astridv | Something that could almost pass for a rant...

Something that could almost pass for a rant...

Well, it's more of an observation, really.

There's this particular response to fanfic criticism, which seems to be getting quite popular: "You're not capable of understanding this story. You're just saying the characterization/style/whatever is off because you hate [insert pairing of choice]."

I'm tired of hearing this argument (using the word in the loosest sense here.) All the while you could just as well say, "You're more willing to ignore above points because you're a [insert pairing of choice]-shipper."

Just saying.

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Have you been reading my highly dysfunctional Inbox?

You're not capable of understanding this story. You're just saying the characterization/style/whatever is off because you hate [insert pairing of choice] was overwhelming message.

To be honest, I never thought of this "You're more willing to ignore above points because you're a [insert pairing of choice]-shipper." as a response. It's much more classy than what I was saying. Which is polite but firm variations on "Fuck Off".

>Have you been reading my highly dysfunctional Inbox?

Sigh. Wasn't even necessary. I ventured away from the trodden paths of my friendslist and took a stroll through LJland. And it's not like this was the first time something like this happened. It just seems to be getting more frequent. :for lack of time, points to reply to cerisaye's post:

>Which is polite but firm variations on "Fuck Off".

:grin: There's a polite way of saying that?

:grin: There's a polite way of saying that?

Please fuck off and have a nice day.

What? Doesn't work for you? It's amazing how that will bring virtually all correspondence to a dead end.

I agree with you. I am getting fed up with the way everything in fanficland seems to come down to pairing, and every fic is therefore seen through the distorted lense of either pro or anti [insert pairing]. I like to think that, although of course I have my shipper preferences (mostly slash), I can read any fic and judge it on its merits as a piece of work. I want to have my eyes opened to new possibilities and read good meaty stories, to find different writers, and not merely to feed my preference for certain pairings/characters.

It is daft to dismiss criticism of stories, as happened to yseultdb as pairing bias. I used to think BBF would be a haven from the flame wars, a place where like-minded fans could read and rec happily based on merit not ship. Sadly this is no longer the case.

Thanks for friending me. I didn't know you had an LJ! : )

>I agree with you. I am getting fed up with the way everything in fanficland seems to come down to pairing, and every fic is therefore seen through the distorted lense of either pro or anti [insert pairing].

wordwordword

>although of course I have my shipper preferences (mostly slash)

Who of us hasn't. And nothing wrong with it, either. It's just a matter of keeping things in perspective.

> I used to think BBF would be a haven from the flame wars, a place where like-minded fans could read and rec happily based on merit not ship. Sadly this is no longer the case.

Until very recently, it was. I don't know whether it's an influx of newbies who don't get the "politely disagreeing" policy, or whether the shippers are still up in arms from the latest kerfuffles. And I don't care. I hope this kind of thing won't go on much longer. And if it does, I'll bring it up for onlist debate (what, do I see people roll their eyes ;o).) The list is about fics, not ships. And in the first place it's supposed to be for readers, not writers.

>Thanks for friending me. I didn't know you had an LJ! : )
Thanks for friending me back :). Yeah, it's brand-new, but I don't plan to post much.

Word.

Which maybe why, despite writing a lot of fic with pairings (mind you, UC most of the time), I tend to comment more on genfic.

It's not worth it to me to get into fights when I think that most shippy writers who write, read, or watch for one ship and one ship only suffer from characterization problems.

The lens of extreme shipping seems to distort the pairing, leads to short cuts (Step 1, Underpants, Step 3, True Love!), and leads to forced and cliched actions with the secondary characters, all of which seem even more out of character than the members of the pairing.

Hmm. I really doubt my coffeeless self is making ANY sense.

>The lens of extreme shipping seems to distort the pairing, leads to short cuts (Step 1, Underpants, Step 3, True Love!), and leads to forced and cliched actions with the secondary characters, all of which seem even more out of character than the members of the pairing.

At least sometimes. I don't want to generalize; I've read plenty of shipperfic that I thought was perfectly in character. But when it's not, it should be possible to point it out without getting hit over the head with a blunt object. And even when I'm wrong, it would be nice if people could just point out the flaws in the argumentation by giving counter-arguments (like they did on the list itself, in the case of the Ever After discussion...) Everything else just says, "Hi, I'm fresh out of arguments."

>Hmm. I really doubt my coffeeless self is making ANY sense.

Makes perfect sense to my sleep-deprived self.

Step 1, Underpants, Step 3, True Love!

Bwah! Gonna have to ask you if I can use this exact quote at OBAFU. Ain't it the truth?

Sure!

And man, I've watched way, way too much South Park in my life.

I'm willing to indulge most pairings if the author can sell them. Problem is, a lot of authors just won't try. They want the pairing so bad they'll overlook little things like plausible characterization in order to get it. It's lazy, and when you call them on it, they're more likely than not to respond exactly the way you said.

Yeah, I'll give most pairings at least a try as well. I just find that often the fics are just about the ship, without much else going on. And simply pairing up two random characters doesn't make a story for me. (With the exception of my own OTP, obviously ;o).)

BTW, anything in the works in the vein of Regression or Tara Incognita? Now those are great, fleshed out stories, long and gripping. Need more!

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Something that could almost pass for a rant...

Timely Observation/Rant

Re: Timely Observation/Rant

Polite but firm variations on "Fuck Off"

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

LOL!

Re: LOL!

A-freakin'-men!

Re: A-freakin'-men!