Well, I'll agree that Foreman needs to be taken down a peg now and then, mainly because I find outraged!Foreman to be hilarious. Cameron has lots of non-ship stories about her: stories where she's anorexic, or parasuicidal, or a long-lost sister. So the house_mst community informs me, anyhow.

Popping in, just to add my two cents on the 'replying to reviews' issue: I've written maybe 4 or 5 fanfics in the House-verse and every time I get a review, my heart jumps a little, so I tend to reply to every single review I receive. I always try to address things people point out in their reviews - for instance, if they mention an idea they like, I'll talk a little about how that came about, or where it came from. This is mostly because I'm incredibly ego-centric and tend to love talking about myself :sweatdrop:

I'm the same way, 407! But mostly it comes from me not liking to write "Thanks for reading" each time. I like some variety. Actually, I'm pretty ego-centric. *g*

does anyone recall a good or popular Cameron fic out there where she isn't paired with anyone? I don't. There's an idea. Now that you mention it, no. Namaste and corgigirl have written a few excellent Cameron pieces, but they focused on her relationship with PDH. Probably a big reason for the lack is that there's no backstory for Cameron that doesn't involve her love life, that's all we know about her. With her marrying at 21, too, PDH would overshadow her entire adult life. I have a question for fanfic writers. How do you feel about anonymous reviews? I don't have an LJ account so I almost never comment, so when I do I have to do it anonymously. I usually sign my name at the end. I know some fanfic writers don't like it because it seems sneaky, and I've had at least one poster attack me for doing it. So what's your take?

Hey, a review is a review - anonymous or not :D

Hey, I'd rather receive an anonymous review than no review. And a good anonymous review is definitely better than the person on ff.net who constantly leaves review that consist solely of: :) That's it. A smiley face. And apparently the system here insists on turning my smiley into their version of a smiley. The one I actually get consists of a colon and a parenthesis mark. That's it. Not even a complete smiley face. What, they couldn't be bothered with a nose? I've got to say that I've gotten some great comments from non-LJ "anonymous" reviews. I'm certainly grateful for each one of them, even if I don't know who they're coming from. In terms of Cameron, the only time I've remotely paired her currently was in the drabble series covering the season, when I was dealing with her relationship with Chase. But PDH is a big part of who she is. He creeps into her life, and it's really hard to deal with her motivations without having the spectre of PDH (so to speak) appear. Of course much of what I write has to do with backstories and motivations so ... And as to why she's so angsty in most fanfic? Easy. It's because most of those fics are written by angst 13-15 year old girls who identify with her to the point that they imbue her with all of their issues. Never mind that Cameron doesn't have them. That's not to say older writers don't make the same mistakes, but I'd lay 80 percent of the blame on that.

I should have clarified that in my answer I included PDH as a "pairing".

I agree with 407 and Namaste. A thoughtful, anonymous review is just as valuable as any other thoughtful review. It's puzzling that an author would attack you for being courteous enough to leave a review.

We've covered in some depth the etiquette of beta-ing and commenting, but I have a question about how to deal with something a bit more specific. There's an author in the fandom who is well respected by me and many others. She has contributed some excellent pieces. But how does one handle a situation in which she produces a fic that is most definitely substandard compared to all the others? By substandard, I don't mean bad. The story had excellent characterization and ideas, but the phrasing and word choice was uncharacteristically awkward and off-putting. It wasn't a stylistic choice; it was just terrible syntax. My problem with this situation is that no one else commented with similar concerns. I can't believe that I was the only one who noticed this, so my conclusion has to be that everyone else was too polite. I tried to hint that the whole piece needed a great deal of editing, but I don't think she understood what I was getting at. Normally, I wouldn't comment if a piece needed as many changes as hers did, but this writer is so incredibly talented that I felt I had to say something. If I were in her position, I would want to hear the criticism, but I really don't want to be blunt because we don't have a personal relationship. How would the rest of you handle this?

I personally probably wouldn't leave a review, but it seems as if you're really interested in leaving one. I'm thinking that if I were the author, I'd feel better if someone said, "I admire your work greatly. I've loved many of your previous stories (list the ones you liked). As to this fic, I loved . However, I happened to notice that the word choice and phrasing sounded a bit awkward. Blah blah blah..." And then I'd finish by saying "I am a fan of your work, and I'm only telling you this because I'm interested in the fic you write. You're a good writer." Or something. It'd probably only be a bad idea if you went, "Your phrasing and syntax sucks."

Honestly, I myself wouldn’t say anything more—at least, not in a public review. If you don’t know her on a friendship-type basis, you don’t know her possible reaction to more specific criticism. I’ve seen authors who seemed sane enough on brief contact go absolutely batshit when told that their latest effort wasn’t quite up-to-par. Also, there could be a lot of factors going into the perceived loss-of-quality. Maybe she lost a longtime beta reader. Maybe she’s taking a leap into a new way of writing or a new genre (I’m doing this myself, by attempting a multi-chapter third-person POV humor fic after doing primarily second-person POV oneshots), and she hasn’t found her “groove” yet. If you feel you really need to exchange thoughts with her, go ahead and PM or email her, and make sure to talk about how good so much of her previous work is before you point out specific examples of what she may want to review. You may end up getting your ears pinned back, or you may end up making a friend for life; it’s your risk and your call. ETA: Dang my slow typing! I guess I could just say, "I concur with March 301's advice!" :D

If I was the author -- hope I'm not, but God knows I could be, because I've done some stuff I didn't like on re-read -- I'd certainly want to know. You could drop a short comment on the fic, or just email directly. I've had people email me with their concerns on my writing, and I've appreciated it. I didn't necessarily agree with everything -- sometimes I pick a particular syntax or style for that specific fic or to get a certain "voice" into the fic or because I'm experimenting with that style -- but that doesn't mean I wouldn't want to hear it. For God's sake, if no one tells me there's a mistake, I can't fix it, and then I slap myself silly when I find it on re-read. I fully admit to having tense issues, to often mixing up the lay/lie rule, and I want people to tell me, so I know to look out for those things.

For God's sake, if no one tells me there's a mistake, I can't fix it, and then I slap myself silly when I find it on re-read. I fully admit to having tense issues, to often mixing up the lay/lie rule, and I want people to tell me, so I know to look out for those things. Rhetorical Question: Why is it that the really accomplished authors seem to be the ones who welcome honest criticism? No Duh Answer: Because that's how they get to be so talented. Really, Namaste, I am right there with you in desiring blunt, specific crit for myself, but I've also watched nasty flame wars go down when someone helpfully but naively told a BNF that her work needed some editing. It's a risky business, reviewing honestly, and it gets a bit scary especially in the Pit, where someone can report you and get you deleted just because they're pissed at you. So it's sad to say that I approach authors I don't know the way one might approach a strange dog: with friendliness but also extreme caution. Although as I said above, the better the writing in the first place, the more confident I am in giving crit.