Grump grump grump.

[stoney321]

This is day SEVENTEEN of the sneeze fest. You know how when you sneeze a few times, it's kind of a chills-inducing, good feeling? Your whole body is involved? And then it very quickly stops being that? And you have to look out for things you might kick over because you're sneezing so damn hard that a leg flies up?

I am not infected with a bacteria. I do not have a cold. This is a virus, or something random in the atmosphere, or simply my body signally that I am about to shut down completely in a matter of days, turning into an instant sack of goo. (If I die, please fight over my garden. And everyone can dig up ONE PLANT to have.) Steam doesn't help. Hot chile-infested food doesn't help. AN ENTIRE SCOOP OF WASABI DOESN'T HELP. Nasal spray is something I try to not use because it's habit forming. (And makes things worse in the long run.)

Clearly, my only choice is for me to hire a plumber to jam a snake up there and find out why my sinuses hate me. (If things don't get better by tomorrow, I'm going back to my ENT that did my surgery a few years ago to see if maybe my remaining sinuses have collapsed or something.) I AM FALLING APART IN MY OLD AGE HALP.

So because I'm grumpy (and gross and red nosed and broken, I am going to talk about two Unpopular Opinions - given how non-mainstream these ideas seem to be these days.

1. I think it's really awful to post to Tumblr a complaint about, say, a story, and then tag that story so that the author finds it - because you're using their story title/handle as a tag. I think it's DREADFULLY RUDE to do that.

PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE: those that say "get a thicker skin" blah blah "if you were a published author" yadda. Let me stop you right there. Because a fat paycheck does a LOT to help an author get thicker skin. Fanfic writers get nada. They do it out of a need to share their love of something, and it is FREE.

Protip: don't use the author's tag to be awful. Or if you do? Don't be surprised if one day they call you to the mat for your shitty manners. :)

2. I really really REALLY hate when people comment to a story with "I want to bash their head in" or "I want to smack so and so" or "I want to hit" etc. It smacks (hurr) of not having enough of a vocabulary to express yourself, for one, and two - as a former victim of domestic violence, I automatically cringe when I hear "smacking heads" etc. Can't you use a better expression? Can't you actually express thoughts in a meaningful, adult way? Two year olds smack because they don't know how to tell you they're unhappy. You better be older than two if you're reading this. Or you better hie thee to MIT and become the World's Smartest Baby by obtaining a Ph.D.

I am quickly becoming a pariah, and I think I'm cool with that. [/curmudgeon that is also a really loyal friend. Like a pit bull. And I've had these things happen to me, and it filled me with sads. D:]

Now if you don't mind, I'm going to kick things over from this sneeze I feel building....

Comments

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Oh, I go way back, too. (I've got a decade and change on you. I'm old! You have still have your youth! And collagen in your skin!) I think the longest I've waited for a chapter was two years? BRUTAL. Oh, so brutal. Esp. as it was a brilliantly written story. (Then again, I started reading The Dark Tower in the early 80s and had to wait until almost 2000 for the conclusion!)

Concrit is one thing - if you're building a story and posting as you go, concrit is especially helpful. But not all concrit is equal, and writers should reserve the right to pick and choose who they feel is providing the best feedback in that sense.

Fastforward to now, where I spend months writing a story and working line by line with an accomplished academic (and fabulous writer in her own right). My words are vetted - far more so than most writers in fandom (let alone some published authors, and I'm looking at you, Charlaine Harris.) Now, that's not to say that I write perfectly - I'd be the last one to ever say that. I just don't need some 19 year old in her first Creative Writing course at college telling me how to write.

And I don't want a bunch of immature readers that don't understand that stories NEED CONFLICT to be a STORY to bitch and moan that the two main characters didn't just immediately look at one another and fall in love, then end, 100K words of them skipping through meadows. That's not a good story. That's Twilight.

I just find a huge portion of the Glee fandom to be rude, immature, unable to distinguish the wheat from the chaff, and seem to constantly have their hand out, begging for more without even savoring the bite they had.

This isn't to say that EVERYONE is like that, not at all. But these types seem to be the most vocal. I find it rude, unpleasant, and when I see authors I admire get comments indicating that they hate something, that they want to perform violence on characters, etc., it just makes me not want to be a part of it AT ALL.

Which I know isn't a hardship for these people in the first place. I'm no Big Name Fan that has a finger in every fandom pie. I'm just expressing my dissatisfaction in my own space (and usually get called a bitch for it, too.) =|

[forgiveninasong.livejournal.com]

Two years for a chapter?!?! That's insane! I think I can deal with years between books...but not for a chapter of a story! Of course, that's just how it used to be, and I would often wait months for my favourite story to update. (My ultimate favourite is 3 parts....each with about 15 chapters...each chapter maybe 5-7k?? I read some good stuff back then!)

I probably wouldn't concrit on a story that was being shown as COMPLETED and posting as a series (like yours do, for example). That's when I'd maybe ask the writer certain things about why something was written a certain way. Just for my own clarification, in case I missed a point. And often, the writer's have been more than happy to recap things! Even if a story was posting as a WIP, as a reader, I'd feel kinda bad leaving beta-type concrit, because I'm just a reader, not the beta, therefore it's not really my place? Anyway, I see constructive comments as being useful enough. Detailed, pointing out the parts I liked and encouraging the writer to continue with their work. With a series, it's easier, because you can still leave a detail comment, and post that you're looking forward to seeing how the writer is continuing with the story.

I write fic. I've always written fic in some shape or form for years. And the people whose work I aspire to be like...well, they're professional writers, or aspiring professional writers. The Glee stories I rec out the most are by people who *do* this stuff for a living and are bloody good at what they do. They don't need me, an occasional writer and flailer, to criticise their work or tell them what I think they should or shouldn't be doing. That's just not cool.

I've made this point before, but, the Glee fandom is so overly-saturated with sub-par fic, that it's often the good and great ones that go unnoticed because the sub-par are the quick fixes. They're instant smut. They're instant fluff. They're instant porn. The great ones? They're the long haul. They've got conflict and drama and THE CHARACTERS SOMETIMES ARGUE AND BREAK UP. Sometimes, they don't even get together. But the fandom can't deal with it. They can't deal with things not being instantly rosy and full of smut.

My ultimate favourite author is *still* being subjected to anonymous hatred, and it makes me SO angry, because she's the sweetest thing ever. Writers producing fan works is NOT a right of being a fangirl. No one is ENTITLED to a story. These are GIFTS that writers are choosing to give to the fandom. And when I see people getting hatred because they've not had time to post a story, or to post at the exact minute they said they would...it makes me ashamed to be a fanfiction reader sometimes.

You talk the absolute sense, Stoney, as always :)

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

TWO FUCKING YEARS. Two years. The story is awesome. But yeah - two years for the conclusion. I thought it had been abandoned! I almost cried when I got the email notification that the final chapter was up. :D

So I want to marry your comment and bring it flowers on occasion and buy it fine chocolates and make it feel special and loved. Is that cool? I have a steady job and a kind heart.

Heh.

[forgiveninasong.livejournal.com]

<3 Excellent, I appreciate my thoughts being worthy of hearts, chocolates and flowers. And marriage.

YAY!