mr_rubbish
Oct 7, 2004, 02:09 PM
Hehehe... mr.rubbish vs. the world...
I've discovered that this site has a rants section so I might as well get a load off my (ample) chest.
This concerns new writers breaking into the fan-fic scene over in the fan-works section. This is more like a serious of little rants than one overall thing, so please bear with me if it seems a little haphazard.
SORT OUT THE TITLE
Let's start at the beginning, namely the title. For God's sake please give your story a title! Titles like "My first fan-fic" or "My story" just don't cut it. Are you surprised when almost no one views the thread? It's because the title should be advertising your story. The title should be your first hook to draw them in, so put a little damn effort into it! But remember, a bad title is much better than no title at all.
Another annoyance: people putting "Please read it" or something similar there.
I mean, WTF? Are you hoping people will read your story out of pity for you? Do you honestly want to attract that kind of readership?
People are free to read your story if they feel like it. Not because they have some obligation to you or because you asked so nicely in the thread's title.
Update the damn title to reflect the current chapter. If you do get a reader following the least you could do as a favour is notify the world in general that you've posted the next thrilling part to your saga.
PROOFREAD FFS!
Though I would admit that the average Joe doesn't even proof read the posts they do normally, would it really kill you to use the "preview button" and just have a look at what you've written. Mistakes are forgiveable if your work is good, but if you're not sure if yours is good work then remember that presentation is everything. Every mistake will lower your standing ever so slightly with the readers. Be professional out there! (more on this later).
http://dictionary.reference.com/
Bookmark the above link. There is ABSOLUTELY NO excuse for spelling mistakes. (unless you are a kid and you didn't know that you didn't spell it right. So in actual fact there is an excuse). Most of the planet has MS word which has a spell check function. If you don't have Word then get Open Office at http://www.openoffice.org
Oh yeah... Word will also turn quote marks (" & ') into question marks. This is because of "smart quotes". Turn the feature off or proof read before you post the blasted thing!
Grammar and Formatting
As I would recommend to anyone, get a book by a grown-up author and read it (preferably from the second-half of the twentieth century onwards). Look at it and study how they format the speech and narative.
Note how they DO NOT write pages and pages as solid blocks of text. Keyboards are equiped with two, yes TWO 'Enter'/'Carridge return' buttons. Use them once in a while!
So... Remember to throw in lots of white space to ease the poor readers eyes.
Grammar is a little more difficult but read lots of books and that will help.
Fight scenes
Fight scenes on film or TV are good. In writing, they are generally boring. NO ONE on earth wants to read the fifty different ways how your characters slaughtered boomas/sharks/dimenians etc. If they wanted something like that, they might as well close their browser window and play the game instead of reading it. Having said that, many people can write a good fight scene. Get someone else's opinion if you're not sure.
Fight scenes should be a reward to the reader, not something to wade through to finish the story.
FIRST PERSON PERSPECTIVE?!?!?!?!?!?!
It doesn't happen often but I always cringe when I read a fan-fic done out in first person. What are you thinking? If you're new to the game please, please, PLEASE stick to third person till you know what you're doing.
Some people are under the misguided belief that first-person perspective is somehow easier to write than third person. First-person is easier to write in, but it is MUCH more difficult to do well.
From the age of five, humans gain the coverted ability to empathise with others. Use this magically ability!
However, third-person with a little first-person is perfectly acceptable. Learn to walk before you run!
Why is no one reading your story?
How many times have I seen people moaning about this (I've done it myself) or bumping their own thread in an attempt to keep it on the first page.
1. PSOW is a ever-shrinking community, there are less and less people to read your fan-fic, get over it!
2. People are shy and the majority read but never comment.
3. If you're not an established 'star' then people are less likely to read your work. Get over it!
4. The better the quality of your story then the more likely you are to get and retain readers.
DON'T SAY THAT YOUR OWN WORK SUCKS
This goes equally for artists as well as writers and I cannot stress enough this point. For **** sake, if your work sucks, then why did you bother posting it in the first place? You wasted your time and ours. Work on it and improve it then post it.
Grow a spine and believe in yourself damnit!
You wouldn't lie down in the street and invite passers-by to kick you in real-life, so don't do it online. One day you will say "My work sucks" and then you will be surprised to hear someone else say "Yes it does"
You only have yourself to blame.
DON'T POST RIGHT NOW!
What really bugs me are the stories where the author has typed it hastily into the post window and then posted it. No thought and no proof reading. Take your damn time! This is not a race! Sloppy work will cost you readers, pure and simple. If you can't be bothered to put some effort into writing it, then why should your readers be bothered to read it? (More on that later).
Though I am probably the only one how does such a practise, give some thought to writing the entire story before posting it chapter-by-chapter. This will allow you to write something deeper than the linear "Fight the " type of story.
This also leads to the following excuse: "[i]I'm sorry but it was late when I wrote this/I was in a rush."
Why the **** are you posting it now then? Save your Goddamn work and post it later when you have more time. You have no excuse (unless they are about to take your PC away from you forever).
But I'm writing just for fun!
Another excuse. Yes you are writing for fun and so you should be. If it's not fun then you'd better be paid for it because there's no other reason to do it. But remember this:
PEOPLE READ FOR FUN.
If they're not having fun reading it, then they are going to leave and find a story that does fill their reading needs.
Stop being so selfish and think of others. If it's just for yourself then there's no need for posting it. However...
If you DID post it, then you expect someone else to read it. It's at that point then that you should DAMN well make sure that it is readable.
I think that's it. There probably other stuff that bugs me, but I'll hoard it inside till it eats me like acid.
For those that think I should write a guide about writing... Well, lets just say I think about it a lot occasionally too, but KaFKa got there first (that's another rant altogether http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wink.gif ).
In closing...
Despite my remarks above NEVER GIVE UP! If you have passion about it, then you wouldn't anyway. If you did quit then it was never meant to be. If you're undecided then keep trying. Writing is a skill and like all skills can be improved by assigning experience points to it in the "Character" screen.
Above all... HAVE FUN DAMNIT! http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_evil.gif
I've discovered that this site has a rants section so I might as well get a load off my (ample) chest.
This concerns new writers breaking into the fan-fic scene over in the fan-works section. This is more like a serious of little rants than one overall thing, so please bear with me if it seems a little haphazard.
SORT OUT THE TITLE
Let's start at the beginning, namely the title. For God's sake please give your story a title! Titles like "My first fan-fic" or "My story" just don't cut it. Are you surprised when almost no one views the thread? It's because the title should be advertising your story. The title should be your first hook to draw them in, so put a little damn effort into it! But remember, a bad title is much better than no title at all.
Another annoyance: people putting "Please read it" or something similar there.
I mean, WTF? Are you hoping people will read your story out of pity for you? Do you honestly want to attract that kind of readership?
People are free to read your story if they feel like it. Not because they have some obligation to you or because you asked so nicely in the thread's title.
Update the damn title to reflect the current chapter. If you do get a reader following the least you could do as a favour is notify the world in general that you've posted the next thrilling part to your saga.
PROOFREAD FFS!
Though I would admit that the average Joe doesn't even proof read the posts they do normally, would it really kill you to use the "preview button" and just have a look at what you've written. Mistakes are forgiveable if your work is good, but if you're not sure if yours is good work then remember that presentation is everything. Every mistake will lower your standing ever so slightly with the readers. Be professional out there! (more on this later).
http://dictionary.reference.com/
Bookmark the above link. There is ABSOLUTELY NO excuse for spelling mistakes. (unless you are a kid and you didn't know that you didn't spell it right. So in actual fact there is an excuse). Most of the planet has MS word which has a spell check function. If you don't have Word then get Open Office at http://www.openoffice.org
Oh yeah... Word will also turn quote marks (" & ') into question marks. This is because of "smart quotes". Turn the feature off or proof read before you post the blasted thing!
Grammar and Formatting
As I would recommend to anyone, get a book by a grown-up author and read it (preferably from the second-half of the twentieth century onwards). Look at it and study how they format the speech and narative.
Note how they DO NOT write pages and pages as solid blocks of text. Keyboards are equiped with two, yes TWO 'Enter'/'Carridge return' buttons. Use them once in a while!
So... Remember to throw in lots of white space to ease the poor readers eyes.
Grammar is a little more difficult but read lots of books and that will help.
Fight scenes
Fight scenes on film or TV are good. In writing, they are generally boring. NO ONE on earth wants to read the fifty different ways how your characters slaughtered boomas/sharks/dimenians etc. If they wanted something like that, they might as well close their browser window and play the game instead of reading it. Having said that, many people can write a good fight scene. Get someone else's opinion if you're not sure.
Fight scenes should be a reward to the reader, not something to wade through to finish the story.
FIRST PERSON PERSPECTIVE?!?!?!?!?!?!
It doesn't happen often but I always cringe when I read a fan-fic done out in first person. What are you thinking? If you're new to the game please, please, PLEASE stick to third person till you know what you're doing.
Some people are under the misguided belief that first-person perspective is somehow easier to write than third person. First-person is easier to write in, but it is MUCH more difficult to do well.
From the age of five, humans gain the coverted ability to empathise with others. Use this magically ability!
However, third-person with a little first-person is perfectly acceptable. Learn to walk before you run!
Why is no one reading your story?
How many times have I seen people moaning about this (I've done it myself) or bumping their own thread in an attempt to keep it on the first page.
1. PSOW is a ever-shrinking community, there are less and less people to read your fan-fic, get over it!
2. People are shy and the majority read but never comment.
3. If you're not an established 'star' then people are less likely to read your work. Get over it!
4. The better the quality of your story then the more likely you are to get and retain readers.
DON'T SAY THAT YOUR OWN WORK SUCKS
This goes equally for artists as well as writers and I cannot stress enough this point. For **** sake, if your work sucks, then why did you bother posting it in the first place? You wasted your time and ours. Work on it and improve it then post it.
Grow a spine and believe in yourself damnit!
You wouldn't lie down in the street and invite passers-by to kick you in real-life, so don't do it online. One day you will say "My work sucks" and then you will be surprised to hear someone else say "Yes it does"
You only have yourself to blame.
DON'T POST RIGHT NOW!
What really bugs me are the stories where the author has typed it hastily into the post window and then posted it. No thought and no proof reading. Take your damn time! This is not a race! Sloppy work will cost you readers, pure and simple. If you can't be bothered to put some effort into writing it, then why should your readers be bothered to read it? (More on that later).
Though I am probably the only one how does such a practise, give some thought to writing the entire story before posting it chapter-by-chapter. This will allow you to write something deeper than the linear "Fight the " type of story.
This also leads to the following excuse: "[i]I'm sorry but it was late when I wrote this/I was in a rush."
Why the **** are you posting it now then? Save your Goddamn work and post it later when you have more time. You have no excuse (unless they are about to take your PC away from you forever).
But I'm writing just for fun!
Another excuse. Yes you are writing for fun and so you should be. If it's not fun then you'd better be paid for it because there's no other reason to do it. But remember this:
PEOPLE READ FOR FUN.
If they're not having fun reading it, then they are going to leave and find a story that does fill their reading needs.
Stop being so selfish and think of others. If it's just for yourself then there's no need for posting it. However...
If you DID post it, then you expect someone else to read it. It's at that point then that you should DAMN well make sure that it is readable.
I think that's it. There probably other stuff that bugs me, but I'll hoard it inside till it eats me like acid.
For those that think I should write a guide about writing... Well, lets just say I think about it a lot occasionally too, but KaFKa got there first (that's another rant altogether http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wink.gif ).
In closing...
Despite my remarks above NEVER GIVE UP! If you have passion about it, then you wouldn't anyway. If you did quit then it was never meant to be. If you're undecided then keep trying. Writing is a skill and like all skills can be improved by assigning experience points to it in the "Character" screen.
Above all... HAVE FUN DAMNIT! http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_evil.gif