Introduction: First Impressions

For those of you that don't know me, I'm Bluejaygrl98. I'm a FanFiction author who is obsessed with Maximum Ride.

Lately, I've noticed some things. Okay, I've always noticed them, but they haven't really affected me, you know?

Anyhow, I've noticed that there are some 380+ pages of Maximum Ride FanFiction in the FanFiction Archive. And after scrolling down, and down, and down (thank God for Google Chrome), I've realized two things.

One, that more than half of the FanFictions are loads of crap.

Two, that some people out there need some help.

I'm NOT saying that I'm, oh, this experienced author who is a know-it-all about FanFiction. I'm trying to help.

Look, who wants to waste time clicking on a story only to find that it's total and utter worthless crap? I certainly don't. You know how? No, I'm not psychic, unfortunately. But there are two things that really determine whether or not a story gets read.

One, the title makes sense, is compelling, and is capitalized.

Two, there is a summary with good grammar and is accurate and adequate.

I know some of you suck at summaries. Personally, the idea of a summary is a bad idea unless you're the type of author who types up everything first, and then you post chapters each week, because if you write one chapter each week or whatever, then how are you supposed to know the plot beforehand? How can you summarize a story when you don't even know how the story goes?

But you still need to come up with something good! First impressions matter a lot. If you see a guy with crooked teeth, bad posture, and overall shabby appearance, you're not going to go flirt with him, even if he has the most charming personality of a guy you'll ever meet. But if he's nicely dressed, carries himself with confidence, and has a nice smile, sure! Why not take a chance?

So, here's an ideal example of a title and summary to help you get your stories read and reviewed:

Title: Maximum Ride's Ultimate Ride

Summary: Six mutants are about to have the ultimate ride of their life when a competition is started by the white-coats by introducing a new breed of mutants—the Pack. Who can save the world first? The Pack or the Flock? Read to find out!

If I saw something like that, I'd definitely read it. Why? Everything is correctly spelled with good grammar, and the summary is intriguing! I'm not your language arts teacher, but come on. At least try to capitalize your title and try to incorporate correct punctuation into your summary!

Here's a story that I would not read:

Title: fax fax fax read!!!

Summary: please read!!! mang/fax all that good stuff. review! I suck at summaries!

I mean, jeez. There's a billion wrong stuff in that. The title, 'fax fax fax read!!!' is super vague and not at all compelling. If you want to mention that there's Fax in the story, put it in the summary. And the 'read!!!' part is just plain desperate. The summary is even worse. The first part is really desperate, the second sentence is, again, super vague, the 'review!' is again, really desperate, and the 'I suck at summaries' just makes me shake my head in disgust.

So the secret to getting at least, your first chapter looked at? Have a good title and a good summary.

Please, guys. Don't do this to us. We don't need to have 380+ pages of FanFiction and over half of them just plain crap! We want to read good stories. If you're going to write a story, at least make an effort to make it presentable. If you really don't have a good story, and you know it, then don't post it. Do you like to pick through garbage? Nope? Then how do you think other people feel when they get on FanFiction and have to look for hours until they find a half-decent story? Exactly!

Today's introduction is just a brief overview about first impressions. The big stuff is yet to come.

I'm not trying to insult people's work. You all have great potential, but in order to write something people want to read, you need to make it look like something people ned to read.

If you are a budding FanFic author who needs help with grammar or editing, feel free to PM me and I can help you with your title or summary.

The next chapter will be about how to get inspiration.

Thanks so much,

--Bluejaygrl98

A/N: Please R&R with your reactions/responses! Please, no flames, but suggestions for more topics you'd like covered are welcomed.