Voracious reader. Seriously, I have a problem. Sometimes I get so sucked into these damn things I can't stop. Same holds true for meatspace books.

One day I'll publish that thing I've been working on, but not today. Major respect for all those who actually can get the words out of their heads and onto the page. Less respect when those words are littered with spelling, word choice, and grammar mistakes. Even less respect for those words with plot holes big enough to drive a Mac truck through. No respect for those who don't understand/respect the source materiel, because why write a story about something your a fan of if your not going to try and do it justice? This is the wonderful land of "What ifs?" and "How abouts'?" If your story is "What if nothing resembled the source materiel beyond sharing a name and general ascetic?" then why are you writing your story here? At that point aren't you just lazily copying the most superficial traits and borrowing a few characters just because you can't start from scratch?

Point of clarity, making lore mistakes is fine, we are only human after all. But you know what I'm talking about. You've found those stories where the space marines are firing multi lasers, and the proud Sangheili get on there news and subject themselves to humanity shortly after a hard fought rebellion to regain their independence.

I've read alot. Too much in fact. There are some really good stories here, like 'If you had the rights to publish this story it would sell really well' good. Between those and reading the greats like Dan Abnett, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, and Graham McNeil, my palate has become rather refined. Once you've eaten at 5 star restaurants regularly the lower end stuff becomes even less appealing (Analogy, I wish I had that kind of money). This in turn means I am often very critical of others works, but I want to be clear that it comes from a desire to eat more 5 star steaks, not to tear fledgling writers down.

In general I care about things like how good your plot is. Beyond the really surface level stuff, and more focusing on how your weaving the story narrative together. I want to see you write compelling characters, with relatable and real struggles. How well you describe the scene, and how conflict unfolds when the time comes. There is substantial group of younger people on this site who are happy with just reading "Harry Potter and Daenerys rode around in a car and are totally in love" or "Here is my super awesome mass effect 40k fusion universe! Now here's 4 chapters of me describing haphazard confused bits of this thing that uses names of races from both source materials but do not have anything common with them!". Lots of telling the reader that something is how it is, rather than showing through character dialogue and actions. Describe how X became Y. Dig into their history, show them display their skills in a natural manner. And for the love of god make it realistic. Unless I'm reading a character is now living the RPG life, I would be really baffled if they mastered something in a few days.

I try to keep my criticisms polite, but sometimes I read things so bad I find it difficult to control myself, and I get mean. Other times I get caught up emotionally in a story and upon reflection was more generous than I should have been. But I try to keep it constructive, because I want you to become the 5 star chef, and make me that prime rib, if you catch my drift.

Catagories I really like:

Warhammer and Warhammer 40k fics and crossovers.

Game of Thrones fics and crossovers.

Halo crossovers

Starcraft fics and crossovers.

Starship Troopers fics and crossovers.

Categories I sort of like:

X-com crossovers.

Sherlock Holmes.

Mass effect.

Star Trek crossovers.

Star Wars crossovers.

If you know any REAL GOOD complete/ regularly updated stories that I'm not already following, you will have my appreciation and acquaintance.

Things that Rapidly ruin a story for me:

Gary/Mary Stu characters, who are self inserts. No explanation should be needed, but there is just something really cringey about writing a story were you are loved by all your favorite characters and succeed in every way. Kinda sad too if you think about it. And maybe a bit creepy once you start getting into really hamfisted romances with characters. Especially if it turns into a harem. *Shudders*

Really Obvious Plot Holes. I am typically a more logic before emotional reader, and as a result plot holes stand out like a naked man painted bright green in a church. Really bad when Its something really simple and its plot holiness becomes apparent in the chapter it happens. Like if a fic takes place in the future of a story that is still progressing, thus when the next bit of content drops for the story everything becomes moot. Characters getting massive power boosts and ability catalogs that are immediately forgotten to try and fabricate tension.

Out of universe OC's. You know the one. The super tolerant inquisitor. The member of some highly zealous order that is very open and trusting. The highly respected man or woman in a position that the setting would never allow them to be in with the level of respect they are granted. That character with an item that has no business being in the setting, a la wandering knight with a shining magic sword with runic plate armor of indestructibility in a low fantasy setting like Westoros.

Repeated word choice mistakes. ROGUE. NOT ROUGE. ONE IS A BACKSTABBING VILLAIN. THE OTHER IS COSMETIC ITEM. Especially when dozens of previous reviewers are all pointing it out.

Disrespecting/Horrifically misrepresenting Canon. Its fanfiction. We are here to write about our favorite universes. Not butcher them. Its not a 40k story if your grossly butchering the portrayal of the 40k universe.

Constant...OVERUSE... of various... bits of font fiddling

ESPECIALLY WITH... inconsistent spacing

Bolding, italics etc add emphasis to various points of your story. If you bold every other line, liberally apply periods in between every other word, your story becomes physically irritating to read. The normal text drowns in a sea emphasized, yet not deserving of being emphasized text. Your... near constant... spattering of periods makes your text choppy, and takes any flow your story out back and shoots it in the head. Eyes dart to each block of bold text, and immersion is impossible as the brain reacts to various markers that are overwhelmingly used in specific ways in normal competent writing. Bold is for loud booming voices of thunderous nature, great environmental calamities like a cathedral collapsing, or the most important parts of a heartfelt vow. Italics is for titles and makes a good stand in for a second language if you have characters talking in a second foreign language to keep a secret. Underline is for important notes, and is not typically suitable for regular use in a story.

Things that slowly ruin a story for me. These are things that add up slowly and eventually remove any desire to continue. Death by a thousand cuts.

Constant reference of something from another game or show. IE his armor looked like the desert ranger armor from fallout new vegas, and he was building a mech that looked like a gundam. He had Cloud's sword. You see what I mean? Its really lazy writing, and is disrupts the flow and immersion of your story. Really try and just describe the item like someone who had never seen it before would.

Will add more the next time I go on a vivance inspired 6 am typing spree.

IF YOU EVER WANT ADVICE ON WRITING, OR HAVE ANY QUESTIONS REGARDING WARHAMMER 40K LORE, FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME. I WOULD LOVE TO HELP YOU OUT.

ALSO WILLING TO BETA YOUR STORY, PM ME IF YOU ARE DESPERATE. Stuff I've written isn't the sort of thing I would post to this site, we can work something out. Only willing to beta for stories that are interesting.