Pet Peeves

[Couture]

Do you have any pet peeves about feedback? One of mine is, "So and so was such a slut. So and so was such a wimp. He/she deserved what they got."

Hello, it's fiction. Can you spell fiction boys and girls? Here let me help. M-A-K-E-B-E-L-I-E-V-E.

End of rant. I'm better now. It's a lovely day isn't it?

 

[oggbashan]

If it is in print, or on a computer screen, it must be true.

If a large number of US citizens believe they have been abducted by aliens, why should it surprise anyone that they believe our fiction is fact?

How many people confuse the actor in a soap with the character?

Why do English Lit courses minutely dissect the motives of characters that never existed?

Why is Shakespeare's Julius Caesar more real than the actual Julius Caesar as shown in his Gallic and Civil Wars?

I'm not surprised when I get feedback treating my characters as real. I'm flattered that they are so believable. However the rest of the feedback deflates my euphoria because it tends to be misspelt and homo- or anything -phobic.

Og

 

[Pure]

Hey Couture, you could take it as a compliment. A bit like the actor who played that bad guy (J.R.?) in Dallas: people would come up to him on the street and say, "You're an evil despicable person!"

It all goes to your realism and narrative skill!

 

[Quasimodem]

As Og has already stated, you WANT the reader to forget that your character is a piece of fiction.

That is what "suspension of disbelief" is all about.

If a reader can form an opinion, based on the actions of one of your characters, it is a measure of the success you achieved overcoming that reader's distance, as a reader of fiction.

It is an even greater compliment, if they are able to form a reasonable opinion about one of your characters. Especially one that you worked to impress upon your readers.

Feedback should be valued as complimentary in the following progression:

"Good work! / Fuck you!"

"Good Story / Lousy Story"

"The plot was terrific / I couldn't follow the action."

"Bill was a real bastard / I didn't understand why Bill did that, what was up?"

"Even though you showed what a twit Bill was, I didn't expect . . . / Just the way Bill was written, I knew he would. . ."

"Did you base Bill on someone you know? / Are you Bill?"

Of course, if the opinion they express makes no sense, much of its value is lost.



Finally, some readers judge stories based totally upon its effect on them, which is not very scientific.

So, my story made you come! To be any useful kind of measurement, I need additional information to appraise its value.

Were you trying to come, or was it involuntary?

Were you alone, or in company?

Do you come easily, or do you normally require stimulation?

Was it a salubrious event, or were you trying to suppress coming?

Do you have any physical or psychological condition which makes it easier, or more difficult to come?

Do you consider coming to pornography a good effect, or an unsatisfactory result?

Will you read more of my stories in the hope that you will come again, or avoid my works to escape the possibility of a similar fate in the future?

 

[gauchecritic]

Do you have any pet peeves about feedback? One of mine is, "So and so was such a slut. So and so was such a wimp. He/she deserved what they got."

Hello, it's fiction. Can you spell fiction boys and girls? Here let me help. M-A-K-E-B-E-L-I-E-V-E.

End of rant. I'm better now. It's a lovely day isn't it?

I'm guessing that you haven't yet received feedback from Rachael and Rosie or whoever the hell those twins are. Your rant would have gone on for pages otherwise.

Gauche

 

[Wills]

Most of the feedback I have received has asked the same question, in different ways.

"What was in the package that was so important that she would screw the delivery guy?" This relates to my Christmas Story.

I view it as a job well done that my readers have taken on board the significance of her actions to the extent that they wish to know more.

Will's

 

[Guest]

Hey Couture, I suppose your grief would depend on the tone of the feedback.

One of my faves was from a woman who wrote to say how protective she felt of my elevator girl in the story where she deals with a teaser-sadist; she became enraged enough to want to beat the guy up. And as Ravel's "Bolero" was used for the scene she also said she was tempted to throw out her CD of the piece.

Perdita

 

[Uther_Pendragon]

Speak for yourself.
MY characters are real, and I go to great efforts
to make them so.

 

[Couture]

And you do a good job of it Uncle Uther.

...but you know the kind of stuff I write. Anyway, I don't want people reading it who can't tell fact from fiction.

 

[A7inchPhildo]

And you do a good job of it Uncle Uther.

...but you know the kind of stuff I write. Anyway, I don't want people reading it who can't tell fact from fiction.

You could always put a note at the end. "Hey dumb ass this is fiction! Fiction means fake, made up, not real."

The best feedback are as Quasimodem said basically any question wanting to know more information about the story. God I love that! Lets me know I got to the reader good bad or indifferent.


Phildo

 

[sweetnpetite]

I can tell fact from fiction. HOwever, there is a difference between fiction and 'not-real' When I read fiction or watch a movie or tv show, the characters often do become 'real.' I know that they don't exist on this plain of 'reality' but they do exist. Good characters do have motivations, ect, and they should get what they deserve. A really good book will get me wondering what the characters are doing after the book is over. That's not because I'm dillusional, it's because I invested time in reading the story and getting to know the characters. There would be nothing more disapointing to me than to ask an authour- 'so what happened to so and so after they finished college?' and have that author look at me and say, "Nothing- they were made up. The story ended- they ceased to exist." Sorry, but once you create something- even a fictional character- it's out there. It exists.

My favorate show right now is Dharma and Greg. I'm disapointed that the show is no longer being produced because I want to know what happens to those characters. I don't care what is happenning with Jenna Elfman- I want to know what Dharma is up to. That's why they have all of those reunion shows on tv all the time. People want to *know* what became of the Brady Bunch or the kids from Home Improvement or whatever.

I think you should be happy when people say stuff like that. It shows that they are thinking, rather than just passivly accepting what goes in front of their eyes. It doesnt' mean that they are loosing touch with reality. It means you made a new reality exist for them in their imagination.

 

[gauchecritic]

Sorry, but once you create something- even a fictional character- it's out there. It exists.

A very Pratchettesque observation. You should move to Ank-Morpork.

Gauche

 

[sweetnpetite]

A very Pratchettesque observation. You should move to Ank-Morpork.

Gauche

Oooh, I love him! 1






1. by him I mean Terry Pratchet. I especially like how he has all of those footnotes, as if he were writing a text book instead of a novel. They are so funny, and sometimes are a half a page long! I was also going to say that once you create something you have a certain responsablity toward it. But I thought that some might think that was going too far. Maybe people think that because stories are made of words they are really nothing. But if I painted a picture and hung it in a gallery would you say that it's not real? Tell all the art critics to go home- it's not real! It's only make believe, not worth pondering or commenting on. Who cares what Mona Lisa is thinking? She's make-believe, and even if she was real- she's dead now! So anyway, I do adore Terry Pratchet. I think Mort is my favorate so far. Laugh out loud. Funny guy.