Felocity

It was inevitable that a piece of fanfic writing would irritate me, and it was just as likely I would respond to it in a semi-public forum. However, since this post was far too harsh for the FF ANBU, it ended up here instead.

Title: Omoide Culprit Author: Sazuran Summary: So rehashed Original Character plot it makes kittens cry Warnings: Laced with wit, licked with a sharp tongue What got it here: Flat diction, horrible PoV, bad tense issues, and an underdeveloped OC I don't actually run around in many fandoms, probably because I have an awful fear of being consumed by that which I can't stand. However, I was asked to drop my $0.02 into the FF ANBU, and so here it is. This is what I get for being a smartass around C.…

Much like the guidelines for HTML I wrote earlier, I am not going to claim to be an expert on this issue. In fact, these were written with the help and talent of people with monumental skill compared to myself. You would think though, that even the most innocent of fan-fiction would employ some common sense. Writing is supposed to be enjoyable and fun, I'll give you that. However, writing is much more fun, and much more enjoyable if you know other people are enjoying something you had fun making. Nobody wants to read garbage, and nobody wants to be told their stuff is garbage, no matter how close to the truth it is. So, think of this guide as a set of recommendations, especially if you are new to writing fanfiction. Finally, before we dip into this guide, just a few editor notes. There is not going to be anything about pairings being "better" or anything like that. If you can feasibly create a reason why, then you have a reason why. This guide will also not use any direct link examples, nor will it directly quote. The later of the two requires permission, something I felt would be overboard for a simple guide, the former not providing reference for the reader should the link break. Finally, comments are encouraged, as they help this guide grow. Contribute respectfully, and be aware as lord and tyrant of this blog, I don't mind deleting things. Right, ready? Let's begin. Your Fic Idea Sucks Yes, it sucks, and it sucks bad. In fact, if you are just starting on a fic, you may as well throw away your first idea because some 20-odd people have already done it. Good ideas take a lot of planning to make them work right. If you think you have a solid idea, be sure you have a clear idea why your fiction idea is as good as you believe it to be. If you don't know what makes your Gundam Wing High School AU fic a good idea, then perhaps the GW HS AU fic isn't such a hot notion. Additionally, you shouldn't do a fic just because you think "Hey, I can do this better". In fact, this is how an author builds a cesspool of dirty fics that nobody wants to read. If you genuinely think you can do an idea better, you need to know what about your idea actually makes the fic better. As a general rule, attempts to "do better" than someone else using their idea not only fail miserably, but look like an obvious attempt to borrow someone's idea. To save you some obvious steps in thinking, here are fic ideas that have been hashed over so many times, Domo-kun kills a kitten every time you use them:

• High School Alternate Universe: The characters from _________ (insert series/manga/etc) are in High School (teehee). Not only is this a bad idea, but I promise you, covering four years of high school in your fiction is going to be a boring read. Think about someone you know in High School and tell me with a straight face that you could chronicle all four of those years and made it a stellar entertaining read. If so, please tell me your school, I'd like to send my kids there so they would have stories for generations to come.…

I wrote a review for a really awful piece of fanfic. It was so bad, ficbitches wouldn't touch it, it made most people cringe, and it was just a mistake to probably have been posted. I made a rewview of it, posted my review to FF.net, and the fic magically vanished! So now I present to you: fic-be-gone! Maybe these reviews will help fanfiction authors improve. Or it will get them to flame me with silly badly spelled emails. Either way, it's a win in my book.

In A Lupin State Of Mind http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=1396253 Current Status of Fic: REMOVED…