Halloween Support Thread

[Colleen Thomas]

Collie... what makes it personal and makes it hurt... is the truth in it!

I've had personal slams before that didn't bother me.. because they were about the characters in the story.. the characters are NOT me. I could shake those off because it's what the character did, NOT what I would do or feel.

This time, it's about me and I do get it! I created an incident AWAY from the story line, and then promptly put it in the background. I did not explain myself or the incident.

I was guilty of trivializing a traumatic event. I AM THE ONE who trivialized it. I am guilty. It is my guilt that hurts much more than the comments themselves.

Hun, we all make mistakes in writing. Even Shang will occasionally make one. You don't learn if you don't expand your work and you can't get better if you find niche and stay there.

If you feel like it was an egrigious error, then don't pull the work. Go back and edit it, treating the event with the importance you seem to believe it deserves now. You have oun something you didn't handel well by your own reckoning. that's half the battle. Now you need to giveit the time and consideration and the best of your consideravble talent to see if you can handle it in a way you deem appropriate.

If you can, then this contest has given you something invaluable. It has given you an opportunity to refine your grasp of your craft. If you just can't find a way to make it work, then it has still given you something invaluable, it has given you a natural bound to the conceptual phase of further works.

Don't get down on yourself or let self recrimination rule the day hun. Take the negative here and use it to better yourself as an author.

The kind of feedback that exposes a glaring error in your work is rare and a gift. Even if it hurts terribly, it's a rare opportunity to grow as an author in a way that is measureable and tangible.

 

[English Lady]

Hun, we all make mistakes in writing. Even Shang will occasionally make one. You don't learn if you don't expand your work and you can't get better if you find niche and stay there.

If you feel like it was an egrigious error, then don't pull the work. Go back and edit it, treating the event with the importance you seem to believe it deserves now. You have oun something you didn't handel well by your own reckoning. that's half the battle. Now you need to giveit the time and consideration and the best of your consideravble talent to see if you can handle it in a way you deem appropriate.

If you can, then this contest has given you something invaluable. It has given you an opportunity to refine your grasp of your craft. If you just can't find a way to make it work, then it has still given you something invaluable, it has given you a natural bound to the conceptual phase of further works.

Don't get down on yourself or let self recrimination rule the day hun. Take the negative here and use it to better yourself as an author.

The kind of feedback that exposes a glaring error in your work is rare and a gift. Even if it hurts terribly, it's a rare opportunity to grow as an author in a way that is measureable and tangible.

Exactly - I can't add anything to that, Colly has said it perfectly.

 

[Alex756]

Collie... what makes it personal and makes it hurt... is the truth in it!

I've had personal slams before that didn't bother me.. because they were about the characters in the story.. the characters are NOT me. I could shake those off because it's what the character did, NOT what I would do or feel.

This time, it's about me and I do get it! I created an incident AWAY from the story line, and then promptly put it in the background. I did not explain myself or the incident.

I was guilty of trivializing a traumatic event. I AM THE ONE who trivialized it. I am guilty. It is my guilt that hurts much more than the comments themselves.

I don't think you're guilty of what everyone is accusing you of and what you are accusing yourself of. YOU did not trivialize it.

You may be writing in the 3rd person but its firmly rooted with Tom.

People are not really having a visceral reaction to -you- they are having it to Tom. If Tom walked off my monitor and stood infront of me right know, I'd love to cause him pain. I didn't wwant him to find "Susan" I wasn't his to give a shit. But know what? you wrote a character that doesn't. Its as much of a skill to create a character people love as to create on people hate. The bad news, you really suceeded. You managed to make ancharacter so ... soo ... Tom, that he creates this reaction.

If you as an author made a mistake, it's the catagory People expect happy fuzzy bunnies much more in that catagory, and you gave us .... damn, you gave us my ex boyfriend Jason.

you created a very full character, and I don't believe anything in that was incidental. Subconcious, maybe

But its damn good writing, it takes real tallant to piss poeple off as much as it takes ability for them to sing your praises.

I think it's a suburb piece of writing.

~Alex

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Dream...

what colleen said...

Honestly, from the beginning, I thought that the horror of the piece (in keeping with the Halloween theme) wasn't the rape itself, but the sociopathic kind of behavior of the protagonist... that's what I really felt you were trying to go for... I'm still confused if that's the case, or not? When I read the story, that's the feel I get (and I just read it again to be sure) but I hear you saying that the rape was "incidental"... huh? I'm wondering if your own guilt about it (and the guilt that's been heaped on you by a myriad of anon readers! ) has made you lose focus on your original intention for it? Or maybe it was unconsciously there, and you didn't even know?

I think it's a great story, actually, well worth redeeming... and as I said, there are 1 of 2 ways I feel (IMHO ) it could go... either rewrite it to remove the rape... make it something else... OR... go all the way with it and re-characterize Tom as someone a LOT more obsessive/creepy/sociopathic... even if you just threw in something like: "I knew in the back of my mind that it was almost inhuman of me not to be concerned, but I couldn't believe the depth of obsession and love I was feeling etc." it would give it more weight...

Dream, there's no going back... hindsight is 20/20 and all that... but you CAN move forward... and there are so many people here who know you are a great writer, and had the very best of intentions when you wrote what you did, who will support you in whatever decision you make.

But don't stop writing. That would be the only truly horrific outcome of it all.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Collie... what makes it personal and makes it hurt... is the truth in it!

I've had personal slams before that didn't bother me.. because they were about the characters in the story.. the characters are NOT me. I could shake those off because it's what the character did, NOT what I would do or feel.

This time, it's about me and I do get it! I created an incident AWAY from the story line, and then promptly put it in the background. I did not explain myself or the incident.

I was guilty of trivializing a traumatic event. I AM THE ONE who trivialized it. I am guilty. It is my guilt that hurts much more than the comments themselves.

No, you're not!!

The dramatic effect of the 'sexual harrassment' against the sudden, nameless love is one of the strong points of your story.

If we are going to deny that life is not always Disneyland, that other people's misfortunes do not happen then we are in an Orwellian nighhtmare.

Ignore the ranting crowd. Your story may not win, but if you pull it, I'll haunt you forever, "Whooo, Hooooo, Whooooo!"

 

[dreampilot79]

No, you're not!!

The dramatic effect of the 'sexual harrassment' against the sudden, nameless love is one of the strong points of your story.

If we are going to deny that life is not always Disneyland, that other people's misfortunes do not happen then we are in an Orwellian nighhtmare.

Ignore the ranting crowd. Your story may not win, but if you pull it, I'll haunt you forever, "Whooo, Hooooo, Whooooo!"

elle....

Wellllll.. it stands as it stands... but you read it before I submitted it.... I tol ya I was considering the ending bein that he got put away for 15 years and lost his love.... I'm beginning to think that that was the way I shoulda written it...

Funny... I pondered re editing it.. actually got rid of what caused all the furror in 10 minutes of editing... wound up making a change of only 50 words in a 5000 word piece. (I did a word count before and after). So move on...

Oh well.. no more death threats or hate mail in my e mail...

Maybe I'll survive...

 

[English Lady]

we love ya DP babes

 

[dreampilot79]

we love ya DP babes

awwwwwww.. el.. thanks I needed that.. gave me the warm fuzzies on a bleak day

 

[Boxlicker101]

we love ya DP babes

A lot of the women in my stories love DP too.

Of course, you know what "DP" stands for in porn.

 

[Guest]

A lot of the women in my stories love DP too.

Of course, you know what "DP" stands for in porn.

doing penis?
damp panties?
dong pain?
damn prophylaxis?

 

[cloudy]

damp panties?

I miss ol' drippy drawers.

 

[English Lady]

DP -My pleasure love!


Box -funny you should mention that actually, but i'm thinking about DP (not our dreampilot this time) right now in context to this here thread. Oh yes indeed.


Well I'm thinking, it might lead to typing and finishing a whole damn story sometime this millenia

 

[Boxlicker101]

DP -My pleasure love!


Box -funny you should mention that actually, but i'm thinking about DP (not our dreampilot this time) right now in context to this here thread. Oh yes indeed.


Well I'm thinking, it might lead to typing and finishing a whole damn story sometime this millenia

Sounds like a great idea! Which side do you want me and who else do you want?

 

[English Lady]

Sounds like a great idea! Which side do you want me and who else do you want?

Oh, you're just trying to distract me aren't you?

No,I'm not falling for it. I'm gonna write.

yeah.

write.

hmmmmmm...... http://bestsmileys.com/angles/9.gif

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Oh, you're just trying to distract me aren't you?

No,I'm not falling for it. I'm gonna write.

yeah.

write.

hmmmmmm...... http://bestsmileys.com/angles/9.gif

Yeah. That's the attitude. I got that idea last night and I must've wrote...

Nothing; that's right. i went drinking instead.



In the end, I didn't get much more than a word down on a Halloween entry. I have, however, been brainstorming quite nicely for NaNo, so I feel pretty justified. Yeah, that's it, justified. Why not?

Q_C

 

[English Lady]

Yeah. That's the attitude. I got that idea last night and I must've wrote...

Nothing; that's right. i went drinking instead.



In the end, I didn't get much more than a word down on a Halloween entry. I have, however, been brainstorming quite nicely for NaNo, so I feel pretty justified. Yeah, that's it, justified. Why not?

Q_C

We are sooooooooooo on the same wavelength.

What? I'm writing.

Yes I am. right now.

On my story...wellll not RIGHT now... but...

Ok, Ok I'm going...Out with QC for a drink if he invites me

 

[oggbashan]

Reading...

The long and the short have been submitted.

That's it. I've done. The other three stories will remain incomplete for this contest.

Now I can read everyone else's.

Well I could, except that I have to do all the things I've been putting off to write halloween stories.



Og

 

[cloudy]

One nice thing....I've apparently gained a fan from posting that Halloween story. I wish she'd leave her email address, though, so that I could thank her.

I received this in my email on Hush, Hush, Sweet Carly:

A great story, creaking hinges, clicking locks
a wonderful ghost story, but why stop there?
what sexual activity took place behind the door? it must have been good as she never returned.OOOH
loveJemma

later I received this on The Myth of Religious Freedom:

Having just read your most welcome panegyric, basicaly upon freedom, whilst not being an American but an Anglo/Saxon Brit.
I along with many others have always admired your basic freedoms, speech , thought. to do what you like ,when and if you like, as long as it doed not impinge upon another's freedoms, having said that the greatest, attack on all our freedoms, is insidious growth of the bureaucracy, generally made up of illeducated opportunists , whose sole aim in life, seems to me is to get themselves into a position to dictate their will upon their fellow citizens. to the detriment of all bar themselves, the foregoing is of course are my own humble opinions, and I'm sure will ring a bell with many others,
regards Jemma

still later, received this on The Fury:

A great descriptive account of terrific storm
I like corelation between the natural tornado
and the sexual tornado in the natural elements, mud and rain just a touch of the Lady Chatterly's shagging in the rain, your work I find fascinating, please keep writing as you'll have me a member of your fan club
also I must comment on your Bio is the picture of you or from a chocolate box, which ever it's quite beautiful.
love Jemma

the "chocolate box" comment sent me into fits of laughter, I gotta admit.

 

[Guest]

One nice thing....I've apparently gained a fan from posting that Halloween story. I wish she'd leave her email address, though, so that I could thank her.

I received this in my email on Hush, Hush, Sweet Carly:


later I received this on The Myth of Religious Freedom:


still later, received this on The Fury:


the "chocolate box" comment sent me into fits of laughter, I gotta admit.

*stalker*
hey! i want one too!
*stomping foot*

 

[CrimsonMaiden]

My alt has gotten several feedbacks from Jemma and she never leaves her email.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

*stalker*
hey! i want one too!
*stomping foot*

Vella,

I'd be your stalker. Lord knows I'm trying. But you keep turning around and spotting me, then you giggle, make rude gestures, and start chanting, "NA-NA-NA-NA!"

That takes the wind right out of a stalker's sails, let me tell you.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Extreme Bohunk]

Ahhhh CRAP!

They're baaaaa-aaack!
http://www.creators-not-consumers.co.uk/graphics/bomb2.gif

 

[BlackShanglan]

Collie... what makes it personal and makes it hurt... is the truth in it!

...

I was guilty of trivializing a traumatic event. I AM THE ONE who trivialized it. I am guilty. It is my guilt that hurts much more than the comments themselves.

Yes, the true comments hurt more than the completely whacked ones. When I get "DEATH TO ALL POOFS," I laugh. When, on the other hand, a valued critic pointed out that one of my characters really seemed to have no direction and just drifted with what the other lead wanted for most of the story, it stung - because it was correct. It hurts not to do as well as one had hoped.

That said, I think you're being too hard on yourself. Yes, I did think that the handling of the rape scene was a problem in the story, but it's a writing problem and not a personal and human failure. You didn't personally trivialize actual rape because you don't think it's a big deal; you just possibly made dodgy choice of what incident to use to heighten tension and conflict in the story, and the degree to which you would elaborate on that event and characters' reactions to it. We've all done that. It's always obvious when someone else points it out, but it's not obvious when we do it - not because we don't care about that type of event in general, but because we're writing stories and our minds are wound up in where the plot is going rather than how every single character experiences every single event. We tend to focus on the leads first, and then later - if there's time - to think about the other characters. I really think that this is all that happened, and I do hope that you'll not listen to those who wish to impute ugly things to your own nature. This is a writing issue, not a personal issue, and I think it's only the volatile nature of the subject matter that's preventing people from seeing that.

Cut yourself some slack. You have not done anything morally reprehensible.

Hun, we all make mistakes in writing. Even Shang will occasionally make one.

Goodness yes. Every now and then, in a fit of insanity, I post something. Always a mistake.

Shanglan

 

[Guest]

 

[BlackShanglan]

Oh hell yeah. The true comments hurt the most. Mostly because they make us feel stupid. I had one comment point out that I'd used the word Lexis (the legal research site) instead of Lexus (the car). My god did I feel stupid.

Could be worse. I once saw someone use "generically" instead of "genetically" for an entire three-page screed on "generically modified food." Then again, the individual also was arguing that it would be healthier because it is (allegedly) created in a laboratory and not grown outside in all of that nasty dirt.

That was one amazing piece of work.

Shanglan