Fanfiction Discussion & Inspiration

[Nicom]

I see your point, but I think the reason we don't agree is because we have different views on post counts.

I don't see the point in them. I can up mine by hundreds if I like... just rambling on lots of different threads. So why does it make them special? A new member could come on here and easily get 100 posts in a day. (Well, I could. lol) Think how many threads there are, post on each one of them, then get a reply... you can really keep boosting up your post count. They've been made pointless and worth nothing, so it wouldn't be penalising anyone. Aejdude has 6310 posts. How do I know half of them aren't ridiculous ramble? (Just using you as an example by the way, I have no idea when and what you post)

I don't like to post that much, because it adds to my post count. I refrain from posting some things, unless it truly, truly matters. And that bores me a lot. lol. I'm sure there must be others like me who'd like the freedom to post without being counted and recorded.

Also I've been told that Character Appreciation forum doesn't count posts, but surely that's more HAA than this? They talk about things they like about characters, actions from their past and present. We make up our own storylines, couples etc, yet our posts get recorded? I don't see that as being right, as we don't talk about the characters we manipulate them. I could make Colleen a vampire if I wanted to. What's that got to do with HAA? Fine, I steal a background and a face for the character - or maybe I could claim that her background was different? Or fiddle with her age and such... This Fan Fiction forum isn't really on-topic for HAA. The HAA Games room can be more on topic at times! At least then you're talking about characters in the show!

Also, the part about me not really liking the fact that people don't post on my fic was an example. I'm sure I'm again not the only person who sometimes feels this way, and some people aren't as lucky as I am to have the amount of lovely members actually replying, so I don't get that affected by it. The people who read my fic and comment me are the ones that matter, but some people might not got many readers already, so I think it'd be nice for them to have an increased chance in getting posts.

[loobieloo]

I agree with Nicole on the Charactor/actor appriciation bit. The fanfiction is totally random to be honest and less home and away realted yet, it gets added when character/actor appriciation doesnt.

Then again, it doesn't bother me at all, I will still post in the appriciation section because I find it interestiong, so it hasn't affected me what so ever that it doesn't boost my count.

[emmasi]

I wasn't aware that the apprecation threads weren't counted.

I just think that, if the fic forum isn't classed as H&A related, why do we only write H&A related fics? I'm not suggesting we change that, but you see my point. Even if someone were to make Colleen into a vampire, a good fic would play on the irony and the contrast to her normal H&A character.

I don't know. I tend to feel that post counts should be counted everywhere, and that obvious spammers should be warned. But then, I'm not a mod so that's really not up to me.

[SfanS]

I see you have a good point there.

It's very H&A related, our views on the characters.

But then I'm confused...why do people not post in Fanfics coz of post counts>?

That's probably very obvious, and I'm just slow!

[sevenpuddings]

As someone who doesn't actually get spammers reviewing, I'd just like to throw my two cents in, not about post counts, because I'm not really fused on them, but concerning the belief that this section doesn't actually have to do with Home & Away.

If you're an author, and something happens to your favourite character, that you disagree with, do you sit around and pout about it? Or do you write a fan fic, and fix it with fic?

Or, if an interaction between characters stems an idea, do you take that interaction that one step further, and write a fan fic about it?

Maybe I'm the only weird person who does this, but that doesn't mean it's not H&A related. Its entirely H&A related. Its just my own personal vision about Home and Away, I mean, they actually employ people to write storylines for the actors, who portray characters, isn't that what we do with fan fic, minus the actual acting? We paint pictures, write stories, who say's we can't be our own script writer? Am I making a point, or rambling?

Fan fiction isn't unrelated to Home and Away. Just because you invent your own story lines doesn't make it less real (to me, at least) Isn't that the 'what if' senario that sometimes you yourself play out in real life? I dunno, I just, find it odd for people to believe that this section isn't Home and Away related, when really, its people playing out their fantasys of stories they'd actually wish were on the show?

It's always about the same show and the same people... (unless its actually an AU story, but they still have the same characters) & that surely makes them H&A related? Doesn't it?

[SfanS]

I see what you mean.

For instance,

I knew kit was coming back, so i began to think what would happen, and, what do you know, My fanfic's began! Most of my fics happen to revolve around that triangle...3 of them!! LOL

[emmasi]

You know what? I've changed my mind. While I think this forum is totally relevant, there's no hard and fast way to prove that people are actually reading the fics before they respond with "great" and "update soon" and "what she said" ... and I mean when they hit 8 threads in 4 minutes... Maybe killing the post count in here and ruining it for everyone will stop that.

[Skykat]

Hmmm. I can see both sides to this debate.

I have to admit I love receiving reviews for my storys but I do prefer it when people give me real feedback like say what they liked and what they didn't like. I love music for example, if you ever read one of her reviews she picks out good points and as a writer those reviews are really helpful. Personally I have a fair idea of who reads my stories and who doesn't and getting one word reviews from my regular readers doesn't bother me, hell I do it in other people's stories when I don't have time. Maybe we could suggest that when people first start reading a story they should give a reason why they like it, that way we'd know they read it. I'd love to see more detailed reviews in general but that's a personal thing. A person who reads a story regulary should at some point have made more than the usual 'that's great' response and maybe if thats not being done the librarians could PM them with a warning asking them to do it?

On whether post counts should count in here, I see where Nicole's coming from but I actually agree with Jess that for me fanfictions are solely based from the show otherwise non-home and away fanfics would be allowed. I think that the character appreciation threads should definitely not be counted, yes they talk about actual characters but have you seen the posts. No offence but 'come join our club we're giving cookies' isn't exactly home and away related, to me that's a general chat type thread and I definitely don't think they should be counted. I think that the fanfic forum at least is giving our views on home and away, albeit in a very round about way.

That's my two cents anyway.

[emmasi]

I actually don't mind the ocasional "that's great" post, but when it's constant and in several threads at a time, it makes me suspicious.

A note to spammers: if you're going to do that, at least wait between posts so that we can at least PRETEND that you've taken the time to read something.

Maybe I'm just being cynical. I'm not the fastest reader in the world so when someone knocks over a couple of pages in 30 seconds, it makes me think "hmm."

[Skykat]

Now I'm an exceptionally fast reader, I used to get in trouble for it at school but even I can't go that fast! I'd be suspicious of that too and if when reading their responses in the thread, I got the impression they weren't actually reading then I would PM them. I think those of us on here regulary enough have a fair idea of who's genuine or not in my opinion. I also think the best people to judge about this are the authors and if any author thinks somebody is spamming then they should report it to a librarian.