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heidiYou can find various comments from me scattered among the posts - I tried to reply to things and individual issues as they came up. But I've been thinking and synthesizing all weekend, in deciding what to say about the overall concern that FA's mods and admins are a clique, and I think I've come up with the right analogy.
We're not a clique. We're a business.
A business that's entirely privately funded, and which charges nothing for its services, but a business in organization, structure, and internal policies.
When we started actually implementing our discussions about what sort of comprehensive fanfic site that would be good for the fandom, we looked at sites like Gossamer (X Files) and a few in the Star Wars fandom which Julie recommended to us, both in terms of structure and in terms of policies.
And we also said "yes" to anyone with a practical skill who wanted to be part of FA. I've still got the post Amber made volunteering her tech skills, then Jason (who I had never met before), Mack and Phil and Colin and...
While many of the people who work on FA have become friendly, I think it's very honest to say that before FA started, I was good friends with one of the people who is now a mod, very friendly with another, and had a solid aquaintance-ship with a few more. But out of the 45 people currently on FA's mod-team, I didn't know 37 of them before they started contributing to FA. I like them all - I really do - but they're not the be-all-and-end-all of the people I spend online-time with. However, they're all committed to making FA as good as it can be.
I went back to the article about high school girl cliques which ran in the New York Times about two months ago for definitions of cliques, and I didn't find anything perfectly on point. So all I can really say is, if you think that getting along with your colleagues means that you've become a clique, nothing I can say will make you change your mind.
A clique, to my mind, says who you can be friends with. What you can say, what you can wear, who you can hang out with. Being an FA mod doesn't involve or establish any such restrictions, except on a purely technical level. There's no groupthink or groupspeak. Nobody's been thrown out of FA because of who they are friends with, or what fanfic they write.
And in other replies:
1. Our agreement with our server host makes it a violation of our TOU to host NC 17 fics. Some of our mods write NC17 fics, and even more read them, but we cannot, at present, host them. We are looking for a solution, and now that we're on a dedicated server, it might be possible to work out the technology needed to keep those underage from accessing them, but we still don't know.
2. The new submission setup should be ready to go live in about a week or so. We think you'll like it.
3. The one thing that I found really surprising in reading the posts was that people feel that being "next to" a number of well known writers on FA either (a) means nobody will read their story, (b) their story isn't good enough to get on FA, or (c) the standards are so high that their fic will be rejected.
I'm going to comine these issues into one - and give a simple statement as a summary of the answer: we don't reject fics which have good grammar and spelling. Period. We don't do it. If you're worried about the characterisation or the pacing - we'll still put it on FA, and hopefully you'll get constructive criticism which will help you improve. Go read my first chapter of my fic (not the prologue, just the chapter) or go read the first chapter of any of the "famous" fics (well, excluding those which have been updated and revised), even if you've read them before. There are tonnes of flaws - weird ones, obvious ones - all sorts of things. Nobody starts writing in a perfect style - and hopefully some of the things we have planned for the summer will make people feel more comfortable about their writing, and more willing to take a chance with it. I mean, if you're willing to make it public somewhere... why not here?
The other thing that struck me about this is - on ffn, all the so-called famous writers were posting their fics there. I remember reading a post about someone not wanting to post her fic the day a new chapter of After the End came out, and another post where someone castigated herself for posting about twenty minutes before Cassie posted chapter 13 of Draco Sinister, so the thinking isn't new... but the application is. Why is it more nerve wracking sharing server space on FA than it was on FFN? Can anyone who had this as an issue clarify please? Much appreciated.
I think these were the main things that struck me - but I still reserve the right to post more if more things suddenly come up :)
We're not a clique. We're a business.
A business that's entirely privately funded, and which charges nothing for its services, but a business in organization, structure, and internal policies.
When we started actually implementing our discussions about what sort of comprehensive fanfic site that would be good for the fandom, we looked at sites like Gossamer (X Files) and a few in the Star Wars fandom which Julie recommended to us, both in terms of structure and in terms of policies.
And we also said "yes" to anyone with a practical skill who wanted to be part of FA. I've still got the post Amber made volunteering her tech skills, then Jason (who I had never met before), Mack and Phil and Colin and...
While many of the people who work on FA have become friendly, I think it's very honest to say that before FA started, I was good friends with one of the people who is now a mod, very friendly with another, and had a solid aquaintance-ship with a few more. But out of the 45 people currently on FA's mod-team, I didn't know 37 of them before they started contributing to FA. I like them all - I really do - but they're not the be-all-and-end-all of the people I spend online-time with. However, they're all committed to making FA as good as it can be.
I went back to the article about high school girl cliques which ran in the New York Times about two months ago for definitions of cliques, and I didn't find anything perfectly on point. So all I can really say is, if you think that getting along with your colleagues means that you've become a clique, nothing I can say will make you change your mind.
A clique, to my mind, says who you can be friends with. What you can say, what you can wear, who you can hang out with. Being an FA mod doesn't involve or establish any such restrictions, except on a purely technical level. There's no groupthink or groupspeak. Nobody's been thrown out of FA because of who they are friends with, or what fanfic they write.
And in other replies:
1. Our agreement with our server host makes it a violation of our TOU to host NC 17 fics. Some of our mods write NC17 fics, and even more read them, but we cannot, at present, host them. We are looking for a solution, and now that we're on a dedicated server, it might be possible to work out the technology needed to keep those underage from accessing them, but we still don't know.
2. The new submission setup should be ready to go live in about a week or so. We think you'll like it.
3. The one thing that I found really surprising in reading the posts was that people feel that being "next to" a number of well known writers on FA either (a) means nobody will read their story, (b) their story isn't good enough to get on FA, or (c) the standards are so high that their fic will be rejected.
I'm going to comine these issues into one - and give a simple statement as a summary of the answer: we don't reject fics which have good grammar and spelling. Period. We don't do it. If you're worried about the characterisation or the pacing - we'll still put it on FA, and hopefully you'll get constructive criticism which will help you improve. Go read my first chapter of my fic (not the prologue, just the chapter) or go read the first chapter of any of the "famous" fics (well, excluding those which have been updated and revised), even if you've read them before. There are tonnes of flaws - weird ones, obvious ones - all sorts of things. Nobody starts writing in a perfect style - and hopefully some of the things we have planned for the summer will make people feel more comfortable about their writing, and more willing to take a chance with it. I mean, if you're willing to make it public somewhere... why not here?
The other thing that struck me about this is - on ffn, all the so-called famous writers were posting their fics there. I remember reading a post about someone not wanting to post her fic the day a new chapter of After the End came out, and another post where someone castigated herself for posting about twenty minutes before Cassie posted chapter 13 of Draco Sinister, so the thinking isn't new... but the application is. Why is it more nerve wracking sharing server space on FA than it was on FFN? Can anyone who had this as an issue clarify please? Much appreciated.
I think these were the main things that struck me - but I still reserve the right to post more if more things suddenly come up :)
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(no subject)
Date: 2002-05-06 09:17 am (UTC)Was it really that long ago that I wrote that? Nope. But I have improved quite a bit since then. The feedback I have received from the reviews, as well as the additional practice I have had since those first few chapters, have helped me to become a better writer. My sequel is shaping up to be a much more complex story, which I never would have even dreamed of tackling had it not been for the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction I got from completing my first fic.
So those of you out there who are afraid to post to this site... why? The people who run this site care about helping you post your stories and grow as a writer... in fact, most of them are writers themselves, so they understand your plight.
*ahem* I'll put the soapbox away and get back to writing my next chapter... but before I do... please feel free to e-mail me if you have any reservations about posting your fics... I'd be happy to give you advice on what to do from a relatively objective third party. There are many ways that you can make your fic stand out among the rest. My e-mail address is eliasheldon@yahoo.com.
Elia
(no subject)
Date: 2002-05-06 05:45 pm (UTC)I have just submitted my first fic to The Dark Arts, and while I had to take a moment to breathe properly, it wasn't because I felt that my fic would be overlooked, but I thought it would be an honor to have my fic alongside the writers that I admire, CassieClaire, Lori, Barb, etcetcetc. Plus, being up among such prestigious writers inspires me to do my best.
People have complained about the submission process and it's toughness - I personally didn't find it really hard...maybe it gets harder as you go on... *shrugs* It's a bit daunting at first when you look at it, but if you break it down it's not hard. The only think I could see as a bit of a problem is the whole "oops I made a mistake, I need to fix it" process
Heidi, your journal is always so interesting to read :P
::: has just added heidi to her friendlist and just surfed the B&J new flavors site and is now drooling all over her keyboard :::
(no subject)
Date: 2002-05-06 09:34 pm (UTC)Ayla
(no subject)
Date: 2002-05-07 12:27 am (UTC)Next, I've read reasons that it is intimidating to be archived next to the most prominent, and they are for very obvious reasons, fanfic writers in the fandom. I quite agree that it is intimidating, but if you just keep getting intimidated, you'll get nowhere. I am a writer, but I know nothing about fiction writing, although I've always wanted to try my hand at it. The fandom is a wonderful place to practice my writing skills, but if I keep belittling myself and setting myself up as mediocre, then I couldn't possibly improve. To say that you wouldn't post your fics at FA because you think no one will read it because of the presence of Cassandra Claire or AngieJ, well, that's just cowardly.
I'm quite fine with the process, I was confused at first but then I got the hang of it. But I'm glad to hear that there are plans on how to improve it so it will be more fanfic writer-friendly.
I'm sorry if I've rambled on, I guess I wanted to express the fact that I think FA's done a wonderful job with the fandom and I appreciate the fact that you're all very open to criticism and your never ending quest for excellence.
Mia
...
Date: 2002-05-13 07:09 pm (UTC)