I'm fond of a vague warning, especially if the author is taking things pretty distant from the general mood of whatever the fandom is. If I'm reading in Fluffy Penguin Fandom-a-go-go, and the author decides to write about the slow, graphic ritual torture and murder of Fluffy Penguin herself? Seeing a "character death" warning would be appreciated. But if I'm reading in the Angst and Terror Fandom-of-Doom, it's less of a concern for me.

I respect the author's right to keep their plot twists a secret, but the occasional warning is something that's nice when provided.

One thing I've noticed in due South more than otherwhere is story descriptions that just take a quote from the story.

I do that because I hate summaries. Aeryn mourns John as she prepares him for burial. or Jack buys coffee and waits for Sam to come back. or Sam, Jack, and Daniel are broken but having happy three-way sex in a farmhouse.

Ewww. Bland, bland, bland. Instead I find an appropriate quote from the story that conveys something of what it's about without giving too much away. That, combined with the rating and an appropriately vague warning about angst, usually does the trick.

I hate summaries.

I agree/disagree with this. I hate the kinds of summaries that you quoted above. They fall way, way flat. I do like summaries that are more teasers than summaries. Then again, some of those can look cheesy as hell.

In terms of warnings, I don't like it when any HSQ factor is spelled out ahead of time. I mean, what if they'd preceded "Passions" with "Warning! Character Death!"? I think that a rating (R, NC-17) with a general tip of the hat to whether its due to sex, violence, sexual violence, etc. should suffice. "Dark" also works as a generall all-purpose warning, IMO.

t cue the background music of the pathetic feedback whore

There's rec thing going around on LJ, rec three writers, who then rec three writers and so on. A couple of those writers I talk to a lot and t cue pout I thought they liked me, but they haven't recced me, and now I'm being all ridiculously hurt and adolescent and disgusted with myself for feeling hurt and adolescent.

I'm going to go get chocolate.

for shrift, the latest LFN crazy report:

The chick who, at last count, had three stories going on three boards under two different names and who snapped at me and delle for outing her pseud? Posted a chapter of her supposedly kinda autobiographical "Nikita gets MS" story on the Beta board.

Posted a chapter of her supposedly kinda autobiographical "Nikita gets MS" story on the Beta board.

Iiiinteresting. Possible beginning of Munchausen by Interbunny!

Yeah, that's the thing. She's pinged so many troll buttons that some of us are wondering if it's just a huge joke on the fandom:

• Mary Sue fic
• unexpected crossover (not only is Mary Sue an immortal, but she's Duncan's protege
• implausible and over-the-top sex scenes (with Dr. Luka from ER)
• use of sockpuppets, including posting a comment to her own story and then claiming it was a relative who used her computer
• Stirring up a weird discussion about the difference between an "author" and a "writer"
• replying to another author's story in French
• spilling her life details after about a week on the boards, including the fact that she has MS which triggered a near-fatal heart attack a couple of years ago that confined her to her bed and put her on the path to fic-writing

That's the hard part, you know? Because The Plagiarist Who Used Y Too Much strikes me as just as ridiculous and mind-boggling as this latest Nikita kook.

On the other hand, I suppose there are people in the Nikita fandom who would be capable of pulling this off, and by capable I mean the kind of mean-spirited, self-righteous -- er, you know who I mean.

Evil Cruel Mockery warning:

[link]

McTabby lists stories for which she never got past the summary.

A stag and a cat make an astounding discovery: They're humans! Humans who have been dead, as in as a doornail, for nearly fifteen years!

A strange girl with a Lapine name is boarded in Hogwarts in her seventh year, and she meets up with Remus, a werewolf. She begins to get wierd feelings for him, and Remus her. But Zen has secrets.

Albus runs away from his heart to Paris but his heart follows him.

Another mournful chronicle of Harry Potter rising from the ashes of Book 5.

The air held a slight fragrance of abhorrence and it tightly held him with its invisible claws. His eyesight was going in and out of proportion anonymously and everything was distorted for the exception of a dark figure standing inapprehensive to the power tugging wind.

This one reads like spam.