Write a controversial opinion

[Britva415]

Hot take:

If one is looking for a typographic solution to fix a storytelling problem, one still has a storytelling problem.

It's the words, not the formatting.

 

[PennyThompson]

Hot take:

If one is looking for a typographic solution to fix a storytelling problem, one still has a storytelling problem.

It's the words, not the formatting.

 

[Britva415]

View attachment 2571086

CHYOO stories are a different beast, so, my hot take doesn't apply to them

 

[PennyThompson]

CHYOO stories are a different beast, so, my hot take doesn't apply to them

I just want to write the Erotica version of Griffin and Sabine, is that so much to ask?

 

[Britva415]

I just want to write the Erotica version of Griffin and Sabine, is that so much to ask?

As a website maker in Multimedia Gulch in the late 90's, right before the first Dotcom crash, I worked with a designer who was an old hippie. He would quip that back when he went to art school, multimedia meant you sewed a button on the canvas.

 

[crookedletter]

I would just like to take this moment to congratulate everyone in this thread for reaching almost 20 pages of controversial opinions without, so far as I've seen, tearing each other apart. Good work everyone.

 

[Britva415]

I just want to write the Erotica version of Griffin and Sabine, is that so much to ask?

Good luck writing the LITerotica version of it!

This is 100% why I have that hot-take. The internet is not paper

 

[Statius]

I never heard of that before, but kinda sounds like, format wise, that the 'Story Of S' borrowed from it? A little? Concept wise? IDK. Could be talking out my ass, too.

 

[Britva415]

Another hot take:

Going 2295 words without identifying the gender of your narrator or MC is...

Well, normally I don't even get far enough to facepalm over it. I'm just out. Partly because a flaw like that is almost never the only one. But even if it's not, it's a big enough flaw all by itself that it can take me out.

It's like... I probably would read the story no matter what their gender is, but, not knowing what it is because the author can't have the presence of mind to state it makes for a shitty reading experience.

I really don't like the mental effort it takes to hold multiple versions of the story in mind for however long it takes to discover the line which finally reveals it. And I like even less the whiplash of believing I know the gender only to be wrenched into a different story when I find I guessed wrong. Again, I'm talking about when it's because the author just forgot to show it or tell it.

I'm not talking about stories where the ambiguity is a deliberate effect. (There's a whole discussion about this somewhere.) I'm talking about just plain forgetting that readers need facts to be narrated. Shown or told, I don't care—just don't assume mindreading.

 

[Britva415]

I bet it's similar to how the owner of the cat in Schrodinger's box feels.

 

[Statius]

I bet it's similar to how the owner of the cat in Schrodinger's box feels.

 

[SkyBubble]

The word "decidedly" is absolutely asinine.

I feel the same way about "that said."

 

[SkyBubble]

My metricated soul is quivering in outrage. There's not even an SI unit for 'boat'.

Cubit!

 

[SkyBubble]

if you write without ever thinking about it you're basically assuming that you have an innate talent that doesn't need any practice or polish.

I write first drafts without a lot of thought to get the story out. Then I think about it heavily when I go through it again.

 

[Britva415]

Going 2295 words without identifying the gender of your narrator or MC

Why, yes, that IS an oddly specific number!

 

[KittyOfSteele]

Another hot take:

Going 2295 words without identifying the gender of your narrator or MC is...

Well, normally I don't even get far enough to facepalm over it. I'm just out. Partly because a flaw like that is almost never the only one. But even if it's not, it's a big enough flaw all by itself that it can take me out.

It's like... I probably would read the story no matter what their gender is, but, not knowing what it is because the author can't have the presence of mind to state it makes for a shitty reading experience.

I really don't like the mental effort it takes to hold multiple versions of the story in mind for however long it takes to discover the line which finally reveals it. And I like even less the whiplash of believing I know the gender only to be wrenched into a different story when I find I guessed wrong. Again, I'm talking about when it's because the author just forgot to show it or tell it.

I'm not talking about stories where the ambiguity is a deliberate effect. (There's a whole discussion about this somewhere.) I'm talking about just plain forgetting that readers need facts to be narrated. Shown or told, I don't care—just don't assume mindreading.

So as long as it is < 2295 words it's fine. Got you!

 

[Britva415]

So as long as it is < 2295 words it's fine. Got you!

Heh. Got me.

What moved me to post was that I found that exceptionally excessive.

I didn't even count the paragraphs but ordinarily I would nope out after like five to ten, depending on paragraph length. This was at least three times that.

To the author's credit, the premise was good enough and the writing was good enough that I stuck with it far enough to finally get clued. And read the whole story.

This is rare, because (I might be repeating myself, not sure) this oversight is almost never the only, or even the worst, problem in a story which has it.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Another hot take:

Going 2295 words without identifying the gender of your narrator or MC is...

Well, normally I don't even get far enough to facepalm over it. I'm just out. Partly because a flaw like that is almost never the only one. But even if it's not, it's a big enough flaw all by itself that it can take me out.

It's like... I probably would read the story no matter what their gender is, but, not knowing what it is because the author can't have the presence of mind to state it makes for a shitty reading experience.

I really don't like the mental effort it takes to hold multiple versions of the story in mind for however long it takes to discover the line which finally reveals it. And I like even less the whiplash of believing I know the gender only to be wrenched into a different story when I find I guessed wrong. Again, I'm talking about when it's because the author just forgot to show it or tell it.

I'm not talking about stories where the ambiguity is a deliberate effect. (There's a whole discussion about this somewhere.) I'm talking about just plain forgetting that readers need facts to be narrated. Shown or told, I don't care—just don't assume mindreading.

 

[Britva415]

View attachment 2571176

Not 2295, but I bet I can find 10 stories from just the past couple of days which go for at least a third of the first page before they get around to letting it slip.

 

[NuclearFairy]

Not 2295, but I bet I can find 10 stories from just the past couple of days which go for at least a third of the first page before they get around to letting it slip.

I got curious, cause I couldn't actually remember stating the gender of my protagonist in my latest story. And there the love interest is called male, the antagonist is mentioned by a male name in the third paragraph, and there are no gay tags so it could be implied fairly early on that my protagonist is female, but it isn't confirmed until halfway through the very short story. As in, it might be less than the 2295 words you listed short. But, it can be hard sometimes to gender 1pv characters without being awkward, especially in such a short story. How do you do it for your 1pv stories?

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I got curious, cause I couldn't actually remember stating the gender of my protagonist in my latest story. And there the love interest is called male, the antagonist is mentioned by a male name in the third paragraph, and there are no gay tags so it could be implied fairly early on that my protagonist is female, but it isn't confirmed until halfway through the very short story. As in, it might be less than the 2295 words you listed short. But, it can be hard sometimes to gender 1pv characters without being awkward, especially in such a short story. How do you do it for your 1pv stories?

I looked at my 1P stories, and in all of them there is a conversation early on and a name is used. I suppose if you used unisex names it could be confusing, but I generally don't.

 

[NuclearFairy]

I looked at my 1P stories, and in all of them there is a conversation early on and a name is used. I suppose if you used unisex names it could be confusing, but I generally don't.

Yeah that's what I usually do too. It just didn't seem right for this story. Although, the antagonist does call her his slut fairly early on. And most people use that term for women, although I have seen it used to degrade bottoms as well.

 

[Statius]

I got curious, cause I couldn't actually remember stating the gender of my protagonist in my latest story. And there the love interest is called male, the antagonist is mentioned by a male name in the third paragraph, and there are no gay tags so it could be implied fairly early on that my protagonist is female, but it isn't confirmed until halfway through the very short story. As in, it might be less than the 2295 words you listed short. But, it can be hard sometimes to gender 1pv characters without being awkward, especially in such a short story. How do you do it for your 1pv stories?

If this your Halloween story, it was well done!

 

[NuclearFairy]

If this your Halloween story, it was well done!

Thank you, and yes.

 

[Statius]

Thank you, and yes.

. How ya been?