Just to clarify my position,

I think we're all in agreement that putting a fic on
fanfiction.net does not make it perfect or even
finished. But even though a fic may need some serious
C&C, if the author doesn't want it, why should serious
C&Cers waste their time? 

Some people aren't interested in line by line
critiques but just want some general feedback for a
fic or fic chapter that they more or less consider
finished. I think that's fine, but if it were known
ahead of time whether or not someone was planning on
changing anything it would prevent further
misunderstandings.

Basically, I don't consider it bad manners to post a
"finished" fic or fic chapter, but it is bad manners
to give the impression that it still might be changed
when it won't be. So I say clear this up as soon as
possible  either as a simple flag in the subject line
or as a bit in beginning.

As far as posting to fanfiction.net, it might be the
last step for some authors but not for all. In fact if
someone wants to get maximum exposure on
fanfiction.net it behooves them to edit chapters
often, as that keeps them in the recent list of fics
(although that can get rather annoying if it's
abused). So just because a fic is posted on
fanfiction.net does not mean the author views it as
perfect and won't change it. Again a flag or a
sentence in the beginning of the fic would prevent
false assumptions. 

Of course no one HAS to do this, and some already have
bits in the beginning saying what level of C&C they're
hoping for. I just think it might be good to establish
it as a convention, like using the blinker on a car,
so people know which way an author is going.

At any rate, I've been mostly keeping such comments
short and putting them at the end of my fic chapters
and I think I'll start being a little clearer in them
and put them in the beginning from now on in ffml
posts. 

-Zorknot


--- RaeMowse@aol.com wrote:

I have to agree with Whimsy about fanfiction.net. 
It's weird seeing  people 
consider it the end-all-be-all of fanfics. 
Seriously, have you seen  some of 
the entries?  And they don't need C+C?
 
Please.
 
The way I see the FFML, it's first and foremost a
place to show your work,  
like fanfiction.net is a place to show your work,
albeit to a larger  audience. 
People can still comment on your fic in both places,
no  problem.  The only 
real difference is that the FFML is more readily
geared  towards line-by-line 
scrutiny.  True, you don't really get the same thing
 from fanfiction.net, but 
the trade-in to that is there will be a lot more 
general comments made to you 
fic. 
 
It's all well and good to know what's wrong with
your work, but it just as  
important to know what you're doing RIGHT with it. 
I've seen tons of C+C  
that's 99% or greater criticism and 1% oe less
comments about the  fic.  Almost 
anything positive is beneficial, be it good grammar 
interesting word choices, 
or excellent characterization.  It's like  training
a boxer.  If you do nothing 
but scold the dog, it'll do things  because it knows
a punishment will come, 
but once you turn your back, it'll slip  into
destructive patterns faster than 
you can say "Harry Potter/Ranma  Xovers."
 
Anyone feeling slighted that an author puts up work
on the FFML and posts  to 
fanfiction.net at the same time should get over such
narrowminded  
preconceptions (or stop using it as an excuse to not
C+C because they didn't  want to in 
the first place) and just C+C it regardless. If you
had no intentions  of 
commenting on the fic in the first place, then be
quiet, because no one cares  
about what you MIGHT have said.
 
Adrian Moten

"Patience and perseverance have a magical  effect
before which difficulties 
disappear and obstacles vanish." John Quincy Adams

Art: _deviantART: GoldenArms_
(http://goldenarms.deviantart.com/)   
Comic:_  Confuzzled_
(http://confuzzled.keenspace.com/) 

http://www.geocities.com/zorukonotsu/fanfics.html
http://www.fanfiction.net/~zorknot


		
____________________________________________________
Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page 
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs 
 

             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'