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Ariel
Joined: 24 Apr 2003
Posts: 164
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 Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2003 3:56 pm Post subject: Fanfic Recommendations and Discussion |
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Have you found a spendid little story you'd like to recommend to others? Have you a question about fanfic in general that you would like to discuss? Post it here!
I used to post on a thread that rec'ed fanfics - and it was a very cool community of avid readers and writers. I'd like to see if I can't recreate that sense of comradre here in this thread/forum.
The rules of this forum are simple.
Any fanfic may be announced, recommended or discussed. In any genre and any rating, but if you are going to be discussing a fic that might be offensive to someone else, please put a warning at the head of your post. I.E. if you are recommending an OC, write OC, or a slash fic, write that, or a PWP, note that as well. Rating would also be appreciated as well as species involved in the fic. Links to said fics are allowed in the thread.
If a fic has previously be recommended in this thread, please do not repeat the recommendation. New chapters of fics may be announced but I would like to prevent the thread from becoming a glorified temple for one or two authors. You may rec fics from OS or any other archive and discussion of said fics is actively encouraged.
OK... to start things off, I would like to include my recs - if I may...
Hobbits - Well, most of mine will be for hobbits, but I've read a few others I have liked as well.
Iolanthe's "The Guardians" - http://www.frodosharem.org/cgi-bin/stories/display.cgi?id=41&sort=date&cat=3 PG, Gen, - Young Frodo's life and how he survived after his parent's death.
This one is probably the finest description of this era in Frodo's life that I have ever read. It reads like a Dicken's novel and is exciting, spiritual, angsty and spot on book canon logical. It is the first fic I recommend and one I will always encourage people to read.
Elves - I read a few of these and when I do, I like angst.
JastaElf's "Dark Leaf" - http://www.intense-illusions.net/eternal/viewstory.php?sid=777 - NC-17 Gen (for the vast majority) Sequel to 'Leaf and Branch' - Angst galore - so much that even the angst maven is sated... and I'm not usually into elves...
Anybody else want to offer one?
Ariel |
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Leila
Joined: 04 Aug 2003
Posts: 0
Location: the Pegasus Galaxy
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| Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2003 5:59 pm Post subject: |
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Stories on www.fanfiction.net:
An Arrow through the Heart by LegyLuva (story id: 1284423)
*Complete* A visit back to Mirkwood proves life threatening for Legolas.
Lord of the Rings - G - English - Angst/Romance - Chapters: 14 - Words: 15413 - Reviews: 109 - Updated: 7-24-03 - Published: 3-27-03
Elven Slave by Nosila (story id: 1226473)
After a long and bloody war between the Noldor and Sindar/Silvan elves, the Noldor are victorious with the help of the dwarves. As a thank you gift they give the dwarves of Lonely Mountain some elf slaves. Lord Gloin gives one of these to his son. It's a
Lord of the Rings - PG - English - Angst/General - Chapters: 19 - Words: 25298 - Reviews: 345 - Updated: 7-11-03 - Published: 2-8-03
My Pet by lotrobsession (story id: 1396455)
Legolas wants a pet spider....no more said..AU...Finished
Lord of the Rings - G - English - General - Chapters: 1 - Words: 773 - Reviews: 4 - Updated: 6-23-03 - Published: 6-23-03
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A Drabble A Day Keeps The Bunnies At Bay |
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Ariel
Joined: 24 Apr 2003
Posts: 164
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Tripsoverhercats
Joined: 05 Aug 2003
Posts: 44
Location: Seattle, WA
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| Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2003 9:00 pm Post subject: |
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Teresa Green's "Owner's Manuals" are a very funny read. Her other stories have a lot of L/G naughtiness though.
Am awaiting her (hopeful) second PotC Owners manual, CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW.
http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=416464
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NO NO NO! Don't touch the plot contrivance switch! |
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Ariel
Joined: 24 Apr 2003
Posts: 164
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| Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2003 9:18 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you, Trips! The L/G naughtiness is OK to discuss here as well as link to. That's the nice thing about this thread! Anything goes, as long as we play nice, that is. Speaking of funny...
There are a pair of very funny fics loaded here at OS -
Gypsie Rose's - Debbie stories... All races equally abused.
Debbie Does the Fellowship - general raunchy humor, PG-13 for the bawdy jokes more than anything.
http://www.openscrolls.net/fanfic/story.php?no=177
and
Debbie Does the Two Towers - Same as above.
http://www.openscrolls.net/fanfic/story.php?no=185
Both screamingly funny!
Ariel |
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Viv
Challenge Admin
Joined: 24 Apr 2003
Posts: 71
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2003 11:58 pm Post subject: |
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I'd like to recommend a few pieces of Silmfic...
First, Mouse's Sillymarillion (on her site Nan Elmoth). Specifically...
If Women Had Ruled Middle-earth: From Nerdanel to Arwen, they're all there: the Halls of Mandos Sewing Circle. And they have a few opinions on the actions of their male counterparts. (This piece includes such gems as the opening line...
Nerdanel complaining about Feanor: "If Feanor had made imitation Silmarils like I told him to, instead of flaunting the real ones every party we went to-- Eru help me, it was embarrassing-- then the whole thing wouldn't have started in the first place."
And it just goes on from there. 
I also suggest her sequel (the men, this time, grousing about their wives): Real Men Wear Jewelry.
Also, my favorite Silmfic, by Finch (and everything she writes is amazing): Fell Fire, the tale of Aegnor and Andreth. This thing is just Wow. |
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fileg
Joined: 17 Aug 2003
Posts: 11
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Ariel
Joined: 24 Apr 2003
Posts: 164
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| Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 5:45 am Post subject: |
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Whee! This is the sort of thing I intended.
I also intended for this thread to include discussions of works if folks are so inclined. There are lots of issues in the subject of fanfic that are ripe for intelligent discourse, if any are so inclined.
Now, I'd have to read some of these before I could talk about them!
Ariel |
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Roisin
Joined: 11 May 2003
Posts: 449
Location: U.S.A.
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| Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 7:27 am Post subject: |
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I was sort of tossing the idea around of having a Story of the Week to read and discuss, and hopefully ask the author questions if so desired.
Roisin |
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Ariel
Joined: 24 Apr 2003
Posts: 164
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| Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 7:39 am Post subject: |
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Roisin, that is an excellent idea... Pick one!
I was also thinking of asking the folks here some of the questions I have about fanfic... the trends and cliques... the conceptions and preconceptions (as we have recently seen in that HASA thread). I've got a few questions I would LOVE to see addressed here. This thread could be for all of the above and I think could be a very interesting thread.
fileg - your taste can be no wierder than mine. Honestly, I have come to realize (sometimes painfully) that what I find interesting and good fic is, for the most part, not what others want to read.
Ariel |
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Gaslight
Joined: 12 May 2003
Posts: 87
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NancyBrooke
Challenge Admin
Joined: 11 May 2003
Posts: 160
Location: In a motel 6 by the airport
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| Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 9:29 am Post subject: |
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You know, if there's an author you particularly admire, or have made a friend on this site, you can check out their own recommended reading list which is a feature of this site! It doesn't allow for discussion, but it's still cool.
Just go to the member list, click on the name you want, and then access their recommended reading list. What could be easier?
And make your own recommendation list, while you're at it! |
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Ariel
Joined: 24 Apr 2003
Posts: 164
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| Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 9:55 am Post subject: |
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Thanks, Gaslight...
Just finished your Boz fic and left another review of it. Thanks also for looking at mine.
Yes, Nancy – I’ve put some stories on my rec list – and was going to mention that in this thread, but I’d like this place to be a little more than just a list of recs – authors like to see their pieces talked about too! 
With all these recs I am put in mind of a question that I have always wanted to ask.
Maybe it’s just me, but I have always wanted to write a tale that so knocked everyone’s socks off that everyone would talk about it for ages afterwards.
LOL… I have yet to do it.
Now, I don’t write poorly, and I have had several people say that they remembered this or that story that I wrote, but I have yet to answer the driving need I have to write something so amazing that people would want to talk about it long after they read it. I used to work very hard at my fics, hoping that by putting a lot of effort into them, I would create something that would catch the eye of readers, and then I would get depressed when the stories were no more well received than a million other stories I had seen. I would look at the fics that had garnered hundreds of reviews on ff.net and think that the story was not as good as this or that of mine, and yet theirs must have had something that mine did not; some light or brilliance that I couldn’t hope to duplicate.
I’ve justified myself by saying that most people aren’t interested in my subjects, or that they know me by reputation as a person who writes smut but isn’t fond of slash and that puts them off personally so they don’t want to read my things, or that I haven’t publicized my work enough, but I always come down to the realization that my work, while good, just isn’t as good as I’d hope it was.
I guess I have the will to dazzle and the skill only to spark… LOL
Now, I’ve always thought that understanding your limits and keeping yourself humble was a more honest and amiable way of approaching your own work. I’m quite clear on the understanding that no one is ever going to like my stories quite as much as I do, and that’s OK. It’s probably that way for everyone  . And I figure it's better to understand that than to be so sold on your own pieces and your own opinion that you force both on everyone around you. I can’t imagine anyone wouldn’t find a person like that insufferable.
But even humility can backfire. Readers and other authors seem to resent it, or maybe they believe your assessment of your own work and don’t bother reading it themselves… or maybe you really aren’t as good an author as you hope you are.
Just wondering what other authors here have as an approach to assessing their own work – or how you promote yourself without seeming like an insufferable git? LOL. I’ve tried a few approaches and none of them have worked – and would love to hear how the rest of you feel. And then there is the question of should you promote yourself? I started this whole fanficcing enterprise with the assumption that if my fics were good enough they would promote themselves… well, they obviously aren’t good enough – In such a case should someone continue to promote themselves or just assume the market has spoken?
Ariel
(Offering up her battered ego in sacrifice to get the discussion going…) |
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Gaslight
Joined: 12 May 2003
Posts: 87
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| Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 10:55 am Post subject: |
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Hmmm...I've encountered this same quandry. How to say "Hey, I think my stuff is pretty good. Please give it a read, if you would be so kind" without sounding like a foghorn?  I guess I've adopted the tactic of just posting it wherever and taking whatever people choose to give without a bunch of self-promotion. You can't bludgeon people into reading your stuff and giving thoughtful reviews on everything, as attractive as that option may seem sometimes.  When I don't get reviews, I like to think that it's due to time constraints and I can relate to that. As a reader, I often don't have time to write more than a small paragraph and sometimes I hope that an author will receive even a one sentence glowing, positive comment well. I hate it when I do that, though -- I feel like I'm royally shafting the author after they have put so much hard work into it -- but sometimes I find that's all time allows.
When I do promote my fics, I just keep to the basics (plot, if there is one) or who is in it. If neither interests them, then chances are they won't read it. It could be that certain characters who are written to death (Legolas, Frodo, etc.) just get lost in the deluge. Fics that have lesser-written characters (particularly orcs and uruk-hai) have their starved little fanbase (yes, we are!) that will find anything written about them because they have to search so long and hard for it. And to find well-written ones that don't treat orcs like rampaging, monstrous idgits (i.e., with at least one thought in their heads) takes even more work. When they find something, they're going to voice their appreciation, more often than not.
Ah, and I'm with you on the dream of writing something that will get hundreds of reviews on ff.net. I have a theory that, in many cases, that number hinges greatly on the number of online friends they have. And since I don't hang out in chat rooms, am no longer in high school/college, don't spend all my time on LOTR message boards/groups/clubs entertaining everyone with the scintillating, snarky personality I don't possess, I'm not cultivating any audience. I think it's a mixture of all things (and I'm speaking about myself and the tons of reviews I'm not getting): lack of connections, subject matter that some people don't like ("Boromir??? Ick!"), a writing style that could, perhaps, be "undistinguished," etc. In fact, I lost a huge potential audience for Passages when I decided NOT to introduce Grima into the story right from Chapter 1. The Grima fangirls got bored and went away. Now when he DOES appear, will they know? Would they want to slog through 16 chapters to finally get to him or just pick up from his first line? *shrugs* It's so unpredictable. But I think the effort that goes into "finding your audience" can be too much work. I'd rather just write and trust to luck that someone will find it and word will spread.
I'm just glad that SOMEONE out there likes my stuff, whether it's 10 people or 100 (and I think I'm somewhere in the middle). Hah, and a final thought...hitch your cart to a franchise. My Lurtz manual has earned me another reader for Passages! |
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Viv
Challenge Admin
Joined: 24 Apr 2003
Posts: 71
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 10:56 am Post subject: |
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Ariel, I feel the exact same way! And I thought I was the only one. When I was in university (longer ago than I'd like to admit), I won a bunch of writing awards and thought the love-fest would never stop. But the awards dried up shortly after, and the fiction writing I've done in the last several years has been mostly for my own edification. If acclaim and notoriety are anything to go by, I have far from distinguished myself in fic.
And of course that's frustrating and painful and crazy-making. But I can't force people to enjoy something they find boring or bad. I'm still not sure what that spark is that makes people flock to fics I can only describe as mediocre. And *that* is perhaps the most frustrating thing of all: apparently there is a quality that some fics have that make people love them. And I am patently unable to recgonize it or mimic it.
At the risk of cliche, *hugs* to you. I empathise. |
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