dragonbat2006, posts by tag: school - LiveJournal

Baby is 56 pages including front and back matter. I think it does what I want it to, which is make suggestions but not lay down some "10 Commandments of Fanfic—Obey or Get Out of Fandom." I know damned well that I'm not the final arbiter of all fic good and worthy. I'm a decent writer who lurks in fanficrants and ffr_discussion enough to see what the consensus is on what's wrong versus ymmv.

I was writing it with two specific readers in mind—even if they never actually see a copy. A couple of 14-year-olds I know started writing fanfic because I told their mother about my hobby and she found ff.net and pointed it out to them. They're pretty good at it too. (And no, I don't mean "good for their age." I mean "good.") So I was thinking... if they're my audience, then they don't want to be intimidated away by wall-o-texts, they don't want to be talked down to. They're bright, but they're also a bit new to the whole fanfic scene. These are writers who might warn for slash, not because they think slash is triggering, but because they've read older fic where "warning" (as opposed to "contains") was the norm.

Anyway, I do need to have the final printed and bound by a week from Thursday, so I'm not exactly asking for a beta. But if I ever want to make this available to the general fan-public as opposed to just something I'm handing in for grades, I'd appreciate knowing about any major concerns.

Academic parameters were pretty broad:

1) Write a guide or best practices manual... for ANYTHING
2) Include TOC and index
3) Minimum 25 pages (and need not be all text, though mine is mostly. Some projects are graphic-heavy but that's more for product manuals than for writing.)
4) Be handed in printed and bound.
5) Be letter-perfect. (Ain't happening, but it'll be close.)

Takers, please PM me an email address?

As many of you know, I'm currently studying to be a technical communicator...

...And I need to write a 25-page handbook on virtually anything this semester. Seriously, the instructor passed around copies of last year's projects and they ran the gamut from "How to look like Audrey Hepburn" to "How to build a steel drum" to "How to eat sushi."

Well, I'm planning to do mine on how to write derivative fiction, with a special focus on fanfic. I mean to stress that I'm giving general guidelines rather than concrete rules, that there are always going to fics that go against the guidelines and some of them are really good, etc. Some of what I'm putting is will be general writing tips too (as in, do not describe every character from the jaunty cap mounted over unruly jet-black curls, to the tips of their scuffed shoes, with special attention to chocolate orbs and rosebud lips.)

Put a different way: I've read a lot of books on how to write a mainstream fiction novel, and at least one discouraged telling the story in letters. That's what I would call a good guideline in general. It's not a format that you see a lot of. However, Dracula is a classic, and one of my favorite YA novels is Feeling Sorry for Celia. So, I wouldn't say telling a story in letters is "bad", more like, "less common" or "more of a challenge to do well."

I'm also going to point out that for people who are writing as a hobby for fun, the main thing is to have fun. But I don't just want this to be "thoughts of a genficcer in the DCU fandom."

So... anyone got any pointers and guidelines they'd like to share?

Thanks so much!

Back in school as of today. Summer session begins. Just had Single Sourcing. Framemaker II after break. I think that this is the first time I've faced a new semester with more dread than anticipation. I really really hope I won't be a wreck by term's end.

They won't reduce my courseload. Said maybe they could reduce the co-op hours. Still would be 25 hours at work plus making up approx 25 hours classwork plus prep and assignments.

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In other news, I finished The Way Back. It's a big fic. Baby weighs in at 247,274 words (according to ff.net). 38 chapters plus prologue and epilogue. I started posting on lj long ago but found the html tedious so kept it on a yahoo group and ff.net. I'm going to start adding it to my personal lj and then go back and link the chapters to each other, followed by a master post to the whole shebang on a couple of fanfic comms. I'm going to post the chapters under cuts, so you may see a bunch of posts from me over the next little while, but hopefully they won't be hard to scroll past if Batman fanfic isn't your thing.

Well, my first html assignment is to create a webpage and upload it to my school's site via FTP. I need to include the following features:

• heading(s)


• content


• list(s)


• images


• fonts and styles other than the default browser settings


• a table of contents using internal links


• links to relevant pages


• link to my email address

I decided to create a (very rudimentary) page for one of my fanfic AUs. I think I hit the marks. Homework on the other end of link.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Did the coding. Ran the program. Hit a bug. Can't see how to fix it and emailed it to instructor. She writes back that she can't open the userform!

Aaaaargh!!!!! I tried emailing it to myself and it opens fine, so I re-sent. But I have lost the coding so many times and redone it so many times that I don't know what I'm doing anymore!

I feel like such a dunce! No matter what I do, I cannot get the coding right. And when I do, I save the document as the wrong thing and lose all my coding! Argh. I just want to pound my head against the wall, but I still sorta need it for my other classes. For this one? I think it's just some sort of counterweight so I can sit up properly. Grrrrrrr...

Did that even make sense? Sigh. Ok. 3 weeks into the term and this is where we're holding:

Technical Editing: I have fallen into so many bad habits. I learned proofreading marks years ago. I know I did. But when I started beta-ing, I went electronic. So now, I'm relearning the shorthand. The textbook isn't in the bookstore yet--I've ordered it off of Amazon. Prof is meh. But I can do this.

The Technical Communicator: Well, as long as she doesn't pull anymore garbage like that 'impossible requirements document', things should be ok. She's interesting and she knows her stuff.

Intro to Technology: scares me in a good way. I'm not a tech person. I have a lot of catching up to do. But the course is designed for that. I have a good feeling about my first report.

Technical Writing I: Got a 4/5 on my first assignment. I may not completely agree with the marking scheme, but I think that's more an undergrad mindset. See, we need to write some pretty detailed documents. Next up is a group project where we need to write an operators manual for a real-live company or organization. (Matter of fact, I'm going to put the details in a new post after this one.) What gets me is this paper? 15% of the grade. If this were undergrad, I'm sure it would have been more than half--just because it would be real world experience. But the whole focus of this program is to make us employment-ready, so this is just one of several assignments we need to do. It's not the focus of the course; it's one among several documents. Ok. I get it. But I can still wish it was worth more.

Intro to Co-op Theory: It's mostly about how to land the co-op placement for next term. First up: somehow, I lost the softcopy of my most up-to-date resume. Annoyance, not disaster because I do have the hardcopies. I suspect I left the soft at my old workplace--it somehow isn't one of the resumes I emailed to my personal account. Ah well.

Framemaker: Well, the instructor actually wrote the manual. As in, if you own Adobe Framemaker and you read the user manual, that's his name in the author credits. He's seriously? A great guy. And he's been bending over backwards to make sure I'll be able to keep up when I have to miss class for the Jewish holidays.

Intro to programming. Sigh. This is my nemesis. Every time I think I've got it... I don't. I already made the mistake of saving my visual basic assignment as a macro-enabled document rather than template. I'm falling behind. I feel like a dunce. I think the teacher is losing patience with me... and I can't quite figure out how to make the bookmarks visible on the form letter we're creating the macro for. I feel like I jumped into deep water and a wave smacked me in the face, just when I thought everything was going swimmingly. And now, I'm coughing and gasping for breath and even though I know how to swim, the waves just keep coming!

I'd go over the assignment now, but I'd just get more frustrated. I'll look at it Sunday.

She made the assignment deliberately confusing to see what we'd do with it. Grrrrrrrr.....

Had a copy-marking quiz first period. I think I memorized the 49 proofreading marks pretty well... but he said neatness counts. Which dooms me and my messy handwriting. Sigh. It's 5% of my grade. That's it. 5% of my grade. Will not make or break me. The text still isn't at the bookstore. Broke down and ordered from Amazon.ca. Will still need to get the lone reserve copy to read and Xerox before next class as I have to do one of the exercises and post in the discussion group by next class. Library opens at 7:30. First class 8:55. Will try to be there right when they open and hope the other 41 students don't have the same bright idea. (Would be other 42 students, but... well... there's a reason I'm posting to lj right now instead of making the photocopies.)

Technical Communicator project is due next period. I can't quite figure out whether my teacher is clueless or using an object lesson. At this point, the facts support either. Or both. See, it's her first year teaching. That, I don't hold against her. I have had some excellent first-time teachers. My grade 10 French teacher, for example. (Heck, the I remember some of my classmates as being downright mean to some teachers. Not in a threats-and-violence way, but more in a 'we know exactly how to harass you in such a way that you come off looking bad for not controlling us' manner. The fact that she walked in and, without raising her voice, had control of the class from HOUR 1, forget 'day 1' and that she also taught us a lot that year, blew me away.

I don't automatically assume that first-year teachers are clueless.

But when she tells us to write a Requirements Document for next class, tells us vaguely what it is, but then shows us a model with a bunch of subheadings we never discussed, then tells us 'oh, yours won't be this sophisticated', then gives us a template, then tells us 'don't worry if you can't fill it all out. This is just a generic one', but doesn't tell us what she's looking for?

Yeah. I'm uneasy.

Then again, the pre-assignment discussion featured a Power Point slide of this, and a discussion about how technical communicators are not subject matter experts, but still need to understand enough to write the documentation.

So, was she lucky enough to grasp how to write a requirements document her first week on the job and is she honestly unable to get how other people need more coaching? Or is this an object lesson in how, once we get out in the workforce, we won't have everything spelled out and will need to muddle through as best we can?

Guess I'll be finding out shortly... if not this class, then when the assignment comes back.