I like the nonfiction tag.. confused about what bestpractices is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_practice

I thought you said that all ficlets should be fiction. This seems like non fiction to me… just saying… maybe you should talk to Kevin and by the way the beauty of ficlets is you can write something non fiction and people will think it is fiction. Challenges inspire me when I have writers block. Sorry to have shut down your ideas but this isn’t a robot site it is a site like no other and I think it is good the way it is. Why change is to make it close to all of those sites that are out their now?
LoA

I agree with Blu completely.
LoA

I totally get where you’re coming from, and I’m interested to see what you put. Apparently you’ve already run into what I thought might happen (and why I didn’t post my own version of this), that some ficleteers glory in the anarchy. Me, I’m on the fence. But I salute your boldness in putting this stuff out there.

I don’t really care about the people who trash them. They wouldn’t “get it” even if I could give this advice to their faces. But there will also be people out there who will at least give my advice serious thought, even if they don’t necessarily agree with it. Those are the ones I’m trying to reach, and hopefully will reach.

Totally agree on wishing Ficlets had a forum. And you’re brave for writing these. A helpful, etiquette-ful addendum to the Ficlet FAQ is a good idea. I know I’ve got pet peeves around here too but I’m not brave enough to voice ‘em. Mostly I’m just grateful this place exists, even when someone floods the most recent list with a flurry of sequels which doesn’t give others a chance to be on the page long. Sort of wish there was a short time limit between posting stories.

Brave is one way to put it. Another is that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, so all the controversy will drive these posts right to the top of Most Active and Most Popular so at least people will have more of a chance to see them. :)

This is a great idea, and an excellent way of putting together some advice for new writers.

That said, I don’t think I really agree with you on the forum front. One of the things that I love about this site is that there is no forum, so the community automatically builds around the stories. Any Internet Drama is contained to a single story and doesn’t spill out to the rest of the site, and bad stuff simply fades into oblivion…

hmm, I’m willing to listen to your advice. I get that you’re not telling me what to do.
But I kind of agree with Blu too, we are all different and do things different ways. This site is ment for us to be creative, and be ourselves.
But, I’ll hold off until I read what you have to say.

I agree with some of what you say.. I too have pet peeves.. what really bugs me though is the people that disagree, don’t nessicarilly not ‘get it’. I think the comment you posted about them not geting it even if you told them to their face was rude. I can understand someones advice and choose not to use it. Sorry I had to say that..

my thoughts are if people write in a stye you dont like.. don’t read them. it is a creative site. not a graded classroom were we fail if we don’t set up stories in a way that you or anyone disagrees with.
too much structure and emphasis on grammer ruins a story, especially one that uses slang/vernacular.

a standard way of doing things kills the creative process, IMO .

I agree with Kermit & Blu. This is a way of expressing ourselves that we are the only ones with a say in, they are our stories and most people assume they are all fiction. And the challenges are inspiring.

I agree, some things can get a bit annoying, but everyone is entitled to their opinion, and of course, has every right to voice it. I for one, cannot stand Ficlets with titles that could compete with the actual story for content.

R_M, I think you made your case quite clearly. I’m only upset that your tips are all sequelled off of this one, rather than being a series.
.
If you want people to actually understand what you’re writing, you should follow basic grammar, which does allow for dialect.
.
Some authors have invented their own styles or words, but they used an existing guideline as the base.
.
As my professor used to say: “Learn the rules before you break them.”