I know I just posted about the forums, but they're getting goofier by the hour.

[scarah2]

All links go to FanLib, now with more craptastic flash "badge" signatures, so be warned. Just don't use more than one badge, or you'll get banned! Because that's so much easier and less drastic than, I don't know, editing your sig for you.

Someone resurrects a month old wanky thread to ask about the review deletion policy.

Mod responds: It is

Comments

[stewardess]

Did you see the discussion about FanLib featuring new writers who suck?

http://www.fanlib.com/posts/list/400.page

It's not completely clear from the context, but it sounds like FanLib "featured" new writers to encourage them. Unfortunately, one or more of the writers did not even have someone proofread, so there have been fics loaded with spelling and other errors in the featured category.

I saw one of them a week ago. There was a misspelled word in the summary. *face palms*

I completely agree with jdsampson it is not good to bash new writers, but posting without even using spellcheck should be criticized. No one will improve at writing if readers ignore easily preventable errors. It's one thing to have trouble with shifting POVs, but spelling? No way. Bad.

As jdsampson said, we all were new once! But some of us did not post our first stuff because we knew it sucked.

It is possible to write fanfiction and not post it. Shocking, perhaps, but I do it all the

[angiepen]

But having said that, I think when it comes to featured fics to judge a story accordingly to how long the person writing it has been writing will simply be wrong. A story should be judged regardless what the outside factors are. I mean, yes, let's encourage new writers to bloom, but I think to lowering the expectations for them just because they are newbies will be kinda patrionizing.

Props and applause to MissKitten -- wow, someone with a brain!

It is possible to write fanfiction and not post it.

And yes, absolutely. [nodnod] One of my pet peeves about fanfic fandom is how newbies are led to think that they're "supposed to" post their First Evar Stori!! It does them no favors and is just as likely to discourage them from ever posting again. :(

I've got a meta on this topic I started back when....

Angie, shuffling through files

[elfwreck]

I posted my First Evar Fanfic. (At least, as far as I know. Possibly I wrote something in my teen years that my mind has nicely blanked out.)

However, I'd been writing essays & articles for a couple of decades. And bits of original fic that I had the sense *not* to post anywhere. My writing skills were already well-developed; I only had to worry about characterization and such, and was willing to accept the idea that I'd botched them.

(I hadn't. Got glowing comments from authors I admire, so I was very happy.)

I give some leeway to teen authors, who are still developing writing skills. Anyone over the age of 25, or any college graduate... umm, no. If they care enough about the fandom to write in it, they should learn to make the characters plausible and the plot interesting--after all, those are features that drew them to the fandom in the first place, right?

[angiepen]

If someone's First Evar Fanfic (or piece of fiction, period) is actually, like, good, then that's fine. I don't mean stellar, but decent, something that looks like it was written by someone who 1) has a basic grasp of craftsmanship and 2) gives the impression that they actually give a damn what the thing looks like

[lilithilien]

Sorry for butting in, but this is one of my favourite rants these days.

...something that looks like it was written by someone who 1) has a basic grasp of craftsmanship and 2) gives the impression that they actually give a damn what the thing looks like.It's your second point that resonates so much with me. I'm in a couple of relatively new fandoms (for shows that are mainly in the UK now, and I don't mean to imply that only when they reach North America will they attract "good writers", only that right now the fandoms are quite small and don't have the critical mass to do so yet). One seems to be primarily made up of new (and I assume younger) writers, and almost daily there are posts proclaiming "this is awful but I'm posting anyway lol" or "not betaed be gentle with feedback" or the like

[angiepen]

That's one of my major turn-offs too. [nod] I'm willing to make all sorts of allowances for someone who's less skilled but clearly trying very hard, not only to do their best but also to learn and grow as a writer. But people who don't give a damn and don't care who knows it piss me off. "Oh, I don't care, it's just for fun." "Oh, I'm not really a writer so it doesn't matter." "I just banged this out and I know it's crap but I thought I might as well post anyway, LOL!"

Yeah. I'm so impressed. Pardon me while I go on to the next thing on my Flist....

I also look askance at the "please by gentle" and "KIND feedback welcome" types of notes. These say to me that the writer knows they have major issues but couldn't be bothered to fix them and don't want to hear about it. Skip to next Flist item....

I think what people really don't get is that there's a ton of really good fic out there. I don't need to slog through someone's error-riddled garbage to get my fic fix. Presentation matters; I only have so much time to read fic if

[half_elf_lost]

There was a misspelled word in the summary.

Just to amuse you: Last week while checking the LoM submission inbox, I got a story with a grammar error IN THE TITLE!