Writing for the approbation of other authors

[big_cane_sugar]

Don't worry though we have a few Tolstoys....

 

[WCSGarland]

It’s not a contraversial statement, surely?

You don't think that maybe you trod on a few toes of those who aspire to be?

 

[EmilyMiller]

You don't think that maybe you trod on a few toes of those who aspire to be?

Not even on AH do I know anyone narcissistic enough to compare themselves to Dostoevsky.

Some perspective is in order.

 

[WCSGarland]

Not even on AH do I know anyone narcissistic enough to compare themselves to Dostoevsky.

Some perspective is in order.

Aspiring to be and comparing themselves to are totally separate things.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Aspiring to be and comparing themselves to are totally separate things.

How can you tell how well your aspirations are working out without comparing?

To do the only Monty Python quote I know, “This is getting silly.”

If you are talking about your own aspirations, good luck to you. You are aiming very high.

 

[WCSGarland]

How can you tell how well your aspirations are working out without comparing?

To do the only Monty Python quote I know, “This is getting silly.”

If you are talking about your own aspirations, good luck to you. You are aiming very high.

Well I can't tell how well my aspirations are working out, but you've summarily dismissed all aspirations already.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Well I can't tell how well my aspirations are working out, but you've summarily dismissed all aspirations already.

No I didn’t. I said that there is no one here with the genius of Dostoevsky. Please feel free to post a link to the work of someone here who fits that description.

 

[big_cane_sugar]

I definitely aspire to write great literature and once upon a time the big D was my personal hero. But if I write anything even nearly that good I'm not publishing it here lol...

 

[WCSGarland]

I said that there is no one here with the genius of Dostoevsky.

Can you claim to actually have sampled all?

 

[EmilyMiller]

Can you claim to actually have sampled all?

You are making the extraordinary claim that someone here has the genius of Dostoevsky. Extraordinary claims like that have the onus of proof on them, which you know else you wouldn’t be deflecting.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I’m 5’1” - onus on you to prove otherwise

I’m 10’6” - onus on me to substantiate that claim

Over to you…

 

[WCSGarland]

You are making the extraordinary claim that someone here has the genius of Dostoevsky. Extraordinary claims like that have the onus of proof on them, which you know else you wouldn’t be deflecting.

As you are also making a claim that nobody here has the genius of Dostoevsky. Another extraordinary claim. By your own standards should you be judged, eh?

 

[EmilyMiller]

As you are also making a claim that nobody here has the genius of Dostoevsky. Another extraordinary claim. By your own standards should you be judged, eh?

I don’t think you understand the meaning of extraordinary. This is getting like X got. If you want me to take you seriously, show me.

What a bizarre convo!

 

[WCSGarland]

I don’t think you understand the meaning of extraordinary. This is getting like X got. If you want me to take you seriously, show me.

What a bizarre convo!

Yeah, and I never claimed that somebody here has the genius of Dostoevsky. Quite the opposite of your claim that nobody does.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Yeah, and I never claimed that somebody here has the genius of Dostoevsky. Quite the opposite of your claim that nobody does.

That’s very funny. Which is it ?

Let’s try to get the penny to drop another way. I want your honest answer.

What do you think the likelihood of someone writing here on Lit being the next Dostoevsky might be? Give me a percentage? Is it 1%, is it 10%, is it 85%, is it 0.001%? What’s your best guess?

Now - taking your estimate as being accurate - what is the likelihood of no one here being the next Dostoevsky? It’s 100% minus the number above, right?

Which number do you honestly think is the bigger one and by what order of magnitude?

Take your time. Show all your workings.

 

[WCSGarland]

That’s very funny. Which is it ?

Let’s try to get the penny to drop another way. I want your honest answer.

What do you think the likelihood of someone writing here on Lit being the next Dostoevsky might be? Give me a percentage? Is it 1%, is it 10%, is it 85%, is it 0.001%? What’s your best guess?

Now - taking your estimate as being accurate - what is the likelihood of no one here being the next Dostoevsky? It’s 100% minus the number above, right?

Which number do you honestly think is the bigger one and by what order of magnitude?

Take your time. Show all your workings.

I'm not arrogant enough to make the arbitrary claim that I'm worthy enough to judge that nobody here has the genius of Dostoevsky, so what makes you think that I would be arrogant enough to arbitrarily judge that somebody here does have the genius of Dostoevsky? What gives you the authority to claim that you can judge whether or not anybody here has the genius of Dostoevsky? This is the problem with absolutes. If you want to make that claim, perhaps you should be ready to be called on it. Is it absolutely nobody? Or is there a possibility that you might have overlooked that somebody here could actually be at the level of genius you consider Dostoevsky to be?

 

[EmilyMiller]

I'm not arrogant enough to make the arbitrary claim that I'm worthy enough to judge that nobody here has the genius of Dostoevsky, so what makes you think that I would be arrogant enough to arbitrarily judge that somebody here does have the genius of Dostoevsky? What gives you the authority to claim that you can judge whether or not anybody here has the genius of Dostoevsky? This is the problem with absolutes. If you want to make that claim, perhaps you should be ready to be called on it. Is it absolutely nobody? Or is there a possibility that you might have overlooked that somebody here could actually be at the level of genius you consider Dostoevsky to be?

Yeah - that’s just a tsunami of words. I know the red mist can come down when you are obviously losing an argument. That’s when the ad hominems start. When the name calling starts.

Answer my numeric question - if you can.

I hypothesize that you cannot without destroying your argument.

I can claim unicorns don’t exist. You might say, “Have you checked everywhere? There might be some undiscovered valley where the horned horses roam free.”

That’s called an appeal to ignorance, and it’s what you are doing in saying I haven’t read every author here and so I can’t say that none are as good as Dostoevsky.

I’d suggest looking at this thread again in the morning with fresh eyes and maybe thinking about your stance differently.

I’m going to bed, secure in the knowledge that there are no Literotica Dostoevskies, or Conrads, or Austens, or Chekovs. Hell there aren’t even any Literotica Stephen Kings.

 

[WCSGarland]

I’m going to bed, secure in the knowledge that there are no Literotica Dostoevskies, or Conrads, or Austens, or Chekovs. Hell thefe aren’t even any Stephen Kings.

I'm just going to leave this out there. Remember people, it's not me saying that you can't compare to any of those people listed.

 

[SimonDoom]

Not even on AH do I know anyone narcissistic enough to compare themselves to Dostoevsky.

Some perspective is in order.

I'm agnostic on this. I'm not sure whether, if someone here WERE a genius writer on that order, we would necessarily catch wind of it. Most of the stories are fairly simple genre fiction, and I can imagine good writers going undercover here and perhaps not fully revealing their talents.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

I think there are two types of writer. Or actually probably a spectrum in between. At one end you have the Dan Browns, wildly popular, laughing all the way to the bank, and I hope living their best lives. At the other end Fydor Dostoevsky. A fraction of the audience of Brown. A troubled life. A not unproblematic portfolio of work, but one of the great chroniclers of the human condition.

Umm ackchyually...



Judging by my post here, you can pretty much guess where I land on the compass.

 

[XerXesXu]

I'm agnostic on this. I'm not sure whether, if someone here WERE a genius writer on that order, we would necessarily catch wind of it. Most of the stories are fairly simple genre fiction, and I can imagine good writers going undercover here and perhaps not fully revealing their talents.

Ahhh. Working on your 'Great American Novel'? No wonder you've stopped posting smut.

 

[SimonDoom]

Ahhh. Working on your 'Great American Novel'? No wonder you've stopped posting smut.

Alas, no. "LIME AND NOURISHMENT" will have to wait.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I’m 5’1” - onus on you to prove otherwise

I’m 10’6” - onus on me to substantiate that claim

Over to you…

To be honest, I stopped at 5'1", and all the rest of this thread is bollocks!

 

[EmilyMiller]

Umm ackchyually...

View attachment 2558183

Judging by my post here, you can pretty much guess where I land on the compass.

Can’t say I identify with any of those TBH. We need a ‘Goofy Person Who Loves Writing And Makes Way Too Many SW References’ category.

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

I wondered about your motivations. For me, I’m much happier if a writer I respect pays me a compliment, than if it is a non-writer, or a writer whose work I am unfamiliar with does the same.

I feel the same way.

It's difficult, though, to find other writers who are willing to read your work in a non-beta-reader type role. Most of us are too busy writing to spend a huge amount of time reading. I am lucky if I can get to read a handful of my fav authors on the site (most from before I started writing, honestly) before my brain starts telling me to stop and get back to working on my own stuff.

I get the feeling most others here are the same way.