Ok, there is only one guy who rules this part of the forum. That guy is dots.

Now I know that he is such an awesome writer and everyone loves his work, but what about the rest of us? There are loads of writers, that have come and gone, that have had such amazing pieces of work, but no one ever comments on them. Instead, they ignore those threads, and jump straight to dot's next thread. They don't even check out others when dot's hasn't released a new Chapter!

So this is what I put to you:

1. More people start to type their own fiction. Don't say that you suck at writing. Whatever comes into your head, write it down. Loads of people will back you up.

2. More people getting involved in other people's stories. For example, Dagarian's 'Survival of the Fittest' only has a few main readers, when I say it should have as many as dot's. Dagarian is an awesome writer. Another example, my fiction, 'The Soldier'. Ok, it's non-cannon, but that doesn't mean that it shouldn't be left well alone. Many have said it is good. It's not even a private project; anyone can get involved if they mean good with it.

3. More reading and commenting on other threads. Just for one night, could you look at the other unread threads? Don't be afraid to necro; just tell them what you think.

Come on, let's get the fan-fic section more interesting for everyone.

Yay, I'm mentioned! I think. . . It's DagONian, not DagARian. (Though the second does have a nice ring to it )

I'd also like to point out that by commenting on other people's stories (not just dots) and by providing constructive critisism in particular you are helping that person write better. By that I don't mean the grammar nazis (although pointing out mistakes is very much appreciated of course), but actual advice instead.

In my experience you don't have to be an expert in the field to give such advice. Simply speaking your mind can help a writer. Just keep it clean. . . No flaming. It takes a lot of time and effort to write something, and it can take a lot more effort to actually post it. Especially the first time. To have something brutally burned down that you worked very hard on can be very depression inducing. Thankfully there is not much of this going on this forum.

Point in case, my own story. The early chapters aren't all that fantastic but the later chapters are a lot better and part of that is very much due to people's feedback. Also, I believe someone recently said on dots' latest book that there was considerable improvement between his first book and the newest.

Especially longer multichapter projects can benefit greatly from feedback.

Change the subforum title to "Fan Art, fiction and roleplaying", and I might contribute... Some day... when my art classes begin again

I'm going to make a fan fic story I think, I've got so much time to spare soon, with those final exams coming

To points 2 and 3:

But its simply not a good read and why should i go to a thread and say that i didnt like it if i can just shut the bloody fck up and leave them to their devices?

Okay, this may be obvious but I'll say it anyway. The main issue isn't really that people believe that dots is the only good writer...its just that nobody feels like setting aside the time to read something that MIGHT be good. It took a crap load of persuasion on the part of one of my RL buddies who also plays supcom to get me to read dots. Then I fell in love with it. After a ton of hounding our clan, we managed to get a couple of clan mates to read dots too. Then the four of us dots converts were able to get a couple more people interested in reading his books. Although right now they are still kinda apprehensive of the idea of reading something by "some guy on the forum".

Basically, the people who like one of the other fan fiction writer's work just need to start HOUNDING all their supcom friends to read that writer's stuff and hope for a domino effect...cuz thats what its gonna take

*edit*
TBH, I don't really go to threads on the forum unless someone else told me I need to check it out. Soo....why doesn't someone give some suggestions on who some other good supcom fan fiction writers are besides dots? Right now all people who don't know who else is out there (like me) don't really have anything to go off of besides byteme's little joke post called (dotswarlock,MaulMachine,Olafur,Dagonian,Spaceman Spiff,isik+) insisting that they all write more stories

We ought to have a sticky thread which lists all stories along with links and a small summary (as in one or two sentences). Something along the lines of a random page of this site http://www.fanfiction.net/.

Or has anybody got a better idea?

Good idea. Not sure how to implement it. Fan Fiction doesn't have a moderator, so I'm not sure who to ask.

I take it it doesn't have to be a fanfiction moderator per se? Since there's a sticky at the top right now. . . Even though there's only a handful of active threads around here and any regular thread created for this purpose wouldnt descend too low in the thread list too quickly, I'd prefer a sticky as it draws a bit more attention. Plus it's always at the top and therefore easy to find. I think.

Oh well, while I'm at it, here's an example of what I was thinking of. Mind you, the example fanfic is only there for, well, example purposes.

Title (self explanatory): The Bobby Chronicles

Type (multi-chapter, short story, one-shot): multi-chapter

Chapter count (self explanatory): 231

Status (active, irregular updates, hiatus, cancelled): active

Summary (maybe 100 words or so): Follow Bobby and his band of merry Aeon commanders on their way to Earth. Along the way they will face many perils, smoke pot, make friends, cleanse them, find a pet GC and much more.

Genre(s) (self explanatory): Humor, parody, action, adventure

Additional info/notifications (anything not covered by other categories): Please post questions/remarks in the discussion thread. This story assumes dots' stories are canon. (for example, dots could have his technology thread mentioned here)

link(s) (links to the fic and associated threads):
Link to nonexistent story thread
Link to nonexistent discussion thread

I'll just go a step further and say we might need a moderator-ish person who can keep such a thread organised. Most of the categories can be filled by the writers themselves and then sent to the moderator-ish person who posts them in the sticky, without needing to bloat the thread out of proportion with replies from all writers and replies to those replies and replies to those etc. etc. etc. The moderator-ish person could also keep chapter count and status up to date every day / week / two weeks / month.

Anyway, it's just a possibility. Is there anything I missed? Suggestions? Corrections? Flames?

No, wait. No flames. I'm heat intolerant.

This is just a random idea, but maybe it would be even cooler if we could somehow set it up to where readers could rate authors or stories. That way people could check to see what stories the community likes before they choose a thread to go read. Maybe a poll that never closes could do it, that would be easy, even if it wouldn't be too sophisticated. Or maybe some sort of database driven voting system, but that would be more work.

Well a lot o forums have built in thread rating features.

However I think that be kinda the opposite of what the OP was trying to go for, as in itd be completely dependant upon popularity. What I think he was trying to think of was ideas o how to get people to read the stories that not so many know about.

So yeah a sticky thread with a list of stories/features would be the best, not popularity dependant, and gives the readers the option to choose which they think matches most what they're after reading.

I don't have the time to read any more atm, but at least for others lookin fer other stories, they'll find em quick.

Yeah I guess you're right.

Just to add my two cents although much has already been posted by others before me:

1 – Most writers like comments and constructive criticism in their stories. Since there’s no money or prize to be won, that’s actually one of the main incentives to keep going. So don’t be shy about posting about what you liked or what could be improved. Even something as simple as “keep up the good work” can keep a thread alive (so I recommend doing it if you like the story).

If, for some reason, you fear that your criticism can be too harsh or too pointy then you can drop a PM instead. Personally, I learned a lot from user feedback in all forms.

2 – Drugfreeboy also has a very good point; it’s not everyone who’s interested in reading fan fiction. Heck, real life work taught me that it’s best to not exceed one pagers when it comes to making reports

A good trick to keep readers interested or at least show that the thread is still alive is to update the thread name when you add to your story. I found that trick really useful. Otherwise it’s just a matter of perseverance.

Have fun out there!

No. This is not necroing. This is CPR.

'cause this is an 'issue' that needs resolving. Well, an issue for every writer that isn't dots. No offence meant, dots.

Somewhere not too far above I posted my idea for a sticky thread and my belief that someone would have to maintain such a thread. I'd like to make the thread, but who'd I approach to get it stickied, as this forum ain't got a moderator? I'm no expert on forum technology, so excuse me if the answer is obvious. I'd like to at least know before making the thread.

Also, are there any other sites and forums that have SupCom fanfiction? I might be able to include them into such a thread, if the authors there don't mind at least.

You might try PMing one of these guys about getting a sticky posted. At the very least, they could point you in the right direction.

jables
The Core Commander

Thanks. I'll start shooting off PM's to a couple of the writers around here to see who's interested in having their work featured.

The only problem for me is that i havent had any constructive critism since i started writing on here.

It might be fine for others, but it doesn't always happen for everyone.

Point is I'm trying to give new peeps who stumble onto this here forum the chance to figure out what they might want to read. Once more stuff gets read I hope more people will comment.

This won't be a 'fix' for the situation, but hopefully it'll be a step in the right direction.

Plus, I always like keeping stuff more or less organised in lists.