FF.net strikes again

[ratherastory]

It's kind of funny, at this point.

Anonymous Reviewer™ at ff.net decided that I sold "Thicker Than Water" under false pretenses, because it was too sympathetic to Sam and not sympathetic enough to Dean's POV.

*snort*

I'd really like to know whether said reviewer actually read the summary before reading.

Comments

[elsewhere_kels]

XDDD

Oh, ff.net. I barely remember you, but when I do it's pretty funny.

The story doesn't have to be sympathetic to Dean - Sam was plenty sympathetic! And he got all the crappy bits without any of the fun bits! (Well not really FUN, but you know what I mean)

[ratherastory]

Her objection was that it was written for the Dean h/c meme. I dunno. I wrote plenty of Dean-whump in there and had Sam take care of him, but apparently that qualifies as making Sam woobie and misunderstood.

*shrug*

I'd be inclined to take it seriously had the commenter not been completely anonymous.

[bellatemple]

Didn't you know? Writing a Dean whump story means it MUST ALL BE ABOUT THE DEAN-LOVE. You're not allowed to love or be sympathetic to Sam in a Dean whump story! THAT'S NOT HOW IT'S DONE!

Now come on, get with it and get it right the way Anonymous ReviewerTM says is right. That's how fandom works!

[ratherastory]

(*sees your Questionable Content icon and raises you a Futurama icon*)

Oh, NO! I totally failed at the internet! Of course Anonymous Reviewer™ was right. I was foolish ever to consider that showing any sort of sympathy toward Sam would be a good storytelling technique from Dean's POV. After all, Dean would never, ever think anything like that.

Dear self,

Dean!whump: ur doin it wrong.

[bellatemple]

(*sees your Futurama icon and offers a Better Off Ted quote in return*)

Of course he wouldn't. Geez, what show have you been watching?

Now aren't you glad you posted your fic to a place where an anonymous reader could make assumptions as to your intentions and decide you're purposefully trying to undermine the entire Dean whump genre?

You sneaky underhanded Sam-girl, you.

[ratherastory]

(*cheats and replies with the icon you made*)

I have been watching the wrong show! *shudders*

Now aren't you glad you posted your fic to a place where an anonymous reader could make assumptions as to your intentions and decide you're purposefully trying to undermine the entire Dean whump genre?

Ecstatic. ;)

I am totally a Sam-girl in disguise. You found me out. *hangs head in shame* Every person with a lick of sense in fandom knows that in order to be a proper fangirl you have to hate Sam.

[embroiderama]

That's so crazy. I *really* don't remember that story being unsympathetic to Dean. WTF?

[ratherastory]

It's not that it was unsympathetic to Dean, as I understand. It was just too sympathetic to Sam. Anonymous Reviewer™ is sick of stories in which Sam is misunderstood by Dean.

...

Yeah.

I'm not sure what story she was reading.

[embroiderama]

*headtilt*

It makes me crazy when people feel like they deserve to be shielded not just from triggers and serious things like that but from elements in the narrative that they just don't prefer. It's like STFU the whole internet is not your reading material private shopper.

[ratherastory]

LOL

True! I hadn't even thought of that. I post warnings for triggers and for people who don't like swearing in stories, but not for content.

It's weird in this case because the summary *states* what the story is about. So I dunno what the reviewer was smoking. ;)

[katwoman76]

Never expect ff.net-readers to understand what you explain to them so clearly.

[ratherastory]

Some of them are perfectly lovely!

It's the anonymous ones who are batshit, most of the time.

[jesseofthenorth]

I personally would love to ask Anonymous Reviewer(tm) how the hell you could write that story ANY OTHER way? Hmmm?

[ratherastory]

So would I! Except they're anonymous and thus I can't.

[bellatemple]

Oh that's easy, see. Dean would magically be the bigger man and resist the entirely unexpected craving for demon blood in ways that Sam would never be able to, because Dean is the Older Brother and a Bad Ass and he Wouldn't Give In to things like that, because we clearly never see him give in to temptation or give up on a struggle in canon.

Also, when the demon then FORCES her attentions on Dean-in-Sam, Dean will, while being sick as a dog, manage to handle it better than Sam ever did, just by the power of his great man-pain. And switching the boys back was clearly done far too early, as it means she snuck Sneaky Sam Pain into the fic when that clearly wasn't what the rest of the fic was leading up to.

[jesseofthenorth]

See! That's how you should done it.!