Essays: Rants and Rambles

Essays: Rants and Rambles is a website by Arduinna.
==Contents==
* Slash Fiction is Like a Banquet (March 15, 1999) One reader's (and writer's) hungry lament.
* The Idea Makes the Story... Not (May 25, 1999) While every good writer has an imagination, not everyone with an imagination is automatically a writer, much less good at it.
* 'I thought this could use some work...' (May 25, 1999) Honest feedback is a good thing. No matter what anyone says.
* Just what does LOC mean, anyway? (May 25, 1999) Slash fandom is not a group therapy session, okay?
* Variety Is the Spice of Life... and I Need Some Tums (December 2004) 'Elegant variation' isn't as elegant as you might think.
* Purple Fanfic's (total lack of) Majesty (December 2004) One of the more virulent results of attempting elegant variation.
* Epithets: Fandom's Designated Hitters (December 2004)
* 'Said' Is Not a Four-Letter Word (December 2004) No one's going to be bored if your characters talk to each other in normal tones. Really. (The last of the elegant variation rambles.)
* What Price Fandom? (May 27, 2000) Profiteering and fandom are not words that should go together.
* "Netfic is free, so stop complaining." (May 27, 2000) Netfic isn't as free as it seems, and in any event asking a media fan not to complain just seems... cruel.
* You Hate Me (December 3, 2000) How on earth do people decide that 'I disliked your story' means 'I hate you'?
* The Infantilization of Fandom (December 3, 2000) The trend toward treating everything in fandom as an infant keeps growing.
* Fanfic Discussion Is for the Readers. Deal. (July 2003 (added September 18, 2005) If people on a fiction-discussion list are talking about your story—stay out of it. Found floating on my harddrive in September 2005.
* LJ Communities ! = Mailing Lists (written June 15, 2005, posted September 18, 2005) Written in response to the suggestion that reading LJ communities would be a way to get the mailing-list experience on LJ, without having to deal with personal stuff being posted.
* LJ and Me (posted November 23, 2005) Based in part on posts I sent to a mailing list during discussions about LJ, edited and expanded into essay form. While LJ is a wonderful format for a lot of people, it isn't right for everyone. I'm one of the ones it doesn't work for.
Other People's Essays:
* Big List of Fanfic Peeves by Sandy Herrold (Well worth reading! Shoo, shoo... (and take notes))
* The Zombie Hand of Rob Lowe by Laura Jacquez Valentine (If you write or read fanfiction, you have to read this essay. It's a brilliant, funny look at the rampant spare-body-part writing (as well as rampant epithetism) that can take over a story.)
* You Big Bully! by Rachael Sabotini (This cuts right to the heart of apology!fic and grovel!fic, and is a fascinating read.)
* The Ten Commandments of Crossovers by Lucy Gillam (Just what it sounds like: a look at what does and doesn't work in crossovers.)
* The Virtual Swamp, or Navigating the Web Without a Map by T'Mar (This is a little different from the other essays linked here—it's a call to make stories easier to find, and is very much worth reading for anyone who writes fanfic, especially if they have their own webpage.)
* The Fanfic Symposium (This is a steadily growing collection of essays by a variety of people—anyone who wants to contribute is welcome. There's some good stuff here.)