Joined: 29 Nov 2004
Posts: 183
Location: Northern UK
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An Admin writes...
First of all, the disclaimer. This is a largely personal view, as one of the SH admins, it in no way stands as an official statement from the site owners, or the other admins.
However, what follows is hopefully some fairly comprehensive advice, which will perhaps be valuable for newcomers, on things you can do to make your work as good as possible.
Contrary to what my perceived persona is (grouchy old sulkpot, whatever), I do not get a blast out of rejecting a fic. Here on the SH archives we tend towards looking for reasons to validate, rather than looking for reasons to reject.
However, though we are very pro-writer, we also have our readers to think about.
Readers come to these archives in search of quality reading, and it’s up to the admin to make as certain as possible they get that. That means if a fic is not up to standard, it will be rejected.
No one likes rejection. My first submission to Fiction Alley was rejected and I was appalled at such a bunch of yahoos not recognising the inherent genius of my fic. How could they? They had to be jealous – I told myself. And then… when I’d stopped raging at the heavens for denying me the fame and BNF status that was clearly my due, I thought on. It was rejected for dialogue punctuation errors, since you ask. A friend, who is a mod on Fiction Alley told me they are the most common error they get. I’d agree. It’s one of the things new writers find tricky. Anyway, following their advice, I went away and found a beta, as they advised, and her input and suggestions changed my fanfic story quite a bit. Because that end product was so hugely improved, that story is still being read and recced today. And I am still writing – encouraged by readers who like my work. I assure anyone that the original submission was not that good. It would have been nothing special – a good idea that wasn’t really achieved, or brought off as well as it might have been. It was that extra polish (which became more like a re-write) that made the difference.
So if you are rejected, treat it as a learning experience. It’s never personal, by the way! And we do not jealously suppress stories that are better than our own, either. And remember how many rejections do successful “real” writers get before they are published? Finally do you want great reviews? Go that extra distance, and you might get them.
Here’s a few ways that you might load the dice and get up there first go:
1. First and foremost of all, never, ever upload a first draft. When you finish drafting your story/chapter, whatever, my advice is to let it sit for at least 24 hours. More if you can. This is even before a beta reader looks it over. Then print it out and read it. Give it one straight read, and then read again as a proof read, canon read, character read. Be your own strongest critic. Rip that story apart as much as you can, then go off and polish it up. My first drafts suck. It’s the repeated drafting that provides the polish. Read with a notebook handy, and jot down what needs fixing, or where things need more work. A few questions you need to ask and answer truthfully are the following:
a. Are the canon characters recognisable as such? Sure, there is substantial leeway of interpretation between one fic writer and another. However, that is within a framework – your characterisation of Snape should relate to the guy in the books. Essentially, if you have him looking over a pressed flower collection, you may have let yourself get out of the loop.
b. Carefully check canon spellings and canon events. There are a lot of resources out there. Number one is the books; they are the five Harry Potter books, and the two “schoolbooks”. Don’t laugh. There seem to be a number of fanfics knocking around where it does not look as if the writer has ever read the canon. To do yourself proud, assume EVERY reader is a nitpicking canon Nazi, who is ready to rip you a new asshole if you screw up and get it wrong. Research and check your facts. The HP Lexicon has a wealth of resource and is the work of nitpicking canon maniacs (I know some of them from discussion boards and they KNOW their canon). It has a search function, and timelines that are pretty drop dead accurate. Also worth tuning into are The Leaky Cauldron, which picks up all the Potter news either about the books, J K Rowling, and the movies. And let’s not forget J K Rowling.com – the author’s new website, which is worth book-marking, as she gives us peeks into canon and future things.
c. You can see the scene you have written. Can the reader? Never assume they can. Even if the setting is Snape’s Dungeon classroom (familiar enough from the books and the movies) try and set your scene with a bit of description. Giving a sense of place will pull your reader into the story, it will make them feel there, and that is what you want.
d. Canon characters. Snape speaks with a rather formal mode of diction. That does not make him sound like a refugee from the seventeenth century. Hermione, too is rather well spoken, and tends to speak respectfully to people she sees as being authority. Those are two examples. So if you have Snape using very vulgar expression, or still at school Hermione being rude or cheeky to him, for example, you may well be voyaging into the unfriendly and shark infested waters of “out of character”.
e. Continuity. Does the action flow or does it leap from place to place without any written transition. You know they left the room and went outside. Does your reader? A lot of rot is talked in fandom about J K Rowling not being that good a writer. I’d personally argue that she is more than competent. You can always visualise what is going on in her stories. She takes you from A to B and then to C and you always know where you are. She’s perhaps not the most lyrical or profound writer, but she’s a great storyteller who keeps readers turning pages.
f. Narrative, dialogue and description. You need all three in a story. Narrative is describing what people are doing, and where they go. Dialogue is when they speak. You can use dialogue to tell your story, too. Description is the bit that tells the reader where the story is, what this character and place looks like. If you overdo any one of these at the expense of the others, a balance is lost. Break up long speeches with description of how the person speaking looked, or how the person he was speaking to looked, or tell the reader that a man telling a long story fiddled with his tie, nervously, that sort of thing. When a man begins to fall in love with a woman, he might notice new things about her, like the exact colour of her eyes, the soft down on her skin, the scent of her hair. That’s description, it’s the sort of compelling detail that draws readers into the story.
g. Avoid excessive description of physical features. Eyes are generally brown, not chocolate or cinnamon. Green eyes are green eyes; J K Rowling uses the term emerald green to make a very exact point about Harry Potter’s eyes. She does not go on about other people’s eyes like that. Clothing. Keep it brief - I want to read a story. If I want a fashion magazine, I will go out and buy one. Ditto, furniture. Not too much décor, or I’ll think I’m in “Good Housekeeping”. And if your female lead is over described, I will think, “Mary Sue” and back button at some speed (Hermione Granger can be a Mary Sue, too, believe me).
h. Premise. What's going on? The opening chapter should to some extent set up the basic premise of your story. It does not have to give the plot away, but essentially it should give the reader enough information to form a judgement as to whether they wish to read. Readers might drop out through no fault of yours, they might decide the story is not their thing, but your opening bits should act as a good teaser for the story.
2. USE THE SPELLCHECKER. It is there for a reason.
3. GET A BETA READER. See my recollections of my own fic writing above. It will make a difference. Give the beta free rein to criticise anything and everything. Why mind? She or he will be doing it out of the public eye, and better hear tough talk from a friendly beta reader than a hostile reviewer. Never assume that you know better than the beta reader. Her advice is from someone who acts in place of your eventual readership and it will help you realise what you have missed and put it right before someone is unpleasant about it.
4. If you are planning on posting a chaptered story, and this is your first go, I strongly recommend that you write the entire story first before posting, unless it is incredibly long, in which case at the very least, plot it out. Then you are less likely to fall by the wayside. I personally loathe unfinished works in progress, and only read them when I know the writer and the level of her commitment to her work. Ever found a story, got enthralled by it, only to discover that the writer has quit fandom, quit writing and the story will never be finished? Grrr. Now, I agree that sometimes, real life issues can delay completion – that cannot be helped and is perfectly understandable. But otherwise, those never ever finished works in progress irritate me. There is usually a large voice in fandom that insists they were brilliant. Well, in my not so humble we’ll never know, because the author themselves could not be bothered to finish. If the author could not be bothered, the rest could not be that compelling.
The other reason for avoiding to post a work in progress is that you get a clearer picture of the whole when it is finished. You might wish to revise earlier parts that do not fit with the end. It takes considerable planning to get a large work in progress coherent throughout.
Once you have a first draft of a longer chaptered story, set it aside for a short while. Stephen King, in "On Writing" suggests six weeks, and I think that is right for original fiction that you might wish to submit for proper publication. Stephen King would know, after all. Six weeks gives you a nice distance from which to revise. Two weeks is more like it for fanfiction. Then sit down and read, and revise. You’ll get a better feel for characters that way. Read with a notepad to hand, and make notes. This is the sort of thing: “Severus would NEVER say that!” “He cannot be in Scotland, he went to Ireland in the last chapter, and hasn’t come back yet!” Then go back and sort all these things out. Then read through again. Another good tip is read aloud – be dramatic, too. That helps me get the commas, mostly. My voice will put in the pauses that need punctuation.
5. Having polished and smartened up your baby, prepare to submit. Read the instructions about formatting, carefully; they are there to help your readers. It’s a little thing to draw in readers with a nicely formatted page. It’s a huge thing to drive them away with an unbroken block of dense type. Remember it is harder on the eyes to read from a screen than from a page. Space your paragraphs! Huge blocks of print are painful to read, and will mean a sure-fire rejection by the admins. If you have problems with formatting (being a techno-dweeb) contact the site admins for help, or ask a friend to help you.
Also read over the site FAQ's and other guidance. There is a wealth of help about dialogue formatting and grammar rules, that is worth double checking.
6. Generally, we have a turn around of about 96 hours tops (unless we are really inundated) and by then either your fic should be validated, or show up on site, or you will have heard from us. We do not write to writers and tell them if their fic is approved, only if we reject or need something small fixed.
7. If you are rejected. Generally, unlike many sites, we will tell you what needs fixing, rather than leaving you to guess. Please heed the words of the admin and fix those errors. We keep a record of why we reject and it is irritating, therefore, when a story is resubmitted unchanged. Do not try to “pull a fast one” and hope for a less fussy admin. We are all fussy.
Having said all that, generally there is some very good writing on the sites. I think most people are aspirational and want to do their best. Some are writing with the hope of maybe polishing themselves before trying their hands at original writing and publication someday; others are writing for fun. The product of both kinds of writers can be just as much fun for the readers.
Provided a bit of care is taken! Care shows above all that you respect yourself.
And remember, after all that, if you still get rejected, remember, most writers on the site have experienced this at some point. We all have room for improvement, and here on these archives, no rejection need be forever. Fix it up and submit again, and we’ll be happy to take another look.
Happy ficcing!
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