Monday, April 27, 2009

Reader'sSeries: Tiggrmommi



Wow. I’m sitting here still in shock several days later, at the fact that someone picked me to write about my personal experiences with the fanfic world. It seems that maybe I have affected someone; possibly as much as I myself have been affected. Wow! While Breaking Dawn didn’t leave me upset or feeling at all unfulfilled as to how the story ended, I did and still do, crave more. More of Edward. More of Bella. Just. More.

Never in a million years would I have dreamed that there was this whole world out there for me to continue the obsession. I needed to explore. While I am (I think like most readers) a B&E HEA kinda gal, I have enjoyed so many other stories as well. I’ve even found myself enjoying stories I never thought I’d like. For me, for the most part, I prefer the characters to be as close to the books as possible. But to be completely honest, looking at my top 20 favorite stories…Edward is a jerk, Bella is strong and independent, Emmett’s a manipulator, Rose isn’t such a bitch and even in a few stories, I don’t find myself hating Jacob at all! But one thing seems to remain constant. In every story so far, I still hate Tanya! LMAO. Even when she’s just looking out for Edward and an old childhood friend, or publicist or what have you. (My favorite nickname I’ve read for her is TurboHo.) I borrow this nickname from a story I love. And in my reviews where Tanya is concerned I generally use this nickname rather than the name, Tanya. It brings a smile to face every time and I can’t help but give a little chuckle each time I type it.

When I sat down to write this I hadn’t planned to specifically mention any stories or authors, for fear I would not be able to mention all my favorites. I would hate to leave someone I love out, unintentionally, whether it is an author or story. Alas, the more I thought about writing this, the more I needed to write about certain characters that get me going. Make me mad. Make me happy. Make me sad. So, I apologize in advance for not being able to specifically mention each and every author and story that I favorite. It truly does break my heart that I can not list each of you here by name.

Right now, my favorite Bella in a story has to be from Shotgun Charlie by superstarrh. Normally, Bella is not a character I would ever call a favorite, but this Bella is who I myself would like to be. (And not just because she gets to have sex with Edward in a tree or really have sex with Edward all the time.) LOL. Recently, she was put into a situation where she just blows up and decides to not take crap from anyone. She lashed out at the whole family and stood up for herself and it was brilliantly written! She even stood up to Edward when he tried to take his families advice and treat her once again with “kid gloves”. That’s not what Bella had wanted and she told him so. Go Bella! A bonus for this story is Emmett. He is truly hilarious and so caring when it comes to Bella, that it just makes the story even more kinds of awesome. Really everything superstarrh writes is WIN. Seriously. Go read it all. Now. Seeing the alerts in my box from her really make my days brighter (even when I know they might contain some of that horrible angst.) I find myself rushing through real life junk, just so I can read what she’s written. I always find great writing from her and she truly transports me into her fanfic world.

Spending time in a few Twilighted threads of my favorite stories has been such a blessing. (I wish I was able to spend more time there!) Those crazy beautiful ladies brought me out of a shell I didn’t know I truly hated living in. They helped bring out my inner perv I never knew existed (I’m such a prude!) But I’ve actually met and bonded with some real life ladies in my area who enjoy and embrace the smut like I do! We can’t wait to get together and talk about all the stories we’re currently reading. It’s definitely something I will always be thankful for…So Thanks bunches to the Perv Pack Smut Shack…LOL. While you are not the ladies I have met…you most definitely are the cause for me meeting so many of my new friends!

Going back a bit to my favorite characters. Like probably 95% of fanfic readers out there, my favorite character would be Edward. I’ve come to find I will take Edward any way I can get him. Vetward (DID), Windoward (The Office), Geekward (Resident Geek, Frenemies), Stealthward (Dangerous Affections), Wankward (Midnight Desire), Priestward (Sanctuary). Seriously, these are just SOME of my favorite Edwards. Is it wrong to want Priestward to get laid? Or Geekward? LMAO. This fanfic world opens up a multitude of goodness where the characters can be anything the author wants them to be…and maybe even something you didn’t think they could be, or should be.

Several authors I enjoy respond to every review they get. (WOW!) Some don’t. (Not a biggie to me really. I know you’ve probably read my review and are glad I took the time to write it.) But none I’ve seen take as much time as Books (booksgalore). And I don’t mean it takes her forever to reply to the review, I mean she pours over every comment and question and thought and theory and delves even further into her story when she responds to the review you’ve left! I can not fathom the time it takes her to respond to everyone, but she does! As I said before, I know many authors who do not reply to reviews left and I don’t fault them at all for not saying a personal thank you for the review (I as a reader, believe you appreciate the review and I don’t need you to tell me so, but I do SQUEE when I get a response back. LOL.) I can not imagine taking the time to write the story, post it online, keep up in a thread (as it seems most stories have them over there at Twilighted) and then respond to all the reviews too! HOLY CROW!

Le sigh. Ok, here I found myself mentioning some of my favorite stories, characters, authors and such, but alas, I could not name them all. And for that, I am incredibly sad. There are just so many incredibly awesome stories and authors out there in the FF world that if I were to list all of my faves, I’d be keeping you at the puter for a week and boring you to death with my crappy writing skills.

Again, I want to thank each and every author out there for putting your thoughts, dreams, hopes, ideas and such out there for us to enjoy. You all deserve chocolate and hugz for putting yourselves out there! I was raised by the rule, if you don’t have anything nice to say, SHUT YER DANG MOUTH! But all too often I find mean spirited reviews of stories or chapters in the threads or comments/reviews. So many of them are anonymous too. And it irks the hell outta me! If you don’t like reading something, stop! No need to continue reading it. No one is making you. Not everyone will enjoy reading the same kind of stories. Move on! No need to tell the author you think they suck or they shouldn’t be writing or worse (to me) HOW they should write THEIR story! I do not ever believe a writer should write something based on the reviews they got/get. (Example: writing a lemon before you are ready or a HEA when that is not where you intended the story to go.) I know some of you worry that if you don’t give in to what the reader wants, you will lose them. But if you are giving in to what we as readers want…is it still your story? Or did it just become….OUR story? All too often I’ve seen a writer go with what the reader wants and the author loses interest in the story…or worse…in writing all together. They think they are not good enough now to come up with stuff on their own when they were doing just great to begin with! Remember they reviewed your story because they liked it…even if it might not have been going where they wanted it to (or thought it would go.) While I’m not saying I don’t leave my thought on where I think a chapter/story might be heading (or even my hopes on where it might go) I never want to sway the author from their intended direction. Again, remember it’s your story. Not mine. And it isn’t Jovial Jane’s down the block’s story either. Ignore her pleading to sweeten it with a lemon! If I’m reading your story it’s because somewhere along the way you wrote something that captured my attention. It was you. Not Jovial Jane. So don’t change your story to keep reviewers happy. Please.

Ok, to the author who picked me….WOW. To think maybe something I’ve said to you in a review (or maybe on the threads) maybe brought a smile to your face…or brought you to a happy place…I hope I didn’t disappoint you in my summary here…if I have, I am sorry and perhaps I should buy you a beer. (Holy crow that rhymed.) That can’t be good. See, now you know why I don’t write!

Umm…yeah, ok…I’m done. The end. (Fade to black.)




Author's Blurb by superstarrh

Reviews, reviews, reviews. Where to begin when talking about reviews? Do I love them? I would be lying if I said anything else. Let’s be honest here…while I ultimately write because I do enjoy this and have a great time coming up with ideas and getting them out there it is nice to know that others out there are enjoying my little bit of crazy that I put out there. I mean after all how often do you get to write about Emmett giving sex lessons, Edward killing worms while fishing and Charlie stalking hallways with a shotgun and have people actually enjoy it? Most people would think I was a bit crazy (and I would have to grudgingly admit that they may be right) but when sharing this with the fanfic community they actually understand and enjoy it.

So when asked to write a little something about a reviewer I had to think about which reviewer I would like to feature. I am quite lucky to have a few people who review each and every chapter that I write, even those who go back and read the early stuff that I wrote. There was one person who came to mind the more I thought about it. Not only does she take the time to review each chapter she actually takes the time to review it on both Twilighted and FF and actually finds different things to say in each review. She is always extremely supportive and is someone who I am honored to not only call a reviewer but as time has gone on a friend. I find myself looking forward to what she might say about each chapter, especially those ones where I wasn’t sure what the readers will think of them.

I guess I should actually share the name of this person. I’m sure that many of you know her and I hope that you have been lucky enough to receive a review from her. My featured reviewer is none other than Tiggrmommi aka Cheryl. She is consistently supportive of all my ramblings that I put out there for which I am eternally grateful. She also isn’t afraid to tell me when things don’t work which to be honest is something that I appreciate from anyone. Of course it is nicer to have people tell you they loved your chapter but it is nice to hear from those who didn’t like it too. Especially when I get those that take the time to give me the details of exactly what they didn’t like. It usually helps me to shape things for future chapters.

Okay, back to the reviewer at hand. Tiggrmommi is someone who always makes me smile when she leaves a review. She helps make this whole journey that I am taking worthwhile. I’m forever thankful that she takes the time to read what I write.

Once again I want to stress that I appreciate each and every person who takes the time to review on my writing. Although I am incredibly behind I will be getting back to everyone who does leave a review. So even though I was unable to mention the name of every person who has taken the time to review just know that I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

So a big thank you to Tiggrmommi for being not only a great reviewer but a great person!

Jaime



4 comments:

  1. Tiggrmommi! Oh, how I love your reviews!

    Seriously, you shouldn't be shocked an author picked you. I look forward to your reviews every chapter, because I know you'll always have something insightful to say about the word vomit I just posted.

    Thanks for being so awesome!

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  2. Awww ur still making me blush C! LOL. Ty. Seriously. Thank you again to ALL the authors out there who have kept me entertained for these last few months (and to those who will continue to entertain me)...I simply can't thank you all enough for sharing your stories with us all.

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  3. Turboho! I'm going to steal that one, it's beautiful.

    Thanks for taking the time to share your perspective. I'm going to have to peruse some of your story recs!

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  4. You are one of my golden reviewers, one of the few whom I GET EXCITED to see in my inbox. I'm always like, "Damn, well, I guess the kids can wait another five minutes to eat/sleep/dress/get rescued from a burning building." And when I decided to rip down "conTEXTually speaking", you were one of the ones who supported me. i HEART you.

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