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Mar. 18th, 2004 11:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timepiececlockI've given rants about this before, but... it always annoys me when authors say they'll write more if they get reviews.
I don't undertstand that kind of thinking at all... when I write I do so until I feel satified with what I've done, finished or not. Frequently not finsihed, but still I've done enough that I'm satisfied. I don't understand how people can finish or not finish a story based on someone else's opinion.
It seems... to lack writer's integrity. Like, it must not mean much to you to be writing it if you let other people's opinions determine how and if the story goes on. And since when I do write fic (precious little this last year, sadly) it just comes out and I feel like I have to write it, that it's impossible to ignore... the idea of not finishing it because people do or don't like it is alien to me. Encouragement helps, of course, but the actual motivation to write is entirely internal to me. Making it external seems... like it doesn't matter to you.
And plus, only writing more if you get reviews? Where's your pride in yourself? My pride is too stubborn to allow others to determine how my story goes.
The same goes with fics where the author invites reviewers to vote or decide on the pairing. I can see that as a challenge for the start of a fic, but once the story is underway it has a destination from the beginning in terms of characters. Or at least, it always has for me. If I'm going to write a Buffy/Spike fic, I am laying stuff down for that pairing as soon as the first paragraph, even if the romance doesn't come in until later. I couldn't possibly change it to Spike/Faith at the last minute. Not and keep my pride in my work at the same time. I'd have to start all over again with a whole different approach. Because a story is a living entity, and different pairings mean different entities, and it can't change on a whim. It goes where it wills.
I've had some fics where I intended to write a pairing and then turned it into friendship. My Harry Potter fics have often been like that. But still, the basis for the same relationship is there. To change it because my reviewers collectively preffered something else... I can't imagine what in your heart would allow you to do that. It's betraying the entity of the story, betraying what the story is.
I hope that doesn't sound weird. It's hard to explain my feelings on the subject without using metaphors. Probably because the process is all full of metaphors in my head and that's how I think of it.
I don't undertstand that kind of thinking at all... when I write I do so until I feel satified with what I've done, finished or not. Frequently not finsihed, but still I've done enough that I'm satisfied. I don't understand how people can finish or not finish a story based on someone else's opinion.
It seems... to lack writer's integrity. Like, it must not mean much to you to be writing it if you let other people's opinions determine how and if the story goes on. And since when I do write fic (precious little this last year, sadly) it just comes out and I feel like I have to write it, that it's impossible to ignore... the idea of not finishing it because people do or don't like it is alien to me. Encouragement helps, of course, but the actual motivation to write is entirely internal to me. Making it external seems... like it doesn't matter to you.
And plus, only writing more if you get reviews? Where's your pride in yourself? My pride is too stubborn to allow others to determine how my story goes.
The same goes with fics where the author invites reviewers to vote or decide on the pairing. I can see that as a challenge for the start of a fic, but once the story is underway it has a destination from the beginning in terms of characters. Or at least, it always has for me. If I'm going to write a Buffy/Spike fic, I am laying stuff down for that pairing as soon as the first paragraph, even if the romance doesn't come in until later. I couldn't possibly change it to Spike/Faith at the last minute. Not and keep my pride in my work at the same time. I'd have to start all over again with a whole different approach. Because a story is a living entity, and different pairings mean different entities, and it can't change on a whim. It goes where it wills.
I've had some fics where I intended to write a pairing and then turned it into friendship. My Harry Potter fics have often been like that. But still, the basis for the same relationship is there. To change it because my reviewers collectively preffered something else... I can't imagine what in your heart would allow you to do that. It's betraying the entity of the story, betraying what the story is.
I hope that doesn't sound weird. It's hard to explain my feelings on the subject without using metaphors. Probably because the process is all full of metaphors in my head and that's how I think of it.
