That was a great post! And I was definitely thinking of reenka's experience when I was writing this.
I'd ask the flipside of ces' comment as well. We may be focusing on the mechanics of writing to pretend we're not just in it for the sex (though I'll confess, one reason to improve your writing skills is to write better porn--if you have a great fantasy share it better!). But there may also be some denial on the other side.
I admit I don't really buy the idea that it's *completely* social when some people say that, especially if they are angrily yelling at someone for criticizing their technique. As I said below, sometimes the problem of someone criticizing something isn't that it suddenly suggests they should care about writing but that they make it clear what they're doing maybe isn't really "writing."
I mean, the girl talking to Reena and being amazed that Draco should be IC since this was fanfic and how could she put him together with Harry if he was in character does seem to be just working with a completely different rulebook where sticking with canon isn't part of fanfic. That sort of comment to her might be something like criticizing Lord of the Rings by saying that if Frodo were invisible his retinas would not be able to reflect light and so he would be blind everytime he put on the ring...and also, rings can't turn people invisible.;-)
But then you also have to wonder why, if this is social, a writer is accepting pages of praise about what a great writer she is, and how great her story is, and why she would never write again because somebody criticized her. There might be several different fantasies going on at once here...
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Date: 2005-01-19 07:58 pm (UTC)I'd ask the flipside of ces' comment as well. We may be focusing on the mechanics of writing to pretend we're not just in it for the sex (though I'll confess, one reason to improve your writing skills is to write better porn--if you have a great fantasy share it better!). But there may also be some denial on the other side.
I admit I don't really buy the idea that it's *completely* social when some people say that, especially if they are angrily yelling at someone for criticizing their technique. As I said below, sometimes the problem of someone criticizing something isn't that it suddenly suggests they should care about writing but that they make it clear what they're doing maybe isn't really "writing."
I mean, the girl talking to Reena and being amazed that Draco should be IC since this was fanfic and how could she put him together with Harry if he was in character does seem to be just working with a completely different rulebook where sticking with canon isn't part of fanfic. That sort of comment to her might be something like criticizing Lord of the Rings by saying that if Frodo were invisible his retinas would not be able to reflect light and so he would be blind everytime he put on the ring...and also, rings can't turn people invisible.;-)
But then you also have to wonder why, if this is social, a writer is accepting pages of praise about what a great writer she is, and how great her story is, and why she would never write again because somebody criticized her. There might be several different fantasies going on at once here...