What is it about "fiction" that people don't understand?

[Keroin]

An email prompted this question, this morning.

I remember when the Da Vinci Code came out and how wild the church went. To a lesser degree, they did the same with Harry Potter. My best friend wouldn't let her daughter read the HP books for years because they had "witches" and magic in them, which are tools of the devil, according to her. Other books have taken flak for events or characters portrayed and my question is why all the fuss? These stories may have elements of reality but at their core they are fiction, make believe, unreal.

Do imagination and fantasy really frighten people so much? Curious.

Anyway, I woke this morning to an email from a reader who hated my new story. Their complaint dealt with hard limits. Now, I don't care if someone hates my work, that's fine, but I don't write "how to"guides for BDSM, I write fantasies, fiction. Anyway, I sent the person a nice thank you email, telling them how grateful I was that they took the time to read and send feedback but I'm still scratching my head a bit over this issue.

What do you think?

 

[graceanne]

I think anyone who writes anything remotely kinky will eventually get a letter from someone who can't understand the concept of fiction. And once I got someone who thinks bdsm is sick and that I'm sick for writing it. My response was 'why are you in the bdsm section looking at stories, then?' I didn't get a response.

You were a lot more polite than I am when I get emails like that. I'm not rude, but I do send them back an email saying 'if you don't like this type of story DON'T READ IT'.

ETA: As for the Harry Potter story - Christians are routinely over-literal and SERIOUSLY need to chill the heck out. You don't seem the majority of them stopping kids from watching Wizard of Oz or any Disney films. Some do - but not most, and that includes the ones having a cow about Harry Potter.

 

[Keroin]

I think anyone who writes anything remotely kinky will eventually get a letter from someone who can't understand the concept of fiction. And once I got someone who thinks bdsm is sick and that I'm sick for writing it. My response was 'why are you in the bdsm section looking at stories, then?' I didn't get a response.

You were a lot more polite than I am when I get emails like that. I'm not rude, but I do send them back an email saying 'if you don't like this type of story DON'T READ IT'.

ETA: As for the Harry Potter story - Christians are routinely over-literal and SERIOUSLY need to chill the heck out. You don't seem the majority of them stopping kids from watching Wizard of Oz or any Disney films. Some do - but not most, and that includes the ones having a cow about Harry Potter.

I am genuinely thankful when people take time out to read my work and the complaint from the reader wasn't ridiculous, so I have no trouble sending a courteous reply, however, I think there is a disconnect in the kink world between fiction and reality. Stories are the place where we're allowed to experience things we couldn't, or wouldn't, in our regular lives. Asking authors to stick to the rigid rules of real life doesn't necessarily mean boring stories but it certainly means there can only be a very limited spectrum of stories.

Imagine if every story ever told had to confine itself to what can and should realistically happen in real life?

Anyway, my girlfriend is funny. She is chilled about lots of things that other Christians aren't - gay marriage for one - but she has some real issues with witches, demons etc. But you'rr right, I'm sure she never stopped her daughter from watching the Wizard of Oz. Crazy.

 

[graceanne]

I am genuinely thankful when people take time out to read my work and the complaint from the reader wasn't ridiculous, so I have no trouble sending a courteous reply, However, I think there is a disconnect in the kink world between fiction and reality. Stories are the place where we're allowed to experience things we couldn't, or wouldn't, in our regular lives. Asking authors to stick to the rigid rules of real life doesn't necessarily mean boring stories but it certainly means there can only be a very limited spectrum of stories.

I respond to almost all feedbacks I get. But as far as I'm concerned if a person isn't into BDSM and they're reading BDSM they deserve what they get.

And I never respond to feedback that involves the size of a person's penis, invitations to cyber, or comments about how much or how hard they came.

Imagine if every story ever told had to confine itself to what can and should realistically happen in real life?

Anyway, my girlfriend is funny. She is chilled about lots of things that other Christians aren't - gay marriage for one - but she has some real issues with witches, demons etc. But you'rr right, I'm sure she never stopped her daughter from watching the Wizard of Oz. Crazy.

I have issues with witches and demons. My family was pretty heavily into the occult when I was a child, and it's a bad place to go. But I don't think that not allowing your children to watch anything that has witchcraft (otherwise known as magic) in it is the way to handle that. I think being honest (I know - what is this world coming to) is the way to go there. But the whole magic thing is just in fun and lets them play outside the realms of reality - which is necessary.

 

[midwestyankee]

K, wander around the Authors' Hangout here for any length of time and you come across numerous mentions of this issue. Some readers seem to take a perverse pleasure out of filing feedback that revolves around a complaint that the bdsm story was too "bdsm-y" or that the wife in the loving wives story was too "loving" for their taste. They're genetic fuckwads and are not worth the electrons that you excited in replying to the email.

 

[graceanne]

K, wander around the Authors' Hangout here for any length of time and you come across numerous mentions of this issue. Some readers seem to take a perverse pleasure out of filing feedback that revolves around a complaint that the bdsm story was too "bdsm-y" or that the wife in the loving wives story was too "loving" for their taste. They're genetic fuckwads and are not worth the electrons that you excited in replying to the email.

Pretty much my feeling on the issue. Maybe it's cause I've gotten so many of these, I get sick of it.

 

[Keroin]

K, wander around the Authors' Hangout here for any length of time and you come across numerous mentions of this issue. Some readers seem to take a perverse pleasure out of filing feedback that revolves around a complaint that the bdsm story was too "bdsm-y" or that the wife in the loving wives story was too "loving" for their taste. They're genetic fuckwads and are not worth the electrons that you excited in replying to the email.

Thanks MWY. I write these tales primarily for the people on this board, (and any lurkers), and I have enough confidence in my ability that a few wingnuts can't hurt my feelings. But your words are appreciated.

But I'm always curious when I see people react so strongly to works of fiction - erotic, mainstream or otherwise. It seems to me that real life has far more example of things to get worked up about but fiction seems to really light a fire under people.

I read The Story of O only just last year and after all I'd heard a I expected something very shocking. I was disappointed. I see more on the nightly news worthy of banning than I read in that book.

 

[graceanne]

Thanks MWY. I write these tales primarily for the people on this board, (and any lurkers), and I have enough confidence in my ability that a few wingnuts can't hurt my feelings. But your words are appreciated.

But I'm always curious when I see people react so strongly to works of fiction - erotic, mainstream or otherwise. It seems to me that real life has far more example of things to get worked up about but fiction seems to really light a fire under people.

I read The Story of O only just last year and after all I'd heard a I expected something very shocking. I was disappointed. I see more on the nightly news worthy of banning than I read in that book.

There will always be people looking for something to complain about.

 

[BiBunny]

I truly believe some people don't understand that fiction is, well, fiction. They think everything a writer writes is a real-life experience. It blows my mind.

 

[Daddy2mylilgirl]

Don't forget your home work while you write these fantasys.

This was a comment on one of my stories.

 

[midwestyankee]

Thanks MWY. I write these tales primarily for the people on this board, (and any lurkers), and I have enough confidence in my ability that a few wingnuts can't hurt my feelings. But your words are appreciated.

But I'm always curious when I see people react so strongly to works of fiction - erotic, mainstream or otherwise. It seems to me that real life has far more example of things to get worked up about but fiction seems to really light a fire under people.

I read The Story of O only just last year and after all I'd heard a I expected something very shocking. I was disappointed. I see more on the nightly news worthy of banning than I read in that book.

It's a weird phenomenon here at Lit. The Loving Wives category is famous for its population of trolls who leave comments on the stories railing against women who would fuck another man besides her husband. Makes the mind boggle, it truly does.

As for the greater issue of reactions to such works as DaVinci Code and the HP books, I don't know where to begin. Our local schools have been beset by a brand of parent who want to ban dozens of books from the curriculum because they contain elements that these people perceive to be anti-Christian. In their view, such books are, by definition, anti-American and ought not to be taught in the public schools. The list of books they hate is so long and so confused that I can only conclude that these people never learned how to think for themselves.

 

[graceanne]

I truly believe some people don't understand that fiction is, well, fiction. They think everything a writer writes is a real-life experience. It blows my mind.

There is that. I've gotten quite a few people who think my stories are real. They're usually really disappointed to learn that I'm just me, and not anywhere near interesting as my stories.

 

[graceanne]

It's a weird phenomenon here at Lit. The Loving Wives category is famous for its population of trolls who leave comments on the stories railing against women who would fuck another man besides her husband. Makes the mind boggle, it truly does.

As for the greater issue of reactions to such works as DaVinci Code and the HP books, I don't know where to begin. Our local schools have been beset by a brand of parent who want to ban dozens of books from the curriculum because they contain elements that these people perceive to be anti-Christian. In their view, such books are, by definition, anti-American and ought not to be taught in the public schools. The list of books they hate is so long and so confused that I can only conclude that these people never learned how to think for themselves.

Have they ever read the bible? Song of songs, anyone?

Seriously, there are people in this world that just don't have enough to do with their time.

If you don't want your children reading a specific book, then DON'T LET THEM!

 

[Tio_Narratore]

It's a weird phenomenon here at Lit. The Loving Wives category is famous for its population of trolls who leave comments on the stories railing against women who would fuck another man besides her husband. Makes the mind boggle, it truly does.

As for the greater issue of reactions to such works as DaVinci Code and the HP books, I don't know where to begin. Our local schools have been beset by a brand of parent who want to ban dozens of books from the curriculum because they contain elements that these people perceive to be anti-Christian. In their view, such books are, by definition, anti-American and ought not to be taught in the public schools. The list of books they hate is so long and so confused that I can only conclude that these people never learned how to think for themselves.

Yes, MWY, I found it strange when I posted a story in the Loving Wives category and received what can only be described as "hate mail" over it. But as another author commented to me, "Why did they identify with the husband?"

 

[Keroin]

I truly believe some people don't understand that fiction is, well, fiction. They think everything a writer writes is a real-life experience. It blows my mind.

To be fair, some of the stories I've skimmed on Lit are really just a (bad) re-telling of something that happened the night before, and even skilled writers fall into the "bloodletting" trap, where their first piece is a thinly veiled autobiography but, yes, it is mind boggling.

I wish I had fictional K's life - she's quite a minx!

This was a comment on one of my stories.

That is farking brilliant! Love the spelling mistake, that says it all.

I also received an email, (which I did not respond to), with a solicitation to become email friends - "nothing more, nothing less" - from a person who spelled my username wrong.

It's a weird phenomenon here at Lit. The Loving Wives category is famous for its population of trolls who leave comments on the stories railing against women who would fuck another man besides her husband. Makes the mind boggle, it truly does.

As for the greater issue of reactions to such works as DaVinci Code and the HP books, I don't know where to begin. Our local schools have been beset by a brand of parent who want to ban dozens of books from the curriculum because they contain elements that these people perceive to be anti-Christian. In their view, such books are, by definition, anti-American and ought not to be taught in the public schools. The list of books they hate is so long and so confused that I can only conclude that these people never learned how to think for themselves.

The loving wives phenomena puzzles me. There are all kinds of incest stories that seem to get gobbled up without complaint and I find those far, far higher on the Ick scale than extra-marital sex.

Concerning Harry Potter, something else I found interesting was that the American publishing company for the series de-Britished it. They changed words such as "boot" to "trunk" and even the title, from the philosopher's stone to the sorcerer's stone, because they claimed American kids wouldn't like the British words and wouldn't have any idea what a philosopher is. Does anyone else find this hugely insulting?

People who want to ban books make me very nervous.

 

[Shankara20]

"What is it about "fiction" that people don't understand?"

What do you think?

I have found that lube helps.


oh


I see

"fiction"!


Never mind....

 

[Keroin]

"What is it about "fiction" that people don't understand?"



I have found that lube helps.


oh


I see

"fiction"!


Never mind....

Cheeky monkey!

Read any banned books lately?

 

[ZRT]

On the matter of religious complaints about various forms of fiction, you have to realize that some people literally view the world as a battleground between good and evil, with regular intervention in mortal affairs from both sides. This stripe of fundamentalist thinking tends to regard fiction which makes protagonists of magical characters as enemy propaganda, literally, and demonically inspired.

 

[DVS]

Most of my feedback is from submissive types who offer all sorts of praise and wish they were one of the characters in my story. Of course...I'm such a good writer and all, the characters just seem to bounce off the page.

But, there was this one person (I don't know if it was male of female), but this person seemed quite serious when they asked...no pleaded with me to "please stop the story. The slut has had enough, already! She can't take any more."

Seriously, it's just a fictional story. The slut doesn't really exist.

Oh, but don't tell my readers!



It's all slight of hand tricks. People believe a magician is making all of those things happen, too.

 

[bridgeburner]

What is it about "fiction" that people don't understand?

You're asking this about a group of people who believe the Bible is an inerrant, literal work of fact.

They already believe in magic and demons, so any magic that doesn't follow their concept of Christianity is necessarily evil, demonic, satanic and just plain bad for folks.



Seems like the only fiction they believe is fiction is mundane fiction --- non-supernatural.

I wonder how many of them think reality TV is real? (if they watch it, that is)

 

[Netzach]

What is it about "fiction" that people don't understand?

You're asking this about a group of people who believe the Bible is an inerrant, literal work of fact.

They already believe in magic and demons, so any magic that doesn't follow their concept of Christianity is necessarily evil, demonic, satanic and just plain bad for folks.



Seems like the only fiction they believe is fiction is mundane fiction --- non-supernatural.

I wonder how many of them think reality TV is real? (if they watch it, that is)

Dunno. But a lot of them apparently think Stephen Colbert is a conservative pundit.

 

[shy slave]

Some people give interesting feedback.

One of my stories which involves breast pain, had an anon comment that they could not imagine a sane person writing such things, nor a sane person doing them.

I was so proud to have invoked such a response

I do agree it can be hard for people to tell real life from fiction.

Then again there have been times when Lit has been my real life

 

[Homburg]

Concerning Harry Potter, something else I found interesting was that the American publishing company for the series de-Britished it. They changed words such as "boot" to "trunk" and even the title, from the philosopher's stone to the sorcerer's stone, because they claimed American kids wouldn't like the British words and wouldn't have any idea what a philosopher is. Does anyone else find this hugely insulting?

People who want to ban books make me very nervous.

This hurts me. We are surely doomed as a nation...

And, as an aside, I was entirely confused when I heard the title and wondered why the hell they called it a sorceror's stone instead of the philosopher's stone. I knew what a philosopher's stone was when I was nine years old.

 

[ZRT]

This hurts me. We are surely doomed as a nation...

And, as an aside, I was entirely confused when I heard the title and wondered why the hell they called it a sorceror's stone instead of the philosopher's stone. I knew what a philosopher's stone was when I was nine years old.

Marketing runs to the lowest common denominator. If fifty percent of your market gets 'Philosopher's stone' but seventy percent gets 'Sorceror's Stone', then they'll take the latter.

That said, there is an appalling amount of ignorance in this country.

 

[Keroin]

Marketing runs to the lowest common denominator. If fifty percent of your market gets 'Philosopher's stone' but seventy percent gets 'Sorceror's Stone', then they'll take the latter.

That said, there is an appalling amount of ignorance in this country.

What I find appalling is the assumption that American kids must be so stupid that they can't ask, "Mommy, what's a philosopher?" And one of the qualities I liked about Rowling's books was that she didn't talk down to kids. Sigh.

The dumbing down is happening everywhere, though. I was in the US, briefly, on my last jaunt home and when I used an ATM, from a well known bank, the options were not "deposit" or "withdrawal", they were, and I'm dead serious, "put money in" and "take money out". WTF?