The Following is a Work of Fiction

The title of this area is a bit of whimsy, given that there is, in fact, no fiction here. My fiction is off in another location. This area is more of a toolbox. This is where I keep the vocabulary lists and essays on the process of writing, and so forth. These are the things that I, at some point, needed to look up or think over myself, and thought might be of some aid to other writers, too.

The Vocabulary of Fanfic I add to this every time I come across something new in the way of jargon or abbreviations or acronyms that confuses me the first fifteen times I read it. Since a lot of these terms change in meaning from year to year, I try to give a little history where possible.

The Vocab List. Not to be confused with the more specialized list above, this is a page of English words and phrases that I often see confused or misused. If, for example, you're not sure whether to use canon or cannon, take a peek in here.

What Color is the Sunset? This page is the product of my frustration with the abuse of purple prose. It's not that I have any problem with waxing poetic in one's search of good descriptors for one's favorite characters. It just ticks me off when inappropriate descriptors are used. So here are a bunch of reference pictures for flowers, gemstones, and so on. Especially for cobalt. Warning: very graphics heavy.

Ravenwood's Tips for Writers of Fanfic.  This is my list of general tips and recommendations for creative writing.  Specifically, writing in someone else's world.

Ravenwood's Tips for Writers of Yaoi.  If you write yaoi the way djka write it, you can ignore this page, because your style isn't supposed to be physiologically realistic. If, on the other hand, you would like a few pointers on anatomy, read on.  This page offers a thumbnail clinical low-down on male-male sex for those who do not have a handy gay friend you know well enough to ask personal questions of. The squeamish should probably avoid this page. 

The Guide to Graceful Feedback. After a few too many gripe sessions with fellow writers about how annoying it is to receive thoughtless feedback on our stories, I decided to write up some guidelines for those who wish to comment with grace.

The Guide to Graceful Posting. Having written the above Guide, it struck me that there are just as many gaffes on the other side. So I wrote some more guidelines for those who wish to post fic.

Last modified: 11/16/06
First Posted:  1/01

The side paper for these pages is Escher's Metamorphosis II. It seemed appropriate here, for all sorts of reasons.

Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License. Make attributions by name (Emily Ravenwood) and a link or url to this site.