Lianne's Little Corner

This will be quick...not a regular entry. But on the same topic of sex and violence in stories...I want to make one thing very clear. If anyone is coming here from the fan fiction site...if I read your story and took time to comment on it, then there was nothing that offended me. You know who you are! :)

I got an interesting review at the end of my story, Flashback . The reviewer had several nice things to say, but the one thing that really stuck out was that she liked the fact it wasn’t at all smutty. I really liked reading that particular compliment, because it told me my story was able to stand on its own two feet. I didn’t need to add cheap sexual scenes to keep a reader interested. And that brings me to the point of this particular entry. I am of the opinion that good writing does not need graphic sex, gratuitous violence, or even curses every other word. In fact, I’m offended when a good story has that stuff thrown in there, "just because." A truly good story does not need sex and violence "just because" to keep it going. If it needs that stuff to be interesting, then the story isn’t very good. I believe a simple kiss, if written right and at the right moment, can be more romantic, or even more sensual than graphic descriptions of body parts (which often becom

A little off the topic of writing, but sort of still on the topic, all you readers of mine from the fanfiction site, tell me please, what is it about Jason Isaacs, especially as Colonel Tavington, that you love so much? From what I can tell, most of you young ladies are, well, young. Teens, or not far out of your teens. Mr. Isaacs is old enough to be father to most of you. (He’s only three years older than I.) So what is it about him? I’d really like to know. But please...let’s keep the responses rated PG. :)

My story, Flashback, is coming along nicely. Quite nicely. Too nicely, in fact. It’s frustrating, how nicely. Why frustrating? Well, see, I have two other stories I’m working on, hopefully to submit for publication. With fan fiction, you can’t expect to ever get published. It’s just for fun, and I guess practice in the art of writing. That’s how I look at it. But as a serious writer, this has frustrated me. I have written 18 chapters, about 40,000 words in just 14 short days. I’ve averaged about a chapter a day, with a couple of days doing two. So why can’t my "real" writing go so fast? And so easily? I’m drawing this conclusion from the experience: Writing should be fun, even when it’s serious writing. I’ve found that this story has been flowing because it’s NOT my serious writing. I always try to do my best, of course, but since this is just for fun I’m not bogging myself down with all those annoying rules. Can’t use was. Can’t jump out of POV. Can’t use adverbs (why the he

Readers are a curious lot. Grabbing them is one thing, then holding on to them is quite another. I’ve been pondering the meaning of some numbers. Since I’ve been writing my FanFiction story, Flashback , I’ve been having a lot of fun, interacting with readers and it’s been a good experience. Today, I decided to check out the stats. I have a handful of folks who have been reviewing, but I know there are "lurkers" just like on email lists. You know, those folks who read but don’t comment. I figured there were probably more hits to my story than there were actual reviews. And of course, I was right. When I saw the number of hits, 1880, I almost did the Snoopy Dance. But then, my glee was dampened. The first chapter got a total 594 hits. Yowser! Pretty cool, huh? Am I good or what? So the title and my one line blurb drew them in. (Or maybe they were just interested in reading another Patriot fanfic. Whatever. I thought my one liner was pretty lame, actually.) But this is where it