Blindsided by comments!

[KeithD]

Collins, the British-style dictionary the one British publisher I freelanced for specified for me to use, allows both "leaned" and "leant," but recommends "leaned" as the preferred use.

 

[soulhouse]

That makes it sound like "leant" is wrong even in British English.

I would say and write "leant" as a British person and anecdotally would have thought a majority of the British would. However, American English tends to make its way into British English over time through the ubiquity of US TV and film, I assume, so maybe other people here say "leaned" nowadays and I've not noticed.

 

[LAHomedog]

Have you ever been blindsided by comments?

I was absolute gobsmacked by the early comments on a story I wrote for the April Fools contest. My first thoughts were - did the idiots read the story? were these comments posted incorrectly? Surely they were meant for another story, not mine.

People were objecting to two rape scenes - a man having sex with two drunk women. My story was clever....a high-school drop-out getting one over on his ex-girlfriend and her snooty friends. All rich snobs and terrible people.

Then, it hit me. Yes. My main character took advantage of two women. I could have gone a different way, but I used the encounters to set up the 'twist' that April Fools stories need. I'd completely forgotten that aspect of the story.

Authors have complained about 'bad' comments and enjoyed 'good' comments. I'm just noting that I was surprised by truthful comments!

***********

I had similar comments to my April Fools' story "Turning The Tables On David." It ends with the implication of a gay rape scene. It is implied and never consummated.

I knew what I was writing and debated internally over including it or going a different way. I even showed it to my wife to read to get a more reasoned thought. She said, "Well, you know this is gay rape." I said, "Is it true to the story?" She said, "Yeah, I suppose so..."

So, I decided to go with it. Some of the comments were brutal. I'm not saying they weren't deserved, but I will admit to thinking, "Hey! Don't you realized this is a fantasy?" That's why I put it in Non-Con BTW.

I am trying to learn that as an artist all you can do is create your best art, and then if you choice to invite the public into your art their reaction is what it is.

That is what I do in my real life and my real career. For some reason, these stories are more personal. I'm trying to learn how to surrender

LAHomedog