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I'm just taking a wild guess that this might be the place for such a thread. If I'm wrong, Mods, feel free to move it wherever.

Anyway, I've started collecting links that might be helpful to anyone whose trying to improve their skills at fan writing or fan art. Sometimes links are long-dead, but I've found a few gems, like this one:

How To Write Almost Readable Fan Fiction .

If you've gotta' favorite to recommend, please share.

Thanks.

Thanks for posting the link. Ms. Nitpicker has sound advice for all writers.

As a bonus, her links to bad writing contain hilarious examples. Some howlers from "Grammatically Infirm Medical English," written by real medical professionals:

• Between you and me, we ought to be able to get this lady pregnant.
  
  Bleeding started in the rectal area and continued all the way to Los Angeles.
  
  Comes to ED complaining of vaginal breathing.
  
  Coming from Detroit, this man has no children.
  
  Discharge status: Alive but without permission.
  
  Exam of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized.
  
  Exam of genitalia was completely negative except for the right foot.
  
  Examination reveals a well-developed male laying in bed with his family in no distress.
  
  I have suggested that he loosen his pants before standing, and then, when he stands with the help of his wife, they should fall to the floor.
  
  Occasional, constant, infrequent headaches.
  
  Odor of alcohol on breast

Well, to be fair: Doctors are legendary for bad penmanship. Maybe they wrote it all down correctly, but then nobody could read it.



My main downfall is probably the dreaded run-on sentence (misuse of commas, dashes, colons, semicolons and so on). I always wonder if that's generational. Do I write these epic sentences just because I remember how much harder that was to do when it was longhand or nothing ? I had the same problem when I got my first typewriter.

Also there's a certain iron core of words that I never, never spell correctly, regardless of how many times I go back to the online dictionary. It's crazy. I have no memory, even if it's only been a week since the last time I had to go look up the word in question.

Hey, The Elements of Style is online, too !

[victory dance]

I have a mental block when it comes to words such as "referred" and "preferred." I can never remember whether they have one or two "r"'s at the end.

*sigh*
I guess this means ms.cleome has been reading our fanfic?

-he he he-

I believe this is indeed the place to post a little advice for our grammatically challenged selves. I remember The Elements of Style quite well having suffered through it in Eng.Comp.1114 like everybody else in college.

That doesn't mean I'm any good with it just that I remember it.

Strangely there are a few writing conventions that get changed on the internet. Web writing doesn't follow exactly the same rules as writing for print. It's a little more flexible and the rules of the road are still being worked out.

For instance I had a little fun in a recent fan piece where I interspersed graphics with text to indicate a switch in POV. I think it worked out well but I haven't read anything about whether readers got the point. It's fun to experiment though.

Oh, you !

Yk, the fic I've read here is not even close to being in contention for Worst. Fics. Ever.

Also, I went to Art School. Which means I actually had to purchase and read Strunk & White of my own free will. Nobody made me. Sad, really.

I definitely don't roam the net chastising people for the same spelling and grammar mistakes that I indulge in myself, or for wanting certain rules set aside for the demands of a particular story in a medium nobody anticipated the existence of ninety-odd years ago. What I don't like is free-floating sloppiness;Where you know the person didn't even try.

I love it, for example, when somebody misspells a main character's name over and over again. Then all his/her buddies copy the original lazy slob. Soon everybody's using the same misspelling. Because finding out the right one in the age of Wiki is just so bloody hard. (I can't say anything, though. Because I'd just be the Mean Old Grownup harshing the kids' buzz. )

As to unfinished stories, I'll go one step beyond Ms. Nitpicker. When I rule the internet, nobody will be allowed to even post Ch. 1 unless they can privately sum up for me what happens in the last chapter. I don't mind at all if it starts out with a doomed love triangle between three people in the JSA at their Senior Prom and ends with the galaxy being overrun by zombified Care Bears in deep-sea gear and the entire cast of Fame. If you can't think of the ending in advance, don't even bother. That's what drabbles are for.

Drabbles?
That's a new to me.

I know that one of MY sins is writing "first draft" material but I maintain that if it needs to be polished and perfect then I want it to be a paid gig. BUT, what I'm usually striving for is a sense of believability, action, suspense and a satisfying conclusion. I'm bad about getting to a point where the characters insist on being written their own way and I'm only here to bang away on the keyboard until they get what they want.

I guess before you get total control if the internet I should go delete a couple of pieces I never finished..or finish them.

Drabbles, ficlets, snippets. Usually something that's only a paragraph or two. I have a hard time writing them, because I've got such a big mouth.

Well, if you can write coherently on the first try, that's awesome. I don't recall reading any of your stuff and having a twenty-minute episode of "WTF."

You only get to delete your unfinished fics if I get to totally rewrite my old Mary Sue musical. I still love it, but it coulda' been about 450,000 words shorter without really suffering as Art all that much.

Oh, how I hate that. Why even bother writing for a genre if you've never even [seen the series / watched the movie / read the comic / read the novel]? Gah. What gives a person the urge to write a story, *tailored to fans of certain characters / a certain setting* and not know the first damn thing about those characters or that setting? Isn't that masochistic?

It would be like me making up imaginary players, teams and statistics during one of those interminable and occult discussions the other guys get into about football. All I'd be doing is making myself look like a fool who had to stick his nose into the conversation, even if he didn't know the first thing about football...

/endrant

I'm totally into drabbles. Most of my Legion fics have been one to three page 'out-takes' meant to be inserted into whatever series I'm reading. Sort of 'cutting room scenes' that can get put back in the director's cut.

Set:

(snip)

Quote

...It would be like me making up imaginary players, teams and statistics during one of those interminable and occult discussions the other guys get into about football...

I do have a buddy down the street who compiles all the statistics on the AAA baseball games when we go to the games with him. The whole reason he started inviting mr_cleome (I'm convinced) is that he needed somebody to keep track of the action whenever he needed to go and get more beer or relieve himself of same. This same buddy is totally into fantasy stuff like Pern and those books about an Earth dominated by werewolves. Kind of totally blurs the line between "jock" and "nerd," yes ?

Quote

...I'm totally into drabbles. Most of my Legion fics have been one to three page 'out-takes' meant to be inserted into whatever series I'm reading. Sort of 'cutting room scenes' that can get put back in the director's cut.

Don't suppose you have an LJ account ? I'm on a couple of the fic boards over there, and nine times out of ten I'm the only person contributing Legion stuff. The rest is nearly all Watchmen and Superman/Batman, which is fine if that's your cup of borscht, but...

I do not. I used to hang out there back when I was (ahem) <span style="font-size: 10px;"> writing Buffy fanfic</span>, but I haven't been around there for years.

Well, if you won't submit to the LJ gods again, is it okay if I link to or post about your work over there every once in a blue moon ? The Legion needs more love on LJ, [bleep] it !!

Oh, sure. I should probably consider putting some stuff up on Fanfiction.net. I'm just a lazy sod and end up putting everything on my own site and forgetting about it...

(Until I discover months or years later and read it and wonder who wrote it, since I'm uber-forgetful and can read with delight something that I've written and not recognize it...)

I do that all the time.
I get those "Wow, did I really write that?" moments every time I go back to look over my old text for a reference or something.
It's a lot like when I do a character in a play, I'm totally into it as long as I have to be but once the show's over, it's gone. Step away and move on to what ever comes next.

Yeah, it's one of the reasons why I personalize my muse so much. When I have an idea, it's like I'm possessed. If I don't write it out, I can't sleep. But once it's done, I go back and read it and wonder where the heck it came from!

Stuff just ties itself together and I find something in chapter 2 that foreshadows something in chapter 8 and I wonder how that could possibly have happened without me actually *planning* anything.

I am impressed by this very dialogue.

it is all too easy to get wrapped up in ones own little world of triumphs and setbacks.

always remember... any effort, any set towards creativity is in and of itself an accomplishment. The self-censor is the hardest obstacle of all.

[drift] Behold, Fans: The once-secret wellspring of Kent's inspiration [/drift]

It all makes sense now...

Another gem for writers:

Eleven Rules of Writing

[groan] They know all my major weak spots.

Oh, I suck at the rules about commas (and parenthetical asides in the middle of sentences, obviously).

I loathe passive voice. It's so common in today's media. 'Mistakes were made, but we aren't gonna name names, 'cause that would be rude to say that Bob Robertson of 14 West Palermo Drive was the one that cost the company 500 million dollars on that Ponzi scheme.'

Set:




I have a love-hate relationship with the passive voice. Exceeded only by my love-hate relationship with slash.

[gets out six-pack to cry into]

What? You'd think a GnR fan would be happy. Don't they have a new CD out?

As for those eleven rules, if I followed the last one I'd never write anything at all.

..and I have a copy of an even worse movie: Batman vs Star Trek. Awesomely cheesy.

Yk, I hate it when the men have longer, more lustrous hair than I do. Or something.



Y'know, there's also a Batman musical where The Joker tries to pick up Alfred on Facebook. Now that's entertainment!

Cleo... you were NOT supposed to tell!

so much for the surprise ending of Legion of Camelot now...

Dude, next time I lend you fifty cents for a Powerball ticket and you win, don't renege on giving me my half of the spoils. I'm just sayin'...

Poweball ticket!?

I bought a Power Girl ticket... I really didn't think you'd swing that way to get your half of the spoils.