FictionAlley Wants You!

[sistermagpie]

Are you a stickler for good grammar? Are you obsessed with the proper
spellings of HP-canon terms? Do you understand the difference between
question marks and quotation marks?

Then please, please, please take the FictionAlley Fic
Intake Team Quiz/Application and volunteer for Team FA. A
commitment of eight hours a week is all that is required, and you can
split it up among as many days as you wish. We really need new
staffers, because during the launch of our new system, we didn't
actively recruit, which leaves us a little short-staffed now. The more
people we have on the team, the shorter the turnaround time for newly
submitted fics!

Comments

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (don't read if talking about it spoils reading it for you)

[talanoa.livejournal.com]

Hi -- not here for FA, sorry, I just saw your reading material and I wanted to ask you something, you've read it before too, haven't you?

After one of many rereads of that book I've come to realise that that is one of the Christie's where I don't particularly like or cheer for any of the characters, and I'm wondering whether that's all me, or something about the book (which I do like). How do you feel about them, do you get involved in these to the same extent, as say the ones in Murder in the Vicarage?

I don't know what makes me read that one a bit detached, it might be its fame, of course, but I think it must be a characterization thing, I just can't pinpoint it. It's certainly not to do with the plot, or the mystery part of it, it's more as if it were fanfiction, and I sort of agree with and see where the writer's coming from in terms of characterization, it just doesn't push my characterization buttons, or something. Do you notice anything like that at all with this book? (And if anybody would notice, it'd be you. :D)


- Clara

Re: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (don't read if talking about it spoils reading it for you)

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I hadn't read it before--though I'd read about it so I knew who the murderer was. (I've finished it now, though.)

I hadn't thought about it but I think you're right about the characters. I was just talking to a friend about it too and we were both saying something similar, how even though it's very well written it wasn't a favorite--we both preferred The Hollow, for instance.

I wonder if the reason is that the narrator is a murderer and Christie is letting his feelings about people color things. He has no sympathy underneath so there's this creeping dehumanizing quality to the way he describes them. He doesn't really allow himself to feel for anyone the way Christie's narrators usually do.

Re: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (don't read if talking about it spoils reading it for you)

[talanoa.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, The Hollow... I love that one. :)

I hadn't thought about that, that it might be done on purpose, but that does make a lot of sense, particularly in view of how controversial her twist was. A "creeping dehumanizing quality" certainly fits how I read it. And if the readers are primed to be a little detached, the big reveal will feel less as a mockery.

I guess one could say that this novel almost is more of an example in mystery writing technique than an engaging story, form above content.

[guza.livejournal.com]

Hi, just reading your LJ, and came across this and saw Murder of Roger Ackroyd and squee.

I love that book - did you enjoy it?

For me, it was one of the more 'shocking' endings. Truly didn't see it coming. A lot of the time I can guess who the murderer is in her books, but this one slapped me in the face.

Guess I just wasn't expecting the narrator (wasn't it first person?) to be it. :O

Have you read 'Elephants Can Remember'? If you haven't I don't want to say too much. :)

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I haven't read that one. *makes note*

I had known the twist of Roger Ackroyd already, but funnily enough, I had it in my head that it was told by the victim. So I'm reading along going...wait, he's talking to Poirot. It can't be that.

It was still a really interesting read, though, because you could see all the little moments that pointed towards the end.:-)

[zachanassian.livejournal.com]

I know I'm kind of late here, but I've been thinking of applying for the Fic Intake Team for months and months, but was always too daunted by the application form.

So since you seem to know a lot about the application progress, I just decided to ask: Is it really as hard as the application form makes it sound? Is there a certain leeway so that someone can still work for the team even though they don't fulfill *all* of the requirements? For example, I'm pretty good at spelling, but I completely suck at picking the right prepositions, because English is not my first language and that kind of thing just doesn't come naturally to me. And while I'm fairly knowledgeable about Canon, I don't know a lot about other sources, like the stuff JKR published on her website.

I guess what it all boils down to is: Do you think they're desperate enough to take me?

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I think you should go ahead and try the application! They're big sticklers for grammar and spelling and such because the fic intake people are the ones catching mistakes, but English not being your first language shouldn't be a problem if you can catch grammar mistakes that someone else has made. (They would probably have different weak spots if they were native speakers anyway.) And you don't really need an extensive knowledge of canon, just the normal amount--we don't require fics to incorporate anything not from the books themselves.

You could just take the quiz and then go from there. Give a try!:-)

[zachanassian.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your kind advice :-).

I found an old document on my harddrive from when I first started to fill out the application 3 months ago, but now I'm stuck *again* on the questions in section #5 (the interpunctation ones). *sigh* Looks like I don't know nearly as much about English punctation as I thought I did. Time for some internet research. Well, at least I might learn something, which is always a good thing.

One other question (hope you don't mind my pestering you): Is the actual work on the Fic Intake Team as much work as the application form seems to suggest? What I mean is, when you get a fic that's as bad as, say, #8, do you actually have to catch and correct every single mistake or can you just tell the author to please come back when they've found a beta reader?

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

No problem! I know people are often just told to do their own fixes and resubmit something if there are too many mistakes. After all, you're not getting paid to copyedit!