Writers' Corner

[Aierdome]

That's strange to have both the opposite reactions When someone tell me how the reading was, I'm always wondering how to disappear under the floor, right now please. And they're persons I know at least a little ! (One day, one of my beta-reader sent me a message on facebook, saying something like "I've finished iiiiiiit !" less than 48 hours after having the novel (something around 230 pages). The only stupid reaction I had been able to have was closing the page and trying to not panic more than what I was already doing ^^°)

Oh, I know the feeling... When I see "X reviews" on fic's page, I immediately switch to doing anything else just to check those reviews last...

I think for me this disparity in reactions comes from the fact that people I know in real life will "soften the blow", so to speak, when I do something wrong, and attempt some constructive critique because, well, they care. On the other hand, many online strangers - especially in places like FF.net, AO3 seems to have somewhat "healthier" community - will be less... restrained, and if something will be wrong (or worse, offending their fandom nerve), they'll be much more open about the critique, and frankly, you'll never know what kind of a reader you'll encounter, which can't be said for people I ask to read my thing personally.

[Mélusine]

I think for me this disparity in reactions comes from the fact that people I know in real life will "soften the blow", so to speak, when I do something wrong, and attempt some constructive critique because, well, they care. On the other hand, many online strangers - especially in places like FF.net, AO3 seems to have somewhat "healthier" community - will be less... restrained, and if something will be wrong (or worse, offending their fandom nerve), they'll be much more open about the critique, and frankly, you'll never know what kind of a reader you'll encounter, which can't be said for people I ask to read my thing personally.

Oh. I understand better I have no experience in FF.net or AO3.

[SectoBoss]

What do you feel when you give what you've written to someone, or post it for the persons who write things like fanfictions ? I'm always so nervous, I'm curious to know if it's common or not so much

When I posted my first fics (almost a year ago now, how times change) I would make it the last thing I did during the day so I could just go to bed without having to spend the rest of the day waiting for people to tell me how awful they were. (One unexpected but lovely upside of this is you wake up to nice comments!) I was always nervous and every time I posted I was convinced that this was it, this would be the one that made everyone turn round and go "you know what, we're sick of trying to be nice, please just stop".
Of course, that never happened, and now I just post to AO3 whenever I finish writing. Sometimes I only give it a quick once-over before I post, sometimes I'm more thorough. (I'm still utterly oblivious to typos, though - if I know what something should say there's no way to get me to see what it actually does say.)

So, this is part of the reason that my main/"real" fic archive is on Dreamwidth, not Ao3. There aren't any stat counters, and user subscriptions do not exist - aside from the Reading List, and there are ways to prevent entries from appearing on people's reading lists, even if they are subscribed to you. So, I am way more comfortable with that - posting there makes me feel like I'm putting something in my own space, and that I'm not imposing on anybody. Even though people can see it, it feels "private" somehow, because they need to seek my writing out directly in order to see it, instead of just coming across it randomly while browsing.

I'm in two minds about AO3's kudos and view counters. On the one hand they can be useful, and I'm not going to lie and say that seeing "this list of people left kudos" at the bottom isn't a nice thing to see. On the other, if a good fic gets few kudos for whatever reason it'll just slip through the cracks because people will assume it's not worth their time, and the whole thing sometimes feels to me a bit too much like a popularity contest.

[Yuuago]

When I posted my first fics (almost a year ago now, how times change) I would make it the last thing I did during the day so I could just go to bed without having to spend the rest of the day waiting for people to tell me how awful they were.

I tried that once. Result: I couldn't sleep a wink. ;p It's funny how different some people are.

I'm in two minds about AO3's kudos and view counters. On the one hand they can be useful, and I'm not going to lie and say that seeing "this list of people left kudos" at the bottom isn't a nice thing to see. On the other, if a good fic gets few kudos for whatever reason it'll just slip through the cracks because people will assume it's not worth their time, and the whole thing sometimes feels to me a bit too much like a popularity contest.

I've definitely seen this with larger fandoms, yeah. Not so much this one - then again, it's possible I'm just oblivious (especially since I'm determined to read literally everything posted, even if it's taking a while). I keep coming across people who use kudos to sort, and it just seems to odd to me - because there are so many reasons that a particular story could have a higher number than another (it was one of the first fics posted, or it's a very popular pairing, or it's an AU that lots of people like, or it was recced somewhere, or....)

I think subscriptions bother me more than the statcounters, though. The thought of notifications of all my stuff showing up in somebody's inbox... brrrr, do not want. Which is bloody hypocritical of me, because I'm subscribed to the fandom's RSS feed, so I see literally everything... But, emotions like these don't have to make sense.

[SectoBoss]

I've definitely seen this with larger fandoms, yeah. Not so much this one - then again, it's possible I'm just oblivious (especially since I'm determined to read literally everything posted, even if it's taking a while). I keep coming across people who use kudos to sort, and it just seems to odd to me - because there are so many reasons that a particular story could have a higher number than another (it was one of the first fics posted, or it's a very popular pairing, or it's an AU that lots of people like, or it was recced somewhere, or....)

Yeah, I think the size of the fandom definitely matters. I mean, with only 150 fics on AO3 so far people can afford to take their time and read them all like you say. I've run across people who sort by kudos or comments as well and I usually find they're just looking for an easy read rather than looking to get too involved with the fandom.

[Róisín]

I was a bit nervous about posting, myself. Still am, somewhat. This is both my first online fandom, and the first time I have written fanfic for anything. Most of what I've ever had published had been in physical anthologies, magazines or newspapers, and writing online was a whole new and terrifying field. I was familiar with the 'shared universe' concept from decades of involvement in the filk community and SF fandom, but had never written for one (though I'm thinking, now that I know at least somewhat, how to do it online, about the '163..' shared world. Fanfic seems to be a variant of shared universe, and an interesting one.

Seeing one's work online is a very different sensation to seeing it in physical print, I can tell you. It seems somehow.....less controlled? Playing in another writer's world is also a little strange, as is the care needed to keep my work at least roughly within canon, which I try to do, for courtesy. I like, and find myself sharing, SectoBoss's concept of inserting one's stories into the cracks in the Minnaverse, so they fit seamlessly.

I don't know much about how people sort what they want to read. Not yet as familiar as I would wish to be with the customs and usage of the online world. And my huge issues with the technology and the mechanisms of posting don't help!

[OwlsG0]

I was a bit nervous about posting, myself. Still am, somewhat. This is both my first online fandom, and the first time I have written fanfic for anything. Most of what I've ever had published had been in physical anthologies, magazines or newspapers, and writing online was a whole new and terrifying field. I was familiar with the 'shared universe' concept from decades of involvement in the filk community and SF fandom, but had never written for one (though I'm thinking, now that I know at least somewhat, how to do it online, about the '163..' shared world. Fanfic seems to be a variant of shared universe, and an interesting one.

Seeing one's work online is a very different sensation to seeing it in physical print, I can tell you. It seems somehow.....less controlled? Playing in another writer's world is also a little strange, as is the care needed to keep my work at least roughly within canon, which I try to do, for courtesy. I like, and find myself sharing, SectoBoss's concept of inserting one's stories into the cracks in the Minnaverse, so they fit seamlessly.

I don't know much about how people sort what they want to read. Not yet as familiar as I would wish to be with the customs and usage of the online world. And my huge issues with the technology and the mechanisms of posting don't help!

Sorry to jump into the thread with no warning, but Roisin, I was wondering, have you written anything in a Minnaverse yet? I'm over on the Scriptorium a lot and I wondered if I have missed a piece at all?

[Róisín]

OwlsG0: Yeah, I have a few fics on the Scriptorium. There was one I did for the Secret Santa, and posted to the Scriptorium afterward, about Reynir trying to re-invent coffee with a little help from Lalli. Then there was a three-parter which I started around the same time (early/mid January this year) 'Gone Astray', in which Emil's scepticism about magic is somewhat strained.

I have three parts of what is intended to be a five-part fic over on A3O, where I write as 'Tanist'. (The different name over there is because my efforts to sign up there as 'Róisín' were utterly unsuccessful. Whether this was because they already have that name ascribed to someone else in their system, or because my early attempts to sign up there partially worked, godsonlyknow, but their system won't let me use it. I'm not too displeased though, because when I gave up on using it and was wondering what else to try, I asked my beloved what he could suggest, and he used one of those random-name-and-password generator programs, which amused me greatly by coming up with 'Tanist' on the first try, so I stuck with it!).

However, the story over there is the first three chapters of 'A Few of Mikkel's Secrets'. For the first part SectoBoss very kindly let me riff off a character from one of his early stories, and that was also the story where I first started to play with the 'Mikkel is a secret agent of some kind' idea, basing the story around that, and some huge personal issues dating from the Danish invasion attempt, to explain his motivation for getting caught up in such a kludge of an expedition in the first place!

I will eventually post the rest of it, two more chapters, when my machineries cooperate or the new ones are sorted out. Did I mention 'huge technical issues'? At present A3O won't accept anything longer from me than a comment!  The last part I posted was more focused on Lalli, but it will spiral back to Mikkel, I promise!

[OwlsG0]

OwlsG0: Yeah, I have a few fics on the Scriptorium. There was one I did for the Secret Santa, and posted to the Scriptorium afterward, about Reynir trying to re-invent coffee with a little help from Lalli. Then there was a three-parter which I started around the same time (early/mid January this year) 'Gone Astray', in which Emil's scepticism about magic is somewhat strained.

I have three parts of what is intended to be a five-part fic over on A3O, where I write as 'Tanist'. (The different name over there is because my efforts to sign up there as 'Róisín' were utterly unsuccessful. Whether this was because they already have that name ascribed to someone else in their system, or because my early attempts to sign up there partially worked, godsonlyknow, but their system won't let me use it. I'm not too displeased though, because when I gave up on using it and was wondering what else to try

Ah, so you're the Tanist? Yes, then, I have seen you on the website before. That site is really hard to format on, isn't it? I still haven't figured out how the heck to do italics and all that stuff. And I do agree with the stuff about it being a popularity contest, which was said earlier. You can usually tell from the comments when people are there just to freak out and gush over fanservice, and when people are there for the writing.

[Yuuago]

Ah, so you're the Tanist? Yes, then, I have seen you on the website before. That site is really hard to format on, isn't it? I still haven't figured out how the heck to do italics and all that stuff.

It uses basic HTML. So, similar to BBCode, but not quite the same. As far as I know, there isn't a rich-text option at all (though one might exist - possible. I'd never use it.)
If you do a search for how to do text formatting in HTML, you should be able to find it pretty easily. I just hand-code everything as I write, but then again, I'm used to it.

[OwlsG0]

It uses basic HTML. So, similar to BBCode, but not quite the same. As far as I know, there isn't a rich-text option at all (though one might exist - possible. I'd never use it.)
If you do a search for how to do text formatting in HTML, you should be able to find it pretty easily. I just hand-code everything as I write, but then again, I'm used to it.

I'm one of those users who just slaps up the first draft, runs through it once, and then uploads the results. I've kind of become used to working around the places where I would use italics because I'm kind of too lazy and technologically illiterate to figure out coding. For example, as grateful as I am for your advice/help, I have almost no idea what anything in your comment said.
Hand-coding does sound meticulous and careful, though, and for that I doff my figurative hat to you.

[princeofdoom]

That character writer feel when you suddenly have an idea for a scene or short story, but you don't have characters for it. WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?

[Róisín]

Ah yes, that one. Where the character is banging on the door of your mind demanding to be let in, and you haven't the first idea what they want you to do about it.....

[IKEA]

That character writer feel when you suddenly have an idea for a scene or short story, but you don't have characters for it. WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?

What I do generally is just write the idea with bland, placeholder characters then make the characters interesting once the plot is down on paper.

[princeofdoom]

What I do generally is just write the idea with bland, placeholder characters then make the characters interesting once the plot is down on paper.

I mean I'm gonna try it, but my usual MO is to get at least some plot from the characters instead of characters being dictated by plot. But all I have so far is secret lovers and one being connected to the color red and the other like, smokey gray. I have a very specific image of them, but have no clue outside of that. Maybe if I describe that bit, or figure out why it's in secret, I can actually figure out what is up with these doofs