As far as I know, people don't write for peanuts. Feedback is what keeps the writer's spirit going, not to mention the Muses working. If you send your comments to an author he or she will be eternally grateful to you and you'll probably add joy and happiness to his or her life. Another good point about feedback is that it keeps the writers on their toes and urges them to write better and better things.
Of course, bad intentioned, burning or hurting feedback is NEVER welcome and it can ultimately cause people to spend all day sadly enveloped in sweat pants and bunny slippers, eat a lot of junk food and finally feel compelled to seek professional therapy or else, abandon the fine art of writing.
Do you want THAT in your concience?
On the other hand, anyone can tell you that if you make encouraging comments or point out slight (or enormous) mistakes, the author will improve his or her performance with every story written, thus, perfecting the art and perpetuating evolution. That means, protecting the species' culture and ultimately helping the development of all civilizations on earth.
Put simply: feedback is good for mankind.
So,
if you are going to write to someone about their fiction: be kind, be tactful...
but BE HONEST!
Well,
I've done it a lot and not ONE has complained. Yet.
In
general, a person will be thankful if you write, period. Now, if you ask
questions, then you open the possibilities of something called "reply
mail" and if that occurs, you've successfully begun a cycle of what we
call "Communication".
Communication is GOOD.
Now,
The
author will be thrilled to answer your questions, unless he or she... isn't.
The
author will always answer your doubts... unless he or she... doesn't.
The
author will be happy to help you with your own work if you want, unless
he or she... doesn't want to.
Better
ask first.
A Beta reader is someone who reads a new story, before it's published, and helps the author with mistakes, style, grammar errors or whatever else you can think of. The author and reader usually arrange these things beforehand, in private.
Someone can ask one or many people to be Beta readers. In my case, I tie my mother up to a chair and force her to read my stuff (no bread OR water) and when she finishes correcting I make her read it again. I'd stop but somehow she seems to like it.
Some
people advertise themselves as Beta Readers in their own webpages... some
don't, but if you're looking, well you can ask.
The easiest way is to ask someone who already has a page to archive it for you. The Texan Dungeon is one of them. Various authors, even with only one or two stories have their fiction posted here.
You can also ask people with fanfic archives to host for you. Many will. Or, if you know how to do it, you can create your own webpage and upload your stories. Be very careful about how you do it and don't forget to include full disclaimers and warnings for fan fiction as well as copyright dates and names for both your fandom and original fiction.
After posting (anywhere), you have to announce it around so people will go read.
If you
want to be hosted here, you can contact me by email or,
Go
to this page.
Is
it EVER!
There's
a huge amount of stories all around the net (I will not name names) that
deal with topics such as science, religion, rituals, witchcraft, legends,
etc, that are as far from reality as I am from marrying Brad Pitt.
The topics are bogus, the information is wrong and the outcome of the stories, rather unreal. This comes from NOT researching the topic before writing about it.
It is quite easy to find information about thigs, just type the topic into the search box of any search engine (yahoo, altavista, metacrawler) and hit ENTER.
Research is CRUCIAL, especially when dealing with foreign cultures, local customs and rituals. You have to realize that the web is a world wide thing: thus, many of your readers are NOT from your own country and will find any kind of cultural misusage offensive.
Read before you write. The more accurate you are in your stories the better. More readers come back to read fiction for a second time when they see that there's more than only ramblings behind a story and end up learning something new... and true.
Where can one do that?
Anywhere in the net. Search engines,
official pages, university databases, ftp archives.
There are also specific places
to do research for fan fiction like.
Medspeak and Cascade Hospital (Robyn's place. Born for Sentinel Fic but useful for everyone. Make sure to thank her when you use her stuff)
SFF Net -- The Premier Site for Genre Writing Resources
http://www.sff.net/
The Crime Library
http://crimelibrary.com/index.html
How important do you think it is?
Well, that's the whole point.
Punctuation
is a guide. It's what keeps the story within the boundaries set by the
author, what keeps misunderstandings from happening and what sets and defines
the rythm of the story.
Readers
are not listening to a narrator, they are reading what you WROTE.
Here's an example. It is not the same to read:
She knew he was the one wearing a yellow bikini top, a girl spotted him in the hall and ran to him.
Than:
She knew he was the one. Wearing a yellow bikini top, a girl spotted him in the hall and ran to him.
A period
can make all the difference!
A comma
too!
Make
sure you know what you're doing or you may end up with a very confused
guy in a yellow bikini top.
=)
As I understand it, the term Mary Sue comes from a Star Trek parody that I've unfortunately never had a chance to read. Basically, a Mary Sue is a fan created character, usually representing the author, with a story built around it. Mary Sues are not necessarily bad, but there are dangers in writing such a character in fan fiction.
Please note that not all fan created characters are
Mary Sues.
WHAT IS A BAD MARY SUE?
Self-Insertion and Mary-Sue-ism
http://enterprise.mathematik.uni-essen.de/~bastian/Ranma/MarySue.html
and
here:
Mary Sue, How to Avoid Her
http://www.echelon.ca/aldowdall/ld/marysue.html
I found
this particular piece of literature very enlightening as well as funny.
How
to write marginally readable fan-fiction
http://www.oocities.org/Area51/Dimension/6454/HowTo2.html
Many
of the most common doubts are answered there.
Here's a great set of WRITING
RULES I got in an e-mail one day. It's a lot of fun, plus:
It summarizes most of what people
complain about when reading fanfic.
Check it out!
here's another good link:
HOLY MOTHER GRAMMATICA'S
GUIDE TO GOOD WRITING
http://www.oocities.org/Hollywood/Academy/5307/guide.htm
And, You think you're ready? You like to suffer?
Take MS.
NITPICKER'S FAN FICTION TEST--HOW WELL CAN YOU WRITE?
http://www.oocities.org/Area51/Dimension/6454/MSNTest.html
Don't ask, I have NOT taken
it yet.
If you have more questions: ask
away!
Dave's Somewhat Complete SF/F
Writers Internet Resources
http://www.io.com/~bigdave/write/
1998 Stephen J Cannell Online
Writing Seminar -- *Writers Write*
http://www.writerswrite.com/seminar/
HOLY MOTHER GRAMMATICA'S GUIDE
TO GOOD WRITING
http://www.oocities.org/Hollywood/Academy/5307/guide.htm
MS.
NITPICKER'S FAN FICTION TEST--HOW WELL CAN YOU WRITE?
http://www.oocities.org/Area51/Dimension/6454/MSNTest.html
Fan Fiction Information
In Fanfiction on the net: More links (nneds updating)
http://members.aol.com/ksnicholas/fanfic/fanfic.html
The FUNNIES list WRITING RULES
There
are dozens of questions and doubts new writers have.
If
you are one of them, please contact the pageowner
and ask away.
If
you are an experienced writer and you have answers to these questions please
feel free to correct me or give
your own input.
After
all, I'm forever a beginner.
Thank you!