Story Note Hall of Fame

[resonant]

copperbadge has me thinking taxonomically about everything, so I'm now sorting my story notes into categories.

It's Awful, And That's Just The Way I Wanted It:

The imcomplete sentences are not accidental. The story is written just as it was played out in my sick little mind. So don't bother flaming my grammatical skills or any OOCness.

It's Awful, But Whaddaya Expect For Free?:

Plot and characterization evaporated, and [character] kept dissolving into a marshmellow. I tried, I did, but this turned into overly romanticized fluff. Wasn't going to post it but several people emailed and asked me to... So.

It's Awful, And I Show My Pink Belly To You, So Please Don't Hurt Me:

Category: Angst and romance – ok lets say fluff! Major fluff, get the sick buckets out – I'm worried it sounds cheesy at the end?!

The Feedblackmail category:

Tell me what you think, If I don’t get any feedback I'll just assume everyone hated and not write anymore, so FEEDBACK. Really no feed back no story. The last time I posted I only got 3 emails.

Unclear on the Concept:

I have used some of the lyrics as dialogue[...] but this is not a songfic.

And then there's a sort of catch-all category, which I'm thinking of calling the Comment Would Be Superfluous category:

Some of this is written in the [Fictional] Language and translations will be at the end.



This started as a rabid plot bunny that bit me on the neck and just wouldn't let go. Sevvy as a pimp who could resist?

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warnings: An adult having sex with a minor in a public place. Slight bondage.

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And it is not sad, which is odd cuz i am. and i wrote it like 3 minutes ago. so yeah.
Title:[Title} (or something)
Author: i think i have a name at FFnet, but i cant remember what it is, so just [Pseudonym], i guess.

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Thankyou for my inspiration and dont' we all wish that we could read the sequel to [another writer's story]??? sorry if it hasn't already been written??? I'll have to check on that.

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Warnings: a tad non-con, and don't try this at home, this stuff is overrated as lubricant.

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If there's one thing I pride myself on besides my descriptions, it's my dialogue. Of course, my dialogue is a bit unconventional, so, yea. *nods*

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Category: AAAANNNNGGGST!!!!! argh!!!!

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I'm NOT making fun of [actor]'s real [misfortune], that isn't funny. But I needed a premise.

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There is some confusion regarding the time period the movie takes place. As it has been discussed elsewhere, there are several historical inaccuracies so I closed my eyes and guesstimated 1680. Other dates are structured around context clues from the film and several lines from the lovable Mr. Gibbs. I'll provide a time-line and my research links with the final installment.

(Interesting de note: I’ve concluded that Elizabeth’s father could have been/have been based on the Earl of Carlisle, who was governor from 1678-1680. The fort in the movie would then be Fort Carlisle, built in 1678, in his honor. In which case, Sir Henry Morgan (as in Captain Morgan!) is his Lt. Governor, and succeeds him as Governor in 1680.)

Lyrics are to "So Long, Marianne."

(Res's note: this is that song that Leonard Cohen wrote for Marianne Faithfull in the '60s, the one that begins, "Come over to the window, my little darling,/I'd like to try to read your palm.")

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Warnings:  Chan, hints of non-con.  Please do not read if this discomfits you.

Comments

[cedarlibrarian.livejournal.com]

this stuff is overrated as lubricant.

Oh God. Please, please tell me I didn't just read this.

I have to go scrub my brain now.

[eliade.livejournal.com]

The Feedblackmail category:

Tell me what you think, If I don’t get any feedback I'll just assume everyone hated and not write anymore, so FEEDBACK. Really no feed back no story. The last time I posted I only got 3 emails.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

We all *feel* like that, sure, but my god, are some people born without a tackiness-alert gene? Like, something that would go ping-ping-ping when they did something that they should in fact be cringing about?

[tradescant.livejournal.com]

Tell me what you think, If I don’t get any feedback I'll just assume everyone hated and not write anymore, so FEEDBACK. Really no feed back no story. The last time I posted I only got 3 emails.

Wow, you know, if I get three e-mails, I actually consider myself pretty lucky. Obviously my standards are tragically low.

[strawberrythief.livejournal.com]

Lyrics are to "So Long, Marianne."

A songfic based on a great song is still a fucking songfic.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

See, the thing that amuses me about this one is: She says, "If you don't write me, I'll assume you don't like the story." Nobody writes her. Shouldn't her response be to go, "Oh, well, I guess nobody likes the story and I might as well stop posting it" rather than "Hey, these people adore my story and hang on my every word, but they're too rude to write me. I'd better scold them a bit more"?

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Not to mention that the introduction of Marianne Faithfull into a seventeenth-century piracy story kind of ruins all your efforts at historical accuracy.

[strawberrythief.livejournal.com]

Not to mention that attempting to apply historical accuracy to a movie based on a theme park ride is an exercise in intellectual masturbation. Girl, just stare glassily at Johnny Depp's hinder like the rest of us and shut up, already!

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

This started as a rabid plot bunny that bit me on the neck and just wouldn't let go. Sevvy as a pimp who could resist?

:::raises hand:::

Um...I could resist?

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

Was fandom always this bad? Because this is starting to depress me. I asked astolat about this and she said, "They're not fandom. We're fandom." Which, okay--but I hate these people masquerading as fandom then, and if that makes me an elitist bitch, then hey, fine, so there.

[nestra.livejournal.com]

Oh, man. In this set, I award the prize to that last one. Look! I'm serious! I did research! I am an Author! The fact that it's songfic is incidental!

It reminds me of the stint I did as a ff.net beta, and the Voyager story that used lyrics from "19th century recording artist Mariah Carey."

[rivier.livejournal.com]

BWA-ha-ha-HA! and a bottle of rum.

This film's going to be a bloody disappointment compared to all the fun it's generated on-blog, by the time it finally opens on my shabby little island.

[littlesammy.livejournal.com]

Was fandom always this bad?

It was. Remember the Serge list? ::shudders::

[miraminx.livejournal.com]

And it is not sad, which is odd cuz i am. and i wrote it like 3 minutes ago. so yeah.
Title:[Title} (or something)
Author: i think i have a name at FFnet, but i cant remember what it is, so just [Pseudonym], i guess.

I don't know who I am, I don't know what I'm writing, and I don't know who the characters are either...

Thankyou for my inspiration and dont' we all wish that we could read the sequel to [another writer's story]??? sorry if it hasn't already been written??? I'll have to check on that.

Organized, on top of things-- this author's my new hero.

Thank you for collecting these. I think you should get some kind of award for this public service (the "It's an Awful Job But Someone Has to Do It" Award, maybe?).

[notemily.livejournal.com]

I'm not quite sure what bothers you about this one:

warnings: An adult having sex with a minor in a public place. Slight bondage.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

It's not so much that it's a dumb thing to put in an author's note. It's more me thinking to myself: "Hm. Under what circumstances do I want to read about adult/kid public bondage sex?"

[notemily.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. Well, it's a good thing there's a warning there or you might run the risk of reading it!

[saraslash.livejournal.com]

Author: i think i have a name at FFnet, but i cant remember what it is, so just [Pseudonym], i guess.

::laughs::

:falls onto floor and dies::

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

[snort][choke]

[recover]

yes, me too, please. :-)

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

My favourite ever is "Feedback feeds the fishes. Do you want to kill the fishes?"

Mwahahahaha. My inclination towards statistical analysis is spreading! *cackle*

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Okay, first, your icon is the best thing ever :)

Second, *takes on Old Timery Grousing About Kids Nowadays Pose* you can blame the Internet Revolution for the suck that is most fanfic. I was around back when 2400 baud modems were tha shizz, you had to be a rocket scientist to figure your ISP out, and it took three minutes to download a two-page story. And it was /worth it/.

Then easy access came along...*sighs* Ah well. We sacrifice quality for speed and quantity; I doubt there's any more goodfic out there than in the bad old days, there's just SO MUCH MORE BADFIC than there used to be.

Still, I anticipate a rebound. If nothing else, sooner or later someone will rise up and begin killing the badficcers :D

Can I join you and be an elitist bastard? I'm really good at it.

[evilprettykitty.livejournal.com]

oh dear... I THAT takes the cake. Wow.

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

Okay, first, your icon is the best thing ever :)
Thanks! I made it myself!--it was my first one!

I doubt there's any more goodfic out there than in the bad old days, there's just SO MUCH MORE BADFIC than there used to be.
It's not just the badfic, it's the total cluelessness--like, my gut feeling is that these are kids who really don't have any idea of what fandom's even about. They don't have to join a list or anything, meet anyone, have any sense of the standards before jumping in--and someone could mistake them for us. That's what makes me feel crotchety, I guess.

Can I join you and be an elitist bastard? I'm really good at it.
Hee, sure, why not? (Though from an elitist POV, that's the wrong answer, right? *g*-- "Hey, come on everyone--we're gonna go be elitist over here! Oh, damn.")

[dracostella.livejournal.com]

Disclaimer: I've been known to occasionally miss "the point", and English isn't my first language, but here are some of my thoughts.

Category: AAAANNNNGGGST!!!!! argh!!!!

I'd still read the story. I'd want to know why it's "annnngggsstt!!! argh!!!" If the story continues to read with dialogue like "Oooohhhh myyyyy GOOOOOODDDDD!!!!", I would stop, but the disclaimer in and of itself doesn't seem so bad.

Some of this is written in the [Fictional] Language and translations will be at the end.

This doesn't seem unreasonable to me. I've read a few stories with Elvish or Klingon where there was no translations at the beginning or end. (Now, that was annoying)

I have used some of the lyrics as dialogue[...] but this is not a songfic.

This seems perfectly reasonable to me. I have incorporated an entire poem into a story, and the most ego boosting feedback I got back on that story dealt with how the reader could not tell where my language ended and the poem began. If I did that with a song, I wouldn't consider it a songfic either. I have written songfics (and I'm not really ashamed of them either, though they are always labeled as such). I personally define song fics a work that's structured as: blocks of story, blocks of lyrics, blocks of story, and so forth. If I can't tell where the lyrics are in the story, then I do not consider it a songfic, and I would congraduate the author and how well she/he incorporated the lyrics.

I don't mind slightly silly disclaimers in the beginning of stories. I think with the fandoms growing as big as they are, and with cross overs between slash, het, fem slash, and Japanese based fanfictions with terms of yaoi and shouen-ai, that some things should be explained. Certainly there seems to be plenty of authors writing in numerous fandoms, each with their own set of rules and terminology. Even the word "angst" itself took on a different meaning in fanfiction than in more conventional use. (Again, English is not my first language, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).

I feel kind of bad for writers who are insecure. (Being a insecure writer myself). I mean, it's kind of scary to be put your work out for the public eye... I think that accounts for some bad disclaimers to perfectly good stories.

And can some one please explain this one to me?

This started as a rabid plot bunny that bit me on the neck and just wouldn't let go. Sevvy as a pimp who could resist?

I don't get it. I mean, I just don't get it... what, or who is Sevvy?

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Category: AAAANNNNGGGST!!!!! argh!!!!

This one just amused me. I assume the writer was being funny on purpose.

Some of this is written in the [Fictional] Language and translations will be at the end.

"I made up my own language for this story" is a big-ass warning sign for me.

I have used some of the lyrics as dialogue[...] but this is not a songfic.

God, I hate this. I can't tell you how much I hate this, when song lyrics are used as dialogue. I don't have a precise definition of "songfic," but if a writer is putting the words of any contemporary songwriter, however eloquent, into the mouth of any media character (and especially, God help us, Severus Snape) -- then the writing is by definition out of character.

Though I wouldn't be unwilling to have an excellent writer prove me wrong.

I actually often find author notes interesting -- I wouldn't be able to amass this sort of collection if I didn't already enjoy reading them. I just feel like -- if it's bad, fix it. If you're not willing to fix it, for heaven's sake don't draw my attention to it by apologizing for it. And definitely don't insult me for noticing it.

what, or who is Sevvy?

A warning sign that this is not the Severus Snape we know and love.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Was fandom always this bad?

Two words for you.

Snuffle. Bear.

[dracostella.livejournal.com]

God, I hate this. I can't tell you how much I hate this, when song lyrics are used as dialogue. I don't have a precise definition of "songfic," but if a writer is putting the words of any contemporary songwriter, however eloquent, into the mouth of any media character (and especially, God help us, Severus Snape) -- then the writing is by definition out of character.

Hmmm... this gives me an image of Snape singing Ace of Base "It's a beautiful day"... *falls over laughing*

I'm curious, does your hate depend on if a character is deliberately quoting a song or speaking from their own voice?

I can certainly see quite a few characters saying (including Snape given the right context), "I want to fuck you like an animal. I want to feel you from the inside..." though that's a quote from NIN's "Closer".

A warning sign that this is not the Severus Snape we know and love.

Oh! Yiish. I kept on thinking it was some misspelling of savvy...

Thanks for the explanation.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

It's not just the badfic, it's the total cluelessness--like, my gut feeling is that these are kids who really don't have any idea of what fandom's even about.

We need Fandom Mentors. *nods* I admit -- back in the day I was discussing -- that I did pretty much the same thing, but fortunately nice people took me by the hand and showed me the Way :D

(Though from an elitist POV, that's the wrong answer, right? *g*-- "Hey, come on everyone--we're gonna go be elitist over here! Oh, damn.")

It makes for fun flames, though :D When I went over to the skyehawke archive from ff.net, oh BOY did I get roasted for eliteism...:D

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I'm curious, does your hate depend on if a character is deliberately quoting a song or speaking from their own voice?

I think I'd be able to accept it a little better if the character were deliberately quoting -- if it seemed in-character to me for the character to be familiar with the song. (For instance: Ray Kowalski quoting the Sex Pistols -- hell yes. Harry Potter quoting the Sex Pistols -- not so much. Lucius Malfoy quoting the Sex Pistols -- no way in hell.)

I can certainly see quite a few characters saying (including Snape given the right context), "I want to fuck you like an animal. I want to feel you from the inside..."

You can hear Snape saying, "I want to fuck you like an animal"? Saying it out loud? I really, really can't.

[dracostella.livejournal.com]

You can hear Snape saying, "I want to fuck you like an animal"? Saying it out loud? I really, really can't.

Okay, no.
Probably not.

Though I'd love to see a parody fic where Malfoy is quoting the Sex Pistols...

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

"Er, Mr. Malfoy ... strictly speaking I don't believe that it is possible for a person to be anarchy."

"Shut up, Fudge."

"Yes, sir."

[helvirago]

but if a writer is putting the words of any contemporary songwriter

Just contemporary? So if I have them quoting 18th-century sea shanties at each other, it's okay? Whew! Escaped again by the skin of my teeth!

Keep in mind, Resonant, that you are the wind beneath my wings. The perfect drug. The eye of the tiger. The Queen.... of the Night.

[dracostella.livejournal.com]

O.o

O.o

On second thought...

[cursive.livejournal.com]

My favourite has been a writer who had a bar of 10 reviews before she would post another chapter, and when someone sent her 10 identical reviews saying "I love this story, please write more," she was pleased enough to update.

I never want to be quite that desperate or quite that easy.

I feel really happy about 1 good feedback email for each update. It keeps me feeling it's not crap. I have no idea what I would feel about 10. When I last updated a story and got more than usual feedback which was more than usually positive, I started to worry that my writing was slipping. Go pretentious me.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

So if I have them quoting 18th-century sea shanties at each other, it's okay?

If it's Fraser? Not just okay but actually likely.

Thank you falettinme be mice elf.

[jkluge.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's that oft-experienced moment of cringing in embarrassment for someone, because clearly they had not the sense to be embarrassed for themselves.

This category slayed me.

[jkluge.livejournal.com]

Was fandom always this bad?

Yes and no. The production quality on a lot of very early zines was pretty primitive, but the level of intelligence sure seemed a lot higher. On the other hand, along with Spockanalia and T-Negative and Kraith were also hideous outings like Spock Enslaved. I tend to feel that zine fandom, in terms of the quality of thought as opposed to production quality (anybody with half a brain can produce a nice-looking zine off of a computer. Try doing it with mimeo--or ditto--and a manual typewriter), has gone from "50% of everything is crap" to the expected "90% of everything is crap." Where net fandom is concerned? Well, it's a lot broader, so while that 90% looks *really* huge, the 5-10% that's good-to-excellent is also greater in quantity, so I guess it balances out, even though sometimes I think about just how much *shit* (and how much creative/intellectual laziness) seems to prevail. I think that currently there is more good fiction on the net. I like having it so available, but . . . I love *books*, so I miss having a lot of good zines from which to choose.

[jkluge.livejournal.com]

{dies}

[jkluge.livejournal.com]

Brava!