weather, birthday, criticism, brains
It's very hot today, with a bunch of clouds hanging around looking as though they'd rather be off somewhere else, raining. The sweetpeas are in bloom, finally, and smell wonderful. Possibly they are celebrating elynross's birthday, yay her.
Lots of talk about concrit here and there, like summer reruns when you turn on the tv. synecdochic has a post here that's all kinds of analytical and whatnot. Me, I feel unbelievably un-analytical. I feel more like someone whose brains are slowly melting out her ears. I'm pondering the notion that people might want to add a line to their story headers about whether they want concrit or not, and I think it would take more than a line. Paragraphs, even. That people might not read. But it's a good thought.
Me, I accept all comments, if not with equanimity, at least with interest. I like to know what worked for people and what didn't work, and most definitely why. But I freely admit to not being very good at talking about my stories at length (unlike synecdochic, whose stuff is just generally more thought-through than mine), so if people want to get a good rousing discussion going, I think they're better off posting in their own journals or a suitable community, in order to have it with more people involved who are not me. I'd be perfectly willing to link to such a discussion for greater exposure (or pretend it doesn't exist if that makes people more comfortable). Particularly if someone wants to talk about their dislike of something, I'm probably not the ideal discussion partner, unless "um, okay then" is all the response necessary.
In not-so-brief: feel free to use my stories as examples of whatever you think they're examples of, good or bad, and to talk about them either behind my back or to my face, whichever you please. Also to review, comment briefly or extensively on, criticize, recommend, warn people away from, make fun of, do interpretive dance versions of, remix, write your own sequels to, etc, said stories. Or print them out so you can have a ritual burning. Story bad, fire pretty.
(If you remix or write sequels, just put in a line of credit to the original. Similarly if you want an OC; you don't have to ask me, but a line about how M. A. Risou is from That Story I Can't Remember The Name Of by torch would be good.)
I do get the whole "concrit is for the beta process!" thing that people frequently say, though. I mean, if someone drops a comment on a story here to point out that I've got three typos in a sentence and also the sun would have set three hours earlier in that season on that latitude, I will turn pink and say "omg eep thank you" and do some fixing. But any you-should-change-this on a larger scale than that, well, certainly I'll read it and if I agree with it, I'm going to remember it for next time, but it's unlikely to have any kind of immediate result. Except for that person getting to air their views, of course, which is a fine thing in and of itself as long as they weren't actually expecting me to rewrite the entire story, because then, crushing disappointment ahead. I might very well agree with the criticism, but I'll still be too lazy for that.
Especially on a day like this. Brains. Leaking. At a pace pretty much like the very last honey trickling out of a jar.
Lots of talk about concrit here and there, like summer reruns when you turn on the tv. synecdochic has a post here that's all kinds of analytical and whatnot. Me, I feel unbelievably un-analytical. I feel more like someone whose brains are slowly melting out her ears. I'm pondering the notion that people might want to add a line to their story headers about whether they want concrit or not, and I think it would take more than a line. Paragraphs, even. That people might not read. But it's a good thought.
Me, I accept all comments, if not with equanimity, at least with interest. I like to know what worked for people and what didn't work, and most definitely why. But I freely admit to not being very good at talking about my stories at length (unlike synecdochic, whose stuff is just generally more thought-through than mine), so if people want to get a good rousing discussion going, I think they're better off posting in their own journals or a suitable community, in order to have it with more people involved who are not me. I'd be perfectly willing to link to such a discussion for greater exposure (or pretend it doesn't exist if that makes people more comfortable). Particularly if someone wants to talk about their dislike of something, I'm probably not the ideal discussion partner, unless "um, okay then" is all the response necessary.
In not-so-brief: feel free to use my stories as examples of whatever you think they're examples of, good or bad, and to talk about them either behind my back or to my face, whichever you please. Also to review, comment briefly or extensively on, criticize, recommend, warn people away from, make fun of, do interpretive dance versions of, remix, write your own sequels to, etc, said stories. Or print them out so you can have a ritual burning. Story bad, fire pretty.
(If you remix or write sequels, just put in a line of credit to the original. Similarly if you want an OC; you don't have to ask me, but a line about how M. A. Risou is from That Story I Can't Remember The Name Of by torch would be good.)
I do get the whole "concrit is for the beta process!" thing that people frequently say, though. I mean, if someone drops a comment on a story here to point out that I've got three typos in a sentence and also the sun would have set three hours earlier in that season on that latitude, I will turn pink and say "omg eep thank you" and do some fixing. But any you-should-change-this on a larger scale than that, well, certainly I'll read it and if I agree with it, I'm going to remember it for next time, but it's unlikely to have any kind of immediate result. Except for that person getting to air their views, of course, which is a fine thing in and of itself as long as they weren't actually expecting me to rewrite the entire story, because then, crushing disappointment ahead. I might very well agree with the criticism, but I'll still be too lazy for that.
Especially on a day like this. Brains. Leaking. At a pace pretty much like the very last honey trickling out of a jar.