Because I don't have enough to do...

A little while back, I had floated the idea of creating a community to rec online original fiction (styled similarly to the fanfic rec comms). As a confirmed bibliophile, I like reading fiction online, but it's hard to find good stuff; I've been stumbling across more and more websites and online magazines that have short stories and even novels, but it's still difficult to sort out the wheat from the chaff. One of the things that makes fanfic so user-friendly is the high level of grassroots organization -- recs sites, thematic lists and world-of-mouth all help keep us from wasting our time on a 55-chapter self-insert with atrocious grammar when there's a stylish epic on the web page next door.

So, f'list, your thoughts are appreciated!

What I'm thinking right now is that the community would be for reccing free online fiction -- i.e. nothing that you have to pay to access. Complete works or free serialized works-in-progress only -- as opposed to online previews of work that's published in other formats. No fanfic.

Self-recs: yea or nay? I'm thinking "yea", though they would need to be labeled as such; the whole idea is to give people an idea of where fiction can be found online, and there's no reason why people shouldn't be able to promote their own fiction as long as they don't get mixed up with reccing other people's.

Webcomics: yea or nay? I'm waffling on this one, because I tend to think of graphic novels as just another kind of book (albeit a specialized sort of book), but I don't want the community to drown in a sea of webcomics recs. Right now, I'm tentatively leaning towards allowing recs only for completed, narrative webcomics -- i.e. online graphic novels, not works in progress (as most webcomics tend to be) or gag-strip webcomics. Thoughts?

Name - I just checked "onlineficrec" and it's not taken. Too fanficcy? I want this to be accessible to non-fanfic people who aren't really up on our lingo (I'm not sure how widely "rec" and "fic" are used in the non-fanfic world, or what the equivalent terms would be in the mundane world *g*).

Edit: Oh, and I just thought of something else -- how many different kinds of tags should it have? I'll definitely want basic identifier tags (i.e. fiction, webcomic, self-rec, etc) and author tags, but I'm wondering what else is needed. The more specific the tags, the easier for people to find what they want -- I'm thinking genre tags and length tags might be good -- but it'll also be more likely to become a free-for-all as different people apply tags in different ways.

Any further thoughts/opinions are most appreciated!

Because I don't have enough to do...

A little while back, I had floated the idea of creating a community to rec online original fiction (styled similarly to the fanfic rec comms). As a confirmed bibliophile, I like reading fiction online, but it's hard to find good stuff; I've been stumbling across more and more websites and online magazines that have short stories and even novels, but it's still difficult to sort out the wheat from the chaff. One of the things that makes fanfic so user-friendly is the high level of grassroots organization -- recs sites, thematic lists and world-of-mouth all help keep us from wasting our time on a 55-chapter self-insert with atrocious grammar when there's a stylish epic on the web page next door.

So, f'list, your thoughts are appreciated!

What I'm thinking right now is that the community would be for reccing free online fiction -- i.e. nothing that you have to pay to access. Complete works or free serialized works-in-progress only -- as opposed to online previews of work that's published in other formats. No fanfic.

Self-recs: yea or nay? I'm thinking "yea", though they would need to be labeled as such; the whole idea is to give people an idea of where fiction can be found online, and there's no reason why people shouldn't be able to promote their own fiction as long as they don't get mixed up with reccing other people's.

Webcomics: yea or nay? I'm waffling on this one, because I tend to think of graphic novels as just another kind of book (albeit a specialized sort of book), but I don't want the community to drown in a sea of webcomics recs. Right now, I'm tentatively leaning towards allowing recs only for completed, narrative webcomics -- i.e. online graphic novels, not works in progress (as most webcomics tend to be) or gag-strip webcomics. Thoughts?

Name - I just checked "onlineficrec" and it's not taken. Too fanficcy? I want this to be accessible to non-fanfic people who aren't really up on our lingo (I'm not sure how widely "rec" and "fic" are used in the non-fanfic world, or what the equivalent terms would be in the mundane world *g*).

Edit: Oh, and I just thought of something else -- how many different kinds of tags should it have? I'll definitely want basic identifier tags (i.e. fiction, webcomic, self-rec, etc) and author tags, but I'm wondering what else is needed. The more specific the tags, the easier for people to find what they want -- I'm thinking genre tags and length tags might be good -- but it'll also be more likely to become a free-for-all as different people apply tags in different ways.

Any further thoughts/opinions are most appreciated!

oh god my brain help

It's winter_elf that I have to blame thank for this terrifyingly addictive site: The Terrible Crossover Fanfic Idea Generator.

The very first one I got is probably the best so far:

"Your challenge is to write crossover fanfiction combining the Partridge Family and the Lion King. The story should use oral sex as a plot device!"

AAAAAAAAAAAA!

For the sheer WTF? potential, this one's not bad, though:

"Your challenge is to write crossover fanfiction combining Rosemary's Baby and Cosby Show. The story should use unclogging a toilet as a plot device!"

*cries*

Or how about this one:

"Your challenge is to write crossover fanfiction combining Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and America's Funniest Home Videos. The story should use marriage as a plot device!"

That ... actually sounds like something that might happen in JHHM in canon!

can't stop refreshing page, send help

oh god my brain help

It's winter_elf that I have to blame thank for this terrifyingly addictive site: The Terrible Crossover Fanfic Idea Generator.

The very first one I got is probably the best so far:

"Your challenge is to write crossover fanfiction combining the Partridge Family and the Lion King. The story should use oral sex as a plot device!"

AAAAAAAAAAAA!

For the sheer WTF? potential, this one's not bad, though:

"Your challenge is to write crossover fanfiction combining Rosemary's Baby and Cosby Show. The story should use unclogging a toilet as a plot device!"

*cries*

Or how about this one:

"Your challenge is to write crossover fanfiction combining Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and America's Funniest Home Videos. The story should use marriage as a plot device!"

That ... actually sounds like something that might happen in JHHM in canon!

can't stop refreshing page, send help