Thursday, a Fic Rec, and a Question

[nightdog_barks]

Warm and steamy. Swept and cleaned the kitchen floor; Chango helped extensively by not moving from her spot by the back door. Heh. Still working on the Riververse story -- have not done a wordcount, but I can tell you it is Long.

Fic rec is for deelaundry's Summer Time. Why am I reccing this story? Because it flat-out made me happy. The story has a couple of kids in it, but they're well-drawn, real kids, and they and Wilson go to one of those fancy resort water-parks in Florida, and hijinks ensue, and we learn something about House (and Wilson), and Cameron's there at the beginning and she's funny and sweet and smart, and it just all fits together beautifully. So. Like I said. It made me happy, and I wanted it to go on for another 3,295 words.

Question: I'm thinking about pulling my fic recs and some of the stories in my Memories into a half-assed proper rec page. Do people as ... people who look at rec pages have a preference for how they're arranged? Like -- alphabetical by story title? Alphabetical by author name? Chronologically? I don't know if I'd have specific categories like "H/W" and "H/Cuddy" and "Wilson/Cameron," although I'd specify the pairing (if any) and rating (if any) in the rec. Anyone have any thoughts? :-)

Comments

[pwcorgigirl]

I like how Topaz has her rec pages done: by pairing, and then alphabetically in the pairing category. She includes the rating as part of each story's listing.

I would love to see what you have squirreled away in memories and recs. *holds breath in anticipation*

[nightdog_barks]

Yeah, I think that's about how I'll go, too. Since 99.9% of what I have is House/Wilson, I think anything else will fit on just one other page. Heh.

[deelaundry]

I enjoy seeing how different "reccers" group their recs. Many people group by pairing of course, but some people group by length, some by "genre" (fluff vs. angst vs. sexyteims...), some by "era" (e.g., pre-infarction, pre-show, first two seasons, summer of ketamine...). It's just interesting to me to see how the reccer categorizes fics in their mind.

♥

[blackmare]

I don't really have a preference for how things are arranged, but I love the idea of a Nightdog Rec List.

[nightdog_barks]

Have been working on them just to get them on one page. Didn't realize I had quite so many recs. Ha.

[taiga13]

What you said.

[hannah]

If you're organizing information, base the interface on the end-user and use the metadata that'd be important to them. Consider that you can't please everyone, and then look for something that'd please the most possible people - pairings is good, and rating. If you think genre is important, then find a way to maneuver around with that.

I wouldn't think chronologically would matter very much, unless it's a specific series. With fic, I tend to see it organized by title rather than author as the authors can change names easily and quickly.

[armchair_elvis]

This is a fantastic answer.

I think if I ever did a rec-list I'd organise it by "mood" -- angsty, happy, fluffy, cracky. Most of the time when I read fic I'm looking for a specific headspace, as it were.

But that sort of organisation isn't likely to please the largest possible amount of people.

[hannah]

Two years of library school, reading the greatest words on the subject of information management and organization, learning the skill of how to answer a question - and this is where I end up using it.

Not too bad, though. If it's helping out a friend, it's a good use of my time.

[armchair_elvis]

Bring on the recs!

By the way, would these be House, or multifandom? I remember you saying once that you had a Holmes/Watson list, or were beginning one, and since our tastes in emotionally crippled curmudgeons collide, I'd probably like whatever fic was on that. *grin*

[topaz_eyes]

Hannah's suggestions are good ones. At a minimum, I'd suggest including the link, title, author, rating, pairing, and warnings (rape/non-con, incest, underage, graphic violence, and character death are the big ones).

Just be sure to link to pages you're reasonably sure won't disappear in a few months or so. Re-coding a rec page is annoying to say the least. *glares at recs pages which should have been re-coded and updated years ago, oops* Some authors archive stories at more than one place and may prefer you link to a certain site. Some authors have policies regarding linking (e.g. ask permission first, no links please).

You could also organize your recs on a link collection site like Pinboard or Delicious. It saves a lot of coding, plus you can set standard tags for them, and readers can search via those tags.

Some people's rec pages have a blurb for each fic discussing why they're reccing them. I've had comments asking why I didn't do that for mine (answer: length and laziness) because some readers want to know why they should click on a rec.

Also think about how often you plan to update your list. Trust me, you do not want to wait 2 years between updates. :-P This reminds me, I should do one last update on mine before I relinquish it to the ages of internet history.

Hope these help!

[resourceress7]

So... is there a nightdog rec list? (Say yes.)

[nightdog_barks]

Yes.

... except actually, there's not. :D

It's something I keep meaning to get back to, but I just haven't. I'll see if I can motivate myself into some activity on that front. ♥

[resourceress7]

*nudge*

:)