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I need a life, part 495,746
Pertaining to the previous SPN post, a couple of links to interesting discussions on race and gender issues in SPN:
Letter to Eric Kripke
On fannish objections to race/gender discussions of SPN
What I should be doing at the moment is working on my graphic novel script, which is soundly kicking my ass today. Obviously, I'm having some trouble maintaining proper focus. Also, I just realized it's already the 23rd and I still owe![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
stargateficrec two recs each in the Sheppard and Sheppard/McKay friendship categories before the end of the month. Oops.
Hey, a question for everybody: When you rec stories, do you feel compelled to point out the flaws in your rec (making it more like a review, I suppose), or do you try to remain positive?
I find myself taking a different approach when I'm reccing things on my journal vs. at a public rec site likestargateficrec or stargategenrec. In my role as "public" reccer, I really do try to do all-positive recs -- which sometimes means finding things to rec that I really don't have any complaints about, or sometimes forcing myself to avoid mentioning the issues that I might have had with something I'm reccing. (Spelling/grammar mistakes, an ending I didn't like, etc.) I suppose that it seems unfair to bias a reader against something beforehand, when the item that bothered me might not bother them at all.
On my journal, though, I'm usually a lot more honest -- I still wouldn't rec something I didn't feel was worthy of it, obviously, but I do tend to mention things that bugged me about the story as well as things I thought were brilliant. The difference ... I guess that it's a matter of my journal being my own private space, and because it *does* make me a little uncomfortable to rec things I'm not 100% positive about without mentioning the flaws, I'd rather preserve my own comfort in my own journal. On public rec sites, I'm less concerned about my own comfort and more interested in pointing readers at a fic without predisposing them to look for the flaws in it.
As a reccer, what about you? Or is it even something you've thought about?
As a reader, do you prefer an honest, "warts and all" review, or would you rather go into a story with a more positive impression in mind? Or do you even read a rec beyond simply finding links to click on? (Which is actually the approach I take, more often than not. I'll skim the summary part of a rec to find out if the story sounds like my cup of tea, but I don't usually read beyond that because I'd rather be unspoiled.)
As a writer, do you object to having recs of your stories that aren't all-positive? Would you prefer not to be recced at all rather than have your story memorialized for all time as "Great characterization, terrible grammar"? (Me, I don't mind a bit, just for the record. Well, I might gripe in private about a review that I thought was really, truly unfair, but mostly I'm just interested to find out what people have to say about my stories.)
Letter to Eric Kripke
On fannish objections to race/gender discussions of SPN
What I should be doing at the moment is working on my graphic novel script, which is soundly kicking my ass today. Obviously, I'm having some trouble maintaining proper focus. Also, I just realized it's already the 23rd and I still owe
stargateficrec two recs each in the Sheppard and Sheppard/McKay friendship categories before the end of the month. Oops.Hey, a question for everybody: When you rec stories, do you feel compelled to point out the flaws in your rec (making it more like a review, I suppose), or do you try to remain positive?
I find myself taking a different approach when I'm reccing things on my journal vs. at a public rec site like
stargateficrec or stargategenrec. In my role as "public" reccer, I really do try to do all-positive recs -- which sometimes means finding things to rec that I really don't have any complaints about, or sometimes forcing myself to avoid mentioning the issues that I might have had with something I'm reccing. (Spelling/grammar mistakes, an ending I didn't like, etc.) I suppose that it seems unfair to bias a reader against something beforehand, when the item that bothered me might not bother them at all.On my journal, though, I'm usually a lot more honest -- I still wouldn't rec something I didn't feel was worthy of it, obviously, but I do tend to mention things that bugged me about the story as well as things I thought were brilliant. The difference ... I guess that it's a matter of my journal being my own private space, and because it *does* make me a little uncomfortable to rec things I'm not 100% positive about without mentioning the flaws, I'd rather preserve my own comfort in my own journal. On public rec sites, I'm less concerned about my own comfort and more interested in pointing readers at a fic without predisposing them to look for the flaws in it.
As a reccer, what about you? Or is it even something you've thought about?
As a reader, do you prefer an honest, "warts and all" review, or would you rather go into a story with a more positive impression in mind? Or do you even read a rec beyond simply finding links to click on? (Which is actually the approach I take, more often than not. I'll skim the summary part of a rec to find out if the story sounds like my cup of tea, but I don't usually read beyond that because I'd rather be unspoiled.)
As a writer, do you object to having recs of your stories that aren't all-positive? Would you prefer not to be recced at all rather than have your story memorialized for all time as "Great characterization, terrible grammar"? (Me, I don't mind a bit, just for the record. Well, I might gripe in private about a review that I thought was really, truly unfair, but mostly I'm just interested to find out what people have to say about my stories.)
no subject
When I rec, I am aware that I'm asking people to trust my judgment on these stories. Therefore, if I have caveats, I give them, because I don't want them to think, e.g., "this story had a lot of comma splices, therefore, Isis doesn't notice comma splices."
When I read from recs (rarely) there are certain things I want to know, and certain things I don't care about. If a rec tells me that the characterization is brilliant but the plot is stupid, well, I read for plot, so I'll know to give the story a pass. Conversely, if a rec tells me that the plot is brilliant but the characterization dubious, I am more likely to read - and more likely to respect the author of the rec when I think, "damn, that characterization sucked," or possibly, more likely to think, "huh, I can see why X didn't like the characterization, because I know she refuses to believe that Rodney's anything other than a giant woobie, but I certainly liked this."
When my story is recced, I am happy just to have it recced, and I am always interested in knowing what weaknesses other people see, so I can shore them up for the next story. Although I admit that I was boggled at one rec which complained (nonspecifically) about the grammar in one of my stories, because that's one area in which I generally don't have problems!
no subject
One of the reasons why I love discussions of this nature is because it makes me examine my own assumptions and discover interesting things that hadn't occurred to me before -- in this case, it's just how much the way a person uses recs influences the sort of recs they give. In my case, I tend to take them as a reading list without giving much consideration to their content, so I hadn't really thought that a lot of people do appreciate a more balanced and analytical rec.
I really do love having the weaknesses in my own stories pointed out (however will I learn otherwise?) and I'm not shy about making similar comments on TV and movies and published books ... but I do tend to shy away when it comes to fic, except to perhaps skirt around an issue with the story in fairly general terms. Which is something that I might ought to work on a bit; thanks!