i disagree. the social component is not about the writing or the quality of writing but about social interaction. it's always existed, but with LJ we get more of it publicly available, i think. i really don't think fan A who's having a grand old time MSTing the show or who writes out her little MS fantasies with her friends needs to or ought to worry about the way your writing gets smeared.
and i find the claim that one ought not to do what one can't do problematic. you may feel this way; i may feel this way; but the beauty of a hobby, an unpaid activity, is that neither one of us have any say about how others enjoy themselves. moreover, having mechanics bore you is not necessarily the point, since the type of communicative story telling i was talking about is *not* about grammar, mechanics, even proper spelling. it's about interaction; it's about play and fun as you're letting the characters (or their semblances) run wild in your imagination.
now, as sistermagpie and i agree, this doesn't solve the problem of mocking and criticism, because often these very writers then turn around and claim literary ambitions for their results. that's ridiculous! but i'd be very resistant to impose my own norms, standards, and values on others, especially when their ultimate interests lie elsewhere.
[in other words, i'm not saying that good writing and its debates and critiques are not social, but that the primary goal of many of the poorer writing quality pieces is not primarily to create a good piece of writing but to interact with others. that's, of course, related to the sense that one must write to be part of the community. so it's less about the artistic freedom and the pseudo-Romantic mind as it is about fitting in and partaking in the rules of a social network.]
no subject
and i find the claim that one ought not to do what one can't do problematic. you may feel this way; i may feel this way; but the beauty of a hobby, an unpaid activity, is that neither one of us have any say about how others enjoy themselves. moreover, having mechanics bore you is not necessarily the point, since the type of communicative story telling i was talking about is *not* about grammar, mechanics, even proper spelling. it's about interaction; it's about play and fun as you're letting the characters (or their semblances) run wild in your imagination.
now, as sistermagpie and i agree, this doesn't solve the problem of mocking and criticism, because often these very writers then turn around and claim literary ambitions for their results. that's ridiculous! but i'd be very resistant to impose my own norms, standards, and values on others, especially when their ultimate interests lie elsewhere.
[in other words, i'm not saying that good writing and its debates and critiques are not social, but that the primary goal of many of the poorer writing quality pieces is not primarily to create a good piece of writing but to interact with others. that's, of course, related to the sense that one must write to be part of the community. so it's less about the artistic freedom and the pseudo-Romantic mind as it is about fitting in and partaking in the rules of a social network.]