Couple of Questions for Veteran Fanfic Authors

[quidditchmum]

 As this is a fairly new endeavor for me, I'm hoping some of you experienced fanfic authors will chime in with some advice

Comments

[cwarbeck]

Hi. To answer your first question, well, it depends. I don't have a link to show you a detailed discussion on the different HP sites, but what are you looking for? Sites that are purely H/G, or those that deal with HP fanfic in general? ff.net and even mugglenet is an obvious choice for finding genfic, but you have to slog through hundreds or thousands of mediocre fic before you get to the good ones. If you're just after H/G, you go to SIYE, although the stories tend to be a bit vanilla, if you know what I mean.:) Checkmated is another HP site, but they're more of an R/Hr site, so you'll get Harry/OC and Ginny/OC. For more risque stories (het, threesomes, slash - if that's your thing), there's the Quidditch Pitch. Personally, I like the lj communities because they generally have better quality fanfic and they let you interact with other writers

[cwarbeck]

Oops, I forgot to add two other H/G sites - phoenixsong and simply undeniable.

And one other thing, are you looking for sites that allow you to post without having to be approved by the admins? I think this has pros and cons - having your story looked over before approval usually means you can get another unbiased set of eyes to go over spelling and grammar, but at the same time, if the site is too restrictive, you'll have a greater chance of having your submission shot down and that can be quite a blow to a writer's fragile ego. Never mind - there are lots of other places you can post!

[quidditchmum]

Thanks for your help. I mostly ship H/G. I have read a ton on SIYE and have posted there and also ff.net. You are right about having to shift through a lot of junk there, but things usually update there quicker since it's not moderated. I don't mind something a little too spicey for SIYE from time to time. Everything on harrypotterfanfiction.com seems to involve Draco/Hermione which I just don't get. Also, Hermione is best enjoyed in small doses for me.

I posted Birds and Blokes, the H/G fic I did for takingitinturns and got a lot of lovely reviews but also got this: "Ick. Please add to the warnings, raunchy and trashy." with a 1/2 star rating. And my response was pretty much WTF! It was rated R, if you're not into that then don't read. I haven't responded yet.

I'm pretty thick skinned which is a good thing for a writer. My experience is with sports journalism and non-fiction so I'm cutting my teeth on fiction in the H/G realm.

I enjoy your work!

[hannah_ward]

I've found that if I get a review thats at least contructive then it's best to just thank them for taking the time to review and move on. One thats just openly hostile then I reckon it's best to just ignore it. The "rauchy and trashy" review that you've got is just pointless. As cwarbeck pointed out - it's R rated and they knew what sort of story they were reading. I think it's best not to respond to that, anything you say might just start something you don't want to get into. I hope I've been of some help. :)

[quidditchmum]

Good advice.

[stmargarets]

I don't know of any discussions about archive sites - but I think Cel did a good overview for you. I started out at the Sugar Quill which was an R/Hr site. It was probably the most "literary" of the archives - both in the forums and in the stories posted. If you want some good reading - I'd encourage you to check it out. (It's read-only now - the site owners moved on to other things after DH came out

[quidditchmum]

Thanks for your input and the kind reviews at SIYE. I put a blurb in the a/n when I originally posted this at takingitinturns thanking you for the inspiration. It was whilst reading A Time to remember that I was struck with the notion that Gwenog really need to get laid! :)

[flyingcarpet]

Are you asking about archives as a place to *read* fic, or as a place to *post* fic? Because that makes a difference, IMO.

[quidditchmum]

As a place to post fic.

[flyingcarpet]

See, I think it makes a difference. Some archives are very hospitable to authors, but you don't get any reviews when you post there.

Fanfiction.net is full of bad fic and pop-up ads, but you will get reviews if you post there (although the preference among FFN reviewers is for 900-chapter-long epics, not for shorter one-shots like what I mostly write). Also, lj. :) I have posted at SIYE on and off for years, but the reviewers there tend to be really obnoxious. I go back and forth on SIYE.

I have also found that the reviews were good at Checkmated, although other things about that site can be tough (you have to get your story approved and not everyone does; they assign you a beta and the betas are sometimes less than qualified). For me, CM is no longer worth the effort, but I did get good reviews there.

Hope that helps!

[cwarbeck]

I like the stories at CM mainly because they have a Restricted Section, but the one time I tried to post there, they rejected my fic because they thought my characterisation of Hermione was way off. I think it was because I made her a little too girly for their taste.

Anyway, I think the point I was trying to make was that one rejection from CM made me hesitant to post any fic for a long time, but my ego finally got over it soon enough. :)

Don't let the obnoxious reviewers get you down, though. Just keep writing!

[exartemarte]

I don't write as much as I'd like to, but I have some stuff out there. Other than LJ (my own journal and The_HP_Love) I've mostly only posted on Checkmated and Simply Undeniable, and I decided to withdraw my stuff from Checkmated. I got a lot more reviews at Checkmated than anywhere else - my issues there were not with the readers who, by and large, are a fair and generous bunch