Actually, this comment DID come into my inbox and I don't need to unscreen it so - maybe my LJ finally just recognizes you? I don't know how to friend you into my LJ because when I click your name of course I go to DW.
Oh, true, it's always up to the person who actually wrote the piece what they want to do.
But as I've written elsewhere, there are many times when I've had an author say they want my feedback and then get horribly defensive about it, and tell me I'm wrong or that other people read it and were fine with it, etc. No matter how many compliments and how much praise I gave the piece (I made a practice of starting with the good news), they'd focus on the one thing they didn't like hearing. (I've had two or three people in my life, including my best friend, who have been able to listen to/read my critiques without going bonkers at some point.)
My thing is - DON'T ask for my opinion if you DON'T want to hear what I have to say. Period. (I've told my partner more than once that I'm not giving my opinion on her paintings anymore. She'll like it or hate it no matter what I say.)
it's something I always try to pay attention to because I think I'm prone to making mistakes in that direction.
Sometimes I'm reading too fast, sometimes I think I understand but I don't trust my instincts (that happened when I was reading one of comlodge's stories on fag_ends recently) and sometimes I just manage to miss and have no idea why. there have been some fics where I totally miss the point, then re-read it and it's so obvious what's going on there that I'm almost embarrassed.
But then sometimes the author just forgot to put in that key piece of information. "How did these characters get from point A to point B?" I think we've all done that at times? We assume what's going on, we know the character is carrying a gun and somehow forget to say so.
But I suppose there's often a tradeoff between accessible and...complicated?
Very much so. I've read stories where the style interferes with the story unnecessarily, IMO - I'm too aware of the style to be able to settle into the story. (I get that sometimes that is the point - the voiceovers and bare stage in Lars von Trier's Dogville is a cinematic example.) And the author will say oh yes, I did that on purpose, and I want to say "But it doesn't work for me." Which means there's someone else it won't work for, either. But again, maybe I'm not really their intended audience.
The only thing like that that drives me nuts is when someone says something like "Microsoft are..." and my brain just screams even though I know it's proper usage in the UK and possibly other places as well.
"MIcrosoft are..."? I don't think I've ever heard that in the US. It would sound very odd to me.
And reading aloud seems like such an awkward idea to me, but maybe I would feel differently if it were not late at night and silence all around.
Acting was my first love (and yes I'm one of those "wanted to be an actress since she was a child but never had the courage to really give it go" people, sadly); but I do have some experience in community theater so reading aloud just came to me as a natural choice. (I almost never do it with nonfiction - except I did read my "Ted" meta aloud after I'd posted it, and found some awkward spots in it that I tried to fixed. Whether I actually improved it is another story.)
no subject
Oh, true, it's always up to the person who actually wrote the piece what they want to do.
But as I've written elsewhere, there are many times when I've had an author say they want my feedback and then get horribly defensive about it, and tell me I'm wrong or that other people read it and were fine with it, etc. No matter how many compliments and how much praise I gave the piece (I made a practice of starting with the good news), they'd focus on the one thing they didn't like hearing. (I've had two or three people in my life, including my best friend, who have been able to listen to/read my critiques without going bonkers at some point.)
My thing is - DON'T ask for my opinion if you DON'T want to hear what I have to say. Period. (I've told my partner more than once that I'm not giving my opinion on her paintings anymore. She'll like it or hate it no matter what I say.)
it's something I always try to pay attention to because I think I'm prone to making mistakes in that direction.
Sometimes I'm reading too fast, sometimes I think I understand but I don't trust my instincts (that happened when I was reading one of
But then sometimes the author just forgot to put in that key piece of information. "How did these characters get from point A to point B?" I think we've all done that at times? We assume what's going on, we know the character is carrying a gun and somehow forget to say so.
But I suppose there's often a tradeoff between accessible and...complicated?
Very much so. I've read stories where the style interferes with the story unnecessarily, IMO - I'm too aware of the style to be able to settle into the story. (I get that sometimes that is the point - the voiceovers and bare stage in Lars von Trier's Dogville is a cinematic example.) And the author will say oh yes, I did that on purpose, and I want to say "But it doesn't work for me." Which means there's someone else it won't work for, either. But again, maybe I'm not really their intended audience.
The only thing like that that drives me nuts is when someone says something like "Microsoft are..." and my brain just screams even though I know it's proper usage in the UK and possibly other places as well.
"MIcrosoft are..."? I don't think I've ever heard that in the US. It would sound very odd to me.
And reading aloud seems like such an awkward idea to me, but maybe I would feel differently if it were not late at night and silence all around.
Acting was my first love (and yes I'm one of those "wanted to be an actress since she was a child but never had the courage to really give it go" people, sadly); but I do have some experience in community theater so reading aloud just came to me as a natural choice. (I almost never do it with nonfiction - except I did read my "Ted" meta aloud after I'd posted it, and found some awkward spots in it that I tried to fixed. Whether I actually improved it is another story.)