How to Post a Story to AO3
Someone left a comment on Archive of Our Own (AO3) asking me how to publish a story there. I wrote something out that’s long and detailed. So I’m sharing it here as well for anyone who wants help.
The first part of the process is writing your story–whether it’s a chapter of a multi-chaptered fic or a one-shot. After that is the proofreading your work. A lot of people choose to work with a beta, a second reader if you will. I currently don’t but I have in the past. It was a great experience and the person not only caught my mistakes but challenged me too, making my writing better. A second pair of eyes looking at your work cold is always beneficial but I believe the person has to feel comfortable being completely honest with you. That’s one of the reasons why I haven’t personally gotten a new beta. I had gotten really close to my last one on another forum so we were really honest with each other without worrying about offending the other. I haven’t had the time to build that up with someone else.
If you choose not to use a beta, I advise that you do not proofread once you finish writing. Wait at least a day, preferably more, before you go to edit. The space and time apart will do some good as you’ll have fresh eyes and not be so connected to your words.
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Tags: AO3, posting
Plagiarism: An Editorial
I know I’ve touched on this before in this entry. But that was a “lesson.” I consider this an “editorial.”
Longtime readers are aware of my open letter to Phantom’s Ange. I touched upon her history of plagiarism there briefly. It wasn’t relevant to the topic I was discussing. And I guess because I thought she had learned her lesson.
I was wrong.
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Tags: plagiarism, writing
Character Arcs
I have probably mentioned “character arc” many times but I feel like I’ve never properly explained what it is. Allow me to rectify that.
There are two types of characters: static and dynamic. A static character is one who is the same at the end of the book as s/he was at the start. Static characters can work if done well. (And, in my opinion, if they aren’t the main character).
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Tags: arcs, characterization, characters, Doctor Who
Omniscient Characters
Here’s the problem about writing fanfiction where you insert a character into the action: you already know what’s going to happen.
You may be asking, well, why is that problem? It doesn’t have to be but it usually is. Remember what I said about Mary Sues? How they know everything? And that is BORING. Yes, with all caps.
Filed under: Fanfiction, Lord of the Rings | 2 Comments
Tags: characters, omniscient
Best Disney Villains
Last year, I asked you to vote on the Best Disney romances to help me compile a Top 10 List.
This year, I’m giving the monkeys in my brain who usually vote on this another vacation and asking you to vote in this poll so I can compile a Top 10 Best Disney Villains list.
So until July 1st, you can go to this link and vote! If I have to, I’ll then do a two week runoff to finalize the list, but we’ll see.
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I’ve been going down a nostalgic road lately and it’s not related to my Nostalgia Nook posts. (Shameless plug) For some reason, I decided to YouTube “Ronin Warriors” and am going through the series. And it brought back memories of the hours I spent reading Ronin Warriors fanfiction. Which also reminded me my of my own Ronin Warriors fanfiction. And since it’s some of my early stuff…it’s bad. I’m not sure why I wanted to reread it.
So I tracked down the old website my friend/cowriter and I posted on. But it’s not really active anymore, so I had to use the Wayback Machine. Searching for my old fanfiction, I started to remember some of my old favorites. I found one that I really liked back then and started to read. I never really reviewed it back then because this site wasn’t your usual fanfiction archive—if you wanted to review, you had to actually e-mail the person. It felt weird to e-mail someone you didn’t know.
But now I do want to review it, revolving around the question: How does it hold up?
Continue reading ‘Fanfiction Review: “Warrior Call” by Janime’
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Tags: anime, review, ronin warriors
Pregnancy, Labor and Your Fic
Pregnancy.
Chances are, if you are doing a Suefic, there will come a point where your Sue becomes pregnant. And there is a good chance that you have never been pregnant. Yes, I know that’s a sweeping generalization. And yes, I’ve read some stories where the author bases the character’s pregnancy on her own. But I’m not addressing them. I’m addressing the tween and teen writers who use a pregnancy storyline.
Ready?
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Movie Fanfictions
Let’s talk about movie fanfictions. And the most common form of them—inserting your new character into the movie. There’s nothing wrong with the idea. It’s usually in the execution and I tend to see the same one over and over. New characters gets inserted into movie and author transcribes the film.
ZzzZzzZ
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Tags: characters, dialogue, movies
“Estel and Meleth”: A Review
Please excuse me. I wish to review this story but have no option to do so short of registering on a site just for this. And I don’t think an open letter is the right format. So a proper review it is!
Title: “Meleth & Estel” (“Love & Hope” in Sindarin)
Author: Guin Parris.
The plot idea isn’t a bad one. A person rediscovering love after a tragedy is a common idea. Turn on your average Lifetime movie. Especially at the holidays. There is bound to be line somewhere in the movie that goes like this: “It’s been x years since Jake/Sarah died. S/He would want you to move on!” Such stories require compelling and complex characters. The characters of “Estel & Meleth,” even the canon ones, have the depth of a puddle.
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Fanon Beliefs Which Need to Die
Let’s talk “fanon.” What is it? To quote Wikipedia: “Fanon is established in a spontaneous manner by the community of fans at large, for example fan clubs, whenever the official canon is not clear on some points of its narrative.”
Now, fanon itself isn’t bad. It allows for lively discussion amongst fans and is interesting. I’ve seen many arguments from fans of “How I Met Your Mother” that believe we’ve already met the woman and explain why/why not Ted’s past girlfriends could be the mother. Other fanon ideas are so well constructed from canon clues they actually do become canon. Many Harry Potter fans wondered if Snape’s hatred of Harry went beyond James’ bullying and his occasional bouts of protecting Harry seemed overkill for a life debt. They hypothesized that Snape loved Lily. Then comes Book 7…
But there is bad fanon. This is when fan beliefs actually contradict canon. And I went through examples my fandom friends and I encountered in Lord of the Rings alone. Let me explain why they are wrong and need to die. Now.
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Fanfiction for Dummies 