Re: :Memo: The State Of The Lists -- The (Honest) Coward's Reply

["C S Armitage" <soren_nyrond@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I was waiting to see if anyone else came back on this before I launched out,
but ...

It seesm to me it comes down to which you'd prefer, an honest person telling
you your fic stinks higher than rotten kippered herring, or a silence that
you can interpret as meaning is "good enough".
Myself, I'd rather keep my illusions. I squeak from experience -- yes, one
or two people have e'd me off-list to make positive comments, but the
on-list comments have got to the level of one per episode posted, and
usually from the same round of people. I'm not complaining -- they say no
news is good news. Presumably, people in general tolerate the rot I write,
and one or two put their heads over the parapet to say so. But "honest
feedback" that tells me "You're crap" -- for one thing, it would be a signal
to stop wiritng at once. A writer is only a real writer is someone reads
them. A writer needs only one reader. I get the list in digests: I know
most of you get it in individual messages: that means, if you don't like a
story-line or a writer, you simply delete his/r message.

Don't get me wrong, I agree it's hard to improve without "honest
feedback" -- but isn't that why most of you writing guys use betas and the
like, to pre-check for quality, plot-holes, and inconsistencies ? I don't,
because I've (almost) always written "first-and-final-draft" style, and
because I hate rewriting. But also because imagine how I'd feel if seven
parts into soemthing, I was told it lacked -- whatever --. Effort wasted:
abandon project -- let the *real* writers (and most of them, Cilia, can beat
me into a pulp any day of any week you name) get on with it.

'Nuff said -- back to the Lurking Pit.

Soren, Nyrond & Lurker.


----- Original Message -----
> Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2001 13:32:36 -0000
> From: "Cilia" <cilia@xxxxx>
> Subject: Memo: The State Of The Lists
>
> Greetings one and all,
> I'm writing this to address the status of the lists, namely
> BuffyWantsWillow and our mother list BuffyLovesWillow. This has been
> bothering me for quite some times and I really need to get these ideas and
> thoughts down.
>
<SNIPPED>
>
> Second order of business:
> Feedback, not the lack of it rather the lack of honest feedback. This
topic
> has been raised before, but never publicly to my knowledge. I've been with
> the list almost since it's birth and I've gotten a wee bit tired of the
lack
> critique in the feedback I get. I hope that other writers share this view
> with me. This is what I propose; that group of people take on the
> responsibility of giving honest feedback to writers, not flaming or
anything
> just an honest opinion, point on plot holes, lack of character development
> and so forth, it's hard to improve your story when you never get that kind
> of feedback.
>
<SNIPPED>
>
> With regards,
> Cilia, writer