but, from what I've read, you seem like a strong writer.

That's nice of you to say and I've read some of your writing as well and you too are a strong writer, a very good writer in fact.

And you know I don't profess to be an amazing fan fic writer, far from it. I'm still working on it. Writing is a skill that always needs to be fine-tuned even for the finest of writers.

I just got a flame that really cracked me up. It was from an anonymous reviewer, stating "great you didi it, you made this story even more boring , sorry". This was after about 160,000 words. Seriously, who reads 160,000 words that they find boring just so they can make a misspelled comment like that?

Oh now that is just too funny!:guffaw::guffaw: I mean most of us will read a few lines in a fan fic and conclude this isn't for them. Thanks, I needed that laugh. :guffaw:

 

[happyharper13]

Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

Actually, it was the same person who wrote the second comment. Which to me appears that if she has to go through each of my stories to be rude than she's got an issue. I mean if the first story I read was so terrible, why did she go on and read another?:lol: I mean if I read someone's fanfic and think it's awful, I won't waste my time on another...

..good point on the Twilight analogy-I've read the books, they're okay, but the romance is a bit unreal at times, but it's only a fictional story geared to a certain audience who enjoys those kinds of romances, so be it. Different strokes for different folks.

Lol. I meant less the Twilight books and more a significant portion of the Twilight fandom (and, more generally, all portions of fandom including smut written by people who don't know anything about how smut works in real life). Then again, as a girl who writes slash, I probably can't really talk. But still, if you know what you're talking about, then ignore those types of comments.

 

[myfuturecsi]

Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

Actually, it was the same person who wrote the second comment. Which to me appears that if she has to go through each of my stories to be rude than she's got an issue. I mean if the first story I read was so terrible, why did she go on and read another?:lol: I mean if I read someone's fanfic and think it's awful, I won't waste my time on another...

..good point on the Twilight analogy-I've read the books, they're okay, but the romance is a bit unreal at times, but it's only a fictional story geared to a certain audience who enjoys those kinds of romances, so be it. Different strokes for different folks.

Lol. I meant less the Twilight books and more a significant portion of the Twilight fandom (and, more generally, all portions of fandom including smut written by people who don't know anything about how smut works in real life). Then again, as a girl who writes slash, I probably can't really talk. But still, if you know what you're talking about, then ignore those types of comments.

I think a good romance story is a good romance story regardless of whether it's slash or not. Such as Brokeback Mountain which was a very romantic, yet tragic story even if one is not into romances between same sex couples. The story and the movie did an excellent job of depicting the intense emotions between the pair. It exuded off the pages and the screen in such a way that you would have had a heart made of stone not to feel their pain and their passion for another-but I'm getting off track. Just responding to your 'what would you know' sentence. You know alot.

Thanks happyharper!

 

[happyharper13]

Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

Actually, it was the same person who wrote the second comment. Which to me appears that if she has to go through each of my stories to be rude than she's got an issue. I mean if the first story I read was so terrible, why did she go on and read another?:lol: I mean if I read someone's fanfic and think it's awful, I won't waste my time on another...

..good point on the Twilight analogy-I've read the books, they're okay, but the romance is a bit unreal at times, but it's only a fictional story geared to a certain audience who enjoys those kinds of romances, so be it. Different strokes for different folks.

Lol. I meant less the Twilight books and more a significant portion of the Twilight fandom (and, more generally, all portions of fandom including smut written by people who don't know anything about how smut works in real life). Then again, as a girl who writes slash, I probably can't really talk. But still, if you know what you're talking about, then ignore those types of comments.

I think a good romance story is a good romance story regardless of whether it's slash or not. Such as Brokeback Mountain which was a very romantic, yet tragic story even if one is not into romances between same sex couples. The story and the movie did an excellent job of depicting the intense emotions between the pair. It exuded off the pages and the screen in such a way that you would have had a heart made of stone not to feel their pain and their passion for another-but I'm getting off track. Just responding to your 'what would you know' sentence. You know alot.

Thanks happyharper!

I meant more the smut than the romance, in terms of writing slash. While I love writing the more personal aspects of it, having never had a prostate, I know that I can't ever quite get the smut just right. But that's neither here nor there. Happy to be of help

 

[GregNickRyanFan]

Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

First of all, mfcsi, let me just say that I've read several of your fics and I think they are all quite good. I've enjoyed every one of your fics that I have read.

their comment about mischaracterizing Mandy seems a bit odd. One of the big advantages to using a semi-recurring character like Mandy is that there isn't a strong sense of her personality/general character to the point where you can play around a lot with the character without making them out-of-character.

See, that's what I think too. How can anyone possibly write Mandy out of character when she's a character we don't see often and we don't even know a whole lot about her personality? That makes absolutely no sense to me.

And the fact that this person claims to have not liked one of your stories and then goes and reads another of your stories only to flame it, that also makes no sense to me. I agree that if I read someone's story and it was so awful, I would probably never read another story by the same author again. So that in of itself seems contradictory on their part. The first review started out being constructive, but then went to insulting very quickly.

You know how they say that there's a thin line between love and hate? Well, there's also a thin line between constructive criticism and flames. Constructive criticism (when there is absolutely no malicious intent) is telling someone what they did wrong and offering advice on how to improve the issue. This is why there is an oppurtunity to review fics. That oppurtunity is not there so someone can come along and said "this was terrible" and then jet off. It's there specifically so writers can get feedback to help them improve on their stories.

I also have a real problem with people telling others that they should give up on writing and "focus on something else". It really ticks me off. That's like telling someone not to have dreams. It's wrong. Constructive and truly helpful criticism is fine, but telling a fanfic writer to "focus on something else" is NOT okay. If they feel that way then they should keep that particular type of comment to themselves.

 

[myfuturecsi]

Re: The "I Need Fanfic Help" Thread

I also have a real problem with people telling others that they should give up on writing and "focus on something else". It really ticks me off. That's like telling someone not to have dreams. It's wrong. Constructive and truly helpful criticism is fine, but telling a fanfic writer to "focus on something else" is NOT okay. If they feel that way then they should keep that particular type of comment to themselves.

Yeah that really stung, I gotta say. And honestly, those kinds of comments are uncalled for. I would never write a review that mean.

How can anyone possibly write Mandy out of character when she's a character we don't see often and we don't even know a whole lot about her personality? That makes absolutely no sense to me.

I agree. Mandy is a recurring character and one we would not have a full breadth of knowledge about which gives writers a lot of flexibility in terms of characterization. Now if this were a Nick and say Catherine love story, I would have to be more diligent in terms of characterization since both of them are regulars, but with Mandy I've got more freedom.

As for Nick. I've been writing Nick stories for a long time and believe me I think I got his character down pat, maybe not entirely because I'm not a CSI writer, nor am I George who knows Nick Stokes best of all. In fact I wrote a story with Nick struggling not to shoot someone long before 'For Warrick', not to mention other scenes with Nick that I've written only to have something similar happen on CSI, it gets spooky at times and I'm sure other fanfic writers of Nick have had the same thing happen to them.

And the fact that this person claims to have not liked one of your stories and then goes and reads another of your stories only to flame it, that also makes no sense to me. I agree that if I read someone's story and it was so awful, I would probably never read another story by the same author again. So that in of itself seems contradictory on their part.

I think the very fact they ended their review with an outright insult proves this person had no intention of providing any helpful feedback, they specifically set up an account for the purpose of flaming me for whatever reason. I hope they realize how muchtime they've wasted.