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Fanfic Tips
by Rachel Madden (Scardno007@aol.com)

hey FoLCs! Are you guys enjoying the newsletter? Good! You can tell that I changed the name of the column, but this is only temporary, the title will stay this way at least for the next two months, and you will find out the reason for this as you read. Anyway, I was reading fanfic the other day, and all these annoying little voices kept running through my head, "Write me!" and " No! Write me!" On the screen, and in my head, parts of some fanfics kept bothering me, I couldn't handle some parts because they sounded so...well...cheesy! You know what I'm talking about, right? No offense to any authors, of course, but It's just one of my pet peeves I can't get rid of. Soooo, I wrote a few tips for wet-behind-the-ears rookie fanfic authors, and even for all you seasoned veterans out there! Here goes, hope you find them at least a *little* helpful:

* Try not to get too mushy with romantic scenes between Lois and Clark unless you absolutely *have* to, for all you hopeless romantics out there. Such as saying "honey" or "sweetheart" every sentence when they're talking to each other. It puts readers in an uncomfortable position, but that's just me, there may be some of you out there who think otherwise...you can yell at me later. :)

* Try not to switch from setting to setting, not only does it confuse readers, but it will confuse editors too, believe me...:) At least stay in one place for a couple of paragraphs, unless the switching to and fro has something to do with the dramatical part it plays in your story.

* I believe that fanfics without all the cheesy villians makes the plot better, but I know a lot of you like to include the bad guys in there...it's what makes a story exciting, perching-on-the-edge-your-seat type thing, of course. But not all of your stories have to be that way. I especially liked, and I'm trying not to pick favorites here, the fanfic "Meet Me in Kansas City" by Chris Mulder. As she says at the end, "I didn't say the "S" word once...." Now I think *that* is the kind of stuff readers appreciate, being a reader myself, as I told you before. WAFF's and WHAM's, and it had humor, sadness, a little bit of anger, but it shows how Lois and Clark really are the "truest of soulmates." They didn't even make Superman this time, until the end at least, much less *need* him. It was a good plot. Another one of my favorites is "Couch Potatoes" by Phil Atcliffe, one that was just recently posted in the Lois and Clark Fanfic Archive. It also had an attention-grabbing plot, one where Lois and Clark sit down and watch the first movie in the old "Superman" series when they're just engaged. Very amusing to those who like that sort of thing. Passionate at some points, which you know I like, but serious in others...you can never be too careful is the point I'm trying to make. You can tell I went through a lot of trouble telling you I was thinking about it for a while ....

Okay, you can all backhand me via e-mail off later...buzz me and we can have a first-class, genuine debate over this. And before I leave I just *have* to tell you my numero uno pet peeve...fortunately for you, it's not related to L&C....You know when people erase stuff on chalkboards or on those transparent sheets they put on overheads? Well, I absolutely *hate* it when they leave marks when they erase! There's *always* some line or dot just taunting me up there. I feel like going up to the teacher or student, whoever's writing and say, " If you're gonna erase something, do it right!!!" It gets on my nerves *so much!* ARRRRGGGGHHH! There...I'm finished now. I could have a debate over absolutely nothing and make it sound either really interesting or really pointless, so I'm warning you....if you
e-mail me, beware......so that's my biggest pet peeve of them all....I know, I know..it's stupid...anyway, send in your responses if you have the time, I'll get back to you, blah, blah, blah. Don't forget about the fanfic contest! Keep those fanfics coming in, and I'll try and post them the month after next!
See ya!
Rachel :)