Re: Re: Something I've noticed

["myself03" <myself03@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey,

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jay 
To: buffywantswillow@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
Sent: Friday, June 27, 2003 3:02 PM
Subject: Re: Something I've noticed


I wasn't going to reply to this post but after thinking about it I 
changed my mind.When writing Buffy/Willow fic it shouldn't matter 
whether the author is male or female, especially if the writing is 
about the relationship and not just the sex. There's good writing 
and awful writing by both sexes.
>>>Amen to that...I think this kind of sexism really takes people nowhere...If i go by that logic, most of the straight fic out there must be good, since they're mostly written by heretossexuals....I just don't see that...ANd i think one of the biggest example that sex doesn't mean quality can beseem when we take in consideration that two of the best B/W ...actually, not only B/W , but two of the best fic writers i had the opportunity to readare male....A story is a story, what changes is how it is going to be told....People have different styles, different points of view, and that is going to reflect in their writing, but the story remains the same....To some sex is the reason, to others is a consequence and so it goes....What defineshow a writer is going to approach a story isn't their gender, but his/hersview on things... Which is not to say that experience doesn't count, of course that lesbians/bi and such have a better insight becasue they live trought it, but that is just a one minute advance....In the end what makes a fic good is how hard you willing to work on it...if you're a good, bad or excellent writer depends on your work, not your gender....And i'm with you on the relationship aspect too...I dunno, but when it comes to B/W it's a lot more about the relationship...Sex is there, but it's just a small part of the whole....


But...is there a bias against male writers in this genre? Should 
the author not admit to being male or female?

>> I dunno....I don't think it matters really...Even more so in the net, where nicks are more important than names....To tell you the truth, i don'tknow the gender of a lot of writers ...I know the nicks, the style, the fics, but not really the gender...Sometimes you can assume, but mostly i don't think it's that important....

I posted a fic a while back called Stones In The Road. I mentioned 
in a post thanking people for their generous feedback that I was a 
male. Soon after that the feedback on that fic dried up. Now that 
could've been because the story had been completed, most of the 
members had already read the story or maybe they liked it early on 
but didn't like the ending or your guess is as good as mine. But 
maybe just admitting that I wasn't a lesbian made some readers 
dismiss the fic.
>>>I read your fic and i even send fb on it awhile ago and quite frankly i can't imagine your gender affecting in any way the story acceptance....That was one of the best season seven fics i had the chance to read...I believe that i , as many others here, like the earlier versions of Buffy Willow and tend to use them on their stories, but you wrote a fic about B/W and kept it true to the chapter development and stage they're in season seven...That was very brave and i admire that a lot...You could have taken the easy way out in the end, and i congratulate you for not doing that...I'm a big fan of fluffy, romantic fic with a happy ending, so i found myself quite surprised by how much i enjoyed this story..You gave us a happy ending, but still you didn't...The afterwords didn't promise a they lived happily...it promissed alots of tears and then( thus the need for a sequel) , maybe a definitive end...and that was good...It felt true somehow to how season seven turned out....That all being said, i cant' really think of a reason for thefeedback decrease...The story is truly excellent, and i just refuse to believe that the gender thing would matter, so....

I've started a sequel to that fic but got a little discouraged 
wondering about this and haven't really got that far into it. Plus 
I write fic with several ships in mind so I have other projects to 
keep myself busy.

> God Please don't get discouraged...The first think i thought when i was done reading the fic was how much we needed a sequel...A happy sequel where Will gets complete happiness for real, like she deserves....And i'm surei'm not alone in that...Gosh, now i'm all happy to know that a sequel is coming....Go back to it and know that there are lost of people who want moreon that story, even if very few actually speak up....

So I'm curious, do some people dismiss male writers if they write in 
this genre? There is some truth in the original post/complaint 
about not being able to write about something you haven't 
experienced. You can be honest - it's not like I'm going to give up 
writing if people start throwing things at me. :)  

>>> Well, I wish i could tell you that the male dismissal thing isn't true, but sadly it is...MAybe not here, at least not until now, but it happens in a few circles....I just stumbled upon a discussion( somewhere else) afew days ago and the general idea is that the only reason that some men would support a female couple on tv is because they like to see two women getting it on together...Needless to say, i was so no happy with that point ofview...Quite frankly if i wanted to see girls making out all i have to do is go out with a few friends,. rent porn or something and i would have loved the W/T thing, which to me was more of a turn off .... I like a couple because i like a couple, i like B/W the same way i once liked Lois and Clark or Ross and RAchel and such...Not because they're female, but because i love the characters....Still, that's the way some people are always going to see it, as a fetish or something....

As or the not being able to write thing...As I said before, it's an advantage, not a necessity...Aliens, dinossaurs, monsters and such...there aren't many experienced people in these areas, but still...The same go for historical pieces and such....

Well, that was it, i rambled on enough and got off topic many times, but these past few weeks i've read quite a few crude comments on the male position on these things and when i saw this particular subject here, i just hadto speak up...

Boo, or JAy or male figure...I, as most people on this list, would love to see more on your B/W saga...Oh, and the occasional one piece wouldn't hurt too : ) 

Tchau