Conversation on G+
What types are CC and DA? Can you pin an intertype on them?
DA: Good morning everypony. :/
CC: What's up?
DA: +CC Meh, just feeling a little down. o:
CC: This calls for me eating a shitton of rice and us doing a synchtube room. What do you say?
DA: Oh god, I hate synchtube.
WL: Butwhy? And good morning David
DA: +WL Why I hate synchtube or why I'm feeling down?
CC: Both! Both!
DA: meh, I'm just trying to tackle this retarded situation I've been in for weeks. >.<
As for synchtube? I've never been able to get into a room.
CC: I'm being really forgetful I'm sure, but what's the situation?
DA: It probably sounds stupid but it's a confidence issue with my fanficiton. I feel like I'm waiting my time writing over 80 pages to have no one read it. I want people to read it because when they get excited and start asking for the next chapter it motivates me to write it.
For the past few weeks I've had to deal with unfair criticism, people saying "give me the link... bookmarked, will read later", or just dismissing it all together.
I could go on but I think you get the point: No one cares about the project I've invested so much time in and I have no drive to continue it because of that.
(And I hate how people say "well you should write for yourself, who cares what anyone else thinks.". Those people can just jump off a bridge because they have no idea what a masochistic experience creative writing can be.)
CC: You should write for yourself, who cares what anyone else thinks. My serious advice though would be to weigh up your options. I'm not sure what the main criticisms of your stories are, but it seems your "Dashie" character's name is confusing people. Maybe giving her a new name would resolve that issue and alienate people from your story less. Either that, or ignore everyone and just commit to writing for yourself, knowing what you're getting into. Making it into a decision might help you, I don't know.
I agree though, it seems like that prereader has been putting you through a lot of stress. I wouldd suggest complaining to EQD about him, but it doesn't look like there's an easy way of doing that. What he was doing is way beyond unprofessional, and honestly really gets my hackles up. He needs to be removed as a prereader if he's going to be abusing his power like that and releasing other people's work for mockery like that.
It could also help to just get away from the criticism and the fic for a bit. Take a break of a week or something and just disregard dicks, acquire friendship.
As for the readership issue, I guess you could try to get involved with why people aren't reading your fic. Ask for some honest criticism. Preface it with what you know you want to do better to ease the process. People can be really shy about offering their criticisms because there's a bit of a (ridiculous, imo) stigma around it.
Anyway, if you want to keep talking, go ahead. I promise to continue to offer my unsolicited and probably useless advice
DA: As for the confusing name http://i.imgur.com/G928R.png there's no excuse. x3
But what's really getting to me, is that when I complain about the criticism or the lack of readers, the fandom responds "have you never been criticized before?! rawr rawr don't fucking complain!"
I'm an author, I'm allowed to complain if it's nothing but morons (who can't take three seconds to learn about the character distinction) reading my story.
at times, the art commuity of the fandom comes off as that school yard bully who can give shit but can't take it. (I've called the fandom out a few times, expressing about how i'm unhappy about the rape on beginning artists and I got yelled at)
This whole situation is just retarded. I swear to god. >.>
CC: Yeah, people on the internet really fail at empathy when it's not happening to them. People too easily speak of ideals and get confused between reality and imagination. You /should/, rationally, just keep a stiff upper lip and deal with the criticism, right? It's not like it hurts me to hear about your problems, so your problems shouldn't hurt you either!
e_e seriously? That's one of the most common and outright absurd positions I keep seeing in people, especially on the internet.
DA: And the thing I find the most retarded.
Part of the fun in reading my story is figuring out who Dashie's character is, why she's so cynical and emotionally flat, and what's going to happen to her.
If I gave ALL that information up front like everyone wanted, then I would only have 3 or so chapters of content.
So let me get this straight? I'm getting shit on because I'm writing a non linear story that actually has substance and forces the reader to draw their own conclusions about the character development until the story is finished and all the questions are answered?
Fuck these lazy people, I'm not doing this for fucking charity and they should be damn well appreciative that I'm taking the time out of my busy schedule to give them a different view point inside an entertaining story, not get turned off because the fact that there are two physically identical characters shatters their perception of the show.
This sounds incredibly pompous but fuck anyone who doesn't like my story. I'm a great writer (8 years of writing dark romantic/ macabre poetry and stories) so fuck anyone who says otherwise, i'm done getting kicked around.
CC: Ah yeah, there's the issue of people disliking people messing with "their" characters. I know I've been unfairly bitching about Discord fanart because it does Discord injustice imo, even though the art itself is of a really impressive quality :whistles innocently:
DA: As a fan, our relationship with the mane 6 is completely one-sided. We know a great deal about them; Their personalities, habits, interests, likes, dislikes, etc. Even though this one-way "friendship" with the MLP cast is based on the illusion of interaction rather than actual social interaction, a bond of intimacy is created and the fans feel they really know the media character.
Fanfic authors however, have the burden of taking this knowledge of the cast and applying it to our story. We stretch and manipulate their character by seeing how well they fit with the plot we want to create, and more times than not, their personality end up changing. You don't see this much with shorter fics but when you get into the stories that are more than five chapters in length, character development is a must unless you want your story to be static and boring.
Changing a character's personality over long periods of time is perfectly natural, it shows growth and makes the character more dynamic. But herein lies the problem:
The fans want the characters to stay the same. They are afraid of seeing "Their Fluttershy" or "Their Rarity" being changed into something they can't recognize and can no longer relate with. While on the other hoof, Authors want the characters to grow and adapt. They see these ponies as more than just characters, they see them as they would see people; flexible and able to adjust.
But because of this division, the fans are getting angry at the authors because they don't like how the character interpretations go against their vision of the cast. Then, the authors start changing their work to conform to some prissy standard set forth by the fandom, thus leading to bad fanfiction.
CC: Thanks for the read, that was actually really interesting. I don't have anything more to say though. Still, maybe take a break from the writing for a bit. It's not good if it's getting to you.
DA: Oh, I'm passed that now. I plan on finishing chapter 6 today, I'm just turning my mind off to ANY criticism until the story is finished. I have the synopsis of all 20 chapters in my hands (computer), it's over 300 pages, so fuck these people who say my story is weak.
I know what's going to happen so if these people don't like it then they can just shut their mouth and read a different story. :3
CC: Damn straight! Good luck with your story!
now.
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