About the written word

[lady_karelia]

Following the poll and discussion about what puts readers off (thanks, everyone, who engaged in it; it was very interesting and productive), some of you asked which trend I've been observing, so I figured it's easier to do this in a separate post rather than answering the same thing individually to everyone who asked.

Yes, I'll admit that I see a lot more behind the scenes going on, being an admin and a beta rather than a reader only. But it's all about writing. And yes, I realise that every reader has preferences and they may vary to the extreme between one reader and another, and that's good, for that makes for a vast variety of reading material to choose from. And just to clarify: This is my personal opinion. I've not discussed it with any other admins or other betas or anyone so far aside from yesterday's thread here on LJ.

The trends I've observed over the past few months are sloppiness, carelessness, and inflated ego development. These traits have increased quite substantially. None of them have a place in fiction writing. In case you wonder, allow me to extrapolate:

Sloppiness: When an author submits a chapter (or uploads to unmoderated archives) either without having it read by another set of eyes, even though it would need it, or failing to re-read it in order to weed out the errors they'd find on their own, or not using a spellcheck (and then give the excuse of not having MS Word; um, hello, google spellcheck, and you'll have choices), that is sloppy. If you can't be arsed to invest the time to offer something worth my time, what makes you think I'll take the time to invest in your stuff?

Carelessness: When an author submits/uploads a chapter that says pretty much nothing and then admits as much in the A/N. If you want to write fiction, then at least learn the basics, eh? Because if you don't, you'll always dream of reviews except for the ones from people sorry enough to waste even thirty seconds on your sorry attempt. I readily forgive a new author any mistakes they make. I also consider myself quite tolerant when an author's first language isn't English, and yeah, I can spot those from miles away. ;) Most readers are kind, especially if the first attempt speaks to them in one way or another. But if authors still make those same mistakes a few chapters later--and I'm talking about basics here, such as dialogue punctuation or a period at the end of the sentence--then I get the feeling that the author doesn't care.

Ego: If you write because you think you need your ego stroked, do the world a favour and stop. Just because you might have written and posted 200k worth of fic in the last year does not mean what you produce is of any value whatsoever. And getting indignant that nobody seems to care is not the way to go. Ask yourself what's wrong and look in the mirror. Then sit down and figure how to make it right, okay? And then, *gasp* write something from your heart. Write something because you feel the need to write it, and don't think about posting it. Leave it for a few days and go back to it and see if you still like it, and be objective about it. At least as objective as you can possibly be. Don't write for the sake of reviews; it will not make you happy. Of course, a lot of us are royal review whores; I certainly admit that of myself. But we don't think about reviews until after the chapter is posted.

Those are my gripes. Another gripe I've developed recently is that all those rec lists out there seem to include a lot of drivel. I realise it's pc to be kind and encouraging to dunderheads. I don't like to see it going as far as insulting my intelligence by recommending I'd waste my time on reading something that is so poorly written that it has little to do with actual fiction. But that's okay; I usually don't have time for pure pleasure-reading. The only reason I did a few days ago was because I was sick with a sore throat and headachy and snotty and wanted some light reading that would distract me from feeling miserable and all the RL stuff that's been going on lately. It saddens me, though. Some established writers recommend extremely poorly-written fics while ignoring well-written ones, and I can't help but conclude that they're afraid of having competition. Why else would they lower themselves to that level?

So there. No need to tell me I'm opinionated; I've known that for a while.

Comments

[natasnape.livejournal.com]

Very interesting, lady_karelia. I especially appreciate that it is not only me who sees an exponential growth of number of stories that one one does not wish to see at all. Readers have an advantage of admin buffer, or firewall if you prefer, that shields them from mediocre stories, and that surely makes our heartache less pronounced compared to you.

But still, what can an admin do with a story that started off well and subsequently dwindled to the ego kind? Because, I, as a reader, have a tool called reviews. They are just not appreciated unless they are squee-ky.

[lady-karelia.livejournal.com]

Reviews are a funny thing. For example, I personally don't appreciate a poor review that claims concrit when it clearly isn't and comes from a non-author or sock-puppet. I am lucky in that I have several friends who imo are wonderful writers, and before any chapter of mine sees the light of day, I've discussed several aspects of it and the whole fic with said friends whose opinion I trust. So, at the end of the day, once the chapter is posted, I don't really care to hear from reader-only that it's mediocre or copies the Hardy Boys. I'm especially allergic to those accusing me of copying movie contents. Because I don't watch tv and rarely watch movies. When, however, someone points out something that is valid, I will fix it and thank them for pointing it out. This happened in a few instances in the latest calamity I posted for the PP challenge and is clearly documented in the reviews. :) That said, yes, there is an increasing number of "stories" that don't deserve the term 'story.' Absolutely. Which is what part of my gripe is about.

An admin, at least on TPP, but probably on the other moderated archives as well, first and foremost has to apply the standards the site asks for. Those are usually SPaG, lack of plot holes (to a certain extent; one admin reads one chapter, another reads the next etc, so there's bound to be a lack of detection in plot holes at times), so that alone makes it difficult to call an author on the issue of dwindling quality in favour of ego.

You see reviews as a tool. I don't see them as a tool so much anymore. Most reviews are a very personal opinion. Now, I appreciate personal opinions (and they, indeed, are a tool for me which I use to learn to grow in myself), but what does it mean "Your story sucks" by someone you've never heard of? To me it means little unless they go into detail as to why they decide my story sucks. *shrugs*

C'est la vie! :)

[natasnape.livejournal.com]

Reviews are a tool just as well as the number of stars should be. For me, that certainly holds true, and it was the main fact why I suffered so much, when I had to learn not to leave reviews for every chapter I have ever read. It is done now, so I do not say things I would often like to like 'pace is too slow, the story would benefit from a good cut', 'the way you have this character act is not justifiable in this setting', 'there is no suspense here and the shock factor was cheap', etc. That is the kind of feedback I wanted to receive for my fic. I know it's not as good as can be, but I had to figure out what was wrong on my own, and that took time and gaining a lot more experience and especially distance from my own writing.

The fact that you perfect your writing prior to publication is fantastic, but frankly that should be done by each and every author, which is basically the problem that initiated this debate.