SIGN UP FOR THE FANFICTION ACADEMY OF TORTALL. goddess knows most of you need it. (just kidding, i love you all. (well, sort of just kidding; sign up anyway.)) it's going to be lots of fun, and i'm beta-ing... look it up, it's by salsa. sign up. we'll love you forever.

my favorite stories and favorite authors are surefire awesome stories.

--STORY SITUATIONS--

as of now, i think my stories are officially dead. this does not mean you can have them. i will still write if i get struck down by an awesome idea, but sadly that is happening less and less often. in the meantime, read what i have; i promise it's good.

actually, i've got a bit of Stuck in a Not Mary Sue jotted down, so that may be getting posted soon. one never knows.

also, i'm working on the fifth chapter of In Pursuit of Azure's Sadness, but it's going incredibly slowly, and most likely it will never be posted.

-NEWS-
i printed out Search for the Six and read it, and i physically cringed at a lot of the dialogue. many, many lines are anachronistic. i will work on editing and reposting, but it's going to take a while. if ever.

i'm in love. his name is jordan catalano. he was let back, twice. once i almost touched his shoulder in the middle of a pop quiz. he's always closing his eyes like it hurts to look at things.
-angela, my so-called life

all the interesting men were born in your generation.
-aly, to her mother

that be all.

TIPS FOR GETTING YOUR STORY READ
from one who knows what she's talking about

1) for god's sake, no internet slang. EVER. does everyone understand this rule? we are a society of WRITERS; it's what the site is all about. and as writers, we must uphold our reputations by NEVER, EVER writing plz, ppl, lol, et cetera. the one exception is R/R. the reason being, i am immediately turned off of reading anything by someone who does not even care enough to assume a professional language. i'm sorry. (pet peeve; can you tell?)

2) use correct grammar, punctuation, spelling, et cetera. if you and your computer can't handle it, find a beta. again, this goes with the "we are writers" bit, and the "if you can't make time to fix your easy mistakes it is obvious you don't care about writing" and a little bit of the "if you don't know the english language or get it looked over by someone who does know it, your story can't be that good anyway." the exception? lowercase letters in profiles and reviews; that is your personal stuff that defines who you are. i, myself, am a lowercase person. but notice that you will never see lowercases like that in my stories (excepting the author's note) because i have pride in my writing.

3) do your best at a summary. if you can't even sum up the plot in that little space and instead write "i'm really bad at summaries, but i promise it's good!" that still doesn't make me believe you. give the quickest, sloppiest rundown of your awesome story as is humanly possible, but i promise you that more people read stories with summaries. and (this goes a bit with number 2) if it "summery inside" i'll be sure not to wear my parka, and i won't bother reading it. there's a purpose to the summary box; it's not just there for decoration. please, please use it.

4) related to 3) give a shot at a title. i'm sorry dear, is it "i can't think of a title help me!" ? then i can't think of a reason to read. some tips on titles if you're really stuck? several words from the first important piece of dialogue. an insanely small rundown on the plot. something like that.

5) write enough to give readers a purpose to read it. 200 words? not worth it. combine the next few chapters. sad but true.

6) don't advertise that it's your first fic in the summary. i'm always a little leery about first time writers, and i know other potential reviewers are as well. tell the audience at the end of the first chapter, so they know it's your first BEFORE they review, which is definitely a good thing, but are not scared away from your story at the beginning.

7) no author's notes in the middle of the chapters, unless there is a very good reason. and make sure that they stand free of the rest of your text; otherwise, people can get very confused.

8) reviewer responses encourage people to read the next chapter; bribery strikes again.