There are also no showers in the feudal era, particularly in the out-of-doors, in the wilderness. It would be so easy, if trite, to write in a waterfall instead. If the scene takes place indoors, Kagome could think "Wow, a shower! I had no idea demons were so high-tech!" or something like that.

I've seen quite a few stories where there will be 4-5 characters or even more, and suddenly they all magically fall off the earth (not) so Sesshoumaru and Kagome or some other couple can do or say something they would ONLY do in private. Usually, after one of these moments, the people that fell off the earth stay gone until after a lemon has taken place.

Law #2 of Fanfiction: Don't let your characters fall into the abyss! They hate it there!!

OKay, the whole point of this is kinda a rant, but at the same time i want to know what you think:

Example:

Sometimes in fanfiction, there's money involved. 9 times out of 10, this money is the Japanese Yen. This doesn't bother me so much as what happens with said currency.

Now, 1 million, anythings might seem like a lot, might seem like it could save the shrine, pay off jiji's expensive hospital bills, and be enough to buy Kagome a new hot car, BUT.

1 million Yen = $11145.1658 US, current to date of this post.

If the Shrine is only in debt by maybe a $1000.oo or 89725Y then sure, also maybe jiji doesn't owe THAT much to the hospital, and they are planning to buy Kagome a Hot new POS....

Currency Calculator

Law#1 of Fanfiction: Make sure the Currency works in favor of your story!

that makes me crazy!!, now what other Fanfiction laws do you all think we should have? btw, please keep comments positive.

This is kinda something I've noticed with some fanfics is when the characters don't seem to be hungry, or not bothered by SERIOUS wounds, or not having the need to take a break like a normal human would. Everyone has their needs and some authors just write them out making it seem like a human character doesn't need, food, water, and the like. It makes the character a mary sue or a gary stu. This happens especially when fight someone and they can't possibly win the fight (yet......or if ever) and they're still fighting even though they have critical wounds, lost alot of blood, and are close to death.

Law #4- MAKE YOU CHARACTERS REALISTIC!

Another thing that peeves me is when realtionship move along too fast. I mean come on...yeah there are people who fall in love within days of meeting each other but do most of those people end up staying together? this is the real world most relationships take times (they're filled with hardhsips and humbling experiences) they're not always lovey-dovey skipping in a happy meadow so it shouldn't be like that all the time.

Law #5- HAVE YOU CHARACHTERS TAKE TIME WITH THEIR RELATIONSHIPS! ADD HARDSHIPS AND COMDEY TO MAKE IT BELIEVEVABLE!

One last thing that peeves me is when a characters commits a grievous crime and is automatically forgiven not matter how many he/she has killed physically or emotionally. I don't care if its Kagome...in the real world do you think most people would forgive others just like that? I don't think so and I'm one of those people that can hold a grudge for a while until I can learn to accept what has happened.

Law #6- CHARACTERS SHOULDN'T FORGIVE OTHERS FOR A HORRIBLE INJUSTICE RIGHT ON THE SPOT!

*giggles at Liz*

OKay, here's another one b/c its kinda in my arena of notice:

While writing a GM/lemon, for those of you who do this, Kagome and Sesshomaru, or any character, unless advised are no contortionist. The body just cant move in some directions for the majority of us, so if you do something crazy like putting her shin's next to her face, make the comment that she's UBER flexible, cause unless her un-named father was Stretch Armstrong, then sometimes the body can't move in those ways.

Law#7: Please try to move the body in lemons in a believable fashion.

Whoa, InuYoukaiLiz. Take it easy. Let's try to be calm in this thread

I have no problem with the said "proclaimed" laws above, but I think it's kind of biased.

Law 1:
Personally from my experience, 1 million yen is a lot when you live in that country. Okay so, a piece of bread was 35 to 95 yen at my old home village, but comparing 35 to 1 million is a lot.

Law 2:
Sometimes early writers, like myself, have trouble keeping track of which character is here or there and how they should talk. Simplicity is a virtue, if us early authors can somehow push them out of the room/setting faster for the main couple, then yes of course I will. It may not be the best way to write, but it is our stories and no one is forcing anyone to read it.

Law 3:
=D I agree to that ^_^

Law 4:
Sometimes it's a hassle putting "I am hungry" out of nowhere, or "I am tired." But I understand what you're trying to say. Yes, it's true that being humane, we need to intake food however... Sometimes it just interrupts the story.

Law 5:
Some authors don't like to add hardships in the beginning. Like myself, I like to have a fast attraction with each other and somehow magically like each other, then have them question why they like his/her partner. Not every author has the same views on how to develop a relationship. It's almost telling romeo and juliet to take time and get to know one another.

Law 6:
Some people are just really forgiving. Characters are not real, they are imaginary and they don't have to hold grudges for a while, or take time to forgive. I've been in a situation where I accidently killed my friend's beloved gerbil, and my best friend forgive me right away. I think it's possible to have such friendly people on earth and in stories. It's all based on their personalities.

Law 7:
I agree here too `roo.


--
I give you my word that this is not a counter-attack kind of thing. I'm just saying...

Authors have different ways of writing. Especially when we start off at a younger age. For example, me. I made all these mistakes during my first several years of fanfic writing. And if these rules... "Laws" are implemented, the site or the fandom wouldn't appeal to me much.



It's nice that we're getting proactive of how we want to read stories. But pushing these set of rules upon authors is like... telling a very artistic child to use coloring books forever.



No matter how you say it, I still think these should be called "Advice" instead of "Laws"

It's very unappealing...

yeah I can see that Sweet, I sometimes think that i pushed my relationships too fast but people haven't said anything.

here is some advice about things i have seen:

bringing in alot of main characters randomly with out cause or background, or adding too many people at the same time, (unless you can keep it organized and the reader un-confused) can really hurt your story. a reader confused is a reader gone

Now for my ranting:

I swear I have ADD sometimes and I have read some stories where the characters were popping up like bunny rabbits and I was very confused to where some of these characters came from, and I couldn't read anymore because I was too confused.

I have been criticized for bringing Kagome and Sesshomaru together too quickly, but consider this: In my canon story, the two had been introduced to eachother almost as soon as Kagome and InuYasha. I made it clear in the course of the story that Kagome had found Sesshomaru strong, handsome, and fascinating from the beginning, and that Sesshy had a total fixation with Kagome. In my au story, I made it clear that Sesshomaru had known Kagome since she was a baby, and had cared about her from the beginning. Yet, still, the criticism. I can't understand it.

Oh, yeah, BTW, If you know someone for years, and suddenly the time is right to hop in the sack, that does not seem hasty to me. It's not like you met them in a bar and took them home a half-hour later... You have been building up an attraction over time, and suddenly, because of a look, or a word, or a sunset, the time is right. That is my personal experience, and believe me, I've had quite a number of personal experiences...

I've had quite a number of personal experiences...

I want to high-five you so much right now.

I don't take it as a personal attack, and they aren't set laws like stone or something, so i don't see why they should be unappealing. this is supposed to remain positive, long story short, i don't mind that they are called laws...

any ole h0ot...

Fantastic story gets written but the author has a change of heart or cant for some reason finish it, ends up leaving us with an AN telling us sorry. fans end up sad.

Fanfiction: It Ought-to-be a Law#8: If you abandon your story, please let us know in an outlined format what would have happened.
I still wish i knew what happened to s0o0o0o0o many fics its not even funny.

I totally agree!

Oh! And:
Fanfiction: It Ought-to-be a Law#9: Use Spell Check!

Fantastic story gets written but the author has a change of heart or cant for some reason finish it, ends up leaving us with an AN telling us sorry. fans end up sad.

Fanfiction: It Ought-to-be a Law#8: If you abandon your story, please let us know in an outlined format what would have happened.
I still wish i knew what happened to s0o0o0o0o many fics its not even funny.

if your gonna do that, why not offer it up for adoption? There are plenty of authors out there that would take someone on to see it finished.

Sailor_Saturn_415 wrote:
I totally agree!

Oh! And:
Fanfiction: It Ought-to-be a Law#9: Use Spell Check!

Yes! Or simply proofread. Please, please, please don't post something before going over it once or twice to make sure it all makes sense.

And kind of going along with that,

Fanfiction: It Ought-to-be a Law#10: Slow it down.

I'm sure we've all been there: we have certain scenes set in our minds and we want to get our stories to that point so much that we kind of rush through other things. Either that, or our brains are thinking faster than we can type. And what happens? Characters and objects appear and disappear with no explanation. Characters react to something, but the readers don't know what it was. (Really, I've read stories where Kagome says something like, "You're right, Sango" when Sango had not said anything at all.) Descriptive detail is lost. And the overall feel is that the story, itself, is rushed and all of the characters are more hyper than Twitchy after he's had a cup of coffee. (If you haven't seen Hoodwinked, you should. )

I'm not saying slow down the plot, prolong the development of relationships, or anything like that. Just try to keep everything flowing smoothly.

I absolutily agree with you. I detest when the characters all of a sudden fall in love in the first 5 chapters or go through a whirlwind of attractions. It didn't happen in the manga, and I see no reason why it would happen so suddenly in a story. I enjoy realism in my stories where the characters display emotions and actions that are true to themselves in the anime/manga. Sesshomaru is a demon who would NEVER suddenly fall of a human, and InuYasha isn't a character that wouldn't simply forget about his feelings for Kagome or be with Kikyo without feeling bad. I try to incorporate as much truth to the characters as possible. Making Sesshomaru and Kagome fall in love right away takes the entire pleasure of the story and idea out. What is so amazing about the pairing is the idea of him being a demon and slowly breaking his defense mechanisms when starting to fall in love with her. Its the entire notion of the possibility that makes things exciting. Not to mention him going against his entire character and being because of her, something that is totally unlike him and unexpected. Thus, my point is, it NEEDS to take time. There needs to be hardship and trial, confusion and resistance, otherwise the character itself and point of the story is lost.

Fanfiction: It Ought to be a Law #11

Use proper capitalization/punctuation/grammar/spelling. Even when you have the plot all mapped out in your brain and ready to be written down, don't forget the basics of good writing, especially in the summary and the first paragraph of a story.

When you're a grammar/spelling Nazi like me, it's hard to ignore it when you see an overuse of '...' and '!?!', as well as incorrect formatting (no paragraphs). Sentences that begin with a letter that is not capitalized is an eyesore to many readers.

Problem is, when you do that, people then complain it takes too long to get anywhere and they give up on the fiction. Though you may like it, others don't so authors are in a quandary about what to do with it.

Rule #1- don't misspell most of the words in the summary and title of a story

Rule #2- I'm not good at summaries, plz read is not a summary. Nor are phrases like just read it, LQQK, look, you'll like it, etc.

Danyealle-sama is right on with that law. I am also turned off when, in the midst of an otherwise well-written fic, the author lapses into IM spelling. "U" for "you", 4 instead of "for", etc.

Hmmmm... very good topic, but so many things to say...

There's one thing, apart from misspelling and overall bad grammar, that turns me off better than anything else: over-describing (yup, I'll explain...)

Somethings are relevant to a story, and some are not. Authors can use everyday stuff like eating, drinking, bathing ( )... and so on... to set the mood. When it's well done, that's quite OK...

On the other hand, some just tell us what's happening, and never describe anything. We don't know what the characters are experiencing/thinking, and, as an emotional creature, it frustrates me a lot.

To summarize: There can be a balance between action and description, it's not such a difficult thing to obtain, if one takes the time to think about it while writing.

I've always believed that, whatever the plot, even the simplest, can be enjoyable if the writing style is good.

[no, I won't rant about OOCness... that's one terrible thing too, though :blink: ]

Gabrielle wrote:
I absolutily agree with you. I detest when the characters all of a sudden fall in love in the first 5 chapters or go through a whirlwind of attractions. It didn't happen in the manga, and I see no reason why it would happen so suddenly in a story. I enjoy realism in my stories where the characters display emotions and actions that are true to themselves in the anime/manga. Sesshomaru is a demon who would NEVER suddenly fall of a human, and InuYasha isn't a character that wouldn't simply forget about his feelings for Kagome or be with Kikyo without feeling bad. I try to incorporate as much truth to the characters as possible. Making Sesshomaru and Kagome fall in love right away takes the entire pleasure of the story and idea out. What is so amazing about the pairing is the idea of him being a demon and slowly breaking his defense mechanisms when starting to fall in love with her. Its the entire notion of the possibility that makes things exciting. Not to mention him going against his entire character and being because of her, something that is totally unlike him and unexpected. Thus, my point is, it NEEDS to take time. There needs to be hardship and trial, confusion and resistance, otherwise the character itself and point of the story is lost.

OMG! I used to be guilty of this violation now that I look back on it. This is absolutely true. Characters don't change their ways overnight, or in this case, a couple of chapters into the story.

Another law (#12) Paragraphs, paragraphs, paragraphs. I see this from time to time where an author would have their chapters written as one big block of text. I can not stand that, especially when the story has a lot of potential. So, paragraphs should be a must when it comes to writing fanfiction.

Gabrielle wrote:I absolutily agree with you. I detest when the characters all of a sudden fall in love in the first 5 chapters or go through a whirlwind of attractions. It didn't happen in the manga, and I see no reason why it would happen so suddenly in a story. I enjoy realism in my stories where the characters display emotions and actions that are true to themselves in the anime/manga. Sesshomaru is a demon who would NEVER suddenly fall of a human, and InuYasha isn't a character that wouldn't simply forget about his feelings for Kagome or be with Kikyo without feeling bad. I try to incorporate as much truth to the characters as possible. Making Sesshomaru and Kagome fall in love right away takes the entire pleasure of the story and idea out. What is so amazing about the pairing is the idea of him being a demon and slowly breaking his defense mechanisms when starting to fall in love with her. Its the entire notion of the possibility that makes things exciting. Not to mention him going against his entire character and being because of her, something that is totally unlike him and unexpected. Thus, my point is, it NEEDS to take time. There needs to be hardship and trial, confusion and resistance, otherwise the character itself and point of the story is lost.



I only agree with you when the stories are Canon, and not AU.

In AU, we can make them fall in love overnight ^_^
Of course, in a believable way.

DemonQueen17 wrote:
Another law (#12) Paragraphs, paragraphs, paragraphs. I see this from time to time where an author would have their chapters written as one big block of text. I can not stand that, especially when the story has a lot of potential. So, paragraphs should be a must when it comes to writing fanfiction.[/quote]

I agree, completely. The wall of text, how it hurts the eyes.

Law #13: No dialogue jumble.

I have read a number of stories where characters' statements are thrown together into one, big paragraph and I get totally confused over who is stating what.

#14- thou shalt not capitalize words that are not proper nouns unless they are the first word in a sentence!

This is an odd one that crops up here and there and one I find rather annoying personally. Some have a habit of capitalizing random words here and there that don't need it. e.g. - The Cat ran after the Mouse. Unless the cat and mouse's names are Cat and Mouse these are not proper nouns and don't need capitalized.