cap_ironman | Details on Rules and Suggestions

Happy New Year Fandom!

We are super excited about all of the activity on the comm and about all of the challenges that are coming up and going on! We also want to commend

kijikun for her start of the Tales of Suspense Wiki! Please all go there and add some info to our boys! :D

As Mods, we're beginning to get our bearings with the organization of the comm and we've been open with you about how you wish to arrange things and the time spent on fics and art and posts. Our goal, as always, is to keep things fun and friendly here and avoid any dramalama.

However, part of this does mean that occasionally we receive PM's regarding concerns or issues about the comm as a whole and we've received an increased number lately all related to the same issues - as we decide how to engineer the rules and guidelines of our comm to adjust to these concerns (any suggestions are of course encouraged), we've also sent out PM's to a few people.

THEY are not in trouble as it is our responsibility as Mods to set appropriate guidelines and we admittedly have not yet - We love each and every one of the members here at cap_ironman and want everyone to know this is not meant to be mean. Again, if anyone has any concerns please feel free to PM

pandanoai or

axolotl_lan or you can even leave an anonymous comment here.

Please read over the new and improved profile page (

miriel is a goddess and helped us revamp it). Also,

kijikun will be posting a "how to" for what we encourage Fic Posts to include, soon. Be on the look out for a "how to" Art Post down the line as well. :D

Please don’t hesitate to toss rule suggestions our way so we can see what fits into our fandom best and all enjoy the comm, and of course, our boys. <3

Thank you all!~

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I do know that rule is sacrosanct in the larger fandoms. It does make sense, but good betas - as in, ones that you can actually click with (because writing fic and betaing it is very much a collaboration) are rather difficult to find. Then, since some of us are on a six hour difference *whistles *. But yeah, that rule is a good one, really.

Even supposedly 'crack fic' would benefit from getting an once over. There's nothing more offputting than reading fic that should have probably stayed on file, or in a scratch pad until it became better.

Sometimes for post UNDER 500. *whistles*

But yeah, time difference can be an issue, but I think if we can ask a little patience of everyone, we can make out okay (and so can Cap and Tony [stop the puns brain!]).

So, yeah...

It doesn't have to be deep bone tissue massaging of the work, but a fresh pair of eyes can snag on to stuff that the writer's eyes can't. But getting a beta is hard.

*whines*

So I tend to self edit, which means printing out stuff, going through it with a green ink pen, putting it down for a few days and then coming back to it.

I mean, I'm loath to say what should be included or not, because a lot of stuff (apart from basic grammar) is a matter of style and presentation, which thrills some people, and turns off others.

For instance, nothing gets me to backspace quicker than dialogue only 'fic', because people don't tend to realise that since you're writing/ narrating, you the writer have to do a lot of heavy lifting for the reader and no, descriptors do not count.

You have to set place, pace, describe, because you don't have a penciller nor letterer nor inker.

I've been waiting to do a post about writing fanfic from a comic book/heavily visual medium for ages, but I'm lazy. I should hop to it and post in my LJ though.

Why not just include a mandatory list in the header that says
'Beta Read? (y/n)'

You know
Title
Author
Rating
Character
Beta read (y/n)
Notes
whatever whatever
etc

That way people still have the option of not using a beta of they are ~~stupid enough~~ good enough writers not to use one, but we on the comm know this before we opt to read the fic.

So if people hate unbetad fic they just you know skip that one.
(honestly for me it's never been a big thing ^^)

That strikes me as an easier solution than working out when we should use one and when we shouldn't.

Just a thought on mhy part because forcing people to get betas seems a bit odd to me, even though personally with my spelling I'd never EVER post a fic here over 100 words that wasn't beta read at least casually.

ETA
personally with my spelling I'd never EVER post a fic here over 100 words that wasn't beta read at least casually.

Let me add 'unless I co-write it with Elly'
She kinda serves as co-writer and editor on those.

Edited 2009-01-06 17:16 (UTC)

I don't really think of it as forcing anyone to get a beta. It's just a suggestion that they do. And I agree with the idea of the Beta: (y/n) column.

Oh *whew* ok.

*L*
I thought that's where this was headed and I was like but but, people's right to suck if they want to! You can't infringe on that.
(kidding of course ,though I did misunderstand)

I know beta read or not beta read is as big a factor in choosing fics to read as character pairings, at least ofr some of my friends, so it seemed like something to list. ^__^

(or make it a mandatory warning to list if the fic is not beta read j/k )

Yeah, I don't read that many unbeta-ed works unless I know the author's previous work.

I tend to go for edited by it self or beta. As long as it looks like some time went into correcting errors, I'm good.

So If someone says unbetaed I don't worry too much, but if it sucks they go on my mental list of "author's to be wary of."

I think that's the visual artist in me though. Betas are not as common in that arena, though they do exist.

yeah, we'd never FORCE any one to get a beta. we encourage it... but i do think that the addition of a "beta y/n" line would be a good idea.

As a writer and a comic-creator, I personally have to have the descriptions in writing to see the scene. I get why people just do dialogue, but I'm very much a visualist and the connection of words into photographs in my mind to express a story properly.

Details on Rules and Suggestions

Oy.

Re: Oy.

Yeah, I'm all for a beta reader before you post

Why not just require them to tell us of it is beta read or not?

Re: Why not just require them to tell us of it is beta read or not?

Re: Why not just require them to tell us of it is beta read or not?

Re: Why not just require them to tell us of it is beta read or not?

Re: Why not just require them to tell us of it is beta read or not?

Re: Why not just require them to tell us of it is beta read or not?

Re: Yeah, I'm all for a beta reader before you post