Author, Part Five

[farla]

So I only reviewed a couple people yesterday, but I did get a post-worthy reply. Remember that AAML story I was sort of positive about? Among all the others I was kind of bitchy about?

I hope this lays to rest once and for all the idea people take it better if you're nice and compliment parts.

Name: Warlordess
Profile: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/258238/
--------------------

Subject: re: Your review to The Cost of Living

A response to your review at http://www.fanfiction.net/r/5569628/

Well, I honestly disagree with most of your review. In fact, I feel like you
just wanted to insult me throughout.

Firstly, I use ages to my advantage. They tell readers where the characters
probably are, both in the series and on an emotional level. As for the
dialogue thing, I barely understood what you were saying. You just kept
quoting some random line about "Hello," or whatever. If I used a
'"Hello!" he
said', then it was a typo. And I have no idea what a speech verb is but I've
been using this kind of grammar for years and have no intention of stopping.
I'm sorry if that disappoints you, but it flows easier in my opinion, and
apparently the opinions of most of my readers.

I've battled with capitalizing the word "Pokemon" a lot over the years. In
the end, logic won out. Anytime the word is mentioned in the show or in the
game (no matter what the scenario), it has been capitalized. The same thing
goes for "Pikachu." It doesn't matter if it's the actual name of the Pokemon
or not because it's still the name of the Pokemon. If that makes sense. Again,
anytime those things are typed in the game or anime, the names are
capitalized. Always. It's never written, "A wild rattata has appeared!" It's
always, "A wild Rattata has appeared!" The same thing goes for Pokemon moves.
They are always capitalized and it gives them more of an existent air, so I
use the same method. Also, it's the same with "Poke-" and any variation of the
word. PokeCenter, PokeMart, Pokeball. They're always capitalized in the games
so I do the same.

Also, Pikachu's cage not shattering on impact was explained. In Pokemon, Team
Rocket always finds some special something to make it seem like they've got
their hands on the infallible plan. More than once, there has been mention of
items that can withstand the elements (whether it's Pikachu's thunder power or
nature). And who's to say the cage didn't float in the water? The current was
very powerful so it kept getting washed around and around. By the time Ash had
caught up with it, the ground had evened out with the mainland for the most
part, and the only reason Pikachu was below the surface was because that same
strong current had wedged him between those two rocks.

Misty not sending out one of her Pokemon was explained, along with Ash's. If
Ash wouldn't send out one of his own Pokemon - if he truly knew better - then
I doubt he'd agree with Misty sending out hers, even if it was to help him
out.

As for the whole, "Don't jump in when none of us are going to help either,"
that's definitely not what I was going for. Ash is smart enough to know that
Pikachu is his Pokemon partner, his responsibility. He would never be okay in
telling his friends that they needed to follow him into danger. Just because
they do in most cases doesn't mean he's demanded it of them, and notice he
never asked them to. In the anime or in this fic.

That being said, both Misty and Brock's feelings make more sense. Brock is
the one who feels morally in charge of the group as he's the oldest, so he
tries to lead Ash in the smarter direction - to look for help. When Ash
ignores this and dives in, Misty becomes frustrated and angry. She's mad at
Ash, she's mad at herself. She doesn't know who she's mad at so what does she
do? She takes it out on Ash anyway because it's the easiest thing for her.
It's second nature now. On the other hand, she really is worried for him. And
she never stopped worrying for Pikachu. Notice in the PokeCenter that the one
thought that honestly goes through her mind is that it's only okay because
Pikachu made it out of the situation. Knowing that, she tries to focus on her
next problem - discovering Ash's tendancy to overlook all obstacles of danger
when it comes to his friends. It's not necessarily selfish or possessive. She
just knows he's a good guy - he's her best friend - and she wants him to live
long. She also knows that nobody else wants to see him die early either. It's
not just about her. She brings it up to him. What about Brock? What about his
mom? She wants him to know that the consequences extend beyond just him.

Plus, one of the biggest parts of this fic is when Ash asks her what she
would have done if it were Togepi. She doesn't answer him, but you can tell by
her reaction that she isn't sure what she'd do either. That being said, she'd
probably at least consider doing the same thing as him. She doesn't value her
Pokemon's lives any less than he does. It's not about that. What it is, is the
realzation that this girl doesn't want this boy's stupidity and ignorance to
be the death of him. That's why it's a one-shot, because it's about the moment
when those feelings take over anything else she may be thinking of or
wondering about at the time.

I'm sorry to take a sharp tone in replying to this review, but I felt that
everything you said was a little uncalled for. You kept cutting and cutting my
story down and had nothing good to say. And you know what they say about
having nothing good to say.

BTW, ages may not be the best way to start a fic, but the word [Huh.] is
definitely not the best way to start a review either. You know, for future
reference when you feel like criticizing a writer so harshly.

Comments

[razorleaf.livejournal.com]

And I have no idea what a speech verb is but I've
been using this kind of grammar for years and have no intention of stopping.
I'm sorry if that disappoints you, but it flows easier in my opinion, and
apparently the opinions of most of my readers.

Translation: "I have no idea what I'm talking about and am too lazy to look into it, but I'm just going to continue doing it the way I am because I'm full of myself."

Seriously, doing something consistently wrong for years doesn't mean you should continue to do it wrong. *headdesk*

[farla.livejournal.com]

Also I hate learning. And The fact people have not explicitly mentioned something means they love it and want me to continue.

[(Anonymous)]

"Reviews make me smile! (And laugh. And jump up and down. And I probably cry a little sometimes too 'cause nobody else loves me except for the people who read my fiches!)"

but mostly they make me angry to the point where i feel the need to write a spluttering, defensive, passive-aggressive reply

[farla.livejournal.com]

Because if the internet doesn't validate me I have nothing!

[antialiasis.livejournal.com]

...what on earth is supposed to be offensive about the word "Huh"? That is probably one of the least offensive first sentences in all the reviews you've made so far.

[farla.livejournal.com]

It's a tone on the internet problem. When people are upset they'll read everything you wrote as negative unless you're explicitly being positive, and even then they may assume it's sarcasm. I got another person insisting my writing sounded egotistical because after assuming the story was self-importantly mocking sues so my own character would look better, I pointed out that this wasn't actually the plot.

Here, because she took my overall review poorly, she's reading the lead-in as a dismissive hrmping before tearing the whole story down.

[(Anonymous)]

... no idea what a speech verb is but I've been using this kind of grammar for years and have no intention of stopping. I'm sorry if that disappoints you, but it flows easier ...

No, no, shut up I hate you now


Hm. This is the second time I've seen someone have trouble with your dialogue advice. I didn't ever think anything of it; I understood it just fine and thought it was worded well for being so condensed. Then again, I was already completely familiar with dialogue rules to begin with. Is it difficult for people to understand? Or are they just not getting it because they're angry at you and think you sound mean?

Er, I don't know why that's so interesting to me, haha. At any rate, congratulations on reaching 1000 reviews!

[farla.livejournal.com]

I get the impression from a lot of these that the authors are just doing it at random, because they're not being consistently wrong. Being told there are rules means they'd now have to pay attention to what they're writing.

Of course, the fact they're angry can't be helping, given that she quoted the correct sample to inform me that if she'd done it, it was a typo.

[(Anonymous)]

...oh wow, how did I miss that correct sample quote? Now I can't unsee it. It's making me sad.

Also, this chicken macro is the most adorable one yet. I want to pet him on his cute little head, but I imagine an "oh god there are angry chickens RAINING FROM FOREVER" type of death, a la Legend of Zelda, would soon follow. ...though, that would sound pretty sweet on my death certificate. Tempting...

[farla.livejournal.com]

They're really less intimidating than their expressions indicate. Most of the CHICKENS DISDAIN YOU SO MUCH photos are actually them falling asleep. Sir Whiny is so named because his response to everything is "A bird killing monster approaches! Flee! FLEE!"

And I am all, "I am bringing you food you moron."

Fluffles is so cuddly we used to just let her run around outside while we were out, until she figured out there were people living in the other houses and started trying to get in. They are my precious little huggy babies. They purr!

[actonthat.livejournal.com]

I've always kind of wanted to raise chicks, and this all only makes me really, really want to.

Our guinea pig used to be afraid of us when we'd try to feed it, but after a while it realized that crackling sound didn't mean "giant monster," it meant "food." Now, it cries whenever it heard a plastic bag rustle anywhere in the house because it thinks that means feeding time.

[farla.livejournal.com]

They're surprisingly friendly for food animals.

You should see if there are any farms offering eggs. Where we live you can get chicken eggs, raise them up and give them back to the farm, which makes for a nice test run. (If you do, a helpful tip - you don't need to clean out the cage every time, just keep putting down fresh paper so their feet stay clean. Oh, and keep them in a glass tank so you can watch them.)

Actually keeping them gets tougher. We had to build a chicken house and run, and they're still spending half their time on our porch.

[purplekitte.livejournal.com]

I know no one explicitly teaches dialogue rules in school, except to college creative writing students, but I would hope writers would read enough to have noticed that your advice isn't all crazy and far out. It seems I live in unreasonable hope.

I do not get people who have no pride in their craft. When I was their-age-or-younger, I used to annoy adults to proof-read and copy edit my horrible pokemon fanfics. But then again I was raised to believe that bad grammar was a horrible, horrible sin, and this must be a sign of that "rest of the world" that my parents were always going on about how it was corrupting me.

[farla.livejournal.com]

See, I never learned dialogue rules either. I ended up working out chunks just because it always made more sense that way, and then used to look through a book when I realized I wasn't sure how to do something. I can't understand not knowing dialogue rules and not feeling that gnawing bite of uncertainty with each line you write.

I suspect some of the problem is that these people don't read books, and are taking their cues just from other fanfic, and either coming away with the idea it's correct (since it's what everyone does) or it's optional (since people write in a variety of ways). Which is, of course, all the more reason to go around blanketing the category in directions.

[actonthat.livejournal.com]

*raises hand* I learned dialogue rules in school. Grammar/Primary school. Capitalization, punctuation, sentence diagramming, whole nine yards. Do only people in New Jersey learn this? Flaming Lip and LilyPichu (I know, she had other issues) seem to have learned it in school as well.

[farla.livejournal.com]

I don't think we ever touched grammar past third or fourth grade, and I know it's been entirely discontinued now.

The really depressing bit is we have one of the decent school systems.

[actonthat.livejournal.com]

Wow, really? I learned grammar all the way through middle school (though after sixth grade it was more "application" than "memorize these rules"). I can still name many of the prepositions... in alphabetical order.

By me, there's not much difference in quality between the public and private high schools... and the kind of non-writing we deal with wouldn't be acceptable in either case. But, I had a similar conversation with my roommate, who grew up in San Fransico, and another friend who grew up about an hour south of me, and I think NJ probably just has oddly good schools.

[farla.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a lot of the teachers are really annoyed by it, because it means they just have to ignore the actual English component of the papers since official policy is it's not fair to grade kids on it when the schools no longer teach it. Before that, you'd at least get people using the skills that are common for papers, so they would keep in relative practice.

That, combined with the depressing fact that just because people are writing stories doesn't mean they're the kids trying hard at storywriting - plenty of them are just in it for the validation. A friend of mine posted some godawful Inuyasha fic about Sessy-sama running around doing stupid things because her other friend thought the concept was hilarious.

SO MUCH RAGE

[ember-reignited.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a lot of the teachers are really annoyed by it, because it means they just have to ignore the actual English component of the papers since official policy is it's not fair to grade kids on it when the schools no longer teach it.

Okay. Whom do I have to murder to end this madness?

[purplekitte.livejournal.com]

I know my schools were terrible, but we learned a slight about of grammar until sixth grade. It was all essay-writing driven though, because creative writing was not to be encouraged so there was no reason to teach us how to improve it. But I went to public school in Texas and that might as well have been a third-world country.

Warlordess does this to everyone

[(Anonymous)]

[necropost]
I knew that oddly specific brand of haughty review reply was familiar. I reviewed her second-most-recent story not too long ago and was even nicer than you. I got a review reply AND a PM full of reasons why I had no right to review her with anything less than glowing praise.

It's probably because she was all [So anyway, feel free to comment. I'm sort of in a shitty mood right now though so if all you're going to do is insult me, please take it elsewhere. I just don't really feel like dealing with, "this isn't right," or, "this doesn't work," criticisms. Only a fair few people will actually elaborate into the definition of criticism and if you're not going to do that then I don't want to hear from you.], which, to me, says I was far, far nicer than she deserved.

Keep doing what you're doing. Some of the idiots -- myself included -- do learn.
[/necropost]

Re: Warlordess does this to everyone

[farla.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I kind of figured.

If you've even halfway decent, it's really easy to insulate yourself from anyone who disagrees with you, since after all, if you were doing anything wrong you wouldn't be getting all this praise, right? And then you end up like this.

[(Anonymous)]

Maybe the way you offer your advice is somewhat harsh, which is why those you review can't seem to accept it. There are different kinds of criticism and it's hard to understand what you say in between the lines when all the other person seems to hear is, "wrong", "oh, this too", "and let me make sure I try to explain this SAME THING eight different times even though it's only going to make it exceedingly complicated and difficult for you to understand by the end of it".

That's not to say that what you tell them is wrong, but maybe throwing a couple positive notes in their direction wouldn't be a bad idea either. Let alone you publicly posting their response on the web so all your friends can roast them just because they didn't like what you had to say, and you didn't like what they had to say back.

Agreeing to disagree is a marketable way to coexist.

[farla.livejournal.com]

Of all the reviews and authors who throw tantrums, you think this is the best one to argue it's an issue of harshness? At any rate, you're welcome to tell me how you'd reword the review.

Agreeing to disagree is a marketable way to coexist

But a terrible way to improve.