In string theory, the universe is given as being composed on a gigantic membrane, a large flat surface that ripples, flows, and in some cases, runs into other membranes like it, causing the universes (yes, in string theory there are multiple universes) to collide. If you watch Fringe, you know that funky things happen when universes collide, like what happened in last week's episode, Jacksonville.
Yeah, I know, string theory. Something you probably thought would never be mentioned on this blog. But it's interesting stuff, though, really. If you are looking for a book, I recommend The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene. Good stuff.
Back out in the real world, we don't necessarily have worlds colliding on a quantum level, but I at least have my internet life and my real life colliding quite a bit this week over the matter of reviews.
Normally I'm pretty open about the fact that I lead this 'other life' on the internet. I write a blog that I love to tell everyone about. I use Facebook. I Skype. I write a lot of fanfiction. And, perhaps more importantly about the fanfiction, I review other people's stuff. Not as much anymore as I probably should in order to remain an active and participating member of my community, but enough. And I start running into trouble when people from my real life outside the internet tell me they'd like me to read their stories and review them.
Okay, that's not the troubling part. The troubling part is when I read them and I don't like them.
It's one thing to get a review from someone you don't know saying "I didn't like this for reasons A, B, and C listed below" and another thing entirely when you get a review from someone you DO know saying "I don't like your story for reasons A, B, and C listed below." When someone asks you to read something in person you feel obligated to like it and say nice things.
Especially troubling is when the person you're reviewing for is older than you (so theoretically you should be defering to them in matters of style and expierience) and you have more experience in the online community. I've been writing (and publishing, the publishing-and-exposing-for-critique part is important) online for six years -- the person in question has been writing and publishing online, as far as I can tell, for two.
Let me explain for the fanfiction laypeople in the audience-- In the online community, because many participants lack what in the real world might be called credentials to show that they're experinced in the field and because the age of the participants ranges across such a wide continuum, legitimacy is defered to those members of the community who have been participating the longest. I've been writing for six years. I have well over three hundred reviews on those stories, with several of them having a chapter to review ratio of 1 to 20. Chapter to review ratios mean that not only have a lot of people read it, but a lot of people have liked it enough to review. It's one thing to have a hundred chapters and six hundred reviews -- that's six reviews a chapter. Nothing special. It's another thing to have twelve chapters and 150 reviews. That's twelve reviews a chapter, a much more respectable number. The LOTR rewrite is averaging seven or eight reviews a chapter, not surprising given that the fandom is large and the original population has moved on to writing and reviewing other things.
Ergo, six years of writing fanfic and review ratios like that give me...well, I don't know, something like a bachelor's degree, maybe even a master's degree equivalent in fanfiction. At least that's what I like to think of it as.
And so we're at a bit of an impass. I'm supposed to defer to her in real life, but in online life, she should be defering to me. Meaning it's going to be hard for her to take my critique and it's going to be hard for me to give it. I don't want to write a long and disinterested review because for reasons of online etiquette no one gives those disinterested reviews and for reasons of proximity I don't want to tell her flat out that I didn't like it because then she can come up to me in person and say "Why?"
I'm also having the same problem not with fanfiction but with editing and workshopping we're supposed to be doing for my Writing Essays course. This week we turned in copies of our essays to our workshop groups and this afternoon we'll be getting together to discuss revisions. There are three other people in my group.
I had no problem finishing and editing two of the essays.
The third was a disaster. Okay, maybe I'm overstating a little bit. The first two were funny, relatable. The third was...an essay. We had a topic, and Essayist Number Three wrote about his topic. It was neither funny nor engaging nor even very well written. It was words on a page, and they weren't even cleverly placed. And I don't know how I'm going to tell him that in workshop today after I'm in raptures about the other two essays.
Anyway, we'll report back this afternoon and tell you how it went. Meanwhile, I think I'm going to type up my notes to my online/real-life freind and see how rocky that road gets. Maybe worlds colliding won't have to be a diaster after all.
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Part I of II;
ReplyDeleteI am not sure I would agree with much of what you say, Merc. I think you are seeking to apply a notion to fanfic which, while common elsewhere, is not applicable to fiction in general and fanfic in particular.
>> When someone asks you to read something in person you feel obligated to like it and say nice things.
I realize here you are using the second person to denote NOT the second person, but rather a generic statement ... which translates to "I think that I ..." but I would disagree with that thesis. As can be inferred from this very response, I do not think one should necessarially say nice things to one's friends about their work.
I am, as I have said on my own blog, not reviewing YOU. I have reviewed you once or twice - I said I would like any daughter I had to be like you. But here I am reviewing your work.
Now, of course, I am an insensitive bastard and I tend to prize truth over everything else. My response is always "Why did you ask for comment if you couldn't take it, pansy?" if people get bent out of shape. Even with my insensitivity, I can be a little tactful.
Not with you, of course - you are, when you put this stuff out there - being a writer first and foremost. I could write "Merc, this is terrible" and (provided I justified it) you wouldn't have a problem with it.
That is, of course, pretty close to a compliment in itself.
While broadly agreeing your metrics for gauging FanFic authority (time in fandom, amount written, number of reviews, review density) I think all of these are purely artificial, created by the community (and often by those who themselves HAVE such impressive metrics). Of course, you are discussing this as a community issue, not a quality of art issue - but I think the two are closer than you think.
Part II of II;
ReplyDelete"Authority" in writing in an illusionary concept - it is based purely on SURRENDERED authority. So, someone might say "Merc has more experience than me and has written many stories which have many reviews - I should listen." Equally, though, someone could say "I hate what Merc writes - why should I listen to her?"
I think your analysis works insofar as we assume there is a single objective to fanfiction (or, indeed, writing) - that is, to gain the metrics of which you speak (so, longevity in the genre showing a continued interest, experience gained by many stories, popularity shown by multiple reviews). Basically, the thesis is that success in fanfic is based purely on getting READ by READERS.
There are many people (and I might be one of them) who say the exercise of FanFic is not JUST (or even primarially) about getting read, it is rather in being written. So, one tells the stories one wants to tell - even if they only find a small niche market which means little reviews.
Of course, none of this means I think your thesis is necessarially wrong - rather I think it only works when applied to a particular interpretation of fanfic, which is one I might disagree with. I think also that the idea of authority within fiction is one which is difficult to quantify - which is what you have attempted to do here. Authority (in my view) in fictional writing is based purely on whether someone WANTS to listen or not - and that MIGHT be influenced by longevity etc. Then again, on FF.net; how many fangirls check to see if you have 100+ reviews on all 30+ of the stories you have written over the last 5+ years? They just judge the quality of the review and move on.
And I guess that would be my thesis - authority in writing is determined by an individual judgment of the quality of the sample. We defer to those who make good points well, tell good stories better, etc. This applies to BOTH reviews and stories.
Hence, I always listen when you speak. I am simply confident enough to not automatically agree.
And ... speaking of fangirls .... How do your metrics deal with the implied greater authority of a fangirl who has written 250+ stories, each with 300+ reviews (and a review ratio of 1:100 or more because they are single-shot) over a period of 8 years ..... and all of them are badly-written, explicit, virtually identical (perhaps slash) romance / lemon pieces? :)
OH! I missed this (although I meant to comment);
ReplyDelete>> Especially troubling is when the person you're reviewing for is older than you (so theoretically you should be defering to them in matters of style and expierience)
Garbage. Never defer to anyone because they are older. Idiotic idea. Defer to someone because they are RIGHT. No other reason.
FROM FELF (had trouble with my comment profile for this...)
ReplyDeleteThere's not a lot that I would add to Darknight's comments and I particularly agree with his last one about "defer to someone because they are RIGHT" not because of how old they are.
The key to that, I think, is respect. You may not like the work, but if you can balance your review (can you find something you did like?). Start with something you like then get into what you didn't. Saying you didn't like something and giving reasons is helpful - as opposed to people who just say, "this stinks."
If you are honest and respectful then the person may not like what you have to say, but should appreciate the honesty.
Now, this will not apply to everyone. There are some people who will take it as a personal attack no matter what. All you can do is preface your feedback with the fact that the critique is on the work, not the person (also as DK said).
As for fanfiction "authority," well, I'm not sure about that... I think someone's length of time is part of it, I think the quality of the reviews counts perhaps more than the quantity. And it think it is important that the writer's work be high quality (as evidenced by quality reviews) but that the writer should also have the abilty to offer insightful, useful reviews for others.
Does that make sense?
Not sure if any of this will be helpful, but you did ask for thoughts. I never promised mine would make sense.