Extra bit to Primer to the Dark Arts

Writing a slightly more NC-17 version of certain Primer scenes, not sure if I should bother.

( Eureka, the LP )

( Morning Breath extended )

How to write for the Internet

We all know to use spaces in between paragraphs and block form instead of indentation. But do we know how to write for the internet?

Build Your Hook in the First Paragraph

When someone buys a book, they have already made a commitment to read it (more or less). So the story can build slowly, gradually.

The internet reader? Not so. If you do not hook your reader within the first two paragraphs, you've likely los them - click - goodbye. A lot of good fanfic writers lose their audience for this reason.

Internet Pacing

A book is easy on the eyes, relaxing. The reader can change position, lay down, stretch out, etc.

The internet however is exhausting, your eyes are looking a lighted screen. This creates eye fatigue, and stories with long paragraph styles and slow pacing wear the reader out. Even though the same story on paper would be scrumptious. Also, the reader usually 'hunches' in front of the screen, forced into a rather strange posture over that mouse.

Short paragraph styles, tight description, and a slightly faster pace that keeps the screen scrolling saves eye fatigue, keeps the reader from sitting still too long and getting stiff. It makes your story that much more likely to be read. Slice through your story like a journalist. Edit ruthlessly.

Reward Your Reader

Lastly, the internet with its easy clicking encourages your reader to skip away from your fic... so many distrations, so little time... Reward your reader for their efforts. Treat your chapters like short stories and a have a 'kick' in each one.

This has been a public service announcement.

Sex, Drugs and Death Eater Rock

So at long last, after much soul-searching, banging my head on the keyboard, decorating tboy's office and my last temp assignment... two Beta's dead and one gasping, a story that has passed through six people... the cursed fic is done. I spent two weeks doing inserts to balance the story. One Beta loved them, as it was done to resolve an issue with the story. Then she told me 'bear in mind I don't like rambling PWPs'. Oh. We both agreed we had been working on this story until we were blind. We needed a fresh point of view. Lovely, lovely switchknife volunteered. And says: "Leave it alone! Let it breathe! No inserts. They don't add to the plot and are sometimes jarring."

Sigh. Time to call it done. I will post both versions on my website, but the version of 'Sex, Drugs and Death Eater Rock' (part two of the 'Beg Me For It' story arc) without inserts goes up on the Boozefest. Now.

Okay. I'm off to write "SNAFU - Situation Normal: All Fucked Up," part three of my Ron/Draco 'Beg Me For It' series. And to write Hagrid/Buckbeak, to be Blamed on gmth. Urgh.

Edit: Whoops. Typo on the Boozefest address. But it's just been submitted. Unless tboy moves at the speed of light, it's probably not up yet. (So in the meantime read 'Mai Tai of Doom' and 'Man, Being Reasonable.' Oh, and 'Drunken Domesticity.' 'Pale Green' is good, too. 'Oral Sex.')

This is *not* my fault!

Unbeta'd, unchecked, unrated. I am wholeheartedly blaming this on gmth. Never in my wildest dreams would I come with anything like this. I don't quite have Hagrid down, but, well, that's the least of your worries if you're reading this.

( Animagick -- Hagrid/Buckbeak -- but how do you rate animal sex? )