Hello ~ my name is Luce and if you're visiting my profile page, thank you! I haven't written any stories, obviously, but I love to read. Check out my favorites section for good recommendations. The majority are very good and I would recommend to anyone, but if you would like additional recommendations, feel free to contact me. A lot of my favorites still aren't listed, because I have them as alerts instead, and I haven't taken the time to move them over to my favorites section. I have a combination of hetero and slash stories, as well as stories with no pairing, favorited.

ATTENTION!!

It has come to my notice that a very large number of authors are writing with incorrect grammar and it seems to be spreading. I don't know if anyone in particular is responsible for facillitating its diaspora, but it is disappointing that even betas don't realize that this fault in grammar is wrong. Fanfiction is meant to allow novice readers a step up in writing - they are given an environment and characters, but have to shape the plot and development of those characters all on their own. It gives a foundation for dreams and thoughts, but it is not meant to be the culminating point of creative writing (though I have come across a couple stories that are actually better than the real books, i.e. Fallen by ConfusedKnight). If fanfiction is meant to help teach people how to write, the basic of grammar should be necessary. I don't expect everyone to recognize when to use further vs. farther or understand dangling modifiers and parallelism, but at least understand how to use periods and commas. Especially in DIALOGUE.

THIS IS NOT HOW YOU WRITE A SEQUENCE OF DIALOGUE:

"What?" He shouted, fury shimmering in his angry eyes.

"I'm sorry if that's how you feel." His teacher continued. "But I don't really care about your feelings." Karen looked on in amazement as her best friend and father fought. She would never get involved, but she had no qualms about watching them battle it out.

"But you are my teacher! You are supposed to at least respect your student." He growled, his hot fury turning to icy, clipped tones.

THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE A SEQUENCE OF DIALOGUE:

"What?" he shouted, fury shimmering in his angry eyes.

"I'm sorry if that's how you feel," his teacher continued, "but I don't really care about your feelings."

Karen looked on in amazement as her best friend and father fought. She would never get involved, but she had no qualms about watching them battle it out.

"But you are my teacher! You are supposed to at least respect your student," the young boy growled, his hot fury turning to icy, clipped tones.

Make sure that a person's dialogue is not on the same line as another person's actions. For example, don't say:

"Hey, Karen." She looked towards her friend.

You can't tell who is doing the action. If there was more description, then yes, it would be a little more obvious who was speaking, but to make it easier on everyone, just press the return button and have a separate paragraph for the new person. It's a lot less confusing. In addition, you use commas after interjections, and after prepositional phrases or dependent clauses that are three words or more at the beginning of sentences. It is not necessary to use commas after connecting words like "although", "finally", "penultimately", etc., though there is nothing wrong in doing so. It is better to be a little liberal in using commas, because they demonstrate where a person should pause to breathe and help clarify meanings, rather than avoid comma usage altogether.

BUT PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, if you are unsure of your grammar, just pick up a real book and copy from that. While editors make mistakes, they are much more dependable than using other authors as a guide on this site. Use this website, as well, for how to have proper grammar:

http:///owl/resource/577/01/

Short, to the point, and IT HAS GOOD EXAMPLES. USE IT.

Quotes (because every user's page needs them and I need a place to keep my list somewhere):

"When going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill

"Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm." - Abraham Lincoln

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." - Mark Twain

"I don't like that man. I must get to know him better." - Abraham Lincoln

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." - Abraham Lincoln

"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest."- Mark Twain

"Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more." - Mark Twain

"Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable."- Mark Twain

"I have a higher and grander standard of principle than George Washington. He could not lie; I can, but I won't."- Mark Twain

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. "- Mark Twain

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him." - Mark Twain

"I was gratified to be able to answer promptly. I said I don't know." - Mark Twain

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." - Mark Twain

"The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause." - Mark Twain

"Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." - Mark Twain

"He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it - namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain." - Mark Twain

"A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read." - Mark Twain

"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." - Oscar Wilde

"I am not young enough to know everything." - Oscar Wilde

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth." - Oscar Wilde

"It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious." - Oscar Wilde

"What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." - Oscar Wilde

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple." - Oscar Wilde

"There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up." - Oscar Wilde

"I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book." - Groucho Mark

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." - Douglas Adams

"Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws." - Douglas Adams

"How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live." - Henry David Thoreau

Ninety-five percent of the kids out there are unconcerned by the dismal state of their education, or the fact that their fanfiction is raping the English language. If you're part of the five percent of fanfiction writers/readers who do care about such things, cut and paste this, and then leave reviews for those poor souls who know not what they do.