that debate-it never ends, does it?
God, I love it when people are sensible. Thank you, fleable.
As I read these posts, I can't help but think: this story wouldn't last five minutes in my writing class. Most would clamor to say that they just don't believe it, until the professor* requested quiet to gently tell the author, "Rewrite, and let us see it again next week."
I took a look at it, became violently opposed to the writing style within the first paragraph, noticed the missing "the" in the title, and fled, but that's just me. Surely someone else enjoys the style, isn't rabid when it comes to direct quotation, and is willing to commit to such a story. Fine.
But the fact remains, if a large section of your readers are complaining about the exact same issues, *you* have failed to convince them. It doesn't get much simpler than that.
Things have gotten so squished together on wiktt that there only seem to be a handful of people** still aware that "How should fanfic deal with the issue of rape?" is not the same question as "Does the fic work?"
The first generated a whole host of interesting responses, a few flames, and a lot of people having to agree to disagree. The second *should* have generated a long review, a polite response by the author, and a few comments agreeing or disagreeing with elements of the review. This was not possible, because the author in question did not appear to be interested in feedback unless it was either glowing praise or easy-to-fix, small issues. When confronted with a massive flaw in characterization and plot, she/he/it chose not to go back to her/his/its story with an eye toward what needed to be fixed, or even to acknowledge the flaws and move on, but instead to attack the reviewer(s). Unhappy with confronting the real issue--the flaws in the story--she/he/it jumped to the conclusion that any non-glowing review was choosing sides on Issue #1.
People responded stupidly, people defended stupidly, and the whole thing turned into a ridiculous mess. Need proof?
By reading your comments I came to the conclusion that "Breeding Lilacs out of Dead Land" is too good for you to read.
How absurd.
* the fabulous Lorene Cary, who cannot be indicted for what I put in her mouth.
** a large section of whom appear to be on my flist. ::waves:: Oh, those who aren't, I desire that they should be. Tell me their names so that I may fangirl them for being sensible, articulate people!
As I read these posts, I can't help but think: this story wouldn't last five minutes in my writing class. Most would clamor to say that they just don't believe it, until the professor* requested quiet to gently tell the author, "Rewrite, and let us see it again next week."
I took a look at it, became violently opposed to the writing style within the first paragraph, noticed the missing "the" in the title, and fled, but that's just me. Surely someone else enjoys the style, isn't rabid when it comes to direct quotation, and is willing to commit to such a story. Fine.
But the fact remains, if a large section of your readers are complaining about the exact same issues, *you* have failed to convince them. It doesn't get much simpler than that.
Things have gotten so squished together on wiktt that there only seem to be a handful of people** still aware that "How should fanfic deal with the issue of rape?" is not the same question as "Does the fic work?"
The first generated a whole host of interesting responses, a few flames, and a lot of people having to agree to disagree. The second *should* have generated a long review, a polite response by the author, and a few comments agreeing or disagreeing with elements of the review. This was not possible, because the author in question did not appear to be interested in feedback unless it was either glowing praise or easy-to-fix, small issues. When confronted with a massive flaw in characterization and plot, she/he/it chose not to go back to her/his/its story with an eye toward what needed to be fixed, or even to acknowledge the flaws and move on, but instead to attack the reviewer(s). Unhappy with confronting the real issue--the flaws in the story--she/he/it jumped to the conclusion that any non-glowing review was choosing sides on Issue #1.
People responded stupidly, people defended stupidly, and the whole thing turned into a ridiculous mess. Need proof?
By reading your comments I came to the conclusion that "Breeding Lilacs out of Dead Land" is too good for you to read.
How absurd.
* the fabulous Lorene Cary, who cannot be indicted for what I put in her mouth.
** a large section of whom appear to be on my flist. ::waves:: Oh, those who aren't, I desire that they should be. Tell me their names so that I may fangirl them for being sensible, articulate people!