Hello, everyone. I love fanfic. I read fanfic. I write fanfic. I review fanfic. However, I am starting an official List of Fanfic Grievances for Airing in honor of Festivus.

I expect I will add to this over the coming months, but it's going to start short.

1. Getting Rogue's name wrong. This is sloppiness, because the commonest misspelling is also a word, so Spellcheck doesn't catch it. Her name is R-O-G-U-E, not Rouge. She is an estranged person, not, repeat, NOT a form of makeup. Got that?

2. The overuse/misuse of the word 'smirk'. This is common across all fandoms. Smirk is NOT a synonym for smile. It has contempt and smugness in it. Having a hero smirk during a tender loving moment kills the mood. Here's an easy way to remember it: A smirk is the smile of a jerk.

3. People who want beta readers: There is a whole long list of people who are willing and able to do beta reading. I am not on that list. I'm not available, because I do not have time and energy and because I have had weird, stalker-like experiences in the past. Please do not ask me to do so. This also applies to people who want collaborators, AKA co-writers.

4. People who leave reviews like: 'Hi I love your writing will you please review my story?' I do not respond to these when it is the first and only review you have ever left. That is not a real review. If I did decide to leave a review, it would be just as in-depth and thought out as yours--which is to say, probably something on the order of: 'I don't like this.'

5. People who send messages like: 'I have this great idea for a (fill in the blank) story and I'm looking for someone to write it.' I will not respond. Why? Having great ideas is the easy part. I have ideas all the time, some great, some not so. Why would I want to write yours when you can't be bothered? Writing the story is the hard part, and if your idea is as great as you think, you'd be compelled to write it yourself. So don't ask. This also applies to people who want collaborators, AKA co-writers.

Whew! I feel much better for having got that off my chest. Thanks.

Jaye

For those who are reading my Assassins' Archives, here's the link to that picture I mentioned:

http:///eGallery/object.asp?maker=11954&object=404427&row=2

And a link to the Selkie webcomic:

http:///?p=3

The first several weeks are in black and white and are crude, in comparison, to the latest strips.