I spent 4 months in Iraq and all I got was this lousy war.

Note: Originally posted in my on-site blog, reposted here for consistency.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Countdown: 96 days

Current mood: Cannot cope. Off to Mordor.
Now playing: ... Nothing.
Today's weather: DEAR WEATHER GODS STOP WTF IS UP WITH THIS, BITCHES STOP IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE MARCH NOT JULY STOP CEASE THIS RUBBISH AT ONCE STOP STOP
Pet peeve o' the Day: Life.
Amusement o' the Day: This and this.

I keep missing Andre online. Bugger all! *kicks the internet* Cooperate so I can finish installing Moveable Type, DAMN YOU!

In other news, the people on FCA-L are having debates again about warnings and summaries and labelling and marketing of fanfic. I thought about delurking and weighing in, but I thought better of it because they're having their usual catfights again. Honestly, people, I love sarcasm as much as the next person, but it has no place in what is supposed to be a rational, civilised discussion. Of course, I'm hyperrational in these things, and I've always been taught to believe that the first one to resort to ad hominem attacks, and that, in a way, includes sarcasm, has lost the discussion. (And at that point, I regard ther discussion as over and it becomes a free-for-all and yes, I then do join in the sarcasm. As I said. Love sarcasm.)

Er, anyway. My point, before I once again managed to digress myself into next week, was that the subject of the discussion itself was fairly interesting, and in an attempt to avoid thinking about Current Events, I figured I'd give you all an insight in how I "market" my stories, and why I use the headers I use.

Title: Fairly self-explanatory. I always also put the title between the header and the actual story, but I keep this category because it makes things easier on the archivists, I think, to have all the info they may need in one place--especially since I usually post my headers in a 0/x post. More on that later.

Author: Sofie K Werkers Yes, I write under my real name, at least I do these days. It just made more sense to me. My real name is in the "from" fiend of my e-mail, too, so although I still go by Melle, everyone knows my real name, and a lot of people probably don't even remember what Melle stands for. Even I stopped seeing it as a pseud and now see it as just a nickname, albeit one that's difficult to explain. :)

Fandom: Self-explanatory. I always write out the full name of the fandom, a habit I formed in my RareSlash days, because it was a rule (which I made), and one of the ones I was the most strict about. Think about it, if people don't know what an acronym stands for, they won't read your story, even though they may well read it if they looked at the fandom and recognised it as a show/whatever they know.

Pairing: Ditto. I always write full names, again because of RareSlash. Old habits die hard, especially ones that make a lot of sense to me.

Rating: NC-17 for graphic sex, R for heavy petting and stuff without actual sex (and by that I mean on-screen orgasms in any way), PG-13 for serious snogging, PG for a kiss or two and/or foul language, and G on the off-chance I ever manage to write anything that doesn't have any swearing or snogging it it.

These four are pretty basic labels, and I don't think anyone will argue with them (except maybe the ratings one), because they're simply a necessity for any fanfic story. The next ones are where I do my marketing bit.

Summary: This and the title are my main way of trying to draw people in, to convince them to read my story. I'm no good with titles, so I have to try my damndest to have a good summary. 'Summary' is a bit of a misnomer, though, since I don't tend to see them as summaries, but rather as teasers, trailers, blurbs on the back of books. And I tend to be rather cryptic in them, too. Point in case, the summaries of the stories I've written since 2002:

• Sacrifices made. (Gold and Steel) This one is kind of lame, but I figured with this story, people would see the pairing and either run like hell or dive right in, anyway.
• Years later. (Evitar) A bit cryptic, but describes exactly what the story is about. I still like this.
• Lee and George and sibling rivalry. (Dibs) Again, rather lame, but by the time I'd finished this it was early AM and I needed to submit the story and get some freakin' sleep. I said I tried my damndest to have a good summary, not that I always succeeded.
• How things were. (Polar) Eh. not a bad one, as summaries go, but not exactly brilliant, either.
• In which the boys do math, have sex, and consume lots of coffee, not necessarily in that order. (Kodachrome) I like this. It's exactly what it says, and it's (semi-)witty, just like the story.
• And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. (Luke 11:4) (Sin) Eh. I know as many people will be put off by this as will be attracted by it, but it's the central theme of the series, and quite honestly, by the time this was finally ready to be posted, I was ready to say "It's a story. Read it or not, I don't care anymore, and I'm now going to crawl in a corner and die." So, you know.

Status: Usually, New, finished. I can't remember why I started using this label (probably, it was required on a list I was on at one point), but I keep using it because it's a good way to let people know this isn't a WiP, and it's not a repost of something older. Well, unless, of course, it is, in which case I say so.

Date: [date started] - [date finished first draft] This is really more for my own benefit than anything else. I like knowing when I started and finished things, how long it took me to write a certain story, etc. Still, I imagine some people like to know these things, too, right?

Archive: Yes to [archives]. All others, please ask. I always give permission to list archives, and sometimes to a few others, as well. I've become very picky about where I let my stories be archived, though.

Email: minerva@femgeeks.net Obviously.

Feedback: If you like this story, please let me know. If you don't, please let me know why not. Which is what I finally came up with after much tweaking and debating with myself about how to phrase this so that it's clear I welcome all feedback, even/especially constructive criticism.

Series/sequel: Self-explanatory.

And then there's the other assorted bits:

Web Page: http://www.independentsoul.net Obviously.

Disclaimer: Always, always, always . Don't fancy getting c&d'ed, thanks, and the recent fandomination.net thing only serves to confirm once more the importance of proper disclaimers, especially on RPF.

Warnings: I warn for rape/non-con, death, and underaged sex. If a warning would be a spoiler, I put on a general "disturbing themes" warning and tell people to e-mail me if there's something in specific they want to know about. It's a fair middle road, as far as I'm concerned.

Dedication: Which is where people get thanked for hassling me. ;D

Author's Notes: In which I note any and all deviations from canon, sites or whatnot used for research, and who beta'ed the story for me. I always thank my betas. Always. Not only is it common courtesey towards the beta, it also lets people know that a) I have a beta, and b) who that beta is, since apparently for a number of people that's one of the factors in wether they read a story or not. This is also where I whine about the story, how annoying it is, and how sorry I am for writing this particular pairing. ;)

Aaand that's all the rambling for today, I think. :) I'll get back to typing up the questions for the SWSR.