I kinda cringe when I see cliffhangers. I've read some pretty bad ones. Personally, I NEVER LEAVE MY READERS WITH CLIFFHANGERS. I think it's kinda mean. With that being said, I don't like cliffhangers, but they're not a pet peeve of mine. They just make me more eager for the next chapter.

I do however hate when writters take a month or more to update. Sometimes when I start reading a new story, I check to see how often the author has been updating, before I decide to read. (If I can) But I would rather read either finished stories, or stories that seem to be more than half completed. That way I can read a my leasure, go through cliffies, and still remain a few chapters behind, while the author continues to update.

My chapters usually end with a cliffhanger of some kind or another but usually being a big one (the exception to that is coming soon though). But that being said I also usually update my stories every couple days (most was 2 weeks while I was on vaction) and mine always get finished, they never leave you hanging! Again, there may be an exception coming here and there (right now it's going to depend on how nasty Ike is and where he comes ashore and how badly where I live gets blasted-if it's bad enough I may be offline for a few days but that isn't something I can help).

Though I do agree that those that leave them (or even unfinished stories) and go through months without updates drive me batty. I probably have 30 stories that I watch on a regular basis the only get updated once in a blue moon and that can make you nutty (well, nuttier than I already am thankyouverymuch). Leaving you with a cliffhanger then not updating for months is cruel LOL!

Danyealle

usually being a big one

Usually NOT being a big one that should read grrr...

(hasn't had the required amount of Mt. Dew yet to get going-damn working 3rd shift!)

Danyealle

Yeah I don't like long waited for updates. I try to get my up every two weeks, think I've missed two or three times at most since I started doing that. I kept hearing about this one story so I finally decided to read it. It wasn't finished so I got put on the update list and maybe two months later I finally get word of an update. By then I'm like 'what story was this again?'. I still don't remember what the story was about. Decided to go ahead and wait til it was finished to reread it and haven't heard word about another chapter since the first update.

And then there are those I read, before I started my finished only rule, where the story is great and you get really into to it and read and read only to have the story stop in the middle and learn it hasn't been updated in a couple of years. I seriously hate that.

Another pet peeve that I remembered while writing this post. Marking a story as complete if it's been discontinued. Another story I had been hearing about for a long time and couldn't wait to read it. Saw it was finished and jumped in and started reading, completely excited about it. Only to find out she didn't finish the story but stopped working on it cause she couldn't figure out where to go next or something. And there was no warning in the summary or anything.

Oh and Good luck with Ike.

lol.... the cliffhanger and not updating....







i wholly admit that i sometimes write bad cliffhangers. and i am embarrassed to admit that i have a sore habit of not updating for months... though, my life is really hectic at times and i really don't get much time to write. i'm hoping this will change soon with a new job that has more downtime than my last one, and is less stressful.

i really should apologize to people for not updating on a regular basis. i'm working on it though. i sometimes try to make it up by posting really long chapters, not because i feel guilty, but because the damn chapters insist on not cutting off before a certain point.

O.K. My biggest pet peeve is starting a story and realizing that it was posted in 2004 or 2005 and there hasn't been and update since two months after they started the first post GAG!

I will say, though, I have a few favorite stories that are not going to be continued, but they are so good, I don't regret starting them.

This post is mainly in response to the first few pages of this thread since that was about all I could read before I'd had enough.

I think if I ever wanted to discourage anyone from writing fan fiction, particularly in the Sess/Kag genre, I would direct them to this thread. There is material enough here to make any author second guess their decision to write, much less post online. Not everyone is a gifted writer by nature. Some of us have to work very hard to improve so we can write something that is tolerable, much less readable by anyone but ourselves. Posting your work online for others to read takes an incredible amount of courage and this thread is exactly why so many writers out there are too afraid to post their work. Had I read it as a green writer I never would've posted any of my work online, especially not here where elitism is apparently rampant.

I don't think I've ever been more disappointed as a member of this forum or this community.

You're right, and that point was brought up more than once in this thread. There are different styles and there are different readers. Not everyone likes the same thing.

I think this thread is more in good fun than attacking. I can honestly say that most of these things are easily looked over when a story has a good plot or is interesting.

I have read many stories that are guilty of things posted in this thread and honestly enjoyed them. I also have written stories that are guilty of things said in this thread. I will say though it has given me some pointers that i greatly appreciate.

Most of these things though annoying are looked over because i think everyone on this site is genuinely interested in this fandom and its success. This is more of a place to voice things that people find annoying. If this thread is offending anyone, or causing people to not post their work, then i think this has been sorely misunderstood. We as members of this site want nothing more than for new writers and new readers to enjoy the stories posted here.

Nobody wrote:
I think this thread is more in good fun than attacking. I can honestly say that most of these things are easily looked over when a story has a good plot or is interesting.

I have read many stories that are guilty of things posted in this thread and honestly enjoyed them. I also have written stories that are guilty of things said in this thread. I will say though it has given me some pointers that i greatly appreciate.

Most of these things though annoying are looked over because i think everyone on this site is genuinely interested in this fandom and its success. This is more of a place to voice things that people find annoying. If this thread is offending anyone, or causing people to not post their work, then i think this has been sorely misunderstood. We as members of this site want nothing more than for new writers and new readers to enjoy the stories posted here.

EXACTLY! This is exactly why I started my thread and a perfect way to explain my intentions. I totally agree with everything you've said. Karma for you!

As a new author I have to say that I am in no way offended or turned off to writing on this site. I would also like to add that a pet peeve is a personal opinion you have yours and I have mine, if we take one opinion as truth then we can just all agree on everything and be a bunch of same story, learn nothing clones forever doomed to spit out the same exact fiction over and over and over. (OOPS ranting so sorry) I for one can appreciate some of the mistakes and traps, that have been or will be pointed out. I am sure at some point I will make or fall into some of them. If I haven't already. HaHa After reading this I will sure as hell be much more careful not to. lol BTW I am not a b*tch if I come across that way I apologize in advance.

i actually find this thread enlightening, not disheartening. we can use this as a tool to help improve our own writing by getting an overall sense of the general public's likes and disklikes. of course, i still wouldn't ever write a lemon...

never wolfye productions?? Not even a small lemon? I remember the first time i sent my lemon to my beta i thought i would die from embarrasment.

Nobody wrote:
never wolfye productions?? Not even a small lemon? I remember the first time i sent my lemon to my beta i thought i would die from embarrasment.

oh, upon treacherous ground doth we tread...

i think i would die from embarrassment only because if my family would ever read the stuff.... i'm a big enough pervert already in RL, i'm hesitant to let it leak into my world of literature. my sister (and sometimes my brother) reads my work, and then there's my dad who's a HUGE porno fan... /cringes in fear

i've always pondered the scenario that should my story deviate enough to warrant a lemon, i'd ask fellow peer to help me write it as a separate one-shot. i tried twice to write a lemon and both times i came up.... what's the best word for this... pre-mature?? lol

hahahahahaha! Your hillarious. I don't think there is a single person in my family who knows i even write fanfiction. They don't ask so i don't tell.

Yea, just wait until you find out I'm really your sister!

I think if I ever wanted to discourage anyone from writing fan fiction, particularly in the Sess/Kag genre, I would direct them to this thread. There is material enough here to make any author second guess their decision to write, much less post online.

If someone is turned off writing by this thread then they don't need to do it in the first place. One of the very first things you need to learn when you write and post is develope a thick skin because not everyone is going to adore your labor of love and like your style. You are going to get bad reviews and people are going to pick it apart.

Writing is NOT for the weak!

Danyealle

I agree and disagree with Langus. It is true that this thread was never intended as a constructive place for writers to come and learn to write better. Anyone who says otherwise is merely trying to justify this fattening indulgence as something nutritional.

Another fallacy is saying this thread is somehow akin to being a measuring stick for whether or not a novice writer should pursue writing, because let's face it not all reviews are kind and supportive. A green writer's ego is a fragile thing in the beginning and we as a "community" should be supportive and not declaring them weak if this thread puts them off.

That aside, this thread made no promises of being anything other than an indulgence and that is the only thing that it is. Anyone treading here should know better.

All the same, I think everyone should be reminded after over 100 replies to this thread and most of them not flattering in the least, that fanfiction is not refined. It is the raw expression of a writer's fantasy. Here you may vent, but remember how much you pay to read it, because that's how much every fanfic writer is paid to put themselves out there.

I don't think anyone should be ashamed for posting their complaint here. But, for every sour word, I hope that everyone remembers what it is that draws them to this rough art form in the first place.

Karma for you ladybattousai. I couldn't agree more.

Can we let this thread die now? I think it has done enough damage. MHO.

I second the motion.

(Sorry just got back from a board meeting)

I don't feel shame for starting the thread or posting my opinions. To say that I intended it to be insulting to writers is an assumption of what I was thinking - something no one else can possibly know and no one else has the right to assume.

I never intended on insulting anyone or discouraging anyone from writing. It anyone has taken it that way, then that is their own issue and something I cannot possibly help. People are going to post things on the internet that other people don't like or are offended by, and I do not intend on censoring myself for the sake of someone else's possible sensitivity. I had no idea that someone would get upset by the thread. If I had thought so, I would not have posted it because I never intended on hurting anyone or stirring a pot of any kind. But you can't possibly tell people to censor themselves for anything that might possibly hurt someone's feelings, or else no one will have anything left to say.

There was a lot of amusement in this thread, and that was what I posted it for. I knew my frustrations were essentially petty, and I wondered if anyone else had any unreasonable peeves as well. If a writer comes across the list and feels upset that people have listed things that they may have done in their own writings, then that is their own issue. I'm sorry, but people are not always going to offer glowing praise, and no one in this thread singled anyone out or picked on anyone.

I'm not going to apologize for anything and actually cannot understand why people are now debating the intentions of the thread or what it does or does not do to fanfiction writers and the realm of fanfiction. If this one small thread destroys fanfiction on the whole... well then I'm a monkey's uncle. If I were to open a forum thread and started reading, and felt upset by what I read, I would stop reading it. It's not hard to click the back button. If someone keeps reading and torturing themselves by something that was originally intended as amusement, then you know? I can't possibly control that, and nor can anyone but the offended party.

THE END

*gets off her soap box*

Okay, this is the first time this has ever been done here, but I'm going to lock this thread because it's going downhill very fast and I think it's more than run its course.

Thank you all for contributions to this thread.

On a different note, there is a thread for offering writing tips. It would be possible in most cases to take a peeve and rewrite it as a tip.

its not a matter of apologizing i found this thread enjoyable, but it has been dominating the forum for a few days. And i think it let people interact with others who share similar and mostly hillarious views on fanfiction. I'm still laughing over noacats peas flashback. Sesshomaru eating peas! HAHA But i think it has run its course and should probably make way for new forum topics and interests.