Fic Rec: Learning to Cope (HP, T, Genfic)

[hobgoblinn]

I'm finding that sometimes you can navigate the dreck on FanFic.Net by clicking on the favorites of authors you enjoy. Another cool thing to do if you're procrastinating is to click on the profiles of people who review your work or add you to their alerts and see what else they like to read or have written.

Not that I would know that or anything.

That exercise today led me to Bluebird88 and three really nice one-shots dealing with the character of Snape. I recc'ed them on the_new_library, and you can find my entry here.

In other news, I'm 4,000+ words in on part 6 of "In Loco" already, mostly tweaking and reordering already written material, but adding some new connectors or things I know now that I didn't know when I wrote these parts. And Easter has been very relaxing, if only because I've been kind of sick and Wee Hob has been very good about letting me rest (or hugging me so he can get the virus in time for school tomorrow. Not sure which.) There were no confrontations at Mass this morning, but I did get another Death Glare. Wee Hob said he got a few himself. Ah well.

Happy Easter to all who observe it, and happy day to everyone else.

Comments

[silburygirl.livejournal.com]

I actually have no problem navigating FFN—I recommend picking a pairing, and skim for summaries with grammar and spelling. It's easier than going through a moderated archive, where everything has perfectly placed commas, but the quality can still vary quite a lot.

Happy miscellaneous day in March!

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

When I first got interested in fanfic, ff.net was Overwhelming. And Waaay too kid heavy, in the sense of very young writers who really should have been paying more attention in Math class. Everyone has to get a start somewhere; I, however, should not have to read that start unless someone's paying me for it. I began to read over there only after I found some recs from people I trusted and read some outstanding fics (many of which have been added to my favorites page.)

But I really became active at ff.net after I began posting my own fic there, mostly because the posting barriers in some of the other HP archives seemed insurmountable, or those archives were geared to ship fic, which I so do not write. I submitted "Two Dads" to OWL and never even got a reply, and that fic is well beta'd and perfectly in line with the genfic on the site. I think. And under some conditions, exposure for a fic posted at ff.net is much wider than posting it on my little journal.

But now I mostly surf favs from people who leave outstanding reviews, or, if I'm bored, people who put my on their alerts. Some of the profiles make me wonder what they were smoking when they chose to add me to their list, but some are unexpected and cool.

And Happy Misc. Day to you, too.

[silburygirl.livejournal.com]

And Waaay too kid heavy, in the sense of very young writers who really should have been paying more attention in Math class.

I was one of those, once upon a time. But we don't talk about that.

I have so many pet peeves about what I read that I can usually work out whether I'll like a fic or not within less than a chapter by skimming.

the posting barriers in some of the other HP archives seemed insurmountable, or those archives were geared to ship fic,

I have problems with the concept of moderated archives—it's a system that's asking to be abused, and there are a lot of horror stories floating around. Better to have open archives and decent rec sites, etc.

Would you like the soapbox back?

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

Would you like the soapbox back?

Yeah. It's the only way I can reach the pedals.

I have so many pet peeves about what I read that I can usually work out whether I'll like a fic or not within less than a chapter by skimming.

Me too, and I read really fast. But still, life is short, and some fics are bad. And at first, just reading randomly, I was hitting all the bad ones. Part of why I maintained a snobbish distance from HP fic as "written by Kids who should be paying attention in Math Class" for the longest time.

And yeah, we were all kids once. Some of us outgrow it. Cheers, and Happy Monday.

[bemoan1000.livejournal.com]

When I first got interested in fanfic, ff.net was Overwhelming. And Waaay too kid heavy, in the sense of very young writers who really should have been paying more attention in Math class.
I think the problem with the too kid heavy is that there are cliques there that it isn’t even the writing that is important, but their ship. It’s more of a place to hangout. But then again that might be a good thing for them.
It is my favorite place for fan fiction.
Some of the profiles make me wonder what they were smoking when they chose to add me to their list, but some are unexpected and cool.
Well I’ve know people to be hung-over when they’ve posted. Lol But I also see the favorites list as a friends list. I have some people on my list because I like their favorite stories list, and I don’t want to loose track of them. I know I’m on some people’s favorite list and I think this might be the reason. But I’m not clear what you mean when you say that you are wondering why they chose you.

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

But I’m not clear what you mean when you say that you are wondering why they chose you.

I just meant there are people whose favorites are all in some Manga or Anime fandom I've never heard of. Can't figure out how or why they found anything of mine. But all readers are of the good. Even the ones on crack.

[father-turtle.livejournal.com]

The person giving y'all the death glare deserves to be reminded that whatever the Wee Hob might have done in the past does not excuse acting sinfully toward you and the Wee Hob.

I don't suppose you saying that would go over very well, though.

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know. And maybe I'm being too sensitive about it, or my tolerance for ecclesiastical nonsense has waned with the passing years. My boy Did do wrong. But even Jesus forgave theives.

If it continues, I'll take Miss Emma over to the rectory and we'll all have us a nice chat. But really, he's not harming anyone but himself and giving us an opportunity to practice some humility and forgiveness of our own.

[ex-shitsu-to509.livejournal.com]

I check out the profiles of people who favourite me on ff.net and then generally get confused as what I've just written often has nothing in common with other stories that they've favourited.
Good to see a post that mentions ff.net. I rather like it and consider finding the good stuff a challenge.

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

I'm spending a lot of time there these days, as several stories I'm following in the HP fandom are archived there, and the e-mail notice of new chapters/ new stories by good authors is really cool. Don't know how it is for Buffy Fic-- I think that fandom has a lot of better archives out there, and what I've seen on here is more hit or miss than usual. But liz_marcs once mentioned that when she used to be actively posting there, the ship and flame wars were intense and abuse was way too easy (it's called the Pit of Voles for a reason.) So maybe the Buffyverse migrated to safer venues, and the HP verse is reaping the rewards of prior complaints and problems.

who are you on ff.net? I'll have to add you to my list.

[ex-shitsu-to509.livejournal.com]

Never heard the 'Pit of Voles' thing before but I like it. In the Buffy fandom have had nothing but good times on ff.net - like you am loving the email alerts - but I can see that things might be a little different with HP.
I only read HP and not very often so am writing very much as an outsider but it seems to be a very volitile fandom with perhaps more nastiness attatched to it than others. Would you agree?

[hobgoblinn.livejournal.com]

I've been lucky in both fandoms so far-- haven't seen much honest to god flaming and nastiness personally. But then, I don't write lightning rod shipfic, either. And I don't read that much of it. Genfic doesn't draw the same kind of fan. I think you can find historical examples of equal nastiness in both fandoms, trolling back through fandomwank's wiki. HP fandom may have a younger contingent, and of course, the canon inconsistencies can lead to some lively discussions. But I haven't see any devolve to namecalling and the like.

Is the Buffy fandom really active in ff net? I haven't had a lot of response to my Buffy fic there, but then, it's been archived elsewhere and none of it is new. That may change when I start posting my 06 nano novel out there.

And you are now on my Favorite Authors page, too. I'll have to drop by later and see if there's anything archived out there I've missed.

[ex-shitsu-to509.livejournal.com]

Oops am an idiot. Forgot to write in comment that am also Sniggs on ff.net. Shall go and search for you :-)