Critiquing (giving critique) stories is an art that should be taken seriously by both writers and readers. Here is a link to what may be expected from both of them: if you can't say anything nice. If you have a peeve with a comment I have made in a review to you, remember that I wrote that review as a reader. As a reader I know what appeals to me in a story. Unless you do not write your stories to be read, you should not feel peeved about something I wrote. Please, feel encouraged to improve your writing.

I am sorry if I hurt your feelings. That's the kind of thing that can happen when interacting with people. Particularly strangers can be cruel. If you think ignorance is bliss and you always want to be cuddled you should not show your stories to strangers. On the other hand, I am a stranger and you could just shrug it off and call me a cyberbully.

If, however, you are one of that rare bread of people who likes both constructive criticism and writing Torchwood fanfiction you can visit my forum Torchwood Critiques if you like and leave a request for me to review (one of) your stories.

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When I registered I couldn't come up with a name. The only thing that came to mind was an old marching song we used to sing in school: "1, 2, in de maat", hence the name. It has no other meaning. It doesn't say anything about me.

I've been reading up on Mary Sues for the last couple of months, and I have come to the understanding that many people hate them, with a vengeance, but also that an author with a great narrative style can make a Mary Sue quite enjoyable. In my C2 I'd like to collect the funny Mary Sue parodies. I just love parodies. Hopefully, it will also inspire a few of those writers to finish their stories. Personally, I believe that most Mary Sues can be redeemed. That is, they can be turned into Original Characters that don't make the canon characters obsolete. I have tried my hand at this.

A wonderful collection of Mary Sue parodies come from the offices of Protectors of the Plot Continuum. Their archive can be found here. PPC started out in Lord of the Rings, but quickly branched out to other fandoms. I too have squatted a response centre (see stories below). Before reading them you should take this paraphrasing of Freud in mind: Protectors may be fatal; they are not serious. One of my PPC fics, I believe, was taken too seriously by those who read it. I have decided to move it to a different location.

It's not easy to write a good parody. It may perhaps be even harder than writing a "regular" story. Don't think of a parody as just being about making fun of something. Like any story a parody needs a plot. A plot is a roadmap that keeps the author and the readers from getting lost. Even if your parody is about showing how other people can't write a coherent story, you still need a plot that is logical (in its own way). If I get lost in your story that means I won't get the joke. That makes your story bad; it does not make me dumb for not understanding your delicate sense of humor.

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Personally, I believe that most Mary Sues can be redeemed. That is, they can be turned into Original Characters that don't make the canon characters obsolete. This is because it is not their characteristics that make them Mary Sues, but rather how they interact with the canon characters. If a canon character is usually skeptical of strangers and keeps his emotions private, and then suddenly a new person shows up that turns this character into clingy, melodramatic shadow of himself, that's when I'm talking Sue.

Their are certain common types of Mary Sue: daughter, sister, lover. I've said myself a challange: I want to write a story for each type of Mary Sue I've encountered in Torchwood stories. I wanted to call this series Six degrees of Jack Harkness because most of these OCs have strong connection to Jack. So far I have seen:

Daughter There are several versions of this type of character. It can be a daughter (or on occasion, son) Jack has with one of his co-workers Gwen or Ianto, or with some other woman (I believe there was one instance where it was with another man). For my version, read Picture Box.

Sister Jack's sister falls through the Rift and ends up in Cardiff. Also common in Torchwood stories are Ianto's siblings.

Ex-lover Usually the woman Jack stole that jet from he had in The Empty Child.

Victim Someone that needs Torchwood's help. Often turnes into the next category.

New employee Jack hires a sixth member for Torchwood.

Rift person Someone that came through the Rift, but doesn't belong into the above categories. Actually, haven't seen this one yet, but I needed it to make up six.

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Favourite quotes:

"I like things wet; it makes going inside all the more pleasant." Mr Darcy talking about weather conditions in Pride and Promiscuity (a Jane Austen parody)

"Don't blame me," Ritalin said. "I'm just a character. If you have problems with the plot, take it up with the author." Dr Ritalin's theory on life in Barry Trotter and the Dead Horse (a Harry Potter parody).

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Between 10 and 30 percent of teenagers has ever used cannabis. If you are one of the (apparently few) people who likes to check facts before they copy-paste things into their profile, visit the website of e.g. the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.