Hey all my readers

[velvet_mace]

I love you all, you are so wonderful and patient with me and my slooow updating. You've put up with my errors and lack of brit picking. And you've left me such wonderful comments, I just can't explain how happy as a writer you've made me feel

Comments

[velvet_mace]

That's all I could hope for. Thank you!

[anonymous]

Hey there, I posted a comment about a month back about about really enjoying your work but also, feeling punched in the gut by Chameleon in particular. I want to apologize if that that comment at all contributed to this post/made you feel bad about writing. I love your writing and never would want you to change your world or your story arc to suit me - your art is a gift

[velvet_mace]

It was no one comment that lead to this, but something that had been brewing after I left feeling guilty after a number of comments.

You do what you need to do. I can totally see how real life circumstances can make things go from okay to totally not okay.

[kaylez4ever]

I'm so sorry that you feel pressured to change your story.
I thought back to my last comment and wondered if it came off as bossy.
Which wasn't my intention at all.

While I do look for a happy ending, I also read the warnings for a story.
I've ignored warnings before or an author didn't add one for my particular trigger, then I ended up reading something that had me upset and crying.

Your stories have a particular edge that I like, that makes my adrenaline pump, but so far is trigger free.

[velvet_mace]

If you tell me what your triggers are I can be sure to be aware of that when I make warnings.

[s0mmerspr0ssen]

I've had people trying to kink-shame my writing and me a few times now. Usually, I am confident enough to just shrug it off and ignore it, but it does get me frustrated on occasions, undoubtedly. I am sorry you've had to deal with similar things.

I thought that, maybe, by now I'd have built some sort of reputation of a sort. Yes, sure, I've written a few gen and fluff pieces, but the majority of my fic is still darkish porn - dub-con, non-con, slavery - and I warn accordingly.

Why do people even bother reading them and commenting on them when they know these things make them squick out? It says "Contains: xyz" clearly in the header and if you know certain things in fic are not for you, why are you not in the habit of checking information very carefully before reading on?

People with actual triggers always seemed to have been much more sensible in their talking to me, though, giving me heads that I mis-warned or failed to warn on a few occasions, etc, and that, I am very willing to listen to

[s0mmerspr0ssen]

PS: I am in love with all your stories. I have basically no squicks or things I am not willing to read. My comments on your WIPs are usually excited incoherence, so if you ever have the feeling I am trying to make you change something or am unhappy with a development, don't take my gibberish too seriously. ;) If I seem to indeed be unhappy, it's more of a "She's torturing them so nicely!" kind of unhappy... a good unhappy... ehem. Okay, I'll shut up now.

[velvet_mace]

I love your fics too!

I'm pretty squickless. I do have two but they are pretty damn easy to avoid: I can't read RPF and I don't like sex fics involving people younger than teen age, but honestly, I've found exceptions to both of these. Oh, from time to time my tolerance for hard core violence and death and dramallamaing goes up and down, but I don't even consider that a squick. It's just a meh.

I've loved your comments. I need to be better at replying!

[velvet_mace]

Yeah, I think we as writers pretty much have to ignore the kinkshamers. I'm beginning to think we have a duty to do so, since damn it, they kill the creative spirit.

I can't really lay claim to fluff pieces, like you. My "sweet, fluffy" fics have skeezy elements in them and even my gen-fic includes non-con. You'd think people would know to stay away if they have a problem with non-con being a kink!

I sometimes feel like putting a disclaimer on my LJ saying "No lifegaurds on duty: swim at your own risk."

Actually, it's not so much the people who say "I don't like this" who are the problem, but the subset of them who feel that because they don't like something, there is something intrinsically wrong with it. Those people: bah.

[alicambs]

I think once you have provided adequate warnings it is then my responsibility as a reader to take note of the warnings and decide if I want to take a dip in your world. If I find it a dip too far there's always the delete or the back key.

I don't think anyone who frequents the kink meme has any right to kink-shame anyone else, and are extremely hypocritical if they do!

As to making people uncomfortable, well that's an aspect of reading that's often desirable, isn't it, and John's circumstances in both Chameleon and Collared makes me very uncomfortable at times, but doesn't stop me reading. :-)

[velvet_mace]

I think once adequate warnings are provided the reader has to take responsibility for their own reading. I'm not psychic and I'm not writing for just one person. We have all kinds here, and fandom is a big enough pool for everyone -- so long as people take responsibility for themselves.