Many claim that Twilight is "Mary Sue-ish".  There are several times where a fic has been described as such.  Does anyone know where this term came from?

Urban dictionary describes it as: 

A negative reference to a female character
commonly used by beginning writers in their Fan-fiction.

Most times, the "Mary-Sue" is based upon the author.
She is unusually perfect and more advanced, also befriends
or becomes romantically entangled with the author's favorite
character/characters from the series. Because she is more
superior than the other characters in the work, she mainly
becomes the focus of the fan-fiction, thus ruining whatever
the fan-fiction was about. 

And why Mary Sue?  Why not Christina Marie?  Or Tiffany Beth?

Also, will you read a fic if you believe one of the characters is a Mary Sue?

Hello all!  I was just wondering what everyones favorite pulled fics were.  I've been working my through them (with the help of you all and all the great ladies @ the Nest book club twilight board).  If you throw out something I have not read, I can't promise I won't ask you to email me a copy if you have one :)

I did not read it as a pulled fic, but EP will always be my favorite ( the one that started it all for me ).  I also really loved Lost Boys, the Office, and now The Gentleman from Wash. State.  I am sure there are many others out there I don't even know of that were pulled, since I have only been reading fics for a few months. 

Give me your fav pulled fics!  and....GO!!

It's Wednesday, so that means...

This weeks game: Fanfictionary!

Find 1 or 2 images (MAX) that are related to a fic and post them. Others will try and guess which fic you are talking about. Get creative, have fun.

(Answer: Wide Awake)

Ready, set, go!

So, I heard on the news this morning that men weren't spending as much on engagement rings than in the past due to the economy.

The whole 2 month salary thing has ALWAYS bothered me. I got engaged at a Sex Pistols show with a $75 silver claddagh-REALLY! (And we were married by Elvis in Vegas while wearing matching Bail Bondsman shirts)

DOES the size of the ring actually show how much one person loves another?

Am I not a 'real girl'?

Interactive: I suppose this makes me a Bella, as I am not into money or pricey gifts. If I was an Alice from FF, I would need the Hope Diamond on top of a million dollar wedding to survive. If I was FF Rose, I would only need a diamond encrusted billy club for the back of Emmett's head (shudder...I hate that overdone smack to the back of the head thing)

I really am curious- and I don't hinder ANYONE that has a big ol' diamond as it is your choice...

J

I wanted to make sure ya'll know that Yellowglue is taking down her stories on FFN. They will be gone Sept. 1. And if you haven't read her stories YOU MUST! She is amazing!

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2041943/

I was perusing around this evening looking for something to read and couldn't really find what I was looking for, so I was hoping that you ladies (gentlemen) could help me out.

I am looking for some angsty stories about trouble youth.  Something along the lines of Lessons Learned by Mistyhaze, The Caged Bird by Kristen Nicole, The Girl Under the Bed by Nostalgicmiss or First Love Lost by Oracle Vas.  Something where they have bad home lives (a negletful Renee, a manipulative Charlie), runaways, homelessness or even some drug abuse.  HEA, though please.  J/B and Slash fics are a bonus.

What are some of your favorite angsty fic?  

Hopefully this adheres to the new rules, since I gave some recs, yea?  

Something pretty for your time.

I'm loving the new site.

I like the fact that authors, and not just VIP authors, can now add their stories to this site.

But, since most of them are already completed and fully uploaded on other sites... is there any point?

How many people will look up stories that are already completed elsewhere and review them on this site?

This is a genuine question and not a criticism. I've noticed over the last couple of days that a lot of authors are uploading their stories now, but no-one seems to be reading them. So I'm wondering if there is a benefit to taking the trouble to uploading stories that are completed elsewhere onto this site.

Again not a criticism... I'm just asking for opinions.

The new chapter is up...what do you all think?

Spoilers inside - link to story if you aren't reading it already!

Hey Campers!

This is our first read-a-long in the "new" forest, and my first time posting it as a Ranger! Woohoo!

Our next fic has got me all kinds of excited!!

We're going to be reading......

The Port Angeles Players by WriteOnTime!!!!

Join me on Saturday to discuss Chapters 1-6.

No spoilers, please - we have lots of new readers.

We'll continue every second day until we're done!

Use this campfire to ask questions about the read-a-longs, share your excitement, etc.

eta:  I changed the date from Friday to Saturday - scheduling conflicts! lol

Woah, 5.9 earthquake in Virginia felt in NYC....  buildings were evacuated...  I didn't feel anything though, thank God...   So far no incident's have been reported... 

RANGER EDIT-COME AND SHARE YOUR EAST COAST EARTHQUAKE EXPERIENCE WITH US!! GOT ANY PICS? POST THEM!

So, I think, we all know that Stephanie Meyer started out in fanfiction. Lets face it, the sh*t storm that is Breaking Dawn only could fly in the world of fandom. We do love our far-fetched fics.

My question to all the lovely campers is, what fandom do you think SM started in?? I have my ideas, come inside and I'll share with you, but here's a hint....

Approved by the Glorious GAW

My Campfire is inspired  by this video:

I ran across this on Pinterest and besides making me giggle and snort....I wondered how your family and/or significant other accept(s) or tolerate(s) any obsession that you may...or may not have. (They say that the first step to addiction recovery is admitting you have a problem  :)  I haven't reached that point yet- no admittance has been uttered from lips.)

Does your family simply roll their eyes when you come skipping into the house with a new EW magazine with Rob on the cover? Does your significant other shake his or her head when you squeal like a school girl at new pictures online?

Do tell.....

Last week, I finally finished all 1,022 pages of A Dance with Dragons. I had been waiting for this book to come out for over 5 years and had speculated on the content within since then.

Then the book came out.....

Back before Breaking Dawn came out, I used to love going to the message boards on Twilighted to speculate with my online friends about what that book would contain. We would talk about epic battles and vamp bella ad nausium and it was so much fun.

Then the book came out....

I remember back when Harry Potter was on book three. I would wait ever so patiently for even the littlest bit of information. When we would get glimpses of cover art online we would talk about it at detail. When we got chapter titles, the boards would explode. Would Harry end up with Hermione? Was Harry a Horcrux? The theories were astounding, fun and rampant.

Then the book came out.....

So my question is, can a book series ever live up to the speculation that surrounds it before it is written? 

Can an author actually write as good of book as we can come up with as a group of followers? Is that a completely unfair thing to say and, in the age of fanfiction, should an author even care about what is speculated?

What is your favorite theory that was never realized in a fantasy/supernatural series? The one that you really wish would have happened?

Are our imaginations always better than the reality or does the final product ever exceed our expectations??

In addition to all of the lovely new features and updates on ADF... you've probably noticed that we have three awesome new Rangers too!

VampiresHaveLaws

LJ Summers

&

EKSmith

We love them and we're excited to have them join our ADF family.

Help us make them feel welcome!

here's your chance to GET TO KNOW THEM!

ASK THEM QUESTIONS..

What do they like to read, what kind of music do they like, do they like cream in their coffee? Anything! (and i mean anything)

And if you wanna know anything about any of the other Rangers... we'll try to pop in here too!!

Hell and damnation! I am trying to get an answer about the fact that comments (and campfires) cannot be iconized anymore while one is preparing them. I am referring to those comments or campfires where one is supposed to send in recs, links, images etc. I used to iconize the comment while I searched for the links, summaries etc. , then I added one and seached for more, until the comment was completed and I could send it  in. Now I can't, nor I can re-read acomment of somebody to quote it properly because the comment sheet is on the way.. There is only the x for deleting the comment. Very bad, does not encourage reacting to requests for stories.

Plus, I  wanted to ask a ranger about it, but I only got a number of rangers icons, with no possibility to choose one (clicking on his-her icon I just got the bio). And, when I continued anyway, the distorted words I was suppose to copy to validate mysellf were so distorted to be unreadable. And don't tell me to switch to the spoken version! I am Italian and spoken English from a machine is damn difficult to understand. Security sometimes defeats its aim, mistreating bona fide participants!

Grrrr

(A very frustrated) Camilla

JOHN EDIT: If you do a refresh of the page, you will get a new Javascript file and the comments / add campfire windows will open in the same manner they did on the old site :)

Another edit-Thanks so much John-you have had to put up with quite a bit these past few days. (a very annoyed) wolvesnvamps

Is there anyone who still hasn't received their Pottermore email?  I'm starting to see that people are beginning to get sorted, and I haven't even received the first letter yet!

I'm not gonna lie, I'm starting to freak out.

A little.

Okay, a lot.  Please tell me I'm not the only one still waiting.

In the meantime, please enjoy this funny song.

purple edit: i'm taking this opportunity to say that if you ARE in pottermore, PLEASE do not post any screencaps of your beta test.

we do not want the forest punished for it.

feel free to describe everything in VIVID, SCINTILLATING detail, but don't 'cap anything. thanks!

Askars has been seen eating at Gemma in NYC!

someone go find him plz.

what do you think he's eating?

Freedom_StruggleWard... you get the picture. phew!

I was wondering if there are any fics where Edward (or Bella) or both of them are revolutionaries or freedom fighters or something similar. I checked the Master Fic List but there wasn't such a list. Can we do something about it?

I just wanted to read some stories based on nationalist struggle or similar issues. As my country is experiencing something of a Gandhian revolution, I was in the mood for such fics. I mean, I'm going into protests and taking part in debates and shit to promote my people's cause, and I'm feeling restless and over enthused these days because I'm on a nationalist hight. lol

Can anyone help me find my fix?

Love Love Love this new ADF!

I was thinking about this when I was walking home earlier - Why do we love supernatural romance?

Is it the fact that they have to overcome the boundaries of their species, a la Edwards bloodlust and strength?
Is it because of the danger? Like the True Blood vamps?
Or is it just because humans are boring after a while, and we just want good old escapism?

I'm really interested to know what your thoughts are.

I personally think it's to do with the boundaries that have to be overcome. Everyone wants Rogue from x-men to have a lasting relationship, but as her touch skin to skin is lethal, we're interested to see how this massive problem can be solved. It creates drama, suspense and makes us have an emotional connection to the story, more so than is she was purely human and was going through ordinary troubles... so then the escapism thing comes in... See! It's really hard to answer!