It's my site, so why the heck am I so hesitant?

[azurite]

Okay, so most people on here know I own and maintain Dragonfayth, the only (as far as I know) archive for Seto x Anzu (Azureshipping) fic on the web. I honestly wish more people would host there stuff on there (namely some certain someones here on LJ! you know who you are, right?), but that's not the rant for today.

While it's great to have submissions at all, I notice a lot of them are leaving a lot to be desired. And I thought the Submission Rules I had were enough, but apparently not. People are making BASIC mistakes and submitting... well, trash. I'm not FFnet; I don't intend to post things that are riddled with spelling and grammar errors, bad formatting, etc. Even OOC comes into play, though I suppose to a degree, that's subjective.

But mine IS a private archive. I don't HAVE to accept every damn thing that comes my way. I am willing to post someone's fanfiction in an archive EXCLUSIVE for that sort of fic (as opposed to FFnet, where one good fic is buried under tons of horseshit), if people are just willing to respect the rules.

So where do I draw the line? I don't want to feel guilty about rejecting stuff, but I don't want to have to rip someone's story apart fixing every last error, inconsistency, or frankly, lousy scrap of writing there is. I can only beta-edit for simple spelling and grammar fixes when I have time. Which is not often, if you get my drift.

So I was thinking of developing some "Standards of Quality" for Dragonfayth that are much more explicit than just the general submission rules. These would go beyond just saying "no spelling, grammar, and formatting errors," because even with a spellchecker and a beta-reader, I still catch misuses of words. I can correct those, no big deal. I don't get mad about those.

But when people:
a) don't bother to accent Téa's name (and YES, this pisses me off ROYALLY. It's NOT hard to do, NOT hard to look up and learn if you don't know how, and I DO NOT accept excuses)/mix and match/mangle names (also pisses me off royally. DO NOT DO IT!)
b) Have "conversations" with their "Yami" or with Seto and Anzu at some point before/during/after the fic
c) Have non-summaries that don't tell me anything about what the story is about
d) Have fics that aren't really "stories" at all, but more like blurbs (and I don't mean oneshots/shortfics; I've seen plenty of those that are prolific enough in 100 words or less. I mean stuff like "So and so hated so and so. So and so got into a fight! They kissed! The end." YES, I have seen those on Dragonfayth!)
e) Have grossly OOC characters (and I mean Seto waxing eloquent and poetic, usually)
f) Can't remember to format dialogue like so: "I thought you said we'd have macaroni," Téa cried. and instead use periods before the quote, or no punctuation at all, or capitalize the attribution (if it's not a name) after the dialogue
g) Use fangirl Japanese that has a PERFECTLY ENGLISH EQUIVALENT WORD (such as "Hello?" and "Mother" as the most recent examples I came across)

It just drives me BATTY!

I can't just whip up rules and apply them to fics sitting in the queue (as they have been for months). That's not fair. But honestly... I don't think these fics are good enough, and going into acute detail in the rejection letter seems ridiculous.

Maybe I need a co-mod for the Submissions Queue so I can easily say "This isn't good enough. This is meant to be a QUALITY archive, and this fic just doesn't hold up." That's why I built Dragonfayth in the first place-- to be something DIFFERENT from the C2s on FFnet, and to have better fics than just ONE author's favorites list, or ONE attempt at searching for "Seto x Anzu" in FFnet's search engine.

There is some DAMN good Azureshipping fic out there-- by atlantian_magic, praiseofshadows, wickeddawn, guardian_kysra, rhapsody_dragon, svelterose, geniusgirl, akavertigo and countless others. I just wish more of that "DAMN GOOD STUFF" would make its way off LJ/FFnet and onto Dragonfayth, where it can bask in all-Azureshippy-glory! Because all this frankly badfic makes Mer sad. ;_;

I dunno, any suggestions guys?
* Is having "Standards of Quality" going too far?
* If not, what would be good expectations to have of fics PRIOR to them being submitted to the queue?
* Does anyone wanna help co-mod the queue anyway, just so I don't end up angsting over all these decisions on my own?

Comments

[akavertigo.livejournal.com]

We need an Azure writing circle. We have people qualified for an Azure writing circle: ::points to listed names:: Why don't we have an Azure writing circle?

[azurite]

I remember as kind of a joke I said that the above members (among others, possibly) are part of what I call "The White Rose Society," and we each have royal nicknames. atlantian_magic was the first honorary member, because her nickname throughout fandom is now The Steam Queen. And I just made up names that were similar. I think mine is The Fog Princess, because my fics tend to be vague and chilling, or something. But you get the idea.

I think the thing with all of us is that
a) we're older than the bulk of fandom, even if just by a few years
b) we're busy... students, working, both
c) we have other priorities
d) we're just not freakin' inspired
And that really deters us from all getting together over a cup of [insert drink of choice here] and talking Azure all night. Because if I could somehow instigate that, I would, in a heartbeat.

And heck knows I would gladly fork over dedicated webspace for each and every Azureshipping author that took the time to host their stuff on Dragonfayth and make it a better place, and better known, too. I want people to know why I love it as much as I do, and it IS namely because of those people.

I'll say something smart in a moment

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

Oh god this: (and I don't mean oneshots/shortfics; I've seen plenty of those that are prolific enough in 100 words or less. I mean stuff like "So and so hated so and so. So and so got into a fight! They kissed! The end." YES, I have seen those on Dragonfayth!)

-

"I hate you," Anzu hissed.

Kaiba looked just gave her a long look before saying, "Strong words from a girl who always preaches about friendship."

Anzu glared at him for a moment, wishing she could make him melt, before amending, "I hate your actions."

Kabia took a step towards her, a smirk playing on his lips, "That's not the same as hating me."

"Why would you care?" Anzu said, trying not to give into the urge to back away.

Kabia didn't say anything at first. Instead, he closed the distance between them smoothly. When there was less than an inch of space between them, he leaned down and said into her ear, "I don't."

Anzu licked her lips and swallowed as Kaiba walked away.

-

Dude I've been reading too much Shoujo.

Re: I'll say something smart in a moment

[azurite]

But see, that was GOOD! That had raw emotion, tension, and decent descriptions of the way things were being said or how they looked! When I said I've seen stories like the example that prompted you... I was being serious. They were basically mad-libs with Yu-Gi-Oh character names filled in. And the one kind of editing I really can't do is "making the story more descriptive." Because that's something the author really has to do, based on their own visuals/ideas on their head. A few fics that were on the queue at DRFA recently really were just... FLAT.

Re: I'll say something smart in a moment

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

Haha thanks. I sorta now want to write a Seto/Anzu fic. It's been ages. Hm...

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

No. Standards of Quality isn't going too far. It's your archive. There is ff.net, ficwad, lj, etc for everyone to post. If you want DF to be a place that hosts better fics, than do it.

In fact, I encourage it. Half the reason I'm gone from the YGO fandom is the lack of good fic.

[praiseofshadows.livejournal.com]

e) Have grossly OOC characters (and I mean Seto waxing eloquent and poetic, usually) XDDD -- oh lordy -- though I have to say if it were about the BEWDs...hahahahah XDDDDD

[azurite]

Well yeah THAT makes sense... but there was a fic in the queue where Seto wasn't Seto KAIBA, he was Seto SHAKESPEARE and I wanted to thwack him (or possibly the author, who was obviously projecting some sort of idealized bishonen onto our messed-up plaything hero-of-sorts). Unlike the other fics, it wasn't chock full of spelling errors, but the idea of Seto just having an easy time saying something like "I love you" really bothered me. It's NOT easy for him, and I think to make it so is really pulling him out of character!

The thing is, I don't want to say to people "I'm forcing you to write explanations for every little thing in your fic," but I don't want a fic to jar me suddenly and make me wonder "Is this really the character I think it's supposed to be?" (and not, you know, "fill-in-the-character's-name" mad libs, where it could be ANYONE with just a bit of description-tweaking.)

There can be some genuinely well-written short fics that don't go into how Seto x Anzu got together, where everyone else is, why they suddenly like each other... etc., but still, when it comes to ANY sort of character inconsistency, I want it explained. That could just be my personal peeve though, and I'm terrified of pushing people away from the archive.

[praiseofshadows.livejournal.com]

*still mostly ded over Seto Shakespeare; will attempt to comment more coherently in a few*


*still ded*

[winterwing3000.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with the "Standards of Quality" fics. Half of the bulk on FF.net are... lacking. And like you said, it is YOUR archive, do as you like! You're the all-powerful on your website after all.

[escaperoot.livejournal.com]

On the mention of my name (wickeddawn) I thought I might pop in and say that journal is dead-- I got a paid account and added you! Yay!
And man, yes I do need to submit some S/A fanfics. It's been a while since I've written any fanfiction. But you've inspired me. Maybe you'll see a one-shot from ol' Harley this weekend :P
In the meantime, friend this new journal! :)

[azurite]

AH HAH! I was wondering about the new people popping up on my FL without a word. I don't really know some of the people that have friended me... ^^; But I'm glad you're still alive and kickin'!

But I'm glad to be of any inspiration, and I am certainly looking forward to seeing you on Dragonfayth!

[janimelee.livejournal.com]

I don't blame you for wanting to put quality standards on your site. And you're absolutely right about good fics being buried. Took me a while before I found yours (and I don't regret the lack of sleep that night/morning). I also apologize for not reviewing lately; I confess that I need to catch up on WDKY.

As for typing/grammer errors, maybe you could put a link or make a small section for other people to volunteer as beta-readers.

[azurite]

Well, when people sign up at Dragonfayth, there is an option to say "beta-reader." Though there is no formal system (like a forum or special contact form), hopefully people LOOKING for a beta editor for an Azureshipping story would know to look to the other authors on the archive and see who has volunteered, and contact them privately, off-site. Beyond that notification that someone can/is willing to act as a beta-reader, there's not much Dragonfayth can do as an archive.