Lyda Morehouse's Blog, page 25

Link Salad Again

Because I forgot to come back and post our podcast link, "30: Still No Aizen" and my link to the Gangsta manga review: Gangsta by Kosuke, A Review, you are now inundated with the linky-links.

Also, today is a new Tate chapter. I'm rather proud of the opening line this time. It goes like this: "After being told I was off the case, I did what any well-adjusted grown-up would do: I sat at my desk and sulked." You can find this gem (and others) in Part 27: With a Little Help from Friends.

Later today, there will also be a new School for Wayward Demons chapter for you, but I think that Rachel has those set to go up around 1 pm. If you go there, be sure to check out all the little improvements we've been making around the site. We have a lovely new Table of Contents page, which you can go to to check out any chapters you may have missed (or want to re-read!) We also have link to our Patreon page, so you know, if you feel like supporting our work, you should go for it.

I support you supporting us.

In other news, I'm starting to get excited about Yuletide. I checked out the Sign-Up Summary and I found out that someone actually requested that funky little food manga I adored called, "Kinou Nani Tabeta?/What Did You Eat Yesterday?" and I'm super-duper hoping that I get assigned to write that one.  But, seriously, OMG, if I don't get this one, I'm SO writing someone a treat in that universe.  Because: food!  Because: gay men! Because: ridiculously boring slice-of-life.  IT IS ALL THE THINGS I LOVE.

Yesterday, as Mason and I were headed to school about a zillion police cars raced past us on Rice Street.  An ambulance raced up and then back down the street, faster than I have ever imagined an ambulance would go.  Police had blocked the road off near school, and a cop directed traffic.  It was crazy.  We speculated about what might have happened as we made our way to school.  Only once I was home an scouring the new sites did I find out that a boy, 11 years old, was hit by a car while walking to Mason's school.  I spent much of the day yesterday worrying that it was Mason's friend Donte, who I've written about on my LJ, because he's a frequent guest for sleepovers.  He walks to school every day, along that exact same route.  I was briefly relieved to find out it was not, but then I spent the rest of the day feeling sad about this recent Napali immigrant who has yet to regain consciousness and who wants to be a policeman when he grows up. (Please, goddess, let him grow up.  Because there but for the grace of fate... go we all.)

So, yeah, Monday kind of sucked.

Here's hoping today will be better for everyone.

The Road to Hell is Paved with 'Oh F*ck What Did I Just Even...!"

 Last night, Mason and I recorded another podcast.  I started working on editing it and I thought I was going along just fine and then I did a REALLY STUPID THING, didn't save, quit the program, and LOST EVERYTHING.

Yes, yes, I searched all the temporary and back-up files.  It's gone.  I did a really dumb thing. I do not what to talk about it, especially since it's one of those things that even as I did it I thought, "Wait, No!"

However, it's easy enough to re-record. Mason and I always have such fun doing these that I plan to up-sell the idea of my royal [bleep]-up as and "opportunity" to make an even more cogent and funny show.  Even though we can't get to re-recording until later this evening, we won't be that much later than we would have been if we published this morning.  Normally, when I'm not being a moron, it only takes me a half-hour to edit, anyway.

Also, yesterday was a crazy day. I had work yesterday at the library.  For those of you following along in the library saga, I'm happy to report that my name has been cleared.  I'm NOT the person responsible for the terrible shelving errors. My name has been cleared!  The bounty has been removed!  The WANTED posters have all come down.  There was singing in the streets.... okay, maybe not, but we did, to celebrate, end up going out to eat last night.  This whole shelving issue has been a big stresser for me.  The idea of losing a job to my dyslexia isn't anything new.  So, when things like this come up, I get far more nervous than I probably need to be.  Plus, can you even imagine? This job was a "no experience necessary" level job where the only requirements were to be legal to work in this country and speaking English.  Seriously. If I lost a job like that I might have to crawl under a rock and hide until the sun goes supernova.

Though Shawn pointed out that if it ever really came to that, this is a county job, and I could probably dig out the certificate I have that says my dyslexia is real and ask them to accommodate me.  

Frankly, however, that sounds un-fun.  I'm glad it all worked out.

But, because we decided to celebrate and I had Wyrdsmiths last night, we ended up rushing to podcast. So, maybe losing this was a kind of 'you should do this over anyway'' signal from the recording gods.

Also, since yesterday was this big ball of "WTF, EVEN??" (because, honestly?  It started with Mason forgetting his backpack and us having to turn around and fetch it, making him tardy), I forgot to mention that a new chapter in the story I'm co-writing with Rachel Gold came out:  Kitty Regrets, Erin Takes...

This one is actually a two-in-one in which we get short vignettes from Kitty (the demon hunter with mommy issues) and Erin ("the broken one").  Go check it out, see what you think.

The big writing project I'm going to try to tackle this weekend is to gather all my Tate bits into one big file and try to start restructuring and see what the hell I'm even doing with that novel.  It's gone a bit off the rails, like my projects do, so I need to spend some quality time with it and get things back on track.  I did have a lovely image come into my mind for the next scene I want to write, though, so I may just go ahead and write that today as well.

But the keyword today?  SAVE. SAVE. SAVE.

Because... *sighes*

Fish and stuff

 Who wants to see a picture of my new baby??



Look at that majestic delta/fan tail.  So handsome.  I think I actually got a clearer picture of him, but this one really shows off that tail.  He was mugging actually.  He seemed to be looking at me saying, "This!  This is my good side, monkey!  Take the shot!"

This, of course, is in between bouts of trying chase off that SUPER-HANDSOME other betta he keeps seeing in the reflection of the tank.

Anyway, he yet lives, so, as a reward, you can now see all of his Awesome.

In other news, I got a 99% on the quiz at last night's Japanese class.  So, turns out, cramming is a thing.  College students everywhere are unsurprised by this news.  

Last night's class was a blast.  I decided to show off the Japanese edition of Archangel Protocol to my teacher.  He was very cute about it.  He kept saying, "This is you?" To which I said, "Well, I sure hope that's my name there" (pointing to the one kanji I recognize, which is the "R" which I know starts my name, because it also start's Renji's.)  He's like, "Oh! It is!" Then he says, "You are famous!" To which I started to brush off until he cheerfully announced, "I am also famous."  Who can resist that bait, right?  So, I say, "You are?  What for?" 

Turns out, he's a knitter.  He's gotten some serious attention for a knitting pattern he invented for men's hats.  

My response?  HOW F*CKING COOL IS THAT?

I tend to agree that there is possibly a niche for men's knitting patterns by men for men.  I told him that he should totally go for it and try to make a book of patterns.

Anyway, I was sorry I couldn't get a copy of Archangel Protocol for him to keep.  I have no idea if it's even still available in Japan.  If it was, I'd love to get extra copies of it.  I'd love to give one to him, and another to my friend who is studying Japanese (and can actually read it.)

In class, we are now learning colors.  I was telling my Japanese-studying friend that I feel like I'm four years old again.  Numbers!  Colors!  Simple things like: school!  Building!

There was a very funny moment about traffic signals.  Apparently, in Japan, traffic signals LOOK the same, but when you get to the light we would go at, they call it "blue."  Tetsuya-sensei wanted us to know IN NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that if you are standing in Japan and someone says, "Hey, the light is blue, go."  Do NOT turn to them and say, "What? That light is green."  I found this amusing because it was very clear that Tetsuya-sensei had some issues.  He made us promise just to never, ever do this IN JAPAN.  I mean, yeah, d'uh.  Your country, your signal colors.  Sure, I see that as green, but you know your language.  I'm guessing, however, this is something that comes up a lot in his life and it just F*CKING bugs him.  I'm down with that.  Any time you can say to students who are potentially going to your country of origin,"Traveling Americans: don't be dicks" it's probably a good thing.  

*grin*

New Chapter and Glory Lives (for now)

I write so many things these days I'm sure it's hard to follow along, but, if you ARE following the School for Wayward Demons (looking at you, Frank G.) there is a new chapter up:  Gabe Sees Demons... And They See Him. Today's story is the introduction of one of "my" characters, Gabe Herrara.  The story also features art by Alexis Cooke:

 
If you didn't know, we actually have TWO artists working on the School for Wayward Demons.  So far, you've mostly seen the work of Mandie Brasington, but today, we not only get Gabe's debut, but Alexis' too.  This is just a small bit of a large piece I'm sure we'll see later on.

Anyway, I need to report that Glory is still alive.  I did try to take pictures of him, as I promised, but he's very concerned about that OTHER Siamese Fighting Fish that he can VERY CLEARLY SEE IN THAT REFLECTION, so he's always darting around trying to scare that troublesome dude away (my, but he is a handsome devil, though....)

In other news, today was super-busy. I worked from 9 to 1 at the Roseville Library.  I'm there today and Thursday shelving... it's all to see if I can continue to pass the numeric and alphabet quiz.  I guess I did well with the fiction, but I don't know how I did with the non-fiction because I had to leave before John had a chance to double-check my work.  Two things, I discovered today.  1) When allowed to work at my own pace, I shelve about a cart an hour, except non-fiction which takes me an hour and a HALF.  2) Yeah, I can see why John is testing people.  While shelving I came across a couple of books that were out of order.  I left notes for John saying, "Hey, I spotted this but didn't move it."  Because I wanted him to know that the problem was decidedly NOT ME.

Oh, and another thing, their adult graphic novel section needs me.  Badly.  But, because it was quiz day, I could not spend the time organizing that.  The problem, frankly, isn't entirely the shelvers fault.  The problem is the way comic books are read and the way the librarians want things organized (which makes FAR MORE sense to a reader of graphic work than it would to your average shelver, who doesn't.)  BECAUSE how it's organized is first by manga, then (and this is different at Roseville) by general non-titled graphic work, and then by collected series (ala Batman, Spider-Man, etc.)  So that people can know what is collected and what is NOT, there is a handy list, which I consult regularly because (of course) it's different at each branch (kind of. Mostly it's the same, but the collect somethings I wouldn't think to and don't collect some I think they ought, so I always double-check.)

Anyway, that was my work day.

THEN I drove right to pick up Mason, even though it was hours early, so I could sit in the car and study my Japanese, which I have to leave to go to in about ten minutes.  Our instructor quizzes us every week.  And I'm that student, so I'm highly motivated to try to get as many right as possible.  The only problem this week is that Mason didn't have swimming due to the MEA (or whatever the teacher conference thingies are called) and so I didn't get my usual practice in on Saturday morning.  I crammed today.  Thus, I have a feeling this time it isn't going to go as well as numbers, time, and counting did.

TBF, the previous week was HARD.  This week we mostly learned how to ask where things might find themselves, like, "Sumimassen, kaisuiyokujo wa doko desuka?" (Where is the beach?)  To which I've also learned ridiculously unlikely answers such as, "Kaisuiyokujo wa koko ni arimasu." (The beach is here) and "Kaisuiyokujo wa asoko ni arimasu." (The beach is over there.)

I'm pretty sure if I asked, "Sumimassen, yakkyoku wa dojo desuka?" (Where is the pharmacy?) I would get a complicated answer that might start, "Whoa, dude, you are so LOST...." and possibly end with "Holy crap, you puked on my shoe!  Do you have ebola or something??"

Which, again, is why I wish I could write my own Japanese how-to class exercises.

:-)

Fish Obsession!

 If you're reading this on Dreamwidth, you'll see I added a new icon:


I plan to use this one to alert readers that I'm writing about my new fish (more on that in a second).  This is Makoto from Free! All the Free! Iwatobi Swim Club members have iconic/totem animals.  For reasons that baffle me, kind-hearted Makoto has an orca, one of the single most brutal dolphins in the sea.  Orca are dolphins, they're called "Killer Whales" BECAUSE THEY KILL WHALES... sometimes just for sport, to watch them die. (If you want to be horrified about orcas, watch BBC's "Blue Planet.")  At any rate, Makoto is my favorite character.  I actually am certain (thanks to a scene in the second season that has both of them reaching for a dolphin) that he's associated with the orca because it's distinctive species of dolphin and the guy who has been his best friend (boyfriend?) since forever, Haru, has a dolphin totem.

At any rate.

I have a fish.

Yep, I'm doing it again.  This time the fish is living in a tank that has previously held no life--well, I did see a snail in the tank for a while, which I think hitchhiked on a fern plant that later died (the lighting is bad.) But, SO.  I have hope for this fish, who is a delta-tailed betta we've named "Glory" because he is the colors of Old Glory--red, white, and blue.  He has "dragon scales" on his main body, bright red fins, and a tiny bit of blue fringing.  

He's lovely.  If he lives the night, I'll post a picture.

I brought him home in a jar, because that's how they sell betta at PetCo.  I tend to pick fish based on personality.  I like the ones who seem fierce and zippy.  Not that I'm always a good judge.  *makes sad face*

For those of you who have been following for a while, you know I've had some shitty luck with fish recently.  To be fair, I had phenomenal luck for nearly a decade, but have had a recent series of unfortunate events, culminating, some time last year, in the death of my beloved dojo loach, Susan.

So, I guess all I can say is wish Glory luck.

No. 6 - Dear Author Letter

 Fandom: no. 6 (anime & manga)

Characters: any

Prompt/Notes: I haven't seen the anime, but don't let that stop you.  I'd read anything that explores this world more and the characters in it.  Honestly, I hadn't considered asking for this until someone put it on the list of fandoms, so if you're the person who put it out there and you have an idea you've been burring to write about--this is your request!  Because, really, I have no specific needs, just MOAR.  You can go dark, you can go silly, you can write a prequel about Nezumi's stage career or Inukashi's dog mom or whatever the heck trips your trigger.

Speaking of triggers, the only warning trigger I have is stillbirths and infant deaths.  I can actually read stories like those these days, but I'd need warning and it would not be a fun "fill" for this request for me.  

Otherwise, go.  

I will say that I'm surprised and pleased by the canon pairing of Nezumi and Shion, but if you want to break them up or add Safu (and/or Inukashi), that's fine with me.  I will read m/m, m/f, m/m/m, m/f/m, and gen.  I will also read plotless porn, or plotless slice-of-life, or plot heavy action.  I love political mechanizations, dark dystopia, and the struggle of the underdog against "The Man."  But, I will also read a story about Nezumi and Shion reading Shakespeare together or putting on a play for the folks outside the wall or just going out to try to scrounge up food and clothes.  Seriously, have fun, write something that excites you and I'd be sure to enjoy it.

Just be aware that I've seen none of the anime, though I'm completely up-to-date on the manga that I could find.  I've never read the novel.

Thanks for thinking of this manga!  I wouldn't have, if someone else hadn't!

Yowapeda/Yowamushi Pedal "Dear Author Letter" is here.

Ao no Exorcist "Dear Author Letter" is here.

Yowmushi Pedal/Yowapedal - Dear Author Letter

Fandom: Yowamushi Pedal

Characters: Tadokora Jin/Makishima Yuushuke

Prompt: Any story that features the yin/yang dynamic of these two. I was sold on this pair after the anime omake where Makishima imagines what Tadokora would look like slimmed down.

Of the two, I’m most fond of Tadokora, so I’d love a story told from his p.o.v., but I’m certainly open to Makishima’s (I know he’s a fan favorite).

I’m open to explicit or sweet. A story that’s not much more than a bromance would be fine with me, as long as there’s exploration of the dynamic between these two. I know lots of people ship Makishima Yuushuke/Toudou Jinpachi (hell, it seems canon) and I would be okay with a story of Tadokora’s jealousy around that (either as a current or past relationship.) I would also be down with a threesome, so long as Tadokora gets a decent share of the snuggles.

If you need specific ideas--on Tumblr I saw someone asking for a fic with these two and Takokora trying to braid Makishima’s hair for him. I’d love something as simple as that. It’d be fun, too, if there was a romantic explanation for Makishima’s god awful clothes and/or why Takokora has clearly been to his house before and is so not freaked out by it. If your thing is hurt/comfort, it might be cool to see what happens after Makishima gets the call from Takokora confessing to being in the hospital after the sprint race. While I’m not fond of AUs, you could write me the story of how they first met as first years or them reuniting some time after the manga/anime (or their part in it) is over. I’m really very flexible as long as this pairing gets hit in some way.

Cameos from other nominated characters are totally encouraged. I love the whole team. I love nearly all the characters on all the other teams, too.

Notes: I'm kind of fond of curtain fic, if you can't tell.  But, no mpreg for me, for this pairing, please. (For me, there has to be a plausible way for that to happen, and since Yowapeda takes place in the real world, that won't work for me.)  But I'd be open to adoption fic or whatever else turns your crank.  I don't have specific triggers, but I like my Yowepeda boys to be happy and for things to work out for them, so keep it on the light side if you can?

Ao no Exorcist "Dear Author Letter" is here.

No. 6 fandom "Dear Author Letter" is here.

YuleTide Dear Author - Blue Exorcist

Fandom:  Ao no Exorcist

Character: Suguro “Bon” Ryuuji

Prompt: Slice-of-life, gen fic (or slash! or sexy times!) featuring Bon doing pretty much anything.  Any other nominated character can make an appearance, so long as Bon is the center of the story.  I’d really enjoy a story that took place in the classroom or during ‘off time’ at the True Cross Academy in-between moments of manga canon.

You could write me dorm room antics, shopping trips, noodle shop runs, disastrous training exercises, exam cramming, or any other part of collegiate life you’d like to explore with this character.  

Notes about Likes/Dislikes: Despite recent developments, I like Shima Renzou, so you can write about the three pals before the betrayal, just hanging out doing all the things. Or, not, if you’d rather explore what Bon is like with other people (for instance I like the dynamic/chemistry between Bon and Izumo.)  Speaking of that, if you want to have a romance in this story that’d be fine with me.  I’m open to m/m or m/f or m/m/m, explicit or sweet.  I only ask for gen, so that the pressure is off.  Feel free to write humor.  Feel free to write angst.  Just give me my Bon.

Stuff about the character really trips my trigger: Bon’s prickly sensitivity, his ability to memorize nearly anything, and his issues his  upbringing/his dad/pseudo-class issues.

For this request, I’d really love the fill to stay inside the world of Ao no Exorcist, rather than AU.  However, the author should feel free to explore/make-up/expand any part of the world around the True Cross Academy.  If you want to make up a class or a professor we’ve never seen in canon, go for it.  

If you have a burning desire for mpreg and can make it happen in a believable way with the magic/magical science of this world, I'm down with that.  I'm not usually a fan, but when they work, I don't hate them.  To make mpreg work for me, though, you'd have to hit some of the humor/ridiculous notes for me.  

So, really, the world of the True Cross Academy is your oyster for this fic.  Write what makes you happy.  I will be happy so long as Bon is the main character.

Yowapeda/Yowamushi Pedal "Dear Author" letter is here.

No. 6 fandom "Dear Author Letter" is here.

Yuletide is open

So you're going to want to ignore the next several posts, they'll be my "Dear author" letters for my requests.  

Can I say, as a newbie to Yuletide, it seems to be unnecessarily complicated? There are rules for the rules, I swear.  

Okay... I'm off!

Podcast and Fan Fic class

First, because I know you've all been waiting.... the new podcast is up: Ni-ju kyu, Oetsu.  The title is my attempt at combining the number of our podcast 29 (ni-ju kyū, in Japanese) with the character Oetsu who CONSTANTLY does this kind of number rhyming thing with his name in the current chapter of Bleach.  We also review Fairy Tail, Toriko, and Ao no Exorcist (even though I wrote that one up as well.)



I have to say, for us, this podcast is pretty darned articulate, and since we forget to sing the spoiler song, there's 50% less annoying singing!

All wins, in my opinion.

I also wanted to report on my fan fic class at the Loft, which was part of the Youth/Teen Writers' Conference.  The nicest thing about the conference is that it's free, which means that attendance is huge.  There were probably about 25 teens in my class, which means there was a TON of energy.  It helped that I started class with a "what's your fandom?" question that elicited some squee when people heard their own favorites mentioned.  I also said before we started that this was a no shaming class, so you know, if you wanted to confess to still reading some One Direction bandom fic, no one was allowed to laugh TOO loudly at you.

The thing that I decided to do since everyone seemed keyed up to share was to ask them what THEIR list of fan fic pet peeves were.  I got some interesting results.

NUMBER #1: grammar/spelling errors.

So, for all you grown-ups who think that the next generation doesn't give a toss about language because they're texting all the time, you would be so very, VERY wrong. 

NUMBER #2 (and actually some other ones later could fall under this one): Tagging, Get it Right

The complaints for this one including being surprised by a fic that started out moderately dark that then took an unexpected left-turn, "Mature" rating that wasn't hot enough, and similar things.  

We did discuss how hard "tagging the dark" can be when you're posting as you write... since you might not notice how dark something is getting.  But, a lot of the answers boiled down to: get a beta reader and listen to them.  I learned that there's apparently a beta reader/writer connection place on Tumblr called "Writer's Halfway House", which among its many tips, will connect writers to beta readers.  

NUMBER #3: Self-insertion/Mary Sue.

No surprise there.  Mary Sue has been disliked since the very first fic of its kind was penned.  HOWEVER, I did point out that there's nothing wrong with Mary Sue especially when you're young and first trying things out.  My very first piece of fan fiction (which happened to be my very first piece of fiction, period) involved Han Solo rescuing me from my dreary life.  Nothing wrong with that... IF YOU TAG IT.

Which, by the way, was pretty much a solution to a lot of problems: tag, tag, TAG.

NUMBER #4: Weak endings/Didn't stick the landing.

Far more problematic, especially given the way a lot of fic gets written--which is to say, on the fly.  We talked about general strategies, especially the idea of outlining or starting with an actual point.  (Not required, of course, particularly for drabbles and such, but if you want to have a strong ending, you need a strong start.  A strong start is far more certain when you have a THING you want to say, a point, a theme, a thesis, if you will.)

NUMBER #5: OOC for no reason

If you're a fan and you're writing to other fans about beloved characters, for goodness sake try to keep the characters IN CHARACTER. This lead to a side discussion about the point of AUs.  Some people suggested that Alternate Universes were good for focusing on character, because you're taking them away from the world and it's about the core of what makes them who they are.  I suggested that this can also be the pitfall of Alternate Universes, which I tend not to like, because more often than not they feel, to me, like original fiction with the names stuck in just to trick people into reading it--but that may be harsh.  I have been burned.  But, I've also been pleasantly surprised.  One of my favorite fics is an AU involving Renji and Byakuya were it all starts as a sleazy hook-up in a bookstore's back closet and they're entirely human, living in the modern world.

NUMBER #6: Spearbearers made of cardboard/OC (original characters) who are flat

I felt particularly capable to talk about how to do original characters right because more than once I've gotten complimented on my original characters in my fan fic.  (I suppose this skill comes from inventing characters for, well, novels, but still.) The answer, in it's simplest form is: treat all your characters as human beings. No human being has only one characteristic.  We are all interesting, even the vile ones have something about them that is redeeming and charming, etc.  

NUMBER #7: Evasion of plot

I was very surprised and pleased to hear this one come up.  What is meant by "evasion of plot" is two things, 1) a tendency of fan fic writers not to go for the gold.  They'll get to what should be a very painful moment and they back away out of a desire not to hurt their babies.  But, what ends up happening is that the reader feels cheated of a bigger moment, a bigger payoff.  And, 2) the similar, if different, problem of the author being coy with information that really just needs to be said.  It's the whole 'why didn't they just say that earlier' problem.  Or it's something that the reader should have been told, but is instead held back in the wrong-headed assumption that this makes the story more dramatic.  The solution to that was: yeah, don't do that.

NUMBER #8: Fucking up the fucking

Yeah, we went there.  There were a number of very interesting complaints about sex in fan fic.  Firstly, the teens in my class do NOT want you to use inappropriate lubes. Please, people, do your research. A quote from class: "Peanut butter?  JUST NO.  So much NO." Similarly, do not break the laws of physical possibilities, which we labeled "parts doing the NO."  I recommended the classic fan fic resource: Minotaur's Sex Tips for Slash Writers.

My students also really craved sex scenes that skipped all the purple prose of "his alabaster skin" (guilty as charged!) but to the excision of actual feelings.  We discussed, actually, the similarity between writing a good fight scene and writing a good sex scene.  I told them that in a fight, what you want to concentrate on is a singular point of view and remember that a fight isn't just about  the dimensions of the instrument, what part goes where, and for how long (like sex) and that it's actually a highly emotionally charged event (like sex.)  So parts are important (like sex), but ultimately it's about feelings (like sex.)  So make sure your fight scenes aren't gratuitous either.  Make sure there's a reason for the fight and for the sex.  

Similarly, we discussed romance and how they want it to be so much more than love at first sight (which this generation firmly believes is crap.)  They also absolutely hated when a write had a gay man who spent any time wondering "when they turned into a girl."  They found this offensive on so many levels it wasn't funny.  

Foreplay was discussed as both something that could go on too long and that there sometimes wasn't nearly enough of.  So we ended up spending a lot of time discussing ways in which we could work to make the romance and sex feel REAL.  I said that, even though part of the appeal of fan fic is its fantasy element, there is some value in considering real life situations while writing about sex.  It can make sex cute, funny and resonate more deeply when you take some time to try to add the people parts of sex that make it awesome--an example I used is consider breaking up the hot and heavy action with the classic... and now the cat has wandered in and is sitting on someone's butt or staring at you from the dresser.  This makes the moment (potentially if you can pull it off) funny and real feeling.

NUMBER #9: The art of the Summary

We didn't get to this one because sex and romance ate up the majority of our class period, but people want better summaries from you, oh fan fic writers everywhere.  Please take some time to figure out how to best summarize your fic.  (This may be something that Rachel and I can spend some class time teaching because I believe it's an art that can translate to original fiction skills, as it's the same one that you use when you write synopses for agents and editors.)

Those were the major ones.  We got kind of specific, like "wanton" versus "wonton" but obviously that falls under grammar and spelling. Likewise, there were a lot of specific questions about sex, which I fielded like a pro, that ended up as part of the list which I combined into a giant #8 above.

Yeah... we had to shut the door.  No only were we screaming about lube, there was just a lot of general excitement to get to talk to someone about this sort of thing--not just the sex parts but the whole "oh and this drives me insane" thing.

So I would say the class went well.  It'll be interesting to see what the various evaluations say.