On Tue, 5 Jan 1999, Mike Noakes wrote:

On Tue, 5 Jan 1999, The Eternal Lost Lurker wrote:

Has anyone here ever run across this in a book of fictional prose? I would
assume not.
So my question is...
WHY do some fanfic authors feel compelled to use such breakers in their
fanfics, when it completely wrecks the flow of the story?

	And the follow-up to this, and a personal annoyance of mine, is
the other numerous 'fanfic-conventions' that you never find in normal
fiction.  Flashback indicators aside, there's the large number of
dialogue/thought indicators: asteriks, tildas, etc... Personally, I can't
think of a single novel I've read that does so.

Sometimes, it works better.  In a published novel, there are cases where
one would use italics or boldface, but for those of us with text only
browsers can't read this.  Thus, it's easier in e-mailed fanfics to use
the *, ~, etc.

	(The one convention that I actually do like is the "...".  I don't
know why.  It's just cute.)

The ellipsis isn't a convention.  It's part of english.

	There are other little nitpicks: things like situating the story,
giving pages of force-fed introductory details, for instance.  Is it
really necessary to say: this story takes place after v.32, but before
v.34, though the Googlesmash hyper-blast mongotechnique hasn't been learnt
yet?

Yes, it is.

Just yesterday, there was a slight characterisation error that I found on
the part of Akane, where Akane performs an action that might have been
plausible early on, but not after Ryouga's Breaking Point training.
Because the author did not mention the time frame, I almost missed this
point, but luckly, there was a brief appearance of Ukyou, so I was able to
conclude that the fic took place at a time where Akane's action was
unlikely.  Had there been a reference to when the fanfic was occuring,
there would have been much less of a chance of this slipping past.

Also, not everyone has seen every episode of the Anime series which the
fanfic is based, and noting when the action takes place helps one avoid
spoilers.  If someone writes a Gundam Wing fanfic, and tells me that it
takes place after the last episode, I'll know not to read it until I
finish the series. 


-Natsume Ranma Ranma
-------
The sardines weren't worth the trouble.  A few more shots, then 
Ryoga-san would overheat and explode.  Ducking around a corner, 
I managed to lose him as I entered the ramshackle residence of 
my Anime supplier.

One look at his face and I knew that I was betrayed.  "Tell me."
I insisted.  He refused, so I slammed him against the wall.
"Last chance.  Where can Ranma-Ranma find good fanfics?"
"Try Jason Liao." he whispered, before he slumped to the floor.
I heard the sounds of a door splintering as I left through the 
window, one step ahead of Tendo Heavy Industries...