fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #257 ]

[ SECRET POST #257 ]

⌈ Secret Post #257 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 074 secrets from Secret Submission Post #037.
Secrets Not Posted: 0 broken links, 0 not!secrets, 0 not!fandom, [ 1 2 ] repeats.
Next Secret Post: Tomorrow, Thursday, September 20th, 2007.
Current Secret Submission Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It seems most truly talented writers, whose work is subtle and deep, eventually amass a descent sized vocal audience.

Then again, there are writers who consider their work to be subtle and deep when it's actually poorly constructed and convoluted.

I have no idea if you're in the latter category.
You may be wonderfully talented.
Then again, if very few are commenting on your work, you might not be the best judge of your own product.

It seems most truly talented writers, whose work is subtle and deep, eventually amass a descent sized vocal audience.

I'm not the OP of 16, and I do think his/her ego is a little inflated, but the size of one's audience doesn't determine the quality of one's writing.

Anne Rice. Dan Brown. Laurell K. Hamilton. J. K. Rowling.

I rest my case.

No need to rest your case.
I agree.
The key word in my response was vocal (as in a large section of the writer's audience will let the writer know if they are enjoying the writer's work).

At the same time, I stand by my other statement.
Some writers do confuse deep and subtle with poorly constructed and convoluted.
Not sure if I'm required to rest my case based on that opinion.

I have to disagree. I've watched as some truly gifted writers who crafted fiction 'subtle and deep' in fandoms finally give up and leave writing fanfiction behind because this supposed decent sized vocal audience never materialized. her fic was being drowned out by the piss-poor dreck that only gained popularity because

1) it was easy to read, didn't make the readers think

2) catered to fannish/fanon tastes instead of focusing on good characterizations that might require a bit of work to get across

I dislike this defense that if your fics aren't getting comments it must be because you suck as a writer. I've seen far more deserving of comments/praise writers get virtually ignored because they refused to write a pixie stix-addled Duo and wrote intelligently instead.

~I dislike this defense that if your fics aren't getting comments it must be because you suck as a writer.~
I, myself wouldn't agree with anyone who stated that as a fact (which, by the way, I didn't).
Perhaps I need to break my comment down a bit.

I will be the first to agree that there are readers who have no desire to actually give thought to what they read (and as a result a lot of very talented writers get overlooked by a majority of readers).
Many readers want easy.
They want instant gratification.
They don't want to think about what they're reading.
Frankly, if that makes some readers happy, I'm not going to criticize them.
Some people are simply looking for (or need) a bit of brainless escapism (again, I see nothing wrong with that if it makes a reader happy).

The secret poster commented on not receiving the same number of comments as other writers. She must be receiving some comments and at least a small number of readers are reading her "stuff".
My response has nothing to do with the actual size of his/her readership (nor the number of comments from the average reader). It has to do with how vocal his/her readership is (or isn't).
I am in total agreement that some very talented writers, who put a great deal of thought into characterizations, plots and sub-plots, are only appreciated by a small number of readers.
A small, but vocal readership.

I can not begin to tell you how thrilled I am when I run across a writer who actually makes me think.
And I make sure that writer is aware of my appreciation, and I know many other readers who do the same.
We may be a small readership, but readers like us are vocal.
I've had writers tell me they don't mind if the quantity of the feedback is small.
They're happy with a small, appreciative vocal readership.

And I still maintain, some writers do not know the difference between subtle and deep and convoluted and poorly written.

MediaMiner is full of author summaries (and author notes) where the author states their stories are complex, deep, thoughtful.
Some of them are just poorly written...period.
You certainly don't have to take my word on that one.
Just take a look for yourself.

Then again, if very few are commenting on your work, you might not be the best judge of your own product.

Well, no, this goes without saying. But the secret was double-edged: 98% of fic online is plainly bad, so it's not particularly difficult to be "too deep" for fandom. I think I write decent fic most of the time, but I'm not saying I'm Tolstoy; I'm merely saying that fandom really likes the good (repetitive, safe, lightly entertaining) kind of bad.

Then again, there are writers who consider their work to be subtle and deep when it's actually poorly constructed and convoluted.

Again, I agree very much.

Frankly, I don't have a problem with "the good (repetitive, safe, lightly entertaining) kind of bad."
It has its place
Entertainment isn't required to be deep to be a entertaining.
The type of bad fanfic you mentioned, over the last two years, has provided me with some much needed escapism when I've been too sick to give a lot of thought to anything.

That said, nothing beats a well crafted plot with well thought out characterizations.
If that's what you strive for, I hope you write in a fandom I follow, and that I've had the pleasure of reading your work.

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[ SECRET POST #257 ]

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Re: 16

Re: 16

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Re: 16

Re: 16