grrrr

[zinnith]

I'm not usually prone to fandom wank, but I just have a few things to say regarding the mckay_sheppard situation of the last days.

If you know me, you also know that I like constructive criticism. I like it when people let me know about my mistakes so that I can learn from them. I like to know whether or not my stories work for people. I like to know what works and what doesn't. Seeing as English is not my first language, I like to know about my spelling mistakes, my grammar mistakes, pretty much all the mistakes I make, because that's how I learn how not to do the same mistakes again.

I like doing the same for other writers. I like to help my friends make their stories better. If someone asks me for help, I'm happy to give it. It makes me happy to know that people value my opinion so much that they'll take my advice under consideration.

But something that's never ever okay is mockery. If you have a problem with another person's writing style, you have two choices. You can choose not to read the story, or you can choose to let the writer know how you feel the story could be improved in a nice way.

But if you instead choose to mock the story, you send the message that you find yourself superior to the other writer and the only thing you will achieve is to make her feel bad about herself, and maybe even stop writing altogether.

Writing is a personal thing and it is my firm opinion that you should always, always write for yourself. You should write the things you want to write, not the things your readers want you to write. That's how we, as individuals, keep our love of writing alive. That's how we, as a writing community, keep the diversity of our writing alive.

I'm not really familiar with the way the whole thing started. I know the basics, that some people apparently had problems with the length of another writer's stories.  And that's fine, everyone is allowed to have their own opinion. There are, however, good and bad ways to express that opinion. What makes me very disappointed and sad is that I have been a big fan of some of the writers who have chosen to take part in the mockery. They have inspired me a lot in the past, and I expect more from them.

We all have a responsibility towards each other to keep our fandom a place where we can have fun together, where everyone can feel like they are welcome. We don't want an elitist fandom where only a few people dare to post stories. We owe it to each other and to ourselves to encourage other writers and help them improve their writing.

Of course, we also owe it to each other to listen to advice and constructive criticism. That's how we can keep the quality of SGA-stories as high as it is. But mockery is not the way to go. 


Okay, rant over. Feel free to discuss.

Comments

[tarlanx]

I've come in on the tail end of this fandom wank. I think I know what it is all about and I can agree with you. It wasn't the place of other writers to mock someone just because they were aggravated by the other writer's posting style - even though I really, truly understand their reasons after one 'story' was posted on a daily basis as a few lines at a time.

JEEZ! Just imagine what that would be like if I'd posted my 40,000 word Critical Error fic three sentences per day!

I got pissed off with it and simply stopped reading that writer's posts. I suppose, what I (and these others who mocked the writer) should have done was made a complaint to the moderator(s) of the comm. They might have then had a word with the writer and none of this would have happened.

Apart from my own LJ and mcsheplets, which is intentionally set up for FICLETS, I try not to post small ficlets (under 600 words) to a comm until I have two or three I can post together.

[the-cephalopod.livejournal.com]

I too understand the reasons behind this and, like yourself, simply started ignoring the posts in question. You are right - there is a right way and a wrong way to deal with such a situation. As far as I'm concerned, the internet is a free resource for all. As long as you're not breaking the rules of a particular comm, you should be free to post whatever you like. If others disagree with you, then they are free to tell you and/or make a complaint to the mods who can then change the rules, or not, as they see fit. You are also right that there is such a thing as common courtesy and I do think that the author in question did herself no favours by not listening to people suggestions re. the length/frequency of her posts. But this is really no excuse for being openly mocked...

On a less serious note, I hope your Wraith is playing nice with your 2 Sheppards...

cep xxx

[tarlanx]

Yeah...from what I learned, the author had been asked politely to roll her small posts up into a single post every few days rather than posting 25-40 words a day.

I think what was as annoying to others (so I am told) was that the majority of those 25-40 word posts made little sense as they came without context. I suppose it would be like me picking out a sentence or two from one of my stories and posting just that.

As for my Wraith...well, he had ideas of eating John but Replicator!John stepped in in time to save him :-D

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

Yes, I can understand their reasons too. I didn't read the offending story myself, so I really can't say anything about it. I do agree with you though, if it had been me, I would have waited until the story was complete and posted it as one story.

However, the mocking "stories" left a bad taste in my mouth, especially as it seems like the mods had already contacted the writer in question and were working on a solution to the problem.

Hopefully there will be clearer rules for the comm so that situations like this can be avoided in the future.

[tarlanx]

I suppose the problem was that the moderators knew feelings were starting to run high but didn't act fast enough in this instance because, technically, the author was posting within the rules of the community.

I'm hoping there will be clearer rules - most archives/comms ask for a minimum of 100 words. The only comm that is different is mcsheplets which is specifically geared to short stories with no minimum word count but a preferred maximum word count of 500 - though they won't complain as long as the story stays under 1000 words.