Note on behalf of FFN writers: THE ONLY THING 'WORSE' THAN A CRITICAL REVIEW? NO REVIEW. TO A WRITER, SILENCE = 'WASTE OF TIME'. Silence will never tell us why so many didn't like it. If they did like it and would like more...we have no clue to this. SILENCE KILLS MORE FANFIC THAN CRITICISM DOES. IF YOU LIKE TO READ YET DON'T HAVE DISCRETIONARY MONEY FOR BOOKS OR A HANDY LIBRARY...CONSIDER THE ABOVE. (No hard proof, but I'm convinced that portable internet devices without operable keyboards are damaging fanfic communities as it is another 'excuse' to eat and run. Bullshit. Even a (smiley or frowny emoticon) is better than nothing and you can't claim that's too hard to punch in.)

Latest: (Yes, she politely puts full dates down so that you'll know if 'latest' is actually five years old.)

11/21/2009: Okay, you convinced me already. I was thinking holidays or NaNoWriMo members too busy until December or whenever that ends, but story visitor count vs review count is undeniably laughable. I'll take it down by 27th and retool it when I have time. System downloads are taking too much power to do this right now.

11/20/2009: IT'S BEEN A YEAR SINCE I DISCOVERED WALLY WEST! WOO!

(But, what a year.)

I've now seen the scans for Flash Rebirth #5 and Wally's new costume. Like most of it, but really disappointed we're back to the white eye lenses, a flat-cheeked Walter West mask, and an incomplete belt. The reasons he lost those eye lenses years ago have not changed. Irey West as Impulse? She's the speedster? I thought she was already a speedster? 0.0 Would rather Iris Allen had been so graced. Last disappointment...Yep, only 8 pages for Wally following Barry's Flash book.

Good points? AWESOME artwork and Wally knowing something Barry Stu-Allen did not. Geoff has almost redeemed himself in my eyes. (I'm still miffed at the Barry is God Creator of The Positive Speed Force. I mean, imagine if George Lucas was to suddenly say that Yoda had created the Lightside Of The Force and Sidious the Darkside? Yeesh. Much prefer heroes who are NOT depicted as gods. Real powerful? Fine. But not THAT powerful!)

Posted Drowning. Oh well. So much for that. Maybe too serious-quirky? NaNoWriMo? Holiday shopping?

Deleted from Archives--averaged less than three reviews per chapter (which is reader's way of saying sux big time.):

FOREVER KNIGHT: Something Was Missing-Incubus-Awakening trilogy, May The Force Be With You Forever (unfinished xover), I Dare Not Lose This Fight filk, CaveVamp Discovers Fun & Games

Deleted from Profile: Flash graphic/audio novel reviews. (Been up long enough and making Profile awkwardly lengthy.)

In regards to others solicitation me for review requests... So just to be clear: if your story is Wondy/Bats...it's highly unlikely I'll be able to work up the motivation to click on it let alone struggle with finding words for a review...even though I like Bats.

I'm only interested in certain characters. Plot intricacies mean nothing to me otherwise. This is not me being rude, it is me openly declaring a personality quirk so that you'll understand where I'm coming from. If I wanted to be rude and annoying I'd be naming names and harassing pm's and ranting about how people keep writing about so and so and not my interests and blah, blah, blah, other such stupidities that are out there in fandom.

I try to always write a review for what I read. I don't read much, because my criteria is rather narrow. The only time I don't review what I read is when the 'writer' is being a jerk and knows they are being a jerk and the story was very obviously posted for the express purpose of jerking people off. For those I click on the 'abuse' button rather than the 'review' button.

To find stories with these characters I use a) The Character search function within a fandom b) Google Advanced Search from within the FFN domain c) the Summary so as to keep from randomly messing up the 'reader' counts of everyone else. As a writer who also eats received reviews like gourmet candy, I understand the blase feeling of spending hours thinking up plots and writing only to receive alerts and no or little feedback. Not fun! When I do make a mistake (because certain characters have names that are also common words), I give some sort of apologetic/quickie review.

Author info: (obviously not my real name and not dumb enough to give it out ever. Ditto on email. Why take the possibility of Hotmail or GoogleMail being unncessarily abused when there is a perfectly functional PM available to members?)

Avatar: changed from Lex-Wally to just Wally/Flash. This time wisecracking as that seems to be what he wants to do of late even when depressed. I give up. Anyway, he's got a nice laugh.

Sociability: Kyer does not make friends. She happens upon people with similar loves and she never wishes anyone ill will and would likely step in front of a bullet to save another, but she's no good at making anything more than working acquaintances. I do not make buddies. Won't find me on a chat website. Never have and have no inclination to do so in the future. Want to talk about a show? Fine. I don't mind trading some posts and will probably enjoy the mixing of ideas and thoughts. But don't expect lasting buddy-ness. It's not in my nature as the past has proven.

#1 reason I stop replying to particular pm's: You were getting too close for comfort. I am sorry, but I truly can't handle buddy'ness. Been there and got severely burned. Once bitten; twice shy and all that. Extremely paranoid on relationships. You get the idea. It's nothing personal. Just...please don't offer me your unsolicited email address or something. I'll just delete it and try my best to forget every single digit for both our safety. Yes, on this she is a coward. If I literally can't find words to adequately reply to a pm...this is likely why.

Sexual Orientation: I read slash. I'll write it when the mood hits, but rarely more than a K+ and mainly keep it in my imagination. I actually prefer it to hetero fics which to me are a bore as female characters don't interest me at all. With slash, my favorite males don't have to share so much space with females. Simple. It has NOTHING to do with my views on sex. If you think you know my views on sexual orientation based on what I write you are likely dead wrong. Think of it this way...I like Forever Knight stories. This does not mean I ever want to meet up with a real vampire. Ditto on my stories featuring physical assault. To me, there is a huge chasm between what I like to read in fiction and what I want shoved in my face via the daily news or some nutcase with thoughts of breaking and entering.

Favorite Genres: Hurt/Comfort. Humor. Adventure. Mystery. Romance if a minor theme and twined with the former ones. (Note: I dislike PWP) but besides that, I like slash that is a component of a good story. However, I only like it in written fiction. Real life porn is a major turn off. Please keep your private sex life just that. I'm not a homophobe, but neither am I a fan of RL sex--of any type.

Religion: Yes, I do love God and realize I'm not a shining example of what He wants me to be. My cross to bear. You just watch out for your own holiness meter and leave mine alone. Otherwise I'll have to point out the sty in YOUR eye. I have little patience with those who use God as an excuse for bad behavior. If you want to do your own thing, don't fling God's name or your Righteous Crusade around as justification. That's what the Inquisition did. (Not that Christians are alone in this sort of thing...and at least they have not -recently- conducted mass killings to stress their point of view. Other religions and every other sect including atheists are prone to extremism to the point of murderous intolerance. I could also go on and on about bleeding heart liberals as well as conservatives and their intolerant behavior.)

Politics: Should have no place at FFN. You want to write about real life politicians...go do an editorial at a non-fiction forum...or go on talk radio (and I'm certainly not knocking those as Kyer highly values freedom of expression in this increasingly restricted world. Shutting down voices and views smacks of past dictatorships. However, this is an entertainment place and I don't think politics belongs at this venue unless it is fictional and pertinent to the story. At the very least, RL politics in FFN should be kept to profiles and Discussion groups.)

Story accuracy/Continuity: If the plot and characters are interesting enough, I can care less about accurate canon or stellar grammar. Life is too short to gripe...(unless it's so bad you can't read the thing...and for the same reason.) This is fanfic, not a publishing warehouse. Some people are like me and merely upload stories for catharsis-- not working towards a career. Cut us some slack if you liked the story at all or others did. On the other hand, I do appreciate a pm listing any errors so I can promptly fix them before have to delete doc from Document Manager.

Crossovers and alternate realities are why fanfic will always shine a little brighter than the actual medium. I doubt George Lucas will ever sanction a televised show where Obiwan meets Sherlock Holmes, so where else can the rabid fan turn? Hooray for FFN and other such sites that allow xovers and parodies.

Favorite Characters: I favor angsty males who have something fantastical about them; though not always the most obvious one in a fandom and usually ONE character per fandom. When story searching, I search by CHARACTER. The most amazing plot or chapter in the world means zip to me if my character isn't there--even if I kind of like the other characters. Always been like this; what can I say? I have a one-man dog personality. Try to remain fair to what is right and to other's preferences, but the urge to protect my loved ones is definitely simmering below the surface 24/7. lol

Star Wars is Obiwan. Digimon is Wizardmon/Sorcerimon/Flawizardmon. Star Trek is Scotty. FK is Nicholas. Harry Potter is Severus Snape. Touched By An Angel is Andrew. Sherlock Holmes is Dr. Watson. Doctor Who is The Doctor (preferably 10 for New and 2 for Classic). X-Men is Scott/Cyclops.

Justice League is my newest fandom. There, my loyalty glomped straight onto Flash/Wally. Strangely, I also feel a loyalty to Question. I think it was his singing to himself...then the "Oops" in the song while smashing in a window that did it. For stuff like that I am also partial to Green Arrow. (Can you imagine those three trying to work a mission together? The villains would laugh themselves into submission.)

However, I tend to write Flash with Batman as those two just have such wonderfully clashing personalities--they are as fun to write as Nick/Lacroix. I'd absolutely love to read a Wally/Vic Sage story though. (Yes, I do like Huntress as much as I can like female characters and I tend to want to honor the canon choices in deference to the character's real owners who I appreciate up the wazoo for sharing with us. Don't want to disturb the happy couple. Just that F/? as an A.U. plotted and Hurt/Comfort story would thrill me.)

Also developed a taste for Wally & Nightwing friendship and Wally/Linda Park (my first ever canon/fanfic hetero-romance stamp of approval.) Prefer modern Nightwing, though. That disco suit of his when he broke away from Bruce is a horror worse than a B-movie. I actually like Flash antennae better than that monstrosity. oy. 0.0

Fanfiction: At FFN these definitions apply: fiction is a story that is invented to entertain. A fan is a person with an obsessive interest in and enthusiasm for something.

Therefore, fanfiction is a made-up story by a person obsessed with a subject the purpose of which is to entertain.

Entertain: provide (someone) with amusement or enjoyment.

The primary purpose of a dissertation (or a cousin to one) is not to provide entertainment, but to instruct or to give an opinion on a subject. Some people may find a thesis or an editorial an entertaining read, but that does not change its primary purpose.

The primary purpose of a fictional work is to provide entertainment. It may instruct, but it's primary purpose is to entertain.

Inserting the name of a fandom or writing about the fandom is not fanfiction. This is not to say that you can't have a nonfiction premise within a fanfiction story. Fiction writers do this all the time by inserting morals within the plot However, to simply write how you feel about a fandom or the characters within the fandom does not fanfiction make.

Examples:

Fanfiction: Obiwan was concerned about Anakin's behavior. He went to talk to his padawan that night about his concern. However, Anakin brushed him off.

Nonfiction: In Star Wars, Obiwan held some concern about the direction his padawan was going. He did talk with Anakin, however, it didn't seem to do much good.

Nonfiction: Obiwan is cool. He was worried about Anakin. I think his character was the best.

Nonfiction: Which do you like better--Anakin or Obiwan?

Nonfiction: 1. Obiwan was good. 2. Anakin was bad. 3. Mace likes purple. 4. I think Mace likes blueberries.

The Nonfiction examples are nonstories and FFN has posted rules listing this as unacceptable. In fact, it is the #1 rule. Not liking the rule does not change it or absolve you of your responsibility as a willing member who stated 'okay' to the rules when you joined.

Posting a note on a victims door that you are in the process of burglarizing the house does not make your behavior righteous.

I am not inclined to argue this past an exchange of pm's or two--as frankly--I'm finding it a 'beating head against wall' battle; however, that won't stop me from occasionally pointing to the rules and feeling empathy for FFN's beleaguered staff who (so far) keep letting this site survive under only moderate supervision and high accessibility.

RULES AS PUT DOWN BY THE OWNERS OF THIS SITE IN THE TOS YOU SIGNED AS A MEMBER! (Don't complain to me...it's their rules and their property we are playing on. As far as I know, they don't make exceptions for anyone let alone you no matter how many rave reviews you might get. Better yet--don't boast about how you're above rules. Nothing makes me reach for the abuse button faster than jerks and other selfish people with bloated egos.)

Entries not allowed:

1. Non-stories: lists, bloopers, polls, previews, challenges, author notes, and etc. 2. One or two liners. 3. MST: comments inserted in between the flow of a copied story. 4. Stories with non-historical and non-fictional characters: actors, musicians, and etc. 5. Any form of interactive entry: choose your adventure, second person/you based, Q&As, and etc. 6. Chat/script format and keyboard dialogue based entries.

Reading Comics section just this week I've seen 1,3,4,5,6 violated. Pretty damn sad behavior, people.