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Reviewer: LadyKeren Signed [Report This]
Date: Jun 24, 2022 08:32 am Title: When the Dog Bites. When the Bee Stings

When I'm writing in general, it's this essay I tend to be guided by..of course when I am writing about real people as opposed to fictional characters, I adjust when I need to..for the record the author is one of 2 who helped made me the writer I am today:

https://nntreasury.com/misc/orthodoxy.html

Reviewer: LadyKeren Signed [Report This]
Date: Jun 19, 2022 05:58 am Title: Keeping Readers/Getting Reviews

Another point I neglected to add is about how constructive criticism can be subjective, or merely a difference of opinion, so one is not always obligated to change their writing to reflect with the reviewer said..now if more than 5 people point out the same flaw, then it's time to figure out if what's being written about is a problem or not. It depends on whether it's a nitpicky element (like someone not liking the plot/premise or if a person loves the retelling but hates AU/AR/AH/AT or vise versa)or if someone is truly breaking the rules of writing..in short, a writer should finding that fine line between writing something someone isn't in the target audience for or doing something not allowed, taking it into account whiled addressing the reviewer. 

Also find it so striking when an author puts on their stories, if you don't like, don't read and then get upset if a portion of the audience follows that..what comes to mind there is the saying, "Be careful what you wish for."

Reviewer: LadyKeren Signed [Report This]
Date: Jun 02, 2022 03:32 am Title: Portraying Michael: The basics

Oh, something I didn't think to mention about the swearing factor that I should have before, is how it wasn't news to me at all..had been aware of it since I was in my early teens..was 13 the first time I heard the song "She's Out of My Life" and my elder sister had have me a heads up on when he was going to..also in the song Scream..so a person would have had to have never heard ANYTHING from him, to be unaware of who he was to not know that detail..except I have my doubts that he was as bad as some authors make him with it and not provide a reason( like the foul mouthed, disrespectful teens on Maury..and my impression was confirmed..by Karen Faye, believe it or not..saying he was elegant and gentlemanly with her most times and only cussed in front of her when very angry..also Frank Cascio said pretty much the same..as well as when joking with someone.

There was an instance of him being a big eater, too..like one time he went by the Goldman's house asking for both pizza AND KFC for dinner..it was like wow, that reminds me of Usagi from Sailor Moon..and I still can't stop laughing at Javon doing the imitation of him asking for a double cheeseburger..

As far as relationships goes, a former employee laid them out when debunking Scott Thorson's lies..mentioning how Michael first had an affair with June Chandler and how he messed with some women after separating from Lisa because he found her birth control pills, ( the employee believed he attempted to get the other women pregnant to hurt her ( which is technically cheating as well..felt that was wrong, he should have divorced after finding out SHE cheated and then wait till it was over before going after other women.

With the dependency bit, it seems like there are even FANS who don't want to acknowledge that he won the battle BOTH times and was killed by something totally different ( as Helena pointed out in that one article).

Reviewer: LadyKeren Signed [Report This]
Date: May 30, 2022 08:14 pm Title: Discussing Dialogue

Good chapter though, very straightforward, especially the part about changing the line/paragraph when a different character speaks.Less confusing that way. 

To add a tag ending or not add a tag ending..that's something I've had to work on since my novice days up to now..don't want to be repetitive, you know?

When it comes to a foul mouthed character or just one of those who mostly cussed when pissed off/joking with someone, I don't cuss so it's hard for me to write out the actual word..but if I'm writing about a character who does, I just write that he/she swore loudly/under his/her breath, etc. to get around it. 

For more confused words there's also peel/peal

pause/paws

heel/heal

 

 

 

Reviewer: LadyKeren Signed [Report This]
Date: May 30, 2022 07:50 pm Title: The Dog Bit. The Bee Stung. P3

What I wanted to add to my earlier point about character bashing is if an author has a friend or loved one of the non-favorite character react with distaste if he/she saw said character coming..you know, not accepting that sometimes the favorite character can get along with non-favorites..that's even worse..would scroll past as if I saw something too gruesome for my taste.

Reviewer: LadyKeren Signed [Report This]
Date: May 30, 2022 07:42 pm Title: Using Real Women as Leading Females

Something else I should have mentioned last time is, while I prefer the OG, I steer clear of the ones where the author doesn't realize there's nothing wrong with shipping Michael with the OG while still portraying the real women in a fair manner..you know, well-rounded. I have seen the decent portrayal, though, and it's refreshing. 

Reviewer: LadyKeren Signed [Report This]
Date: May 29, 2022 02:22 pm Title: Developing Minor and Supporting Characters

You gave some thought provoking stuff here..

Of course when it comes to staff members of any kind I'm guilty of tossing in some original characters since the fact of the matter is we don't know every employee working for Michael..the ones with minor roles I wouldn't even try to give more details than what is necessary..

That said, I do all I can to flesh out the main original characters..and recently I tried a different approach I never had before..usually I develop the character as I go along but I actually made notes for the main original characters who will be featured in my planned fics..

Guilty of having some characters' name begin with the same letter or end of the same letter..what I would consider utterly confusing is if there was a character you know existed in real life was just an original character with the same name.

Reviewer: LadyKeren Signed [Report This]
Date: May 29, 2022 05:58 am Title: Writing about Sensitive Issues

Yes yes yes, there should definitely be warnings for sensitive issues, that way readers can brace themselves and not be roped into something that turns their stomach or causes any kind of discomfort. I know I personally hate to be roped into reading stuff. When it comes to things like emotional and physical abuse, I'm knowledgeable enough to write about since I've watched enough of it on Maury Povich, Dr. Phil and I also have friends who endured it. Just as I was typing this I remember I neglected to leave a warning for chapter 2 on my Ghostly Attraction fanfic when Irina has a run in with her absuive ex..I'm facepalming myself now..guess I'd better get on that. Also if I were to write about a toxic roommate in any of my stories, I've been there and done that, so it's something I can tackle with confidence. Eating disorders is another one, keeping in mind the plights of Karen Carpenter and the gymnast Christina Hencrich. I also do research on these topics when necessary, which is also imperative. 

Any unpleasant topic should have a warning ahead of time..I know I did when there was underaged drinking, destruction of property in my Betrayed Trust story (which is actually my baby).

Overall, experiencing and witnessing these sensitive topics, along with research does well to educate people enough to write about them. 

Reviewer: LadyKeren Signed [Report This]
Date: May 24, 2022 11:41 am Title: The writers' turn

Before I get into my 2 cents there are some things I want to say..when it comes to reviews, I definitely understand the frustration in regards to silent readers..it demotivated me for a pretty long time, and I just felt like maybe it's me, maybe I'm wrong for wanting people to read my stuff when they have better things to do..but overall, I try to keep going and hope people will review when they're ready. I also bare in mind that no one is obligated to support if they don't want to and that not everyone appreciates the conservative approach to writing.

As for what I like to see in reviews I like when someone is thorough, speaking about their favorite parts, what they found funny, etc..

When a person gives a critique, I feel there should be positives along with the negatives, and encouragement to keep going.

What I don't like are vague reviews..like someone telling me I made a grammatical error and are not specific about it..I can't correct an error when I don't know what it is..also when people demand that I change something or else they'll stop reading when they could just stop reading if they're that bothered, or just don't read if they hate the premise or fic genre. (By the way, I'm talking about when it's a nitpicky element, things that don't really matter to the story and is only a matter of not being in the target audience, not REAL problems/situations where someone is breaking a rule of writing. 

As far as rules for reviews, there are the rules of netiquette, really..like no spamming and no flames (insults, idiotic childish comments, death threats, etc). It goes for both sides.Like it's a reviewers' duty to be honest but they should also realize the author is not obligated to take their advice, even if asked for but especially if it's unsolicited. Also there's a difference between being a novice and just willful ignorance is something to keep in mind. I for one will not compromise myself by saying OMG amazing if what I see is rubbish in my eyes..with the writers who are known to get nasty when someone isn't being harsh, but only helping, those are the writers I give up on. If I see something truly disturbing and I'm like "seriously", yet knowing how personal the author gets, that's when I keep my fingers still and just don't read any more of it. 

Hmm..right now, I just want to know how my writing is progressing in general, opinions on my potential. 

Reviewer: LadyKeren Signed [Report This]
Date: May 23, 2022 09:25 am Title: Portraying Michael: When Michael isn't Michael

Wow, this brings back so many memories..something else I see happening in an AU/OOC setting that I would not oppose is, like if Michael was playing something Mortal Kombat or one of those fighting video games and he raged a lot/yelled obscenities at the boss characters because of the ridiculous things that can happen (having full control of the match and out of nowhere your opponent beats the crap out of you..or even if that opponent was supposed to be dead yet they end up beating you). Would it be hard for you to read something where he screams like mad because a flying cockroach flew on him when it spotted him?

Reviewer: LadyKeren Signed [Report This]
Date: May 06, 2022 09:12 am Title: Resources for information about Michael - Updated 2/7

I read  Frank Cascio's and Jermaine's books a few months ago..both were among the better written books when it comes to clearing up stuff..there were things I took with a grain of salt but overall, give me them over the tabloid-eque ones any day. Did you ever read Untouchable by Randal Sullivan? What are your thoughts on it? 

Reviewer: yourburgersarethebest Signed [Report This]
Date: Apr 08, 2019 10:39 pm Title: Knowing Your POV: Who's on First?

Soo helpful!

Reviewer: brandyandMJ Signed [Report This]
Date: Sep 18, 2017 04:35 pm Title: The writers' turn

You know there is one particular person on this site I've come across who actually does that. I've wanted to call them out on it, but I didn't want to come off as a bitch. But I make pretty long chapters that take a couple of minutes to read and this specific reviewer is able to read three chapters in a span of five or six minutes sometimes... but because I don't want to step on toes I haven't said anything. 


As for finding a solution to people not reviewing I'm not sure if there is one. Any solution we make is going to run people away from the site one or two ways. 


1. If you work in favor of the writers on the sites and provide some sort of restriction that forces a reader to review then we'll loose members because some people are stubborn and don't want to take two minutes out of their day to write 'thank you for the chapter and I hope you update again soon.' 


or 


2. You leave things the way they are now then that'll force writers to leave the site because they feel unappreciated.


Honestly, for all the reads that people get on their stories they should at least get half of those reads in a review. Sometimes I feel the only way you can get some people to review is if you threaten them or bribe them. Now I've never been one to bribe but if I continue to get 75-100 reads on a chapter and 1 or 2 reviews then we're going to have a problem. As I said before and I'll reiterate; I don't need an essay. I just need the support. To you as a reviewer does that sound desperate/doing too much? 


Either way the entire situation is a headache. 

Reviewer: tinker13 Signed [Report This]
Date: Sep 12, 2017 07:16 pm Title: The Basics

I dont what about a local college that teaches programming.  they might be looking for projects for students or know someone.  it's been years since I've been to school and I just moved so I dont know anyone remotely adequate 

 

how is the site with funds?  I meant to ask

 



Author's Response:

I wish it was that easy. In all likelihood, that just would mean they're able to do wordpress (possibly). We have posted ads for our needs before (paid, obviously), but didn't get any credible hits. Currently the site expense already exceed donations. Sadly, at this point in my career and personal life, I'm constantly overextended time-wise and I spend all my free time just maintaining the site. That's fine with me. It's a good break from the stress of everything else (I'll leave it at that as this is public), but I can't put more time into it than I have available.

I've kept the "support" topic's tracking of expenses vs donations (on the home page under news) up to date. Thanks for asking :) 

Reviewer: tinker13 Signed [Report This]
Date: Sep 12, 2017 05:58 pm Title: The Basics

Each chapter costs you 1 point.  if you review you get 5 points.  no points no reading..I know search engines give you points for using them but its a programming thing.   Just a thought.



Author's Response:

That's something we've had up our sleeves. The only issue - finding a programmer skilled with efiction. Any chance you know of one looking for a commission?

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