Note:

Right now I'm only working on one story, but maybe I'll start some more before finishing it, which I have a bad habit of doing, even though I'm pretty new to FanFiction. I love to get reviews, positive or with suggestions of improvement=D

May 19, 2007...

Well, I now have 7 stories up here! Wow. I still love all the reviews, by the way. They're one of the best parts of this website, I'd say. Thanks to whoever read my stories and/or is reading this...lol.

Pet Peeves:

1. Mary-Sues--These have got to be my number one annoyance in The Outsiders fanfiction. Seriously, you go to the homepage and scroll down and they are all "A new girl is in Tulsa..." or whatever. The characters in the book are enough! They are great and you should use them, stick with what you know. OCs can be okay. But Mary-Sues simply are wrong. :S

2. Poor Grammar/Spelling--Honestly, there is such a thing as SpellCheck for a reason. Spelling and grammar are not that difficult to correct! I realize that everyone, including myself, makes typos and whatnot, but when a story is littered with dozens of errors, it really is harder and more annoying to read. And then you just get bad reviews. Haha, it's not like I have perfect spelling/grammar either, it's just one of those things that bothers me!

3. OOC Stories--Occasional "Out Of Character" moments are fine, but when the story has one of the main characters totally doing something they would never do...argh! For example, Ponyboy cutting himself. Would. Not. Happen. Or all of the greasers randomly bursting into tears--they are tough, for goodness sake! I've even read a fic where Ponyboy rapes a girl. One of the biggest OOC stories I have ever seen. Nothing against the writers personally, but they're great characters, as I said above, and even though it's hard to capture them as they were in the novel, when the story features them with very good characterization it is a better story to read. Just a piece of advice. :)

PS: One final thing. When there are sister fics, and you know what I mean, and the Curtis' have a sister who magically appeared, and her name is something totally weird, like Candycane or something, it drives me crazy! I don't know why, it's not like Pony and Soda are normal by any means, but they seem to fit. And these girls' names just don't. So if I ever wrote a Curtis sister fic, I would give her a normal name. It would even it out. Two kids would have normal names, two would have, ah, "original" names. Lol. But that's just me

PPS: I'm really not picky. But after reading all of that, I bet you don't believe me. (July 2/07)

Things I like:

1. Post-Novel Setting--Reading someone's take on where the greasers are several months or several years after the book are stories I always like to read. As long as their futures are believable. Nothing too stretched. And just because S.E. Hinton mentioned that Sodapop would die in Vietnam doesn't mean you need to follow that! I've read good fics from both sides--with him going to war, and sometimes dying, and fics where he doesn't go to war at all. You're the writer, you choose:)

2. Good characterization--see above.

My Stories...

Dealing 1: This was the first story I posted on here. About a year after the book, someone shows up in town that Soda has to deal with, meanwhile Pony is facing the ghosts of his past at the same time. And the rest of the gang are along for the ride. Complete.

Dealing 2, Daphne's Story: Approximately 15 and a half years after "Dealing 1", Sandy's baby leaves Miami to find the man she thinks is her father, but what will she find in Tulsa with the gang all grown-up now? In the works.

All the Little Things: About the only time I've written with one of the greasers (other than Johnny and Dallas) dead. Ponyboy remembers some of the things that made one of the gang just so special. All the little quirks that force him to remember he's never coming back. One-shot.

Not: Set after the novel. Ponyboy, preparing for a school trip, finds some papers that will change his life forever. So what does he do now? Complete.

A Chance Encounter: This is the newest story, just posted. A sort of tie-in to Not, so if you haven't read that one, I would advise reading it before getting into this story. Lol. Just so you know. Anyway. Katherine works at the grocery store, and runs into some interesting people there. This time, they're people with a surprising connection to her. One-shot.

Dysfunctional: Actually, this is the only story where Johnny is physically present. This is about how he might feel living with the kind of parents he has (had?). One-shot.

Dropout: Sodapop was a dropout, we all know that. But how might he feel about it, and how might the people around him have reacted? My take on this small part of the book. One-shot.

Over: Basically, the encounter between Sodapop and Sandy when she tells him everything. By now you've probably realized that a lot of my stories focus on Ponyboy and/or Sodapop. How would Soda react? One-shot.

The Movie is Real: The title says a lot. The gang goes to see a movie five years after the book. But it seems to be a story they've been through before...one-shot.

Happy Mother's Day: Written for my mother. Ponyboy writes a letter to his mom the first year after she died. One-shot.

Dear Dad: Tie-in to Happy Mother's Day. This time it's one of the other guys writing to their dad the first father's day since he's been gone. One-shot.

Stuck: No comment, except don't take this one seriously, okay?

EDIT: I'm sorry I haven't updated any stories in far too long! I've been busy and I need to do some rereads first. I'm not sure when anything new will come up, but I hope you enjoy the stories posted here. --J