Water's October, Right?: House Fanfiction Discussion

I've gotten pretty adept at sifting good!fic from bad!fic just by looking at the summary and the first couple paragraphs. Poor writers will usually leave enough clues right there. My back button gets a lot of use when I go hunting. I'm not afraid to be the first to wander in, but I often have limited time and so will go by recs instead.

I just go by the quality of the story. I think you can tell if someone's taken the time to think about plot, characters, spelling. That's what I do, too. I leave concrit if I read something that warrents a reply. If someone takes offense at it, I'm all right with that. I know better in the future. Seems like a good policy. I generally respect authors who work hard and, I agree, it's usually apparent in their stories. And, personally, I try to leave feedback that can benefit the author. If I think it's good, I try to explain why, which I think is helpful. Reading is a very active thing and I think it's not fair for an author to expect readers to spend time sorting through their mistakes and lazy writing. So I appreciate when authors extend the courtesy of sharpening and polishing their work. I usually think about the feedback sessions of a creative nonfiction course I took in college. I remember being so terrified when my peers reflected on my work, and there were times when the feedback stung a little, but it was also the some of the most useful feedback (perhaps because I remembered it) and helped me so much in the revision process. I guess I try to keep that in mind when I leave feedback for other people. So, in a horribly long-winded way, I agree with you.

So where's the place where we get to talk about the stuff we're writing? Is that here? Because I feel the need to squee. I LOVE THE STORY I'M WRITING! Ahem. *composes self* No, no, go on with the discussion.

I remember being so terrified when my peers reflected on my work, and there were times when the feedback stung a little, but it was also the some of the most useful feedback (perhaps because I remembered it) and helped me so much in the revision process. I guess I try to keep that in mind when I leave feedback for other people. I feel absolutely the same way: discerning, thoughtful negative feedback has always had the biggest impact on my writing. So I tend to leave concrit to a writer who seems serious about writing well, the old pos-neg-pos feedback sandwich. However, for a writer I've never reviewed before, it's kind of tense, waiting for their reaction. I have a friend who completely freaks out at concrit--she doesn't flame or have a hissy fit, but she shuts down and gets writers' block for weeks after even the mildest crit. So I wait. If there's no review reply or response to my comment, I figure that the writer didn't like the critique, and I don't review them again. It's not that I think I'm owed a response; it's just that when it's a stranger, I don't want to keep bombarding them with input they don't particularly want.

I just try to avoid reading a fic unless it's been recc'ed. I've been disappointed/wanted to poke my eyes out with sporks/ scared/ freaked out/ in awe of how bad a bad!fic is so many times that I just can't handle the suspense of being the first to click a link to a story to see whether or not it's good. I used to stick by that rule myself (hi, btw), in the HP fandoms and even back in Popslash (shut up). But one thing I've noticed in House fandom is that even the badfic gets recced by someone. So there's no way of knowing if a fic is eyespork-worthy unless you suck it up and click on it. If you haven't thrown up a little in your mouth after reading the summary (and, more importantly, summary is not spelled with an e) then you might be on the right track. :) Friends don't let friends read badfic.

say, what does "the pit" refers to?

even the badfic gets recced by someone. So there's no way of knowing if a fic is eyespork-worthy unless you suck it up and click on it. It's also rather unfair to new (or new to the fandom) writers to skip a story simply because it hasn't been recced somewhere. Names get recced more than stories. It's not about quality after awhile, it's about name recognition. So there might be a very talented writer out there that no one has heard of, posting her first fic on a comm that people have written off for one reason or another and it lands in the slush pile because no one took the chance, clicked on the story and left a comment to encourage the person to write more and explore fandom. And now, if you'll excuse me I have to go rescue stray puppies for awhile.

Well, bad!fic is only recc'ed at horrible reccing places, you just got to know where to go for the good stuff. And don't forget, just because you don't like the theme doesn't make it a bad!Fic. I hate seeing people tear apart a story that's well written and has a lot of thought put into it just because it's not their thing. BTW, I heart your icon moony. Me wants to steal it so bad.

say, what does "the pit" refers to? fanfiction.net aka The Pit of Voles or "the pit". No idea about the origin of that though.

It's also rather unfair to new (or new to the fandom) writers to skip a story simply because it hasn't been recced somewhere. Names get recced more than stories. It's not about quality after awhile, it's about name recognition. That's true enough for good AND for bad fic. Someone might get recced simply because they're known and/or prolific, not necessarily because they're good. But I've noticed that new authors do get recced, even if they're unknown. All it takes is one person to say something on a flist or a forum and that new author is no longer unknown. If the House fandom has taught me anything it's that someone, somewhere, will read anything put in front of them. ;-) Well, bad!fic is only recc'ed at horrible reccing places, you just got to know where to go for the good stuff. And don't forget, just because you don't like the theme doesn't make it a bad!Fic. I hate seeing people tear apart a story that's well written and has a lot of thought put into it just because it's not their thing. Not necessarily. I've seen plenty of badfic recced at places you wouldn't expect badfic to be recced. And when I say badfic, I don't mean stuff that doesn't appeal to me. I mean, I don't like deathfic or violence or any of that kind of thing, but you would never hear me say that Rubberbutton or Nightdog write badfic. That's just crazy talk. When I say badfic I mean the crap someone's churned out that they obviously didn't bother to A) spellcheck, B) punctuate or C) watch an episode of House EVER. Eyeball-sporkin' time. BTW, I heart your icon moony. Me wants to steal it so bad. Mine mine mine mine mine mine mine. /seagull ;-)

So where's the place where we get to talk about the stuff we're writing? Is that here? Because I feel the need to squee. I LOVE THE STORY I'M WRITING! I'll see your squee with a squee that I'm looking forward to it.

It's probably a monument to my OWN self-centredness that I can A) see myself and my fics in almost every criticism here, even if just vaguely (though I've never used pancakes), and B) I suspect I'm being talked about. It's my own paranoia, I know. I'll deal. Maybe I should just not read this thread. Does *anyone* else have this problem, that they are paranoid that everyone's laughing at them when they see crits like this?

Does *anyone* else have this problem, that they are paranoid that everyone's laughing at them when they see crits like this? Oh yeah. Alas, spoiled my enjoyment of reading The Semen Tsunami rather, too!

Every time I see a fic that's been MST'd I think: "I can't click. What if it's mine? Can I cowboy up? Or will I cry?" So yes, I do have that problem. It's quite normal. Lucky for me, I have a fairly thick skin so even if people are talking about me I'm likely to just tell them where to stuff it and move on. My Motto: It's not personal, it's fandom.

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