Ways To Get Your Fic Noticed?

[The Doctor]

Originally Posted by ForceFightWMe12

Seeing your post, Ar-Pharazon, reminds me of another reason why I left very few comments when I was active here in the CEC.

Grammar. Please don't think I'm just picking on you Ar, because I know how many people tend to hardly care when posting regularly, but if you're going to post a story without proper capitalization, punctuation, spacing, or *shudder* netspeak, a lot of people will take one glance at it and move on to the next story. I know I will. Having broken up sentances and run-ons will do the same. It can be a fine line to walk between the two, but honestly, the better a story flows and the easier it is to read, the more people will be willing to read it.

Also, it is often a good idea to revise your work even before sending it to a beta reader. I go back to look at some of the fics that I've posted here (PoD *shudders again*) and am amazed at the way some of the sentances sounded and the little mistakes that could have easily been fixed if I had spent the time to look it over. Half the time I stare at the screen, thinking I can't believe I actually wrote that!! It really is terrible. Perhaps, if I have time, I should redo PoD...hm...

You can't redo it until you finish it, Kira.

[ForceFightWMe12]

>.>
<.<
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Be quite you >P

[JediMaster12]

Personally I get surprised when anyone reads my ramblings at all because the fiction prose world is something that I have not treaded very long. Yeah I wrote a few short stories in school but I always thought there were better ones. Poetry was more to my liking and I got to be good at it. My dad is a poet when he wants to be too so I guess I grabbed the bug from him.

As to getting noticed here on LF, I just post my chapters b/c it makes me happy and it gives me a chance to air my semicrazy ideas in the online nuthouse. I've had people say I should write professionally on the side and that boosts the confidence a bit. I have considered it since I will be expected to write texts for anthropology when I eventually get my Ph.D. Don't worry about getting noticed or the lack of comments. I know that I always get igyman and Pottsie to commentate, mainly because I taunt them with suspense and the flying manuscript. That's another thing, leave room for suspense. Believe it or not cliffhangers ensnare readers every time.

I understand that people can have time to just view and not comment. Today I found time to write comments in the short stories nominated but I read them. Don't fret. If writing makes you happy, then write. If can't think about nothing but being a writer, then you're a writer. That I got from a movie and I found it to be so true.

PS: ED- I also beta for Jae and it is always a pleasure because I see it as a sneak peek.

And I am very grateful for the help, too!!! --Jae

[Aristotélēsticus]

Originally Posted by ForceFightWMe12

Seeing your post, Ar-Pharazon, reminds me of another reason why I left very few comments when I was active here in the CEC...

you're speaking the truth Kira. as for me, i can tolerate such mistakes (maybe because i make some myself). still, there are two main reasons why i do tolerate these mistakes:

1. there are many users who speak english as their second or third language.

2. the other reason is personal: in fact i pay more attention
for new and creative ideas, not those that represent only new versions of SW stories.

ps: no offence ment to anyone.

[Darkkender]

I would like to chime in on one point of discussion on this thread. That is the topic of Pro vs Amateur.

I will agree that being published should place you above being an Amateur, however I myself am a published author technically. Even though I'm published as an author I am in no way a Professional. Yes I get a royalty check every year of the sales but considering it usually averages $50 I would say that isn't much. Not to mention the work is little better than a 1-2 paragraph high school book report printed on a plate or a coffee cup. It counts as a published work for a protfolio but it's not professional.

Also anybody who writes a Fanfic in particular one that gets mentioned by Mach on SWK, is a published author or Professional by the definition given above. In fact your posted Fanfics are published technically when it comes to presenting a portfolio. This is just like a graphic artist and there art, from small web banners to big billboards it is a form of published work.

I would say a better definition of a professional writer is a person who writes for a living while an amatuer is one who writes for a hobby. Or you could say writes for money vs writes for free.

[JediMaster12]

Good point there. To me a good review from mach tells me something about my style. Granted he has had few complaints about my ramblings, I find it invaluable as a writer to me because I know what I need to work on and be a better writer. To get better you have to practice.

I am a published author myself but in the realm of poetry and I've had people groveling at my feet ever since and that was an anthology of different authors along with mine. Maybe I live in an ideal world where the published word means that your voice and your opinions are heard but hey we all have our dreams right?

Anyway patience is the key. Your time will come when you come out with that story that rocks the boards.

Good point you made Darkkender. I never distinguished the difference before.

[Uilleand]

Re: Professional vs. amateur

Funny, I've made a living with my keyboard for more than 17 years, but I still don't think I manage to call myself a 'professional writer.' That might just be my own cynicism talking - I can barely call myself a 'journalist' with a straight face, either.

As for getting fics noticed - it's a strange thing that we do here, isn't it? We take someone else's world and make it our own, and yet still manage to get our own self-esteem hopelessly tied to the criticism and reaction we receive. If I get 10 comments on a story, and seven are positive, it's the three negative ones that will send me to bed, completely despondent. The fear, of course, is that no comments = 'if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.'

Honestly, my experience in most fanfic enviros is that friends crit friends - but that can be pretty positive. If I crit an author that I've really enjoyed, I enjoy their take on my work that much more - because I respect their talent. I don't think I'd get much out of 'ZOMG!!1! That wuz awsum!'

Well, maybe that's a lie. *chuckle* There are some days, I'd be thrilled to even get that much!