CrimsonLink310 requested talking about misusing pairing filters and kurahieiritr JIO (in one of their many fabulous reviews) also mentioned something about tags, so, as we do here in this "story," we're going to talk about it!
(I wrote this a few weeks ago but for some reason refused to upload it even though it's been finished... Sorry, I'm not quite sure why, probably because it's seems so out of character for me to talk like this.)
Misuse, Misunderstandings, My Misery
So, with the title, you see a lot of alliteration. That's it, I just wanted to see how many Ms I could stick together without being incomprehensible.
Anyways. Filters. We all use them, whether it be to find stories about our favorite pairing or to get rid of OCs (which doesn't even work all of the time because some people will talk about their OCs in the summary but not put it in the character slot, please mark your characters). Some people are perfect taggers, and mark everything correctly, but others... Yikes.
Pairing-Brackets: Some people will purposefully use the wrong pairings brackets in order to get more attention (at least, that's how I'm seeing it). Crimsonlink310 mentioned that they'll see stories where the characters will be set up with a notable ship in the pairing brackets and some other character on the side, but the actual story will be about one of the bracket people with the character on the side! I say: if you want your story to get the attention from the ship you're advertising, then write about that ship! Don't mislead people like that! If you pull that "I'm just gonna toss NaLu in the tags because that's everyone's favorite but the story is actually LaLu" bull on me, I'll fight you(I won't). Please, I promise you, someone is looking for whatever pair you actually wrote about, so mark it properly for them, otherwise, people will complain in your reviews about the mis-tagging.
Spoiler-Summaries: Do not spoil the ending of your story. Do not spoil the end pairing if the main conflict is a love Triangle/Square/OtherPolygon. I feel like this should be obvious, but apparently, it's not, and people still do it. Don't. When you spoil the ending (of your own story, mind you) you ruin the sense of adventure the reader has while reading. You wouldn't spoil the ending of your favorite TV series, so why would you spoil the ending of something you wrote and spent hours of your free time working on?
Tags: Honeys, please use the correct tags. If your story is set in the cannon universe with the same story line and no alterations, it's not an AU. AU means "alternate universe" not "access umbrella" or whatever you might've thought that wasn't "alternate universe." If you're going to use a term, know what it means, otherwise, you look kind of stupid. Using "OOC" incorrectly(to me), is equivalent to saying "lol" when someone dies. Have some respect! [OOC means Out Of Character, in case you were somehow unaware.]
Language: I never thought this would be an issue, but it is. I set my filters to English, because that's the only language I (fluently) read. Most of the time, it's fine, but every now and then, I'll see someone writing in English in the summary, then somehow, some other language in the actual story. There have been times where people have used Spanish in both the summary AND story, but still marked it as English. I get that it may be an honest mistake on some occasions, but COME ON! Please, double-check that stuff. When I notice it, I'll leave an anon review (because I'm a coward that doesn't use her account unless posting a chapter) saying "hey, you marked the wrong language." I think it's been pretty helpful
[To new writers, please take constructive criticism. I assure you that comments that have suggestions and other ideas in them and feel so much better to get than just "update." You get to know what's going right with your story AND what's going wrong. Isn't the point of fanfiction to PRACTICE your writing skills in a fun way?]
This is fanfiction, a free medium for fandoms to enjoy themselves, not a multi-million dollar company that's competitively selling beauty products.
"Oh, your skin will look 10 years younger with our new $250 three ounce container of BB cream~"
"Oh, your day will be perfect once you read this 'NaLu' 'AU' fanfic~"
So, thoughts? Agree? Disagree? Suggestions for future rants? Pleas for me to stop writing? Should I "stick a fire hydrant up [my] ass and twist?" Leave a review, why don't you?
I hope you enjoyed, and I shall see you soon! :)
-BloodyTeddyBear