I'm a Software Developer from South Africa in my mid-20's, focusing mostly on Front-End Android Applications. I've loved reading since my early childhood. In July 2012, I discovered this website and since then I can hardly recall a day that I have not spent at least an hour reading fanfiction. I've sometimes even gone and read/watched something just so I could get into it's fandom. The only things I can honestly say I like more than fanfiction are gaming and my dogs, though even that's a close call. I'd be completely unable to pick a single favorite fandom, though I'm a huge fan of properly done crossovers. There's just something epic about seeing your favorite character somehow end up in a radically different world and realistically interacting with its inhabitants. Here's major fandoms I like, without getting the list too long: Mass Effect, Warhammer, Sekirei, Rosario Vampire, Highschool DxD, Harry Potter, Naruto, Fate/Stay Night (not so much the rest of the Nasuverse), Star Wars, Marvel and DC Comics and all of their sub-settings, Smallville, Lord of the Rings, Dragon Age, The Witcher, Fairy Tail, Dragon Ball Z, Bleach. Did I mention I love crossovers!? The strange thing about them though, I don't think I've ever read one that could be described as average - they tend to be either great or terrible. Something that really annoys me though, is when people introduce a new character into a universe that theoretically should throw everything into disarray, only for it to stay completely cannonical plot-wise no matter how good the character writing is. Grrrrr! In regards to anime, I tend to be very picky. Code Geass and Death Note are two series I'm considering getting into, so if you would recommend those based on the other things I like, do say so. Sometimes, something as minor as a baby-faced protagonist is enough to make me utterly hate the series. Evangelion for example - I don't think there exists someone in this universe I want to punch as much as Shinji. I also very nearly stopped with the Fate adaptations, simply because of the way Shirou responds to that universe's Shinji. Thankfully enough I was able to move past that. When it comes to anime tastes in general though, I suppose I don't really have room to talk, as disturbingly enough, my listed favorites contain three "ecchi-harem/idiot-pathetic-whiny protagonist" anime. I actually utterly despise watching the genre, but not because I consider it perverted or anything of the like, but because of the attitudes or pathetic character of the male leads. If properly done however, these annoyances can be turned into brilliant fanfiction. Now imagine spending several hours a day reading at 800 words a minute (formatting and structure permitting) over 5 years. That's one hell of a lot of fiction. So that means that these days, instead of having an unread mountain of reading pleasure to look forward to, I spend hours trawling through author favorite lists and adjusting filters with the hopes of coming across that rare gem. Granted, I think that my reading standards are much higher these days, which further reduces my reading pool. Add to that the genres, universes, books, movies or games I'm actually interested in and there's not all that much left on the site to read. All of this has very recently led to me trying to write my own fanfiction. As I'm writing this during lunchtime at work (1/24/2017) , I'm the author of around 12 half-done stories hovering at between 5k and 80k words. For various reasons, nothing has been published yet, mostly because I don't feel my writing is good enough yet. I'll start putting them up when I feel they're ready. Now it's time for the customary author profile rant, if that's still a thing. The first thing which I'd like to complain about is the utterly appalling spelling and grammar prevalent in a disturbingly large percentage of stories. And yes, I am completely aware that English is not everyone's first language, it's not mine either. However, I certainly won't be using that as an excuse to justify the mistakes I will almost certainly be making in my stories! A simple Google search can provide you with several (free!) text processors with decent, built-in spelling and grammar checkers. Uploading something that MS Word's spellcheck would've made to look like a demented toddler had taken multicolored crayons to it, is unforgivable. Seriously, if you don't know what a word means, look it up, either in a dictionary or by using the good old Google. Then there's the Death Row inmates of FFN - the hardened criminals that somehow manage to make dozens of spelling and grammar mistakes in the Story Description alone. As if that wasn't bad enough, they then proceed to put something like "WARMING: BAD GRAMER!!!!" at the end... as if that somehow makes up for their inexcusable laziness. That being said, I don't for a moment doubt that I'll make many mistakes in my own stories. But it's like my father always said: you don't have to any great skill as a golfer to see when someone's terrible at golf. Secondly, there's the special kind of stupid that makes an author use half of their story description to demand that reviewers not flame them. If you are too intellectually challenged to realize that half of the internet consists of people with nothing better to do than troll others, you should seriously consider staying off it permanently. The only thing adding "NO FLAMERS!!! FLAMERS WILL BE IGNORED!!!" to your description will do is provoke them. Tying in with this are the people that use the description as advertisement for their other stories. I'm fine with a 'First in the Series' or 'Sequel to Pocket Rocket', but if your entire story description is an all caps advert to your other garbage, I have several very creative insults I'm not allowed to type here for you to hear. Next point of disorder: the reviews. I don't even think I have the words to even describe the retardry (see, that's not even a real word!) that's going on from people on both sides of the reviews. First thing that comes to mind are the authors who hold chapters hostage for reviews. See, there's a couple of things that I'd very much like to do to people like these, and all of them would land me in jail. Of course, the jury would probably find me innocent on principle. Then there's also the fact that somehow we have devolved to the point that "bad/good chapter" is considered a review. Granted, FFN's lack of some sort of like/dislike system is partially to blame for this, but that doesn't excuse it in my mind. "Could have been better. Was not spellchecked. Did not like the way Mr. Snugglemuffin made a decision that goes completely against the character that has been established in previous chapters. Also try to avoid skipping between scenes with any sort of indication." That's a review. Writing something like "good/bad chapter"is just a waste of both your and the author's time, accomplishing nothing other than needlessly inflating a story's review count. Offer some constructive criticism, or feedback, or something! Another thing I'd like to comment on: reviews that flame authors for deviating from cannon. If you wanted the original story to be rehashed chapter for chapter, what the hell are you doing here!? Then there's what has come to be known as 'bashing'. While I don't mind it in it's purest form, unfortunately it's become something of a bandwagon with the way it's done. People take a hated character from the series and proceed to give them a lobotomy. I recall reading something where Shinji Matou from Fate/Stay Night was brutally and slowly murdered by Rider. Damn, was that satisfying. On the other hand, nearly every second Harry Potter story you come across contains Dumbledore/Ron/Molly bashing. Granted, it isn't as if there's no cannonical base for this, but the lengths to which they take these characters' ridiculous behavior is just something else. They seem to give them a lobotomy combined with a personality transplant just to validate their bashing. Not Cool. Anyway, I'll be updating/changing this author note sporadically, as I get more time to type rants or other blurbs about my life. |