Rules of Engagement - a poll for readers and writers

[leethet]

I've been reading, and trying to write, in a new-to-me fandom. This, and my archiving of my MFU stuff on AO3, has made me think about something.

One of the things I like about LJ is that it makes actual comments about as easy as it's possible to make them barring being face to face with an author after you've finished a story (well, easier than that - what if you hated it?). One of the things I've observed in my own reading behavior in this "new" fandom is my own commenting. Now, I don't finish about 90 percent of the stories I start to read (this is true of any fandom). Of the ones I finish, I find most to be just OK (keep in mind this includes my own [see earlier poll] so I hope I don't sound too awful). Because of this, that "kudos" button is the easiest thing in the world. It sends an accurately mild (in terms of my time investment) "this was OK" message to the author.

I like it and I don't like it.

I like it because it's the exact right level of involvement for a story I only sorta liked. If I really like something I leave a comment, because if I really like something, there's always something I have to say about it.

It echoes the "like" button on FB. This is why I don't like it (yes, I'm a hypocrite. Or just human). One of the things I don't like about FB is the pretense it allows of intimacy. Of engagement. It's an extension of those Christmas form letters - "Dear INSERT NAME HERE" followed by some boasting. It (FB) allows people to pretend to maintain relationships without any of the actual (to my old-fashioned mind) maintenance of those relationships.

In this way the "kudos" button is the same; it permits readers to feel like they've "done their part" (I don't, for the record, think readers are required to do squat for writers - just so that's clear) without having actually troubled to give real feedback. Then again, do people use it because they can't think of what to say, because they're lazy, because they're busy, because they're intimidated - or because, like me, they don't really like most stories enough to feel they merit more than a lazy, in-passing thumbs up (again, I'm not finding fault with any of these approaches, just wondering)?

So, a poll. And, as always, please elaborate in comments. The way writers and readers think about stories is endlessly fascinating to me.
[Poll #1974799]

Comments

Re: Reply deux

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

For someone who tries to write in a foreign language, as I do, criticism is useful, and the more public the better because it calls for other advices from different sources. So you know how your text is perceived by the average reader, not just by a single individual (pleonasm!) whose tastes and competences may be too personal to be very informative.

In my own language, on the contrary, I don't need external criticism; I know rather well to assess my achievements: if I am satisfied that means it must be good for I am the most ferocious censor I could be confronted to.

Re: Reply deux

[leethet.livejournal.com]

Which I think is another way of saying simply you are the only critic whose voice you're interested in hearing. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm not quite a good enough writer to feel like I can disregard criticism from a good source, but there aren't too many people I listen to. :-)

I entirely agree that more voices can be better than just one (although one qualified voice is worth a thousand unqualified voices) - one writing coach long ago said "If one person tells you to change it, don't worry. If a lot of people tell you to change it, change it." That's solid advice for someone whose aim is to communicate. It doesn't matter if you feel you have - if a lot of readers are telling you you haven't, you haven't.

Re: Reply deux

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

I value others' advices while writing in French but I don't trust them; it's totally different in English.

By the way I don't want to give the impression I am a real writer, either in French or in English. In French, outside my work, I have merely written a few poems, and in English, only two long stories, one in Man from UNCLE and the other in "The Professionals" fandom (this one, very long, is almost complete but it took me ten years!).

Re: Reply deux

[leethet.livejournal.com]

I value others' advices while writing in French but I don't trust them

Can you parse this for me? I'm not seeing the distinction between the two when it comes to writing advice.

Re: Reply deux

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

I mean I give them some consideration, especially if I like the adviser's person or his work, but I remain the sole arbiter "in fine".

Re: Reply deux

[leethet.livejournal.com]

I see - and that's absolutely as it should be. After all, your name goes on the work.

Re: Reply deux

[elmey.livejournal.com]

I think writing in a foreign language is one of the hardest things imaginable (for a writer). You need an editor (or beta) that has a sense of the nuance you want to convey, not just the superficial fact. It's hard work on both sides. But I'm fascinated by the way someone can use language in a slightly foreign way and sometimes get an effect that's just lovely.

Re: Reply deux

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

Well, my beta deliberately, limits her corrections to my remaining grammatical or lexical mistakes, not wanting to touch the style in any way (but after about two years of very competent teaching in that area); that's why I am so desirous to know how my text is "heard" by my English-speaking readers: I certainly intend to produce such or such effects, but how are they felt? I can't tell. It's completely different in French: I have acquired a kind of "musical ear" attuned to the French "melody", the more so since I started with poetry; sometimes I think I'm beginning to get it in English too but I can't be sure of it. I never have doubts in French: the sentence sounds right or not, is what I wanted to do or not, and it the answer is "not", I erase it and start over, again and again, till I achieve exactly what I wanted;

Re: Reply deux

[elmey.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. I use an "inner ear" when I'm writing (and reading) also. The rhythm of a sentence can convey information or emotion as much as the words do. It's hard. I have a tendency to misuse punctuation trying to guide the reader into my rhythm :)