FF.net, again

[kriadydragon]

I keep starting all these posts to complain about FF.net only to discard them. I suppose because we've heard everything there is to complain about. FF.net continues to head down hill, and I'm finally starting to reach a point where the only reason I go back to it is to read all the stories I have favorited, and for two WIPS that are taking forever to be written and posted.

It makes me miss the early days of fandom, the plethora of well-written stories and how each day you could go to FF.net and be sure of a story or two to read. These days, for me at least, many of the stories I attempt to give the benefit of the doubt to end up leaving me bitter and annoyed. Also, like CSI:NY, it's being overrun by shippers (no offense to the shippers, it's just frustrating when a genre you're not keen on ends up dominating).

I'm also seeing well-written stories by well-known authors barely getting any reviews (even those stories first posted on LJ should be getting more reviews than they are), and poorly-written stories get gushed over as though they are the next great American novel.

*Shrugs* Oh, well. It's just kind of sad to see it happen. I like to give new authors a try since you never know, but it's gotten next to impossible to be supportive since the bad outnumbers the good, making the wait for the good not all that worth it.

Comments

[ninja007.livejournal.com]

HERE! HERE!

I am very picky when it comes to fics over there. There are some I like and will peruse there once a day, but it's rare now that I find a fic I want to read.

I usually go by what is written in the summary, so I feel sorry to those authors who can't write a summary to save themselves....

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I think with me it's gotten so that there's a lot more that will throw me out of a story than will keep me in. For example, treatment of Sheppard's character has become key for me. I've become incredibly protective of his character as of late. I refuse to read any story where he's portrayed in nothing but a fanon-cliche light (Ex. he's portrayed as a womanizer, suicidal, keeps trying to escape the infirmary for no sane reason, a bumbler, needs to have his demons forced from him by his all-knowing team and so on.)

Then there's the whumping. I like the whumping to be a plot device, not the plot, and more than just a couple of vague injuries for the sake of making him injured.

[ninja007.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree with you. I really hate it when they abuse his character.

It's funny you should say something about the treatment of Sheppard's character. I just read a fic today that had him being a screw up and the bets were on him never going past captain. I think John was serious about his career, until that thing in Afghanistan. The fact he could fly just about anything would make him a serious commodity in any war zone.

[crashbarrier.livejournal.com]

I am finding that there are a good number of stories that I have read of late where I am thinking.. "have you actually watched an episode of the series or are you just going by what people have told you third party???? and thrown in a few things that you want to see rather than you would see?". I am thinking that again its all part of the discipline thing in writing. there is too much indulgence of ones whimsy and that being put forward as serious writing, rather than personal indulgence.

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

he's portrayed as a womanizer, suicidal, keeps trying to escape the infirmary for no sane reason, a bumbler, needs to have his demons forced from him by his all-knowing team and so on.

**nods**
He is none of the above......
However, the fact that they insist in so many pieces of ff indicate to me how truly ignorant some writers are or their intense dislike of Sheppard.

[crashbarrier.livejournal.com]

I have to say that I agree with you.

I don't just read SG:A I read across the board, and I have to say that the quality of new work is dropping. I am not sure if its because ther eis a plethora of new writers who are still learning their style or whether its just bad writing in general.

I am also finding that there is a lack of discipline in marking up what the story is about. Again i am not sure if this is because wrtiers are new.. or because a lot of people seem to post a lot of WiPs they don't realise its goign the way it does until too late. But as I tend to read FF.net at work in my dinner hour it can get a bit interesting.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I mostly stick with SGA and occasionally Dr. Who. But Dr. Who alone lets me know that it isn't just SGA getting an influx of poor writers.

I don't know which it is, either, and it boggles me. I know the show has ended, but authors are still coming in, people still stumbling onto this show and getting sucked in. You would think that would mean just as many good writers finding their way into the SGA fandom and bad writers, and there are, but so rarely it seems like fandom only gets one new writer with skill a year. The rest are those only interested in indulging.

Synopsis are hard, but not so hard that a writer can't at least give readers a basic idea of what the story is about. And people really need to get it through their heads that "I'm bad at summaries" only chases people away. If you can't handle a summary, then what is the story going to be like?

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

What gets me is there is so much slash anymore e.g. how many pieces of Big Bang was slash??? and what is particularly annoying to me is most of it is done to enhance McKay at Sheppard's expense.....
It annoys me because a character I happen to like very much is demeaned and used.........but I guess as long as you can peddle it people will rush to read it or see it e.g. the acclaimed Ugly Men In Ugly Country, and I am fully aware I am using the wrong title, but to me it was UGLY men and UGLY country........but everyone raved about it and how grand it was.
It was trash in its most sleazy form.
But so much of it anymore is like that so I suppose we ought to just chalk it up that ff is no better.

[crashbarrier.livejournal.com]

" ......how many pieces of Big Bang was slash???"

having worked through the offerings i think the better question is "how much of the Big Bang 2009 is not slash":D:D:D..

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

GMTA
I almost asked that question in my tirade.....
:P
and I see I should have said how many pieces of Big Bang WERE slash?
Not was
**rolls eyes**

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Yes, so much genre domination. I've said it before but I'll say it again, it's why I stopped reading CSI:NY fic, because all there was to find was het stories.

[reen212000.livejournal.com]

Oh Lordy, yes! It's been such a snooze-fest over there. I don't mind the 'ship stuff (but, please don't ask me to read it!), but does everything have to be teenage kissy-kissy? Not to mention all the poorly written stuff, and that's across the fandoms. I read a. lot. of fandoms, and I end up re-reading the good old stuff.

While I do like some slash, I noticed it's kinda taken over many fandoms. And let me tell ya, there is some horrible fic out there. Most don't have those helpful warnings, or worse, the story doesn't match the summary.

It probably has something to do with cancelled programs, and a lack of DVD releases. Can someone tell the networks to release Women's Murder Club, First Monday, and a whole slew of other shows that I want to write fic for? With the eventual release of ST2009, more people have put my one story on their faves list, but alas, no reviews.

The good fic is hidden in the poorly written, numerous drabbles that keep appearing. Don't get me wrong: I like drabbles and ficlets. But some people need to spread them out! I really don't want 20 drabbles of the same thing. Seriously.

DO NOT get me started on character shredding in said drabbles either. Or spelling. Or grammar. I'm trying to finish what I've started, and I get distracted by RL. I think I'm going to write some tags to fic I've already done. Almost everything I've written has a chapter or two on the editing floor. At least I can post something! I'm a little discouraged right now, but hopefully my cloud will lift soon. I have two sequels (Rosie's Corner Store, and Gemini) that need endings. That's all! And I can't seem to get that done.

Ack! I'm so impatient, and I still have so many ideas for my favorite fandoms...

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

character shredding

THAT is a good way to describe what I think they do to Sheppard in order to enhance McKay and
I know I will take some incoming with my next comment, but for a few writers, I simply cannot stand McKay.
My dislike began with the pilot.......He improved a bit as the series
continued, but initially I found him very annoying.
I acknowledge brillance in the world, but don't like someone using a sledge hammer to prove it.
It did my heart good when Hermoid put him in his place.
I still fail to see why Sheppard wants to hang around with him
Ronon yes
McKay no.

[reen212000.livejournal.com]

*ducks flying tomatoes*

I can see where you're coming from. The fact that he has to tell everyone he's a genius every 2 seconds is rather annoying. When McKay first came on the scene, I hated his character so much, I loved him. He came in and knocked The Great Sam Carter off her pedestal, and gave as good as he got. Honestly, he was the reason I started watching Atlantis to begin with. I needed to know if he was going to be the assiest ass there was; there aren't any characters like him on TV that are not over the age of 12. Watching him form into more of a person was a treat for me.

I admit to loving Rodney McKay with all my heart, because in the center of it all, I am Rodney. None of his smarts, but sarcastic, jaded, and a little prickly around stupid people. I can write anything from Rodney's POV... anything. And John likes to hang with him because he values honesty above all else. Also, Sheppard knows he can press all of Rodney's buttons to get the response he wants.

It's all about dynamic!

[crashbarrier.livejournal.com]

I am guessing the reason why they both get on so well is because they are essentially have very similar base insecurities whcih mean that they both know where to step and not step with each other. But also their individual strenths lie in mutually complementary skills. McKay hides his base insecurities through his verbosity and neurosis.. He keeps everyone at a distance by being loud and obnoxious at them.. I get the impression from various inferences through the SG1 eps and SG:A that He was probably accelerated through school, this means his social skills would be rubbish because he has no connection with the people around him, as they are probably a lot older then him. All he has in this arena is his intellect which he uses to keep those people at a manageable distance his intellect is what keeps him where he is so that is his "thing". Because the emphasis in his life is his brain and not his ability to get on with people that never develops and because it hasn't developed he never considers it to be something he needs to work on (believe me I see it everyday at work, the academics mostly have nil social skills but they are serious leaders in their field, and, like Rodney a lot of teh time never fail to let everyone know) In academia acknowledgement of onse ideas is the goal and is fiercely fought for (hence his highly competative side).

Sheppard is similar but the other way around. he is very smart but never took it beyond anything that ne needed to get out and do stuff (he's a doer not a thinker). He has many base insecurities which he hides behind a wall of outwardly appearing confident and being a bit of a smart arse.

But then you put the two side by side and you can actually see why they complement each other. Rodney will always do the right thing in the end especially when it comes to Sheppard and his team. Both Sheppard and McKay have abandonment issues and are fiercely loyal to each other, and both trust each other implicitly (even if they don't recognise that) because at the heart of their psyches both know where the other is coming from. And to be fair both stretch the other by taking them out them out of their individual comfort zones and bringing them slightly into each others areas.. McKay makes Sheppard think and Sheppard makes McKay do.

Wow that was a bit longer than I intended.. Sorry.. But yeah the thing is not to look at what you think you see but what is there.. which I think JF and DH pull off really well.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

But even cancellations shouldn't diminish the number of good writers. The Magnificent Seven fandom is still going strong, or so I've heard. Then you have all the movie fandoms.

What boggles me is that getting new, even relatively good writers is so incredibly rare that you only notice it should someone happen to rec the person's fic. In FF.net, there's yet to come an author that strikes me as having any kind of promise. Those authors that did have promise seem to have vanished.

Drabble dumping, crap I hate that :P. And, yes, character shredding is my new biggest pet peeve. Authors are good about being very subtle about it, either that or settling for fanon cliches or for what they "think" is them being funny. What I really hate, and what Sharpes_hussy has mentioned, is demeaning one character to build up another character. I keep running into a lot of that, and it drives me crazy. There's also a lot of plot abuse, I think - lots of forcing plots to go in certain directions, and using characters as plot devices.

Yes, tags! Write tags! And the story you were going to write for Big Bang! Would cookies help motivate? Various chocolates? Some whumpage of a certain LT. Colonel? ;)

[reen212000.livejournal.com]

What I really hate, and what Sharpes_hussy has mentioned, is demeaning one character to build up another character. I keep running into a lot of that, and it drives me crazy.

So true. There seems to be a lot of hate!women fic out there. Stargate has never been that kind to its female characters, but there's no need to perpetuate the myth. Keller was a Mary Sue to begin with, so I really don't need any more of that sticky 'ship. I may not like Keller too much, but I understand how hard it was for her to step into Carson's shoes. Also, the bashing is sooo old! I'm all for creating a character, but shoehorning them into a fandom isn't always the best choice.

I'm doing some editing right now, so you may see something soon. If RL would just cut me a little slack!

And, no, I don't think you write McKay too nice. It does make me wonder if I write him too mean! LOL

[sholio]

I kinda gave up on ff.net some time back. Actually, it's been a long time since I just browsed the listings without following favorites instead. I let other people do the slogging for me. *g* I think the condescension with which ff.net is viewed by a lot of LJ fandom is kind of silly (or at least unfair), but there is definitely not much good stuff coming up these days. I haven't posted anything on my ff.net account in well over a year ... I've thought about it but I'm just not inspired to do so. (Though I suppose it's been awhile since I've posted anything that's not on a mailing list or whatnot ... I'd kinda like to get back to posting on LJ too, eventually. *g*) I've drifted away and I imagine a lot of people have done similarly.

I was just recently bemoaning the death of the WIP as a posting format. They're not completely non-existent, but the long, plotty WIPs that there used to be so many of, in the early days of the fandom, are few and far between now.

The fandom in general has been pretty quiet since the cancellation. There don't seem to be very many new people coming in, at least not anyone with solid writing skills, and places like sga_flashfic haven't seen much traffic either. As little time as I have for reading fic right now, I'm still not quire able to keep up with it, but I can definitely tell that there's a lot less without the influx of new canon. It seems like the ficathons (like sga_santa, the genficathon and so forth) still get about as many participants as they ever did, but what we're lacking is much fic in between.

[reen212000.livejournal.com]

It seems even the mods at sga fanfic have forgotten about it. They used to crank out prompts faster. It's time for this year's amnesty challenge, so they need to put that up. I actually have something for it! I forgot about the santa fics. I'd love to participate, but I think I may be past the deadline. I'll check it out.

[sholio]

The deadline for signup at the santa exchange is past, alas ...

The Amnesty challenge doesn't usually start until the middle of December, doesn't it? I have high hopes of being able to write something for it this year. (I have half a dozen fics that I started for other challenges .... surely I can finish ONE of them! And there's the h/c challenge if all else fails ... *g*) The current challenge is Gifts and I hope people will write at least a few holiday-themed fics for it. *hint hint* :D

But yeah, in general, I get the impression the flashfic mod(s) may be moving on to other things too.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I still like FF.net as an archive site and will still post there from time to time. And I still try to give new writers a chance. But it's been really hard. It's not just about bad writing in terms of spelling and grammar. There have been stories in need of a beta's touch but with much promise.

But the stories that are being posted now are almost downright insulting, mostly to the characters. There seems to be a lot of writing the characters to fit the story, rather than the story to fit the characters. That's not to say how they write the characters is implausible, but it is in excess, verging on character bashing, even. One story I looked at painted Elizabeth in a really bad light. Because the author hated this character? I don't know, but I get the feeling it's more because a bad guy was needed in a certain position for certain things to happen, and Elizabeth was the one in that position.

"There don't seem to be very many new people coming in, at least not anyone with solid writing skills,"

And this confuses me, because new people are still coming in if coming in slowly. One would think some of them skilled writers. Unless the fifth season scares them off before they have a chance to write or something :/

Yes, long plotty WIPs. I miss them so. Not just reading them but writing them. I've been working on an idea that I hope to start sometime next year. Hopefully it'll be a change from my usual fair of "John separated from the team." I'm also hoping for it to be more of a team story, though John will be more at the forefront as usual (for a reason, of course ;))

[kristen999.livejournal.com]

I miss the long WIPs of yesteryear. Lol. Not real WIPs per say, but complete fics posted two or three times a week. I have time to read 5-8k words at a time, but not 40k+ in one sitting. Which explains why I haven't scratched the surface of Big Bang.

I know I've been tempted to write a ton of medium sized fics after the holidays because I have a few random ideas, but I must get back to the epic I put aside for Big Bang which means it'll be months before I have anything new to share, which in some ways stagnates me. I used to read one-shots as a 'reward' system once I got a certain amount of words done, but there have a been a lack of them of late.

I am looking forward to all the holiday challenges though :D

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

It would explain why Twilight is thought of as fantastic writing. Oops, I'd better not start on my Anti-Twilight rant :D

[crashbarrier.livejournal.com]

Ah Twilight....literary magnum opus that it is...n't:/...

Isn't that coming back round to Inexperience Hormonal Teenagers again:D:D:D:D

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Twilight makes my head explode. And I haven't even read it!