Epic Recs - Tell us what you think!

Tell us what you think!

Feb. 2nd, 2009 at 8:55 AM

jane-elliot.livejournal.com

Oh, look! It's February! Which means I'm already a whole month behind on this post I'd planned to do at the first of the year. *headdesk*

At any rate, ER is growing by leaps and bounds and after a year and a half we're stronger than ever. Seven reccers posting recs seven days a week, theme weeks every month to give us all a chance to explore some new fandoms/genres/pairings, and a growing readership that reults in reader's rec posts producing more recs than ever -- not bad for a relatively new kid on the block:)

However, we are not ones to rest on our laurels. If there's a way to make Epic Recs better, we want to find it. And to that end, I'm asking ya'll to lend us a hand. Is there some aspect of the comm you don't like? Anything you think could be done differently (preferably better)? Is there something we aren't doing that we should be doing? Or is there some aspect of the comm that you love to bits and you want to make sure sticks around no matter what? If so, this is the post to tell us about it. Suggestions, concrit, raves, rants... all are welcome.

(Anonymous commenting should be turned on, but if you have problems posting anonymously or don't want your comment to be seen in public at all, you can e-mail me at janethunder at gmail dot com.)

Thanks!

Comments

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bleedtoblue.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 2nd, 2009 04:16 pm (UTC)

I just want to say how much I LOVE Epic Recs and what a great job you are doing. Thanks so much for all your hard work!

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jane-elliot.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 2nd, 2009 09:07 pm (UTC)

Thank you:)

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i-want-2.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 2nd, 2009 06:15 pm (UTC)

How about twice daily recs? Hmmm?

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jane-elliot.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 2nd, 2009 09:07 pm (UTC)

I have put this idea out to the other reccers and we'll see what they say. If nothing else, I can start posting two recs on Mondays.

Thanks for the suggestion!

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i-want-2.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 2nd, 2009 09:30 pm (UTC)

Cool!

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boogieshoes.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 2nd, 2009 10:09 pm (UTC)

i have to admit my first thought was 'let's plaster pics of shirtless chris larabee all over the place!'

...

i've been rather obsessed, lately, hee.

-bs

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jane-elliot.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 2nd, 2009 10:14 pm (UTC)

Michael Biehn has *always* looked good shirtless. Yum:)

Did you get my comment to your comment about My Name Is Legion?

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boogieshoes.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 3rd, 2009 01:44 am (UTC)

about maybe reviewing the piece in the near future? yes :-)

i didn't reply, because i know your plate is rather full, so i figured i'd be patient. well, impatiently patient, heh.

-bs

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jane-elliot.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 3rd, 2009 02:14 am (UTC)

Ah, there was actually a second one I sent today:

"Okay, I've started My Name is Legion (I'm a couple of chapters into part 2) and I have to know before I go any further -- is the entire story going to be this bleak? I'm already depressed, and I don't think I can manage another twenty chapters of misery. (And, if it isn't all so sad, can you tell me about where things pick up? Becaues at this point I think I'm just going to skip to that point.) Thanks!"

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boogieshoes.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 3rd, 2009 02:33 am (UTC)

i just answered that post in the thread - lots of spoilers in the answer. took me a while to work thru all the email and stuff. more details in the other post, but i promise My Name is Legion has a happy ending.

:-)

-bs

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muffiewrites.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 3rd, 2009 04:37 am (UTC)

I like Epic Rants because you examine what you don't like about a story. You state what the problem is, and then explain why. It's, to get all creative writing class, workshoppy and I like that. You have a spectrum at Recs from kind of flirt with it to all the way do it. While I don't think a long dissertation on this story is good because of x, y, and z is necessary, I think it might be nice to see nice balance in every rec. The story is good because of x, and that x be something about the story itself. I've noticed that some of the recent recs are falling into a pattern of mindless praise. "So and so if a fantastic writer! It's a fabulous story!" Well, that's hyperbole. Skip the adjectives and work the examination. Kind of in a this is what worked and this is what didn't. Though, the this is what didn't is a little pointlethe workshoppy feel more than the stories sometimes. I'm so weird. It's one of the things that really set this comm apart from comms like crackvan.

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jane-elliot.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 3rd, 2009 04:55 am (UTC)

What an interesting observation -- one thing that we emphasize at ER is reviewing a fic, rather than just offering it up and saying it's great. I skimmed through the last few days of recs and didn't see any that were lacking a critical review, but I look at a *lot* of recs every day and might be missing something. Would it be possible for you to e-mail me at janethunder at gmail dot com with links to a few recs that don't have an adequate review? Thanks!

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meishali.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 3rd, 2009 05:02 am (UTC)

I understand what you are saying, and I must admit that I tend to rec stories that push my buttons (explained way better here - http://pir8fancier.livejournal.com/363432.html- by pir8fancier). That is to say, if I had an immense adoration for zombie movies, even the mediocre ones would make me very happy. As an end result, many of the stories I rec may not be top quality, though I do try to screen for writing style/grammar/etc.

Just my two pence, and I'm sure every reccer comes up with recs differently.

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jane-elliot.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 3rd, 2009 05:08 am (UTC)

This is sort of how I feel about really long fics -- not that I rec every long fic I've ever read, of course, but I'm much more forgiving of the occasional grammatical error or flaw in characterization if the story is epic. If it's short, it has to be *perfect* for me to even consider reccing it and even then I pass on most. Heck, I refuse to even *read* anything less than 3,000 words (10,000 if it's a major fandom).

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meishali.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 3rd, 2009 05:15 am (UTC)

Hee, your kink is simple: epic in length (see, size matters).

Me, not so much: zombies, case!fic/mystery (which, if the author can put together a good case, is pretty impressive in itself), sci-fi (again, difficult to find good fics), geeky stuff, Cinderella stories (*cough* this one I'm actually embarrassed about). I rec upbeat, well-written fluff sometimes because they are good for the soul ;p

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jane-elliot.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 3rd, 2009 03:50 pm (UTC)

Hey, I'm not the only one!

And, hey! I like Cinderella stories! Also fluff, but I don't think that's a surprise to anyone:)

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muffiewrites.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 4th, 2009 03:30 am (UTC)

Do you know what happens when you've got too many rec comms in one filter? You make a huge boneheaded error, stick your foot in your mouth, and turn yourself into a huge, gigantic idiot. Well. You don't, but I do. That would be me, the idiot.

I'm sorry.

*sigh* I'm such an idiot.

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meishali.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 4th, 2009 03:46 am (UTC)

*am perplexed*

Well, either way, your comment made us think. And though I can't speak for anyone else, I'm always looking for ways to improve my recs :)

So, thank you.

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jane-elliot.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 4th, 2009 04:02 am (UTC)

Hey, you got us thinking -- can't go wrong there:)

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slyprentice.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 3rd, 2009 05:31 pm (UTC)

I have to admit that this is one of the things I worry about when I post a rec and I (very probably) fallen into the pitfall of giving more praise than saying what might not work but then, I always wonder if what I don't enjoy is what others praise and, in turn, consider praise. Like my recent rec, I found the amount of sex a bit daunting even though I enjoyed the story immensely, whereas others might very well enjoy the story more just for that fact alone. It's a hard balance to strike, at least for me, but I'll certainly keep that in mind for my next rec. :)

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jane-elliot.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 3rd, 2009 05:36 pm (UTC)

Generally speaking, I try to keep my reviews at ER as positive as possible, because to me ER is all about love (and because I would hate to post a rec that is more negative than positive -- that's what I use Rants for). If there is something that I have a huge issue with, I will mention it, but mostly I try to highlight the reasons why the story is so good, be it characterizations, writing, plot, etc. What I don't like are reviews that consist of nothing but 'this story is fabulous', but then doesn't tell why (since the why is what will make me read a story or skip it).

Hopefully that all makes sense -- it's turning out to be a really long week...

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lolitakun.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 3rd, 2009 10:00 pm (UTC)

I tend to do this, and I'm sorry :( It's a bad habit of mine. It's just hard to focus on the negative aspects of a story when you're saying "hey, go read this! It's good!". Also, I am somewhat inarticulate, so whenever I try to explain why I like a fanfic, it comes out "it's just awesome, okay!!" like 75% of the time. I've been trying to avoid doing that in my recs, to varying degrees of success, and I think I'm getting a little better about it, but if it ends up sound like "OMG, it's the perfect fanfic and it will cure malaria, cancer and unsightly chest hair!!1!" I apologize.

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jane-elliot.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 3rd, 2009 10:02 pm (UTC)

*snerk* I, for one, would love to read a fanfic that would cure malaria and chest hair at the same time:)

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lolitakun.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 3rd, 2009 10:04 pm (UTC)

I know, the applications for that kind of writing are endless ;)

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(Anonymous) wrote:

Feb. 3rd, 2009 06:33 pm (UTC)

thank you

I just wanted to say that I appreciate your time in sorting through the mounds of fanfiction out there to pick out ones that are usually worth my time. I also appreciate your no WIP and long stories policy.
I have noticed a slight dip in quality of stories lately, but that's probably a combination of doing this for awhile and some fandoms where I don't know the characters to start with.

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jane-elliot.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 3rd, 2009 08:41 pm (UTC)

Re: thank you

Thanks for commenting:) I have to admit that I haven't noticed a drop in quality, though I also have to admit that I don't read every story that's recced at ER. That said, there's always a few kinks when new reccers come on board, so I have great faith that everything will smooth out and shape up soon.

Thanks again for your comment!

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lolitakun.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 3rd, 2009 09:54 pm (UTC)

Re: thank you

haha~ probably my fault, sorry!
It's kinda hard to find long stories in a fandom like Heroes, and I sorta have to take what I can get at times, but I'm trying my best, really! Hopefully the next batch is gonna be better :)

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meishali.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 4th, 2009 12:54 am (UTC)

Re: thank you

Thank you for your comment. I'll try to include in my future recs whether I've chosen a story based on how great the story is itself or I've chosen it mostly because my kink got stroked. ;p

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silviakundera.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 14th, 2009 08:52 pm (UTC)

I have a strong preference for long fic (my personal definition = ~ 20,000+ words,; it's epic at 100,000), so this community meets a need I very much have. IT IS MADE OF JOY.

Also, I appreciate that you rec completed stories and that you cover a wide variety of fandoms.

The only comment I'd make is maybe add a word count (or KB size) whenever possible. Oh, if there's a pairing-break up ending or BDSM I like to always be warned for it.

Thanks for keeping all the recs coming! This is a great community. I check it often.

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jane-elliot.livejournal.com wrote:

Feb. 15th, 2009 12:40 am (UTC)

Thanks for your comment!

Never fear re: warnings -- we're very sensitive to warnings at ER and any fic with BDSM will be clearly labelled (and if you spot one that isn't labelled, I'd want to hear about it immediately, so I could discuss it with the reccer). I can't really imagine a break-up without a make-up before the end story being recced at ER, but if one was written, it would be clearly labelled as well (probably as a story with an unhappy ending).

As for the word counts, well, that one's my fault -- I rec several stories a week and as such I do whatever I can to keep the rec writing short, so that I have more time to read:) On the plus side, several of our new reccers are posting word counts and it seems to be catching on. Also, we have very definite word count guidelines:

short: less than 2,000 words
medium: between 2,000 and 15,000 words
long: between 15,000 and 40,000 words
epic: over 40,000 words

Most folks (including me), mark stories above 30,000 words as really/very long and stories above 60-70,000 words as really/very epic. If nothing else, you can be confident that our long stories should be long enough for you to enjoy:)

Thanks again:)

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