Thursday, March 15, 2012

Moving over to tumblr!

Hello all!  Just writing this last post to let everyone know that I'm discontinuing this blog & moving on over to tumblr, so you can now find me there: http://musingsofaficfanatic.tumblr.com/

Or, of course, on Twitter: @Kari_FicFanatic

Hope to see you there!

-Kari

Sample chapter from my original novel

So I've been working on my original novel lately, & I've been so pumped to get back to it that I added an introductory chapter to the beginning, which I thought I'd share with you all. I'd like to state that I haven't finished the novel (it's probably about 2/3 complete) & I haven't even started looking for a publisher, but I plan on doing just that very soon.

Oh, & for my TWP readers, I still plan on actively working on that still, but for now I have no future plans to write any more fanfiction since I want to work on my original stuff. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the sample chapter from my novel:

Chapter One: Goodbyes

She was nineteen when she discovered that she was pregnant with her son, Dalton.

She was twenty when she lost him.

It didn’t rain the day of his funeral—a word that she despised; there wasn’t so much as a damned cloud in the sky to mourn his loss with her. The rain would have been a welcoming sight indeed, offering the illusion that the sky had opened up and poured out its grief for the tiny boy that had so recently been buried in the earth—her baby boy that had never had a chance at life.

But it hadn’t happened that way. Instead of standing in the rain, Fallon O’Malley found herself gazing out at the clear, sapphire sky over the southern West Coast, studying the way the white crests of the waves kissed that sky, the way the tourists and surfers littered the golden shore and dotted the water.

Oblivious. It was all completely oblivious to her pain, to the fact that a tiny baby boy, who’d been dead before he’d ever even breathed his first breath, her Dalton, was dead. The sob worked its way up in her throat, but she forced it back out of fear that if she began to cry she might not ever stop.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Teaser: The Waiting Place Chapter 18

Hello, everyone!  I hope you're all having a great week, & if not, at least tomorrow's Friday! ;)

Anywho, here's a little excerpt from Chapter 18 (Chapter 19 counting the prologue) of The Waiting Place that I hope you'll enjoy.  Please keep in mind that the chapter isn't nearly complete, but I'm hoping to have it completed & posted within the next week:

She tucked her head down and picked up her pace while passing scattered handfuls of gossiping students dressed in casual weekend attire that littered the passageways—including one hot and heavy couple tucked into an alcove behind a suit of armor, hands invisible beneath each other’s clothing.

They paid Hermione no mind as she passed, which suited her just fine. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t have hesitated to scold the couple and to exuberantly deduct house points, but she’d never felt less inclined: Her own intimate experiences were all too fresh on her mind, and she felt the heat rising in her cheeks as she became aware of the dull ache that still lingered between her legs despite the potions she’d been given at the hospital. The ache that she didn’t actually want to go away, because it was proof undeniable that it had all been real. That it had actually happened.

Her heart speeding up as she realized quite abruptly that she’d reached the closed double-doors to the infirmary, she took a calming breath, pulling the doors open just enough so that she could slip inside the semi-darkened hospital wing. Her heart seemed to stutter in her chest when she immediately caught sight of a small, all-too-familiar group of redheads, and the unmistakable head of black hair belonging to Harry, clustered around the single occupied bed.

A knot formed in the pit of her stomach as she caught a glimpse of his prone form in the gap between Fred and Ginny, and the only thing she could think was, It’s his birthday. He was poisoned on his birthday, and I wasn’t here.

Hermione made the decision then and there to trust her heart—to choose faith over logic and to trust that she’d somehow misinterpreted what she’d seen outside Trelawney’s classroom.

And she realized, quite suddenly, that she’d known it all along.

There was no going back after this moment.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

FFn profile updates for the month of 2/12

2/28/12 - New blog post: KariAnn1222's (Rather Obvious) Guide to Fanfic-Diving/Reading that Doesn't Make You Wanna Pull Your Hair Out: http://musingsofafictionfanatic.blogspot.com/2012/02/kariann1222s-rather-obvious-guide-to.html

2/20/12 - Posted a short review of the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire: http://musingsofafictionfanatic.blogspot.com/2012/02/book-review-catching-fire-by-suzanne.html

2/12/12 - Finally got around to reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Wrote a review here: http://musingsofafictionfanatic.blogspot.com/2012/02/book-review-hunger-games-by-suzanne.html
I've been busy as of late, but it should interest my readers to know that I've begun Ch. 16 of The Waiting Place (Ch. 17 counting the prologue) and should probably post by the end of the week. In the meantime, you may read a small excerpt here: http://musingsofafictionfanatic.blogspot.com/2012/02/teaser-waiting-place-chapter-16.html

2/6/12 - Moved my profile's updates for the month of 1/12 to my blog, where I also post fanfic recs, book recs, the occasional movie rec, and other randomness: http://musingsofafictionfanatic.blogspot.com/

Also, I cleaned up my profile & sent my removed "fanfic pet peeves" to my blog.

Got Twitter? Follow me for status updates on my writing and more: @Kari_FicFanatic
I don't always auto-follow, but I do follow back those that I notice mentioning/addressing me more than a time or two.

Book review: The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

Book review: The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

I’ve always been a complete sucker for a good ghost story, so when I discovered that the movie, The Woman in Black starring Daniel Radcliffe, is based on a novel, I had to check it out (Please be aware that the following review contains spoilers from both the book and the film.):

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill is set in, presumably, the turn of the 20th century England and tells the story of young London lawyer, Arthur Kipps, who travels to a remote corner of the countryside to settle the estate - which consists largely of Eel Marsh House - of old, recently deceased Mrs. Drablow. Before he even arrives in the little market town of Crythin Gifford, Kipps gets wind of rumors and whispers of a dark history surrounding Mrs. Drablow and Eel Marsh House, which he immediately dismisses, in his arrogance and youth, as nothing more than the peasant hearsay and old wives’ tales of uneducated, superstitious townsfolk. However, after just one day at Eel Marsh House and a series of unexplained events, Arthur Kipps becomes a believer.

While I admit that it took me a few pages to get into this novel - the descriptions, while lovely, tended to go on unnecessarily - once I got past the introductory chapter, I was swept away by Susan Hill’s prose and drawn into her setting of a quaint yet haunting - not to mention haunted - English countryside. I was particularly fascinated by the gothic descriptions of Eel Marsh House, tucked away on a remote and isolated island in the marshes, and only accessible by a narrow channel and only when the tide recedes, which added greatly to the eerie quality and suspenseful tone of the novel.

Readers should be warned that while the novel proves itself a satisfying read for fans of a good ghost/haunted house story, the ending is far from a happy one - but I personally felt that it was fitting to the tone of the story, and even added a little twist that set it apart from your average ghost story.

Contrasts between the novel and film:


Like any book-to-movie adaptation, the movie-makers were prone to creative license, although whether to improve the story or merely lengthen it - the book was really more of a novella - or both, I’m not sure, but I personally felt that the changes were, for the most part, improvements.

The most notable differences:

1. At the beginning of the film version, Arthur Kipps is a widower and the father of a young son, while in the book, at the time that he makes his fateful journey to Crythin Gifford, he’s merely happily engaged and hasn’t yet started a family. This comes full circle at the end of the novel, however, when he marries his fiancĂ©e and has a son; and while the endings to the movie and book are quite different yet similar in certain respects, I personally preferred the novel’s ending.

2. The film puts more emphasis on the idea that when the woman in black is seen by someone, subsequently a child in Crythin Gifford dies a horrific, untimely death; whereas, in the novel it is mentioned as almost an afterthought and is significant to the ending only. Also, on a similar note, the filmmakers invented the idea that the child is manipulated into killing his/herself by the woman; in the novel, the child in question is merely involved in an accident or succumbs to an illness.

3. In the film, Kipps gets the idea to recover the remains of Jennet Humfrye’s son - who was never recovered from his muddy grave in the marshes surrounding Eel Marsh House, where he drowned some sixty years earlier - in order to reunite mother and child and, hopefully, put the woman in black’s soul to rest. In the novel, by contrast, the child’s body was recovered shortly after his drowning and thereafter given a proper burial, so therefore Kipps had no cause to make any such attempt.

There were more, subtle differences between the film and the novel, but those I mentioned are the most obvious. Over-all, I found both the book and movie to be satisfying in their own rights; well worth a watch and a read if you’re a fan of ghost stories, but I’d recommend reading the book first. ;)

-Kari

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Book review: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Book review: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

This is really more of an overview/my final thoughts about the entire Hunger Games trilogy, so please be aware that it may contain spoilers, just in case you’re anything like me. (I HATE being spoiled; I even refused to read the synopses on the covers of the second two books because I wanted to be surprised.)

While I felt that Mockingjay was an adequate and over-all enthralling final installment in the series, for reasons that I can’t accurately convey, I mostly felt…dissatisfaction as I was reading the novel. I believe that feeling mostly stemmed from my longing for some real interaction between Katniss and Peeta (the precedence set in the first two novels), yet I can’t deny that the fact that the author kept dangling that in my face is what kept me reading at a feverish pace - but that craving ultimately wasn’t satisfied until the very end of the novel. (And yes, I’m totally aware that I was reading from a romantic rather than literate standpoint. I can’t seem to help myself.)

Katniss: I’ve gotta admit that I often found the heroine difficult to relate to and her behavior baffling. One minute she’s arguing with Gale over the necessity of taking an offensive strike in war or attempting to sacrifice herself for others, and the next she’s shooting unarmed citizens or agreeing to a Hunger Games to be held for the children of Capitol officials. And the Gale/Katniss/Peeta triangle reminded me a bit too much of the Edward/Bella/Jacob triangle from Twilight. (I was totally Team Peeta, obviously.)

Having said that, I also appreciated the refreshing complexity of the character: Human beings are a jumble of conflicting and confusing thoughts and emotions, and given the turmoil/tragedy that Katniss was put through again and again, I believe that someone not as strong might have truly been driven insane. While there were moments where Katniss was on the brink of madness, she always bounced back and proved herself the consummate survivor - and my ’shipper heart loved that she ultimately needed her dandelion in the spring to survive.

Although the books were often brutal and unapologetic (which I actually appreciated), the last lines before the epilogue made my heart melt: “You love me. Real or not real.” “Real.” Just the right touch of fluff to balance things out, rather than an overdose of cheesiness that made me want to vomit on my shoes. Although, I’ll definitely be seeking out some well-written fanfiction of the more adult nature, so if you have any recommendations, please send them my way. ;)

Final thoughts about the trilogy as a whole: Simple yet lovely writing, intricate characterizations, infinitely creative, with edge-of-your-seat twists at every turn. The newest Harry Potter? I don’t know about that. To me, that’s like comparing apples and oranges: Both have their individual qualities that make them special.

Happy reading!

-Kari

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

KariAnn1222's (Rather Obvious) Guide to Fanfic-Diving/Reading That Doesn't Make You Wanna Pull Your Hair Out

So, you finally finished the last novel in that series or watched the latest episode of that TV series you love, and now you're ready to find some entertaining but well-written fanfic. Great! That is, until you get to, say, FanFiction.net, perform a search for, say, Hunger Games fanfiction under “books,” and you find that you're a bit staggered by the results. “Where to begin?” you may be thinking right about now.

Well, let's start with the obvious: First you might want to pick a genre or two. What sort of story are you looking for? Romance, drama, adventure, angst? Personally, I always leave this field blank for the sake of finding more potential gems in a genre I'm not expecting.

Next, to narrow down your choices, you might want to select the two characters you’re interested in reading about most. However, keep in mind that just because you run a search for stories featuring Peeta and Katniss, for example, it does NOT guarantee that every story listed pairs them romantically; it simply means that those two characters are the most prominently featured. To get an idea of the romantic pairings, scan the summary and the author’s notes. Also, glancing at the genre might help give you an indication of whether there’s romance: If a story is labeled “friendship, drama,” there’s no guarantee.

Also, you might want to select a rating. I personally prefer stories with an “M” rating because I enjoy edgier writing (and, okay, the occasional well-written smut scene), but I’ve discovered gems suited for younger audiences as well.

In keeping with the theme of the obvious, once you’ve performed your search for your preferred pairing, rating, and genres, a quick scan of the titles and summaries will tell experienced readers whether or not the story was written by a 13-year-old first-time writer or someone a bit more seasoned: Are the words and names spelled correctly? Did the author bother with capitalization and punctuation? If not, then that’s a fair indication that the story is just as sloppily written, and you can just skip right on over it. And if something looks promising, scan the first chapter to get a feel for the writing style and to see if it’s something you might enjoy. Personally, I’m so distracted by improperly punctuated dialogue that I won’t give it a chance if I look at the first chapter and see that. (The occasional typo is forgivable and easy to overlook, but consistently punctuating dialogue incorrectly says to me, “I didn’t bother. I don’t really care.” And if I don’t think the author cares, I’m not going to give his/her fic a chance.)

Perhaps most importantly, always check the “updated” and “published” dates before beginning a multi-chaptered story not yet marked as “complete.” That will give you an indication of whether it's abandoned and, if not, how often the author updates. For example, if a story was first published in 2009 but only has ten chapters - even if the most current was posted recently - chances are good that the author is too busy to actively work on it, so you may be waiting...well, indefinitely for the next update.

On a similar note, to further help avoid disappointment, check the author's profile page: Does he/she have multiple incomplete stories? Does it seem that he/she has a tendency to start a story, get bored with it, and start a new one? If so, I'd hesitate before getting into one of his/her fics, since the chances are good that the author will eventually lose interest. In other words, look at an author’s track record: If the author has more multi-chaptered stories marked as “complete” than “incomplete,” chances are good that you can count on him/her to finish what he/she starts.

Lastly, seek out recommendations through Twitter, message boards, fandom friends whose opinions you trust, et cetera.  You may not always agree with everyone's taste, but it tends to make the weeding process a helluva lot easier.

So, once you’ve gone through the sometimes rather daunting process of finding a story and/or author that’s to your liking, please be aware that the large majority of multi-chaptered fics eventually DO get abandoned for whatever reason, since this is all done on a voluntary basis and fanfic writers aren't getting paid to do what they do. Sometimes real-life obligations take precedence, or their circumstances change and they don't have as much time to write as they previously did. If you're not prepared to accept that, then my advice to you would be to stick to performing searches for completed fics only.

Happy fic-hunting!

-Kari

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Book review: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Book review: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

I’ll keep this short and sweet: I found the second installment in the Hunger Games trilogy to be, quite simply, just as enthralling as the first novel—possibly even more so since I was already invested in the characters and cared about their fates. I also found it to be just as intense as the first novel, with a twist at the end that I totally didn’t see coming—but then, I’m not always that great at guessing endings.

Overall, I found it to be a worthy successor to the first novel, and I was left itching to read the next—which I will do as soon as I have the chance!

-Kari

The Waiting Place Chapter Sixteen: Jagged Pieces, a harry potter fanfic - FanFiction.Net

Finally updated! The Waiting Place Chapter Sixteen: Jagged Pieces, a harry potter fanfic - FanFiction.Net

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Teaser: The Waiting Place, Chapter 16

Okay, so I'm not nearly through with this chapter, but I plan on hashing out the majority of it in the next few days.  In the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy this small excerpt:

Harry froze as he stared back at him, unblinking, in an expression that would’ve been a bloody riot if Ron hadn’t felt like his insides were being chewed up by a flock of angry Cornish Pixies.

In the meantime, the locker room was so damned silent that it was as if the world around them had ceased to be; time itself had stopped, this very moment ballooning and swelling until nothing else mattered. Well, at least that’s how it would’ve seemed if it hadn’t been for the steady pattering of the rain on the rooftop and the distant howling of the wind, a reminder that the world went on as usual. Why would the cosmos care if Ron Weasley’s heart was slowly but painfully fragmenting into tiny, jagged pieces?

A ricocheting thunderclap broke the spell, and Harry blinked at him behind his rain-smeared spectacles. “Wh-what?” he finally managed to stammer out. “She’s…what? Are—are you sure? Why—I mean, who—how d’you know?”

“’Cause I’m the one who bloody did it,” Ron declared miserably, unable to hold his friend’s gaze any longer.

Book review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Book review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I’ve gotta admit that when I first started seeing the name “The Hunger Games” in people’s profiles, I was hesitant to try it, assuming it to be yet ANOTHER young adult series. After reading The Twilight Saga I’d actually sworn off YA for reasons that I don’t care to get into, instead choosing to delve into my new guilty pleasure, the very adult “paranormal romance” genre. (Think J.R. Ward’s The Black Dagger Brotherhood.)

However, after The Hunger Games was personally recommended to me first by a friend in the Twilight fandom and subsequently by a friend in the Harry Potter fandom, I decided to give it a go—and I wasn’t disappointed.

The only thing “young adult” about the novel is the fact that the protagonists and the majority of antagonists are teenagers (aside from the main antagonist, which, of course, is the Capitol). The novel is actually shockingly, brutally violent, and it’s not exactly something I’d recommend to the kiddies. Beyond that, though, it is elegantly written, creatively conceived in a sci-fi-ish, futuristic world (as a science fiction nerd at heart, I loved that about the book), and the lead protagonist, a 16-year-old girl named Katniss, is fully-fleshed-out, heroic, smart, yet just flawed enough not to be an annoyingly perfect “Mary Sue.”

I won’t get into the details of the plot (you can Google it or look it up on Amazon), but I would definitely recommend this edge-of-your-seat thriller to anyone who’s looking for a good quick-paced, unable-to-put-down read.

Look for my review of the second novel, Catching Fire, to be posted soon.

-Kari
 

Monday, February 6, 2012

"fanfic pet peeves" removed from my FFn profile

FFn profile updates for the month of 1/12

1/30/12 - I'm nowhere near finished writing TWP chapter 15 (chapter 16 counting the prologue), but I posted a little excerpt on my blog: http://musingsofafictionfanatic.blogspot.com/

FYI, I always tweet links to my teasers, so following me on Twitter would be the best way to keep up with the status of my chapters as I'm writing them: @Kari_FicFanatic. I don't auto-follow, but I do always respond when I notice people mention me.

1/23/12 - Wrote most of Ch.14 (Ch.15 including the prologue) of The Waiting Place today & posted a little teaser on my blog.

1/15/12 - Got a start on The Waiting Place, Chapter 13 (Chapter 14 including the prologue) & posted a teaser on my blog.

1/8/12 - An AMAZING story just came to a close. You have to check out Dirty Little Secret by JustAudrey07, a Draco/Astoria fic with a strong dose of Romione & a subplot involving Snape. It's listed under my faves. Actually, while you're at it, you should also read her completed Percy/Audrey fic, The Unwinding of Percy Weasley.

1/5/12 - Wrote a public service announcement on plagiarism: Plagiarism: Just...Don't

1/1/12 - Happy New Year! :) Moved my profile's updates for the month of December to my blog, where I also post fanfic recs, book recs, the occasional movie rec, and other randomness: Musings of a Fiction Fanatic

Gah, I might be a little obsessed with this video: Weep, little lion man. Weasley is our king.

Got Twitter? Follow me: @Kari_FicFanatic

Monday, January 30, 2012

Teaser: The Waiting Place, Ch.15

So this is a small except from the chapter I'm currently working on, but I'm nowhere near finished, FYI:

She had only been witness to the scene for a moment or two before the nausea had overwhelmed her and she’d been forced to make a mad dash for the toilet, but it had been enough. She hadn’t wanted to see any more than that. If she had…well, she might have reacted far worse than the time she’d caught them previously…and then McGonagall would have been forced to expel her, and that simply would not do.

Hermione had therefore made the decision to request to leave, if only through the weekend so that she could get her head on straight and refrain from doing anything rash. Before leaving school, she had calmly collected her assignments from her professors, and she took pride in the fact that she hadn’t shed a single tear. She hadn’t told anyone save Professor McGonagall where she was going, not even Harry. She hadn’t been able to face her best friend because there would be awkward questions that she wasn’t yet ready to answer. Furthermore, she feared that she wouldn’t have been able to hide the strongest of her emotions from him: her humiliation, rage, regret, grief.

She felt as if happiness had been a rug beneath her feet, and it had been snatched out from her so abruptly that she’d fallen and landed on her arse—hard.

I will not start crying. I will not start crying, she chanted to herself as a sob worked its way into a painful lump in her throat. If she started crying, she would likely never be able to stop—and she’d spent the past several months shedding far too many tears for Ron Weasley, who apparently had no true feelings for her, despite his pretty words. Apparently he hadn’t meant anything that he’d spoken in that hospital room, and his mother didn’t know him as well as she liked to believe.

She supposed that people said and did barmy things in the heat of the moment; what a clever, convincing, cruel actor he’d turned out to be, and when he’d said that he wanted to right a wrong, apparently he’d meant that he wanted to ditch her, Hermione, to be with that…that moronic tart.

However, despite it all, despite her dark thoughts and what she’d witnessed with her own eyes not more than a couple of hours ago, it somehow didn’t feel right, did it? There was something about the entire incident that didn’t ring true, yet she couldn’t deny what her senses had told her, could she? After all, she knew what she saw; there was no deceiving her own eyes, so what other rational explanation could there possibly be? Had Lavender fed him one of Fred and George’s love potions, perhaps? Had he been whacked over the top of his head? Hexed stupid?

Monday, January 23, 2012

Teaser: The Waiting Place, Ch.14: Faith Versus Logic

“You know can talk to me about anything, love.”

“Am—am I making the right choice?” Hermione finally said, a tremor in her voice as she met Molly’s eyes.  “About…the babies. What if…what if You-Know-Who…?”

Molly smiled tenderly at the girl that her son had been in love with for years, considering her response before replying, “I think that going with your heart is always the right decision. Making choices based on ‘what-ifs’ can only lead to heartache.”

“Even if what my heart wants isn’t necessarily the most logical choice?”

“What the heart wants rarely is the logical choice,” Molly replied with a laugh. “If I’d made the logical choice about whom to marry, I would likely be sitting in Trevor Dawson’s mansion right now; true, I would have all of my wants and needs met, but I wouldn’t have seven children that I would happily die for and a husband who adores me—which is all that I really want or need.”

Her smile faltered when she thought of Percy, but thankfully Hermione didn’t seem to notice as she grinned in return—and it reached her eyes. “I’m scared,” she finally admitted in a whisper, the smile fading from her face.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Teaser: The Waiting Place, Chapter 13: Caged Animal

She stared at the Healer, watching as her lips moved while gesturing at the clipboard in hand, but the sight and sounds were strangely distorted, garbled, as if Hermione was watching the scene from within the depths of a murky pool; in point of fact, that was quite an accurate analogy, since her throat had closed up, and she was finding it difficult to breathe as she clawed her way to the surface, struggling to no avail with all of her meager strength.

She was drowning, and those at the surface—Ron, Healer Thorson, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley—seemed to be completely oblivious.

The words that had propelled her into this state repeated themselves incessantly in her mind, clawing at the edges of her brain like a desperate, caged animal: Fertilization successful. Two viable embryos in their very primitive stages. Fraternal twins.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Plagiarism: Just…Don’t

Plagiarism: Just…Don’t

I’m thirty-one, and I’ve been writing fanfiction on and off since I was eleven years old and scribbled out my first “self-insertion” tale involving myself and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Mind you, at the time I’d never even heard of fanfiction; this was 1991, so I’m not sure that the term had even been coined yet. Nevertheless, over the next couple of years I wrote my own Star Wars stories, and in 1996 I stumbled upon a magazine article about something called “fanfiction.” Ever since that first time I got online and entered the address for The X-Files Romantic Fanfiction Archive cited by the magazine, I have been hooked.

In my collective involvement in various fandoms over the years, if there’s one thing that makes my blood boil it’s shameless plagiarism. Getting a vague concept from another author, movie, or book is one thing; everyone does it, whether inadvertently or not, since there are very few (if any) truly original ideas, and everyone draws inspiration from something/someone else. However, there’s no excuse for shamelessly plagiarizing an author who’s put hours of hard work into their writing.

Firstly, you’re going to get caught eventually: If you “borrow” a fanfiction story that was previously posted by another author and post it under a new title as your own, chances are that someone out there will have read the original version—perhaps even if the original story hasn’t been updated in years—and will call you on it and then alert the site administrators and the true author. And if that happens, not only will your reputation be tarnished, but you will ultimately end up looking pathetic for the following reason:

Secondly, as fanfiction authors, the only form of “payment” we receive is in the form of feedback, so what sort of satisfaction could possibly be derived from accepting praise for work that even isn’t one’s own? After all, you know that you didn’t put the hours of hard work and effort into it, so therefore how could positive feedback benefit you in any way?

Lastly, while no one is perfect and we all make mistakes, where’s your sense of morality? Your personal code of conduct? If you’re young and have been tempted to plagiarize another author for whatever reason, I hope you’ll reconsider after reading this, and remember that authors—whether they write for money or sheer entertainment—put many hours of effort into their writing, so the idea that any random Joe Blow could shamelessly copy-and-paste it and place his/her name on it is not only disturbing to the author, but insulting.

And if you’re an adult who has plagiarized/been tempted to plagiarize, well, you should already know better, shouldn’t you? ;) Just…don’t.

-Kari

Sunday, January 1, 2012

FFn profile updates for the month of 12/11

12/29/11 - I cannot stop watching this video. You've gotta check it out; in my opinion, the song "Fix You" by Coldplay is the embodiment of Ron/Hermione. By the way, I'm actively working on Chapter 11 of The Waiting Place (Chapter 12 including the prologue), but no promises about when I'll get it up, since it's possibly more emotionally draining to write than the previous two, as I'm getting into what was going on in Ron's head in the previous chapter. Here's a little preview:

At that moment, Ron truly realized that he was here to do a job, nothing more, just like the Healer had said. His stupid fantasies about marrying her and all that other stuff were just that—stupid, juvenile, and had no basis in reality. What the hell would Hermione Granger want with a poor, second-rate wanker like him, anyway? He wasn’t smart, or good-looking, and, he admitted to himself grudgingly, he was a mediocre Quidditch player; he reckoned he was all right when his head wasn’t fucked, but that was a rare occasion, wasn’t it?

Even though he’d known it in his heart all along, it really hit him at that moment that he had nothing to offer her. He reckoned that the only sorta bird that would ever want him was one that was too daft to know better. Someone like Lavender.

Well, if he was here to do a job, then Ron was determined that he would do the best bloody job that he could; he’d fuck her, just like she needed him to, and then he’d let her get on with her life—without him. Just like she bloody wanted.

12/25/11 - Merry Christmas! I wish I could say that I have a TWP update as a Christmas gift for you all, but, alas, I've been uber-busy with the holidays & haven't had much time to write. At any rate, I'll see you all in the New Year! :)

12/18/11 - On vacation with the family! While I brought my laptop with me (managed to answer some reviews today), I thought it would be curteous to inform readers that the possibility of my updating The Waiting Place before Christmas doesn't look likely. Thank you all so much for your understanding, & I hope you're having a wonderful holiday! By the way, your reviews on the latest chapter all made me smile like an idiot, so thanks for that. :) It's wonderful to know that my efforts are so appreciated!

12/12/11 - Just wanted to let readers know that I'm actively working on Chapter 10 of The Waiting Place (chapter 11 if you're counting the prologue as a chapter) and will have it up sometime in the next couple of days. In the meantime, how about a little teaser?

“Merlin, you’re beautiful,” Ron breathed in a sexy, throaty manner that she’d previously heard only in her dreams—and which had her melting in more ways than one: Her core dampened and swelled for him inexorably as butterflies churned in her stomach, and she literally swooned. Swooned. She’d previously believed that that only happened to the damsels in distress from those drugstore paperback novels that her mother left lying about the house, but now she had actual experience to prove that such descriptions were, in actuality, based on fact. Who knew?

Quit thinking, and just feel, Hermione instructed herself as she closed her eyes, tilting her lips upward in anticipation of his kiss—

12/02/11 - Moved my profile's updates for the month of November to my blog, where I also post fanfic recs, book recs, the occasional movie rec, and other randomness: Musings of a Fiction Fanatic

FYI, I'm actively working on my TWP update, but since I don't wanna rush it I'm not making any promises about when you can expect it to be published. ;)