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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
Both. *g* If I'm about to read a recommendation, I expect that the person doing it actually likes the story and I hope that it shows in the rec itself. What was it that was so great, touched the reccer in a certain way or impressed the reccer this much? From the actual "rec"-part of a recommendation I want to learn what caused the enthusiasm over the story 'cause that's usually the story's strong suit, no matter if it's characterization, choice of words, pacing, mood or simply a certain scenario that simply appealed to the reccer.
But *if* there are things that bothered the reccer, I want to know about them as well, simply to know what to expect. A recommendation is mostly a very subjective affair and things that bothered the reccer might not bother me as much though I have to know about them in the first place in order to be able to decide this. Chances are good that if I like the same things a particular reccer likes in a story I will dislike the same things he or she disliked.
While I like to "feel" the enthusiasm in the rec-part, having the not-so-great parts mentioned is enough. If the part of "things that bothered me" gets longer and is worded more passionate than the positive part, there's something seriously wrong with the recommendation. *G*
Don't laugh, I've actually read this kind of recs and came to the conclusion that it was rather a case of liking a few certain things very, very much in a story that the reccer, over all, didn't particularly like as a whole. So it was more a "didn't really like the story but felt very enthusiastic about a certain point/part of it" than "really loved the story but found a few minor things I disliked".
no subject
I've run across quite a few stories where there was one part, or one aspect of it, that really stood out for me, but the rest wasn't that great. Of course, I don't generally rec those...