Subject: Hello!
Author:
Posted on: 2014-04-30 09:59:00 UTC
Neshomeh's already explained why we don't have anything about TMNT on the Wiki - it's the same reason we don't have anything on, say, Paradise Lost - so I won't repeat her points. I will say that, while the TMNT page you created will probably be removed, mentions of your OFU won't be (or shouldn't); it exists, so in the interests of cataloguing, we'll mention it unless we have a good reason otherwise.
Instead (as well?) I'm going to address your other post, here:
Oh man...I never realized a few spelling/grammar mistakes would be so bad.
This is going to depend entirely on your audience. Most people, let's be honest, won't care. But we're the PPC. We've been nattering on about spelling, grammar, and punctuation since we came into existence. It's kind of our thing (one of several, I admit).
More to the point, you're not just writing any old story - in which case, if it came to our attention for some reason, we'd just grumble and move on. You're writing an Official Fanfiction University. Your story demonstrates that you know what that means:
Dragon Love had to stop writing when she felt ice cold steel press against her neck, she felt deep fear and a Japanese Accented voice said "I'm going to have to stop you right there."
Dragon Love turned her head and saw a tall Japanese Woman with a strict expresion on her face the Woman was holding a Katana to her neck.
"I am Karai." The Woman said
[...]
"I have come to tell you you are now drafted into the Mutant Academy." Karai handed Dragon Love some papers..."Your various crimes against our Canon left us no choice."
OFUs are two things. First, of course, they're stories - and they're supposed to be entertaining ones, naturally! Like I said in my review, TMNT is just a whirl of unfamiliar names to me these days, but you do have some good ideas. Making all your students into randomly-determined mutants was a good one, for instance. So on the 'story' front, you at least have a good start.
But the other thing OFUs do is try to teach people how to write better - and specifically how to write in the fandom they're written in. Probably the biggest example of this I can think of is Lily Winterwood, who regularly sticks actual lectures into her OFUs. Here we see a lesson given by Bilbo and Smaug, for instance, in the Sherlock OFU.
But even more than lectures, OFUs are meant to show by example. If you write a story that says 'good writing is important!', and you have dodgy spelling, mis-placed punctuation, and bad grammar, anyone who looks to you for examples of how to do it well is going to think those things don't matter. And anyone who knows they do is going to have a hard time liking your story, because it's... well, hypocrisy. If you hire me to catch a thief, and I steal your stationary while you tell me about it, you'd think twice or even three times about giving me any money - even if I was the best thief-catcher in the world.
You also said:
I'm going to be honest with everyone, I am a person with Asperger's Syndrome, so I guess my spelling/grammar mistakes are caused by...Being so excited about my writing I don't stop and spellcheck
I can see how that makes a certain amount of sense, but honestly? We've had people with Asperger's here on the PPC Board before. Some of them have been our best writers. On the other hand, even some long-time regulars with Asperger's never got the hang of it (to anyone who's interested, I'm thinking of kippur here). So you may have a point - I'm certainly not prepared to claim you're lying!
So, if spelling and grammar are important, but you, as an author, are incapable of giving them the attention they need, what's the solution? Simple: a beta reader. That's someone who looks at your stories before you post them (but after you feel they're finished), and tries to catch any errors.
There are many ways for betas to work. Often, you want a 'canon beta' - one who can check that you've got the details of the canon correct. As I've said, I can't help you there. But I can help with the SPG errors. If you would like, I will go through your current five chapters with a fine-toothed comb, correcting every error of that kind that I come across; I'm even willing to do the same thing for any future chapters of Mutant Academy.
Obviously, my hope would be that my doing this would help you to learn to do it for yourself, making my job less and less necessary. But even if that doesn't happen, the offer's still there.
hS, long-winded, but had a lot to say