Re: If there is one thing I am, it's well-read.roboticonographFebruary 9 2011, 15:40:05 UTC
I'm willing to take total ownership of (a)--as a relative newcomer to the fandom (and only occasional follower of The Avengers) I feel somewhat inadequate around long-time comic fans and their encyclopedic knowledge and so tend to assume that they are all secretly disdainful of me. (This is due mostly to bad experience in other fandoms and is no reflection on IM fans, who have been very nice to me thus far.) So in my head it was kind of like "in what sense are YOU qualified to judge my work?" which obviously is not what you are about at all.
As for (b), I never give an author criticism of their creative work unless specifically asked to do so, and I always warn people beforehand that I don't pull punches. I write professionally and I have a pretty thick skin about my own writing.
But I do think it's important to tell good writers that I like their work, because we all do this for free and it's nice to know that it's appreciated.
When I first started reading your stuff on ff.net, I was appalled by some of the reviews you'd been left, particularly by movie fans. I guess I feel as though I need to make up for that a little. But you really are my favourite comic writer--I wouldn't say something like that just to flatter you. It's a personal choice: I just agree with a lot of what you have to say. I enjoy your take on Tony so very much, and I like that you can make him sympathetic and charming without excusing or whitewashing his faults. I also like that you are able to navigate the Tony/Pepper dynamic with such skill given that their history in the comics is a lot more complex and involves a number of other characters as well. And I think you know how to turn a phrase without being showy about it (I frequently battle with a compulsion to use ALL THE WORDS I KNOW in any given situation). And you have that most blessed of gifts--brevity. Your writing is so compact without lessening the impact. "It Was Always Her" felt (from an emotional standpoint) like getting punched in the stomach 100 times. In the best possible sense, of course.
Re: If there is one thing I am, it's well-read.neptunesubmergeFebruary 9 2011, 22:04:55 UTC
Well...I WILL admit that I am a freaking know-it-all when it comes to this stuff and I am often concerned that I come off as hostile because of it. I'm just really, really eager to talk about comics and, I guess I also want to show-off and establish myself as someone who knows what they are talking about. You would run into disdainful long-time fans is horrible. There's this stigma on comics being hard to get into because of the history and the last thing we need is long-term fans who know the history to make the fandom hostile for new comers.
Well, B, you officially have permission to give me criticism from now on. I can't improve if I don't know what I'm doing wrong and while I will often see mistakes when I go over a posted story a few months later, it is never a garuntee. I'm never 100% on characterization and I'm desperately in love with run-on sentences. I think they can be a great way to show and chaotic and hurried state of mind, but they can also become cumbersome and difficult to understand. I kind of hate how short my stories tend to be. They are totally plotless and usually just two people having a conversation. I love Tony primarily because of his faults, they are kind of what makes him sympathetic in my eyes. If he was just some wealthly, brilliant alpha male with a perfect life, he'd be completely unlikable.
As for (b), I never give an author criticism of their creative work unless specifically asked to do so, and I always warn people beforehand that I don't pull punches. I write professionally and I have a pretty thick skin about my own writing.
But I do think it's important to tell good writers that I like their work, because we all do this for free and it's nice to know that it's appreciated.
When I first started reading your stuff on ff.net, I was appalled by some of the reviews you'd been left, particularly by movie fans. I guess I feel as though I need to make up for that a little. But you really are my favourite comic writer--I wouldn't say something like that just to flatter you. It's a personal choice: I just agree with a lot of what you have to say. I enjoy your take on Tony so very much, and I like that you can make him sympathetic and charming without excusing or whitewashing his faults. I also like that you are able to navigate the Tony/Pepper dynamic with such skill given that their history in the comics is a lot more complex and involves a number of other characters as well. And I think you know how to turn a phrase without being showy about it (I frequently battle with a compulsion to use ALL THE WORDS I KNOW in any given situation). And you have that most blessed of gifts--brevity. Your writing is so compact without lessening the impact. "It Was Always Her" felt (from an emotional standpoint) like getting punched in the stomach 100 times. In the best possible sense, of course.
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Well, B, you officially have permission to give me criticism from now on. I can't improve if I don't know what I'm doing wrong and while I will often see mistakes when I go over a posted story a few months later, it is never a garuntee. I'm never 100% on characterization and I'm desperately in love with run-on sentences. I think they can be a great way to show and chaotic and hurried state of mind, but they can also become cumbersome and difficult to understand. I kind of hate how short my stories tend to be. They are totally plotless and usually just two people having a conversation. I love Tony primarily because of his faults, they are kind of what makes him sympathetic in my eyes. If he was just some wealthly, brilliant alpha male with a perfect life, he'd be completely unlikable.
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