Author says: When I have to raise the white flag

In the ten years now that I've been writing fanfiction, I've written and deleted more stories then I can even remember. Posted on the site however...If you were to ask how many, what names, which fandoms, I could probably tell you because deleting a story/taking it down for whatever reason can be pretty embarrassing.

It's kind of like stringing people along - baiting them with this wonderful idea, and then telling them, "Hey, joke's on you, I'm not actually going to write this anymore!"

And I hate it when that happens.

I've been reading fanfic as long as I've been writing it so I've been lured into incomplete stories before. Years have gone by and nothing.

The worst is not knowing when a story hasn't been updated in a while, and you reach the last of the story so far and you hope that in a week/month/year it'll continue...and then you check the last update and your heart falters - TWO YEARS AGO. SERIOUSLY.

I think that's why I prefer to delete rather then leaving them there to linger...

If there was an option between incomplete and complete, perhaps labeled "hiatus" or "abandoned", it would be a different story. But considering my reasons for not continuing stories in the first place, there's a chance I wouldn't even use those...

Real life problems aside, I'm a very sensitive person.

Sure I can take criticism from others, but when it comes to my own? Hoo boy, there's no competition there.

I've always been pretty self conscious about my stories, they're an extension of myself: my self-conscious, behavior, thought process. Unfortunately as most of my stories are driven by the plotbunnies, it's usually a jumbled mess.

In the past that's why I rarely ever finished a story, in fact, Sibling Intervention was my first one, and even then I wasn't completely satisfied.

The reasons for that was simply because upon rereading, my head hurt.

There was pacing problems, characters that should have had bigger roles were sidelined, scenes lingered unnecessarily, there was all this build up and no pay off and I had words upon words. If I had written that for NaNo I would've finished with weeks to spare because that's how bloated I thought it was and it still wasn't going anywhere.

The reason for Permission Granted getting the fanfiction erase button was just as simple.

Despite the story only being two(three) chapters in, I felt lost.

It was likely because as the readers hoped, I continued a story that I hadn't thought further than the first chapter for.

Sure Liberties Taken was satisfying to a degree, but as one of the reviewers said, it had a comfortable amount of potential to be left on its own. Though I felt the same, I ignored it. Why?

Well for one thing, the reviews for the story was amazing. Liberties Taken has, since today, hit 51 reviews. I've never had that many for a single one-shot. And, though Permission Granted was only two chapters in, it had hit the same amount fairly quickly.

And as a writer, feedback is my drug. I need that ish.

If you're a writer of any kind you know you want someone to talk to you about your work, it's the best feeling - it means someone has read it, spent time on it and thought about it enough to voice an opinion over it. The only way to get it though was with a good story so that's how my stories become my dealers.

What I needed though, was a redo if I wanted this story to be satisfying not only to read, but to write as well.

I didn't want to be using half baked ideas and suffering the same problems as Sibling Intervention.

After sitting with it for awhile whilst NaNo is happening (which I'm not sure I'll continue considering the problems I can already foresee), I had an idea of what I wanted to do with Liberties Taken. Unfortunately it required a bit of a face lift which simple editing just would not fix.

Plus, because of the encouragement I received with Sibling Intervention I wanted to try my hand at publishing, maybe with SI and maybe with LT. Who knows...?

Regardless, this face lift didn't need competition within my own stories.

Just yesterday, after posting a one-shot I had written out of the blue, a reviewer praised the story before asking about Permission Granted.

Sigh. Anyway.

My random bouts of OCD aside, a part of me was embarrassed for caving to the review craving.

I didn't even know what the point of Permission Granted was when I reread it.

Though, Lady Ruthless was kind enough to say,

"It seems more like an Emma fanfic than P&P"

And, though I truly love Emma, writing Emma and not Elizabeth was not my intention.

I felt just as embarrassed by it as I was by Sibling Intervention when it was over. I had no desire to keep on writing Permission Granted, but I did want to let the plotbunny have its glory day, the idea had merit and I owed the people who liked it enough to want more and give them more.

Hopefully I won't disappoint, though I'm afraid I already have.

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Review spotlight

"I really love the way you write, it's very Oscar Wilde, dry and witty."

- Guest, chapter 2 of Permission Granted

 

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Anatomy of a popular one-shot

Yes I'm aware I'm tooting my own horn. 

No. I don't care.

Anatomy of a popular one-shot

I've written many one-shots. Not exceeding a hundred yet mind you, but I've had my fair share of them - thirty plus if you count the stories from my inactive account, and ten to fifteen on my current. 

For those of you who don't know what a one-shot is: It's basically a short story, the shortest short story ever. It can really only count as a one-shot if it's a single chapter so word count is relative. 

Some people find it easy. Others not so much.

I write one-shots as experiments and mainly to scratch the writing bug that pops up. I don't have the best track record with long running stories, so one-shots and collections of one-shots are my safest bet which would explain the number of them that I have.

I'm no expert at it, but I've come to recognize a few things once the story has been posted. An example being the two one-shots that spurned the creation of this post.

Before I give away any misleading secrets, it's important to note a few things: 

A story's popularity depends on a number of factors, these include, but are not limited to:

• The fandom you're writing for
• The pairing or main characters involved
• The genre you categorize it under
• The rating of the story

As you may have noticed, the actual writing isn't mentioned because those are internal factors and what makes a story attractive to potential readers is the bare minimum they see which in fanfiction is limited to a 455character summary, a title, and the above already mentioned. 

Note: Readers will notice any spelling and grammatical errors in your summary and it could be held against you. A good first impression is important.

Now, as I said, I recently posted two one-shots three days apart (they're practically twins), here they are, their first picture outside of my brain -

Despite the fact that the stories were three days apart they had nothing else in common: Not their fandom, not their rating, not their word count, nothing. 

But what's interesting is that I felt exactly the same when I wrote both. I was suffering from writer's block about another story and I wrote those two to make them better. They were written practically the same day but released seperately because I felt like it (no joke, I didn't think either of them were particularly good so I was reluctant to release them onto the internet).

As you can see from the reviews though, the stories garnered different responses. 

The first, my shot in the dark - first Fairy Tail one-shot was me writing away my obsession with a pairing that isn't particularly popular. I thought it was the better of the two so that's why I posted it first. I didn't expect a miracle, if anything I'm surprised I got any reviews at all. 

The second was posted under the excitement that my Fairy Tail one-shot survived without a flame or troll in sight, and I hoped I'd get the same response. 

If you're on the Facebook Group Fanfiction Writers Unite you'd know how it was received: I got eight reviews within two hours of posting, and the numbers kept going...

I still think it's a joke, and I honestly laugh about it because it's so unbelievable. 

Looking back, the stories are pretty different. 

Fandom and pairing:

Fairy Tail, though popular as a fandom, didn't have a big community of Laxana shippers.

Pride and Prejudice on the other hand, is quite active, and its  DarcyxLizzy/Dizzy ship definitely takes up the entire harbor.

The up would go to the Pride and Prejudice story.

Plot wise: 

The Fairy Tail one-shot was my version of a Laxana trope: the pairing being drinking buddies. 

The Pride and Prejudice one-shot was a complete out of the box: the pairing in the same economic situation (a trope that is rarely ever explored though I've yet to figure out why). 

It would be a toss up, but since the trope was more uncommon in one then the other, the up would go to the Pride and Prejudice story

Rating:
The Fairy Tail one-shot was rated T for safety (Cana's a big drinker, plus the trope was drinking buddies so there was that).
The Pride and Prejudice one-shot was rated K because it was still regency, no one swore and no one did anything mildly inappropriate (for our time period besides a kiss)
Both ratings show up without having to fiddle with the filters, but the more G rated it could be the better chances the story has of being read (safety first). The up would go to Pride and Prejudice story.

Word count:
The Fairy Tail one-shot was 3k
The Pride and Prejudice one-shot was 1k
One-shots are usually read because they're always complete and because generally, they're short so the up went to the Pride and Prejudice story.

Genre:

Both were categorized under romance, with Fairy Tail having the added Friendship thrown in because the actual romance was more implied. 

In that, there are no differences. In fact, having another genre can attract more readers, so the up might have gone to Fairy Tail if I wasn't so unsure of how obvious my preference for Laxana as more than a friendship pair.

Summary: 

I've changed the summary twice for the Pride and Prejudice story while the Fairy Tail one has remained the same. For the most part, both stories seem relatively simple in the trope they present - 

The Fairy Tail one-shot was clearly going to be about drinking (Cana and alcohol always go hand in hand) and I had it easier putting into words what exactly it was about while the Pride and Prejudice one-shot was a little more vague, but implies the pair are in the same situation, though it was difficult to word it in a way I was happy with (I'm still not by the way, but what can you do). 

Content: 

I liked the story more in Fairy Tail because it had a clear beginning, middle and end. I got to play around a bit with headcanons. It also read more like a one-shot despite it being 3k in length. I struggled with the tenses though, and people did notice, but overall, the response was the best I could've hoped for.

The story for Pride and Prejudice was a bit more muddled, the only thing really clear about it was the fact that it was happening in the moment - the beginning and end weren't particularly clear, but that seemed to have an appeal to people as they reviewed to say they wish there was more to read.

The thing I was most worried about was how completely out-of-character I thought everyone was, but the readers disagreed.

Also when I reread it a few hours after I posted just to make sure the readers and I were reading the same thing, I found a multitude of errors and missing words, none of which was present in the Fairy Tail story. No one seemed to mind.

So here's what I got from the responses of the two one-shots:

Write what the plotbunnies tell you to. You don't have to put it in a box and organise it. Get what you want to say out and then rework it to make sure it meshes. You'll miss the story if you're too worried about how it'll look.

Content is king. Don't worry too much about the spelling and grammar as you write (though don't post it if you haven't corrected the mistakes), the plotbunnies don't have time for proper English. Let them do what they do and then clean up the mess.

Be bold. Like this font. People want to read something new, just because it's been tried and tested doesn't mean it'll be popular. 

Also, just because a fandom or it's pairing isn't in demand, doesn't mean you shouldn't write that story your plotbunnies have been nagging you about. You could be the start of that ship's popularity. I know, because I've been one too ;-)

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Author says...

Author says...

I've been MIA for about two weeks now, I think...

The last few months of the year are the months I'm the most inactive in everything to be perfectly honest which really sucks considering I have exams in November, plus NanoWriMo which I've been meaning to join and do for years now...

Hopefully by the time my year starts again in October, I'll have my energy and motivation back.

For now though, I've been spending my time watching Fairy Tail and editing Sibling Intervention. 

Why Fairy Tail? Frankly I've only written non-fiction and my end game for publishing is to write things with magic and supernatural aspects and I can't do that if I don't have any basis for it so yeah, Fairy Tail is one of the many sources I'm looking to for inspiration.

Sibling Intervention is being edited yet again in an attempt to combine the first part and its sequel as one whole story so I'm thinking about discontinuing Brotherly Advice and Sisterly Persuasion. So far I've edited, cut and combined roughly seven chapters to four and I'll keep at it until I've covered everything. I haven't a plan yet for what I want to do with the fully completed story,  but bare with me, I'll think of something xD

 

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Mirror, Mirror: Limbo, a Bleach fanfiction

Mirror, Mirror: 

Limbo, a Bleach fanfiction

In which I reflect on a story I wrote which as a whole will be examined and reviewed for my personal growth. After all, no one's harder on me than me.

Limbo reviews 

She isn't dead yet. But it certainly feels like it. 

Bleach - Rated: K+ - English - Friendship/Romance - Chapters: 1 - Words: 1,639 - Reviews: 6 - Updated:8/3/2014 - Published: 8/3/2014 - [Ichigo K., Rukia K.] - Complete

So this isn't my first not-real romance (the first was Shadows of the sun) and it isn't particularly sad or anything like that, it's more a reflection. I admit the basis is pretty cheesy, the prompt was simply, "Describe the colour orange" probably from a popular tumblr question, "Describe the colour red without using the word red." It obviously isn't as genius as that, but I gave it a shot anyway.

Where she lay, bathed in the sparse sunlight that entered her white gilded cage, she didn't feel the warmth on her skin.

 Rereading that, if the sunlight was sparse than it implies that the sunlight that can reach her wouldn't be strong enough to make her feel warm. Though adding "white" helped in hindsight, light reflects on lighter surfaces but wouldn't be absorbed so it really wouldn't be warm...nice save past me!

She could see it, and she knew it was there shining dimly before her face, but that was all. 

Rereading it, I could've mentioned that weird halo effect I (and I assume others) get when I close my eyes in front of a light, I just missed a chance at symbolism.

Rukia wondered at it, this lack of sensation. Was it a consequence of her confinement? She didn't have anyone to talk to, and the tower itself had nothing inside it besides her own body. 

From "She didn't have anyone to talk to..." sounds awkward, should have thought of a way to better phrase that.

Once she had listened the snap of the flags, but the sound had since silenced; static noise filling her world with only her heartbeat to disturb the stifling emptiness.

Personally I liked that. High five past me. 

Closed off from the familiar trill of spirit energy; the tower was surrounded but isolated preventing even the sounds of birds and the rustle of leaves as the wind blew. Perhaps without her notice, she had become accustomed to the sounds  noise and her mind had simply deemed it unnecessary and blocked it from her notice. But that didn't explain why the sun didn't feel like anything against her skin.

The phrase in italics reads as too abruptly ended, but the fact that she's only thinking about hearing birds and leaves says a lot about where Rukia's priorities lie. Birds in flight and leaves in the wind = sense of freedom which she currently doesn't have so yay, symbolism! 

The second "sounds" in the paragraph is distracting me though, probably the repetition, should've changed it to noise.

The last sentence (underlined) is from a post I read online, it was an assumption that when you're dying the last things to go are your sense of touch and your sense of smell, taste goes first and then sight; though that's just from that one article while others claim a completely different combination. But I'll stick with the touch last so possible symbolism?  

On days that she would lay for hours, she'd burn and sweat. On days that she didn't lie until the very last minute, the ground would be hot and her back would sizzle while the other half of her body would be half frozen, her skin as pale and as white as the floors and walls surrounding her.

When she lies down she burns...could've elaborated more or threw in some prose for imagery, but it gets to the point,  the fact that there's more description towards the latter shows which actually holds the most consequences. (Feeling it all or feeling only some of it while at the same time feeling like she's fading into her surroundings) <--- I was unintentionally, surprisingly deep. Personal opinion -  the only person whose going to love me more is me.

Right now, it should've been the first.

Abrupt. But it goes to the point and hopefully brings more impact to what I previously reflected about the proceeding paragraph.

Since she had woken (though she couldn't remember when she had fallen asleep), she had been there waiting to bake and boil.
It seemed that during her isolation she had adopted a masochist attitude, her desire to sense anything at all was overwhelming; to feel was to live and to live was all she wanted.

 Further elaboration on the proceeding paragraph. I don't know how I was writing any of this to be perfectly honest, now that I'm reflecting on it, I think it's pretty cool...

The sun – setting, rising, she couldn't tell – sat atop her face, a yellow glow behind her closed lids.

Repetitive. Could have impact, but could have easily lost it too. (Note to self: use with caution)

It used to calm her; getting to bathe in the sunny smile of a dying star. It was the affectionate touch of someone familiar, someone that loved her, someone that comforted her; it was a touch that said, "You're safe". 

Maybe that was why it didn't surprise her then that she couldn't feel it here.
She wasn't safe.
In this building. In Soul Society. Anywhere really.

Last line, lost the tone.

 Her chest grew heavy and she sighed to ease it.

I'm catching some tenses getting mixed up, grammar isn't my strong suit so I either get better or get a beta. I noticed with my other slightly angsty-not-really-a-romance stories that I jumble my tenses more often, though I'm not sure if its the genre or just the way my brain is working.

 Ever since that fateful night, she knew she would never be safe. For two months, it was simply limbo, a waiting game; a matter of 'when' rather than 'if'. The danger was always there, not just for her, but for Ichigo too…The reminder of him is immediately followed by a flash of orange.

 Italics, too abrupt - tone still missing.

It's the color of warmth – not the flowery, superficial warmth of yellow or the intensity to burn like red, but enough to feel the heat without the fear of being destroyed in the process. Orange was a balance; it was delicate and required consistency at all costs. He epitomized that. Superficial in his pretenses as much as she was in hers, but passionate in a way that she could never hope to be.
He liked to pretend that he didn't care about anyone or anything; that he really was some punk who liked to cause trouble. But he would die to save his sisters, put his life in danger for his friends; and was consistent in his scolding of her stupidity.
The thought pulled at the corner of her lips.
It was always half his fault at the least.

I think I found the tone again, and its blending with nostalgia, doesn't feel too awkward but that could just be me.

Despite the fact that he always rushed in like a hero and walk out like one, he'd always sit on his bed pouting at the end of it, apparently not satisfied with saving the day.

As someone pointed out in the Facebook Group (I think it was Gems, though I may be giving undue credit haha) that this particular sentence was awkward, I did try and fix it with the edit and I'm slightly happier but can't tell if its still uncomfortable to read.

As she healed the little she could, she remembered asking him once, rather annoyed, why he had the gall to be upset – did he want to go walking around bleeding a gallon of blood onto his favorite shirt?

The tone goes missing near the end, but it can be attributed to her getting caught up in her memories of him.

"It's just," he paused with a scowl as he glared petulantly through her, his hands twisting fitfully on either side of him, "you're always saving me."

I've made Ichigo sound a little childish here, which was the point, but a part of me feels its a little too open for Ichigo to admit it. So.CREATIVE LICENSE POWERS ACTIVATE.

"Of course, if you need saving then I'll do it, there's nothing wrong with that. We're partners remember?" Unconsciously rougher than before as if to punish him for being stupid, she made sure he was looking her in the eye as she reminded innocently, to the point that she almost sounded mournful, "If you die, whose going to feed me then?"

May have been too insistent with the image I wanted the readers to have, stopping at "she reminded him innocently" would have sufficed without the overload.

His scowl deepened, but the lingering look – worry, anguish? – banished, and the rain that Inoue romantically used to describe his sadness, was no longer there.
It was times like that, even when they continued to argue, that she could feel the glimpse of the sun against her cheeks, though it was probably because she was shouting herself hoarse at him.

It's only a slightly there romance like Shadows of the sun so of course Rukia's brushing away any possible romantic feelings aside, plus its Rukia, she and Ichigo are pretty dense (or maybe it's just Rukia, I forget).

 But orange wasn't just about passion and balance, it was the color of citrus fruit: sometimes sweet and sometimes sour. It described his mood, his behavior perfectly.On the surface, he's always sour.

Again, the change is abrupt (Note to self: Work on transitions).

Also, saying too much is distracting and gives too much away.

Because he's surrounded by idiots: His dad, his friends, his teachers, school, a certain teddy bear mod soul, a crazy girl living in his closet. Sour. Sour. Sour. It's his default.
With his sisters though, he's sweet.
He'd never do anything to hurt them, he'd never let anyone hurt them; and he'd do anything for them. With Inoue he was sweet, though tangy was more suitable – he actually didn't like scaring people, least of all innocent, well-meaning girls like Inoue Orihime. But he wasn't sweet in the same way he was with his sisters, it was about the same way he acted around scared pluses. To his credit, he had a way with them – especially the deceased children. Not that he'd ever really admit it.

Repetition during the italics was better, it gave some impact, but could have been too much considering Karin and Yuzu weren't mentioned other than here.

She knew it the first time with that little girl he brought flowers for in the morning, the one who was frightened off by some fools on their skateboards.
Ichigo had protected her and defended her, something Rukia doubted few people did for total strangers, least of all, dead ones.
Come to think of it, he's actually a big softie.

CREATIVE LICENSE, I know she didn't see it, but that was the only example I could think of at the top of my head.
The last sentence shows how much she's gotten used to the modern world thanks to Ichigo even if it would be uncharacteristic coming out of her mouth (unless she was pretending to be the sweet, normal school girl Kuchiki Rukia which, guess what Brain? HIGH FIVE!)

"Shuddup," he barked, arms crossed and looking away with a tick on his forehead.
Standing beside him, she giggled girlishly. "Oh don't be embarrassed Kurosaki-kun!"
"Would you-just-urgh! Stop using that voice!"
Holding her cheeks, and shaking herself side to side, she faked a swoon. But no one really noticed, they were too busy staring at Ichigo and whispering amongst themselves.
Normally she wouldn't want to put too much attention on herself and by extension him, but he deserved it for making her "sweet, innocent Kuchiki" mask hard to put on yesterday. Why he insisted on pushing her buttons, she had no idea.

No secret that Ichigo doesn't help with her cover, could have executed that a bit better though...

Besides, it wasn't all her doing. Ichigo had raised enough attention on his own.
He did, after all, just save some poor kid from getting run over.
"Oh Kurosaki-kun," she continued to croon, "you'll save me too if that ever happens, riiight?"
His face reddened further before he grabbed her by the elbow to drag her away. "Shuddup, we're going to be late for class."
"Ohhh thank you Kurosaki-kun, for saving me from being tardy~"

Personally liked this little snippet the most because I got to show her getting under Ichigo's skin which very few people can do (when fighting isn't involved).

 Thinking on it now, she swore that she lived for his scowls. Though, "lived" may be too strong a word.

Get it? 'Coz she's dead? HA-HA.

She had heard silly notions of how she "saved" him. Yes, she kind of did that night they first met, but she wouldn't have had to involve him in the first place if she had handled it quicker. And "making the rain stop" was never her intention, though admittedly if she could lighten his burdens she would. Still, if you asked Inoue or Tatsuki, they would say that she stopped that rain in him, made the sun shine again.
The idea though was distressing.

I'd hate the idea that someone I cared about had it rough. I know everyone's had issues and problems they faced to get to where they are, but most of the time we're quite ignorant of what has happened in another person's past so yeah, that was me projecting...

Was his rain similar to her cloudy day, when he couldn't feel anything and everything around him was nothing but static noise, feeling like limbo?

 Entire question felt weird to me. I was told by Zadien that she particularly liked this line, and obviously I liked the imagery it brought with it but I could have worded it a bit better.

She hoped not, that wouldn't be a very good way to describe orange; orange was supposed to be stable – the safe color of a growing flame. It wasn't meant to die down; it was supposed to grow stronger – brighter, but it would be squished beneath the heel of a captain or lieutenant if Ichigo was still in Soul Society.

I wanted to emphasis how even though she was the one being executed, she was more worried for him than for herself. I can actually see her frowning at the very thought in the end.

Orange, to her, was a person: Sunkissed  tanned skin, brown eyes, orange hair. It was a person she had grown dependent on: to carry out her duties, to live a seemingly normal life, to show her how the modern world worked. He was orange – reliable, stable.

Hey paragraph from way back when, I see you!

I wanted to avoid any adjectives at this point besides the "sunkissed" part though it may have been a mistake and I should've just said "tanned" instead because without having to explain, the colors themselves make me think of being warm.

Death Gods were beautiful, point it was a known fact. And even as a substitute, he was certainly handsome. At just fifteen he had the determination, strength and courage to show up most of the official shinigami in Soul Society. Those traits defined orange to her: undeterred, unwavering and unbroken.

The "Death Gods are beautiful" line was inspired by one of my favorite IchiRuki one-shots called You know  it really helped to ease the transition a bit.

Orange was an emotion.
A tremor shook the earth, and her eyes opened just as a wall of the tower collapsed, the dust rising as a single figure stood in its ruins.
She knew that spiky hair anywhere.
In those brief seconds that her mind was processing him standing there, still breathing and having the audacity to smirk at her dumbfounded expression.
Warmth settled on her skin, and she was alive again.
"Ichigo."

And that's it! I really liked the end, which I make my goal to ensure doesn't suck too much because its usually the last thing anyone will read because most people ignore author's notes (sniff).

Anyway, my overall impression of my work:

I'm relatively happy, my tenses though need work across the board and my transitions could be smoother. There's also the issue of my repetitiveness which can be an impact or a deterrent so I just need to pay attention. Otherwise, I'm impressed since I definitely didn't notice any of the symbolism when I was writing the story nor did I feel as connected to it as I do now that I analysed it like I did. Still, there's room for improvement. If I write a similar fic or one on similar grounds, I'll do a comparison and see if I've actually addressed these issues.

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Ships that sail themselves - An Introduction

A brief history of how ships came to sail themselves 

do you see how glorious it looks? SHIPS!

Ships that sail themselves - An introduction

Like most things, fanfiction takes simple words and gives them entirely new meanings. The most important words to take note of when wadding through the Romance genre (which is arguably the most popular in any fandom) are related to pairings and couples. Such words include: Slash (subdivided into yaoi and yuri), Harem and Canon Compliant. 

A word often used to describe a pairing regardless is the word "Ship". 

Taken from Wikipedia: 

"derived from the word relationship, friendship or worship, is the belief of (or desire for) two (or more) people, often fictional, to be in a romantic relationship. It is considered a general term for fans' emotional involvement with the ongoing development of romance in a work of fiction. Though technically applicable to any such involvement, it refers chiefly to various related social dynamics observable on the Internet, and is seldom used outside of that context. The methods of shipping can include creating images of two characters a fan wishes to be shown in a loving relationship with one another or writing fan fiction stories on web-based boards in this same context."

Further, ships themselves can be subcategorized:

• Ship - The idea of a relationship between two or more characters or individuals
• Friendship - The idea of a non-romantic (friendly) relationship between characters
• Sailed Ship - A ship that is canonically true
• Crack Ship - A ship that would be unlikely to become canonically true because of many fictional barriers between the characters.
• Joke Ship - A ship that is paired for fun, and not taken seriously.
• Sunken Ship- A ship that one once supported (and perhaps still does) that went down in the ocean, drowning all on board; essentially a hopeless relationship
• Ghost Ship- A ship where one or more of the characters has died either canonally or in an AU (Alternate Universe). It may be dead, but it's still sailing.
• Cannonball (also wrecking ball) - An abrupt course of events
• Shore - A happy ending to a ship
• Thunder - Foreshadowing events of a ship losing momentum
• Slash - A homosexual ship (sometimes 'femslash' for two females in a relationship)
• OTP - Short for "One True Pairing"; to deem a ship OTP, one is declaring their deep emotional investment in it; perhaps he or she feels that the characters involved in the relationship are meant for each other above all other relationships they may be put in by others
• BROTP - Related to OTP, except that instead of a romantic relationship, it refers to a friend relationship; the term "BROTP" is a combination of bromance and "OTP". A bromance is a relationship in which two men are close friends, but not romantically involved.
• TTP - Two True Pairings; sometimes a fan of a show, book, movie, etc. cannot decide on an OTP and is left with two options. TTP is used to express this.
• There are also several variations of OTP besides BROTP, which include but are not limited to: NOTP - a ship that one viscerally dislikes and is strongly against; OT3 - A ship with three participants (the numeral may increase with the number of characters involved in the ship); and depending on the ship itself and what is considered a staple of thatménage à trois, a term which mixes "ship" with another word of some meaning to the fandom.
• Shark - A person who is against a particular ship
• Ship Wars - The sometimes bitterly contentious disagreements between fans who favor different pairings of characters

 Some of the above are not used as popularly as others, but you get the point.

The reason I'm compiling this information is because when I discovered fanfiction I was quite literally, walking in blind. I had no idea what the hell a "ship" had to do with romance or what the hell "slash" was, and dear gods, could someone tell me what the ratings mean?!

So I'm compiling all this info for you lovely people who may also be just as lost as I was, so here it is: a brief, never official history of fandom shipping:

There are many ways to categorize the shipping ways of a fandom, which depends solely on the fandom in which you'll decide to lurk, but let's start with something we know.

Grandpa Hank, telling it like it is.

• From Friends: Chandler and Monica, Ross and Rachel, Joey and food. 
• From How I met your mother: Marshall and Lily, Ted and Robin
• From Bones: Booth and Brennan, Hodgins and Angela. 
• From Game of Thrones: Drogo and Dany, Ned and Catelyn, Jon and Yrgitte 
• From Wall-E: Wall-E and Eve
• From Harry Potter: Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione, James and Lily, Remus and Tonks
• From Mortal Instruments: Jace and Clary
• From Hunger Games: Peeta and Katniss
• From Fault In Our Stars: Augustus and Hazel
• From Supernatural: Dean and pie. 
• From Twilight: Bella and Edward (come on, there was no real competition pfth), Alice and Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie, Esmee and Carlisle. 
• From Doctor Who: The Doctor and more often not, whoever his partner is for the season
• From Avatar: the last airbender: Aang and Katara, Zuko and Mai, Sokka and Suki

All the above are considered "canon" because they've been stated, by the source material, that they are the real deal - the end game. (Note: Obviously those aren't all the canon pairings in a single fandom, but those were the ones off the top of my head)

If you like anime or read manga, you may wonder why I haven't put any up considering I'm an anime fan and I should know at least one canon pairing. Well, see, in anime/manga it's a bit harder to label a pairing canon because more often than not it's more suggested than it is stated. Only animes/mangas that are short (24 episodes or less or are less than a 100 chapters) generally have a canon couple such as "Beyond the Boundary" and "Angel Beats", in general I think most animes/mangas only reveal their real ships towards the end of the series such as with "Sailor Moon" or "Card Captor Sakura" despite the fact that most people knew they were going to be together in the end doesn't necessary mean that they will be (Hint: Avatar the last airbender - that shit hurt me in my heart).

For big animes/mangas like Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, Fairy Tail, etc. It varies from being implied and suggested to being teased.

Implied/ suggested -  one character shows signs of romantic feeling towards another, however, it is either not returned or the characters in question are oblivious. The author of the original material would have done it on purpose and leave behind a lot of symbolism in the wake of it hinting at the existence of the pairing.

From the manga

i.e:

• Bleach - Ichigo and Rukia, despite not playing as big a role as her counterpart, Rukia finds her way sharing pages or shots with Ichigo. In the opening credits, they are also seen wearing matching/complimenting colours or on opposite backgrounds (he on black and she on white). In the anime and manga, they are sometimes portrayed as being tied together with a red string which in Japanese culture is referred to as "The Red String of Fate" that binds two people that were destined to meet.
• Fairy Tail - Gajeel and Levy, despite their rough start, Gajeel becomes protective of Levy and when he gets his Fairy Tail mark it's the opposite colour of hers (his is black and hers is white). His gruff exterior means that people aren't generally at ease with him and that he isn't particularly easy going around people himself, however during the series he doesn't mind getting Levy's support either after a battle when he can't walk anymore or when he leans casually on her during a normal day.
• Fairy Tail - Natsu and Lucy, of the long years Natsu has been in Fairy Tail, his only partner has been Happy and then Lucy. His team up with Ezra and Gray doesn't necessary count as he doesn't refer to them as partners, though he refers to everyone bearing the Fairy Tail mark as nakama. During the series, Lucy and Natsu have always taken to wearing matching outfits/accessories, and no surprise, as partners they are often saving each other, getting each other in trouble or running away together (sadly,not like that).

As you can see, this stuff is usually more visual than it is verbal. Some could easily argue these things away, while others will hold it as evidence.

Teased: both characters shows signs of romantic/not so platonic interest in the other, though this is also interpreted differently by different people.

I.e:

• Bleach - Ichigo and Rukia - When Rukia got taken back to SS, Ichigo went right in there and blew some shit up to save her, plus he reached an insane level of strength to duke it out with her brother for her honor (sadly, not like that). Despite claiming he was saving her as payback for her helping save his family, the other characters weren't so believing. She is often called the person who made the rain stop, and during the manga and anime after she leaves, Ichigo wonders how he's going to keep up to the speed of the world without her. When Ichigo's powers are taken away, his goodbye to Rukia is the most heartbreaking thing in history, ask anyone.
  

  

  Screenshot from the episode with true commentary 

• Fairy Tail - Gajeel and Levy - When he first joins Fairy Tail, the first order of business was making it up to Levy by saving her from Laxus, further, he speaks only to her and Juvia (without demanding to be fought with like Natsu and Gray). During the S-class exam, he told Levy that he'd make her big, an important thing since she didn't feel that she was strong enough to have been chosen to participate.
• Fairy Tail - Natsu and Lucy - Natsu's habit of cuddling with Lucy in the morning before she wakes up and kicks him out is no secret. He has also shown signs of being fiercely protective of her (when he thought she went home, when her father died, when her future self was killed,etc.) particularly the last example as he says, "You've taken something dear before me, right before my eyes." During the Grand Magical Games, he had her back when she was being blackmailed to not fight back and even when she lost, he was there to pick her up. Plus, when the baddies were trying to kidnap her, he lost his shit way more than everyone else did.

(Note: Both terms are interchangable, I just like to show some love for my ships)

Those are just my perspectives, and I'm limiting myself to Bleach and Fairy Tail because I've actually watched/read them and I support the three above mentioned pairing myself (biased I know, but hey, it's my blog).

The above examples as well as other pairings such as HarryxHermione, DracoHermione, DracoxGinny, HarryxLuna, RonxLuna, RonxLavender, NevilleLuna [Harry Potter], GendryxArya [Game of Thrones/A song of fire and ice], ZukoxKatara,AangxToph [Avatar: The last airbender], etc. Are all examples of canon-possibilities because they were suggested or implied and had built up a fanbase, however, they're either currently unexplored, wish fulfillment or have not yet happened.

(Note: left out slash to avoid confusion, but those exist in the same capacity too)

And now said slash:

Slash is subdivided into Yaoi or Yuri, but is called plainly "Slash" outside of anime/manga. Slash is basically LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) I don't read these types of fic as they aren't really my cup of tea so I can't really give in depth analysis on this, so I'll try to make it quick to lower the amount of stuff I could be wrong about:

If my research is right, the term slash actually developed from the Star Trek fandom.

When deciding on the main characters for a fic, in the past it was simply separated by "/" to indicate a romantic relationship. Even then though, the most popular genre had been romance (albeit still growing and not as popular as it is now), so when non-gen pairing was indicated people simply referred to it as "slash".

Yaoi/ The G in LGBT, is all about male on male goodness. The most popular I know of is Sherlock and John and maybe Dean and Castiel, others include Harry and Draco, Snape and Harry, and so on.

Yuri is the female on female equivalent. I'm not too knowledgeable on this one as it isn't as mainstream in fandom as its counterpart, but that could just be the fandoms I lurk. I have, however, come across Hermione and Bellatrix, Alice and Rosalie, Lucy and Levy, etc.

The remaining LGBT is self explanatory, like I said I don't know much about this topic, so let's move right along...

The next part is separating what makes a pairing (gen or otherwise) crack.

Crackfics are a different topic entirely as a fic can be regarded as crack regardless of whether it's a romance or not. Crack fics are usually as its name implies, as if the author was on crack and the story they've posted just some huge joke (which, oftentimes it is, but some people genuinely support their crack ships).Crack pairings are about the same. They are pairings that have no foundation whatsoever, and they quite literally do not make sense and have no basis for a relationship at all.

Lion King and Iron Man - Crack.
Sasuke and Ramen - Crack.
Thor and an ice giant - Crack (though I'd probably read that...)

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I came to understand all the funky terms that the fanfic community comes up with. These are by no means, everything, it'll probably be updated over time and other posts may pop up expanding on it. But this is my brief guide on how ships came to sail themselves.

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Anon Says...

We are all anonymous and we deserve to be heard

Anon says

I get a lot of Guest reviews that bring up a lot of good points or ask questions, and sometimes I just want to acknowledge them for the review (because seriously, reviews are awesome), but there's just one problem: THEY DON'T HAVE ACCOUNTS. 

So, instead of clogging up an update with a response to those reviews, I have decided to make use of this blog (which doesn't get enough attention from me) to respond to them. 

Flavor of the Month:  Guest chapter 2 . Jul 15 Bella is annoying as hell. And he was the weird one? I would be very surprise if in real life the guy would want to see her again. He wasn't as awkward as her and she is the one that had all those one-night stand. Stay away Edward. Reply Glad you think so, I was aiming for a not-immediately likable character simply because Bella has always been accused of being "perfect" because everyone thinks she's so awesome when she has very little to recommend her. I want to grow to like her myself, and this was my impression of her when I read Twilight at first, with just a bit more personality. After a meeting that they had, I wouldn't want to meet her again either if I was Edward, but life doesn't work that way, especially not fanfic ;)

Guest chapter 2 . Jul 14 Brilliant which is another term for your story. Thanks Reply Thanks for the review! Hope to hear more of your thoughts in the future :)

Guest chapter 1 . Jul 14 please please write more...this seems like a very promising story ive come across in a very long time...so im literally thirsting for an update...I hope you have a regular schedule.. ps. If its reviews u desire ill leave one everyday... Reply Glad you think so! I'll try hard to update as regularly as I can, I'm aiming for every Monday so I hope you can pull through and leave me a line every now and again :) Brotherly Advice and Sisterly Persuasion CRB chapter 2 . 3h ago I truly enjoyed Sibling Intervention, and look forward to this one. There's only one thing that keeps bugging me. You use the word "droll" a lot - not a bad thing in and of itself, but it doesn't always seem to fit and so jerks me out of the story. Droll having a humorous, whimsical, or odd quality (Merriam-Webster) Reply Corrected to "dull", thanks for that, the need for a Beta Reader strikes again. JRB chapter 2 . 3h ago How long do you anticipate this sequel to be? I think it's very refreshing, on the one hand, that Elizabeth is being rather cautious with her heart even though she really has no reason to mistrust Darcy's motive for kissing her. On the other hand, if Darcy had the balls to kiss her in the first place, I don't think he would've been the type to assume she disliked it. Mistaking Elizabeth's wit and teasing for flirting in the novel is, to me, perfectly reasonable and excusable. In this instance, however, if he already had the nerve to act on his impulses and essentially compromise her, Darcy would've done the honorable thing and asked her to hear him out and then propose. That seems like his character, anyway. Reply Well I haven't decided on the length yet, but roughly thirty chapters like Sibling Intervention I imagine.  I think Elizabeth is rather cautious with people, though that may just be my interpretation of her. As open as she is, she isn't easily convinced (except when she's determined to be) and with something as important as her heart, I don't think she would so easily give it away. Anyone who wants it has to work for it (hear that Darcy?). Remember, the kiss at the end of Sibling Intervention was neither returned nor denied, Darcy had no idea what to actually make of it. In my mind, women and love are relatively new to him because he's never been in a situation like this with anyone else. Also, Elizabeth insisted during Sibling Intervention that they should forget about the who-compromised-who situation (she thought she compromised him, and he thought he compromised her). He was actually on the verge of confessing in that forest in the last chapter, but ended up kissing her instead. But all that will be explained/expanded in the coming chapters. Thank you for your review! Guest chapter 1 . Jul 13 (virtual love) so excited and so ready for this :3 Reply You and me both! Thanks for the review!

Sibling Intervention

Amy chapter 17 . 21h ago

You made a mistake here. It would be a terrible faux pas that Bingley went into the room of Jane when she was ill. No single male was allowed to visit an unmarried girl in her bedroom, it doesnt matter if she is sick or not. I dont know if that terrible movie from 2005 inspired you to write this but it just wasnt done. Her reputation would be in tatters.

Reply

*brandishes creative license, turns into a potato and rolls into the sunset*

Just kidding. 

But seriously, she wasn't entirely alone - she did have a maid stationed in her room the entire time she was sick, plus Bingley left the door open the entire time. Afterwards, Louisa joined them. Later on after supper, he isn't alone with her either and is with Elizabeth and Jane.

I have no idea how anyone got to know each other before marriage, but I am aware that the prospective couple is very rarely alone. Other than Darcy and Lizzy of course, we can't always be as well-mannered and full of propriety as we should.

The 2005 movie wasn't that bad. No idea where you're getting the idea that that adaption caused it, if you think I'm wrong it's more likely that it's my fault than a movie based on the novel.

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Life as I know it: Using fanfiction as a motivator

My WIPs got deleted and my life as a writer flashed before my eyes.
And then. I started again.

Life as I know it:
Using fanfiction as a motivator

So a few weeks ago my laptop died. 

And for someone who only uses their laptop to write, it hit me pretty hard. 

Though I haven't worked on any projects for the past six months (minus Project M which is always on hiatus because people that know me in real life read it and...yeah, the teasing hasn't stopped), I've had several incomplete, unedited one-shots and stories cooking, including original work that I hoped to publish one day. All of it was the result of almost three to four years worth of stories, and they were gone within seconds. 

Word to the wise: Backups are important in life.

However, once my laptop revived itself, instead of shutting it down and hiding out in my blanket fort out of depression, I opened up Word, and wrote. 

Throughout the last six months since the completion of Sibling Intervention, I didn't feel like I could write anymore out of exhaustion. But looking back, I realize how productive I was when I had fanfiction in my life.

A little look into my personal life:

At the beginning of 2014, I received my results from my final exams and was officially a high school graduate. During 2013, I wrote next to nothing since I felt that my education took precedence over writing stories.

Initially, I did well. 

However, within three to four months, I felt drained in every sense of the word. 

When I closed my eyes every night, I opened them to another morning; living is hard when you're exhausted. My weekends consisted of sleeping and during the week I was literally a machine. I was in a rut, and even when I forced myself to sit down and write just to finish Sibling Intervention, I could feel my brain frying in my head. And even with my good marks, I wasn't happy. 

Eventually, I gave in to my exhaustion and shut the lights off upstairs. My motivation to do well for my exams had dwindled; I succeeded in burning myself out in less than six months. 

By the time the exams rolled around, I didn't care about passing well - just passing. And I achieved that. 

When I started college in February this year, I was excited about a new beginning, studying towards something I was interested in (no math, no physics, no reciting textbooks). 

Out of the desire to immerse myself with the real world, I kept away from fanfiction after completing Sibling Intervention, saying to myself that I took forever to finish a story anyway and that I didn't have the juice to start another. 

The day I decided to just throw ideas at Word was the day my laptop committed suicide only to be resurrected with nothing left. It was a clean slate. And a seeming punishment for being gone too long.

I rolled with it though, and that's how this happened: 

I've been toying with the idea of writing a Twilight story for awhile. How I feel about Twilight as literature will be discussed later, but the fact of the matter is, I wanted something new and I got it. 

The story I wrote: Flavor of the Month, was completely different to Sibling Intervention, and though I've only just started it, I want to do something different than the hordes of romance stories in every AU fanfiction out there. Along with my first Twilight fic, I started the second part of Sibling Intervention called Brotherly Advice and Sisterly Persuasion. 

It's been less than a month and I feel more motivated to do things again. 

My real life concerns like course work and projects are planned and completed as soon as possible in order to give me time to write before my next self-imposed deadline. 

It's more of a challenge now in order to get things done. Whereas in the past, my marks were for me, in fanfiction they were both for me and for the people that read my stories. I hate disappointing people so writing fanfiction and using the desire for updates (which every fanfic reader knows to their soul) to push me in my real life have helped. 

I hope it isn't a few weeks kind of thing, but time will tell. 

Until then, I'm going to ride the high and hope I don't crash when it stops. 

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That awkward moment in fanfiction when you don't know what comes next (part2)

That awkward moment in fanfiction when...you don’t know what comes next pt 2

So you’ve got writer’s block

I took awhile to decide whether or not I wanted to write anything new after I completed my first story. 

Completing a new story, as discussed before, was emotionally exhausting. But I wanted to do it again. The problem was finding a way to do it.

I just got out of a relationship with a thirty chapter story; I wasn’t ready to jump into another.

I wanted excitement, something brief with no commitment whatsoever. I wanted a story fling.

So I wrote a one-shot for a different fandom, read stories that were completely different to my own and that dealt with completely different things, and finally, started writing on this blog again.

Anyone whose suffered through writer’s block knows the only way to conquer it is to get busy.

Write. Edit. Read. Review. Repeat.

Here’s a few tips to beat any form of writer’s block with a stick, whether caused by a completed story or a prolonged hiatus:

1.       Get in touch with why you loved your fandom/OTP in the first place: rewatch/reread the series/movie/book; read stories from the fandom; watch videos made for the fandom; look at art depicting your fandom; whatever you want to get the inspirational juices flowing.

2.       Accept challenges/prompts/requests.

3.       Write things out of your comfort zone: a different genre, write from the perspective of a different character, write something you haven’t yet.

4.       Read. Fanfiction, original fiction, an old favorite, something on your To-Read list, an article from a magazine; as long as you’re reading, you aren’t doing nothing.

5.       Get some fresh air.

6.       Do your chores: believe it or not getting your mind off of writing can be just what you need. Doing mundane tasks keeps you focused on one thing and lets your mind wander like it should whenever it’s been stuck in one place for too long.

7.       Get out: you know what that is right? The thing you did before you had to meet self-made deadlines, before the write-write-write mindset?

8.       Don’t write anything. Maybe you need a well deserved break from it all. Whenever something enjoyable feels like work, it’s a sign that you’ve forgotten what it is you enjoyed about it, and that’s okay.

9.       Have a conversation: your cat, pet rock, the mailman, your sister, you husband; whoever. Being in touch with people on any level is important as a writer.

10.   Explore: haven’t been to that famous church a town away? Why not make a plan to go? Always wanted to try that café down the street? Now’s your chance!

11.   Eat.

12.   Listen to a debate: from the news, on the internet, between friends or family; you’ll either drone it out and discover an idea or you might take the argument in and have some new perspective on an old topic.

13.   Jam to some music: you don’t have to dance in your pajamas at an ungodly hour, but just taking a few minutes to let yourself go, and stop worrying about life so much

14.   Relax: do something that calms you that doesn’t involve writing – maybe play a videogame, cook, fix up your car, take a nap, internet search cat videos, work out.

15.   Watch a movie.

16.   Splurge a little: buy that new book you've wanted, that pair of shoes, maybe go on a road trip or eat at that fancy place that have those amazing pies you've been day dreaming about. Go on. I won't tell.

17.   Take pictures: mental pictures or actual pictures, try and find something interesting about the world and maybe it’ll inspire you.

.

18.   Go people watching: just watch and observe, make up tales out of your head based on the lives of random people and the story you’ve wanted to write might just hit you

19.   Exercise: a walk in the park, a cycle down the street, sit-ups in front of the tv, whatever floats your boat. The increased oxygen to the brain is a good thing.

20.   Share: talk about your writing or your ideas with just about anybody; having the chance to verbally bounce off any insecurities or thoughts you have as a writer can be greatly comforting when you realize you aren’t alone.

21.   Review: you’ve got a few stories on favorites that deserve a shout out, how about writing them in in-depth review of why you enjoyed their work? They’ll appreciate it.

22.   Do a good deed: Karma is a wonderful thing when it’s on your side

23.   Watch some comedians on Youtube (Michael McIntyere for example): whether you roll your eyes at the cheesiness or find yourself actually laughing, you’ll hear how they manage to craft a story to people and how they get the audience into their inside jokes.

24.   Edit: maybe you have a few uncompleted stories on your computer like I do, find the time to edit it and it’ll be completed and published before you know it.

25.   Learn something new: be it about your fandom, your stories, yourself or something completely unrelated. There’s a lesson in every experience

 

Here’s other lists that may help too:

5 tips to punch writer’s block in theface
27 wacky ways to beat writer’s block
Practical ways to beat writer’s block
 10 ways to beat writer’s block

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Got any tips of your own to beat writer’s block that wasn’t mentioned here? Share it below J

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