On Tue, 26 Aug 1997 GuyverKuno@aol.com wrote:

<Message from Robert snipped>


@>   Robert, as the best fanfic writers I know, I don't think you should have
@>gone this far. You over reacted by telling him or her to stop writing. As the
@>more experienced writer, you should try to guide the rookie writers to
@>writing a better fanfic instead of telling them they are wasting their time.
@>This isn't a job, it really isn't anything important. Isn't this supposed to
@>be a hobby, something for people to have fun with? Some people take things

Actually, I'm siding with Robert, here. He may have acted rashly, or
whatever, and perhaps telling a person to flat out stop is a bad
thing, but we're looking here at a person that *didn't want to try to
improve.*
I wrote a list of tips that we can all follow (me included...I should
really take my own advice) to make our stories more readable. Aaron
exploded and accused me of all sorts of things. The 'help the rookie
writer out' thing was tried, and he completely rejected it. A person
that can't punctuate is fine, but a person that doesn't want to learn
how to punctuate is not. If he wants to write, he'll write no matter
what Robert says. He'll get help with his style, and with any luck,
he'll come out better for it. More than likely, though, he'll stick to
writing his fics, leave them in horrendous shape, and then complain
more when other people tell him to clean it up. If you want to do
something, you can't whine about being bad about it, and expect to get
better magically. Being on this list doesn't give you the right to aim
for underachieving. I'm sure all of us are here so that we can learn
and grow from the advice that people give us.

@>  Okay, deal with this as you please. Flame me or what not. I just like to
@>end with, "Can't we just all get along?"

That'd be nice, and I'd love it. But it's not horribly realistic. Or
perhaps it is *horribly* realistic.

See? We're big enough to get through this without flaming. What were
you worried about? :)

Jan

 ****   ****  ===========================jan@cs.ualberta.ca==================
**   ***   ** GCS d- s++:-- a--- C++++@>$ UISX++>$ P L>++ E>++$ W++ N+ o? K-? 
**    *    ** w---(++++) !O !M V-- PS+>$ PE Y+ !PGP- t- 5+++>++++ X+ R tv--
 **  j.s  **  b++>+++ DI++++ D+ G++(+++)>++++ e>+++ h>$ r++ y+** 
  **  +  ** -----------------------------------------------------------------
   **v.y**  I may have slept for an hour...I may have slept for a day...  
    ** **  For I woke in a bed of white linen...and the sky was the
      *   color of clay...  -Sting