On Punctuation and Feedback

[opera142]

I read an article on "daring" punctuation a couple of nights ago. Snarky, old me has to wonder how many of those "daring" uses were actually mess-ups. You know, like the author picked what was thought to be correct, and moved on from the story, and then all of a sudden all the literary fanboys were hailing it as daring, and the author had to be all.. um, yes, I was... uh... trying to evoke a hectic feeling, that's why I chose a comma instead of.. the, uh... obvious choice. *eyes darting*

Then again, I think I backpedaled into snark because I had NO clue the punctuation was daring. Oh, it's supposed to be a comma there, instead of a period? How 'bout that? Who knew that thing that looks like a comma with a dot over the top could be so sassy? My ignorance prevented recognition of daring, and that's a bummer. I mean, I got the text's basic concepts, and I felt most of what the author and all that daring punctuation were trying express-- the rushed feeling, the languid afternoon, the fuddy-duddiness of a character, but as far as knowing which punctuations were daring... didn't get that at all.

And that got me thinking about reading because what troubles me the most about my issues with punctuation is for all the reading I've done, you'd think I'd have punctuation down in pat simply through constant exposure to it. But that's not the case at all.

I think that stems from two things: Good writing makes text invisible, and I don't read with punctuation in mind. And then that got me thinking about how fan fiction is read.

Badfic makes me cranky, but seeing it get positive reviews doesn't astound me in the way it does other people. Think of how many BAD movies make millions. People cannot be trusted to make the correct artistic choice. What has always confounded me is the disregard of the good stuff. After all, if they like the laughably bad, shouldn't they adore the tolerable, and shouldn't they be simply ga-ga over the marvelous?

So why isn't that the case?

I guess because baring instances of the almighty Personal Taste, a reader has to be up to appreciating the tolerable and the marvelous. Just like I need to learn the standards of punctuation before I able to go ga-ga over the daring. I didn't pay attention to exemplary punctuation until I had a need to. Readers have no need to go for the tolerable and marvelous if easy-to-read badfic is meeting their needs.

Those readers come to fandom in search of certain kinds of stories or characters, and they're not really looking for anything else. No vivid characterization or emotional undercurrents or unique descriptions or plays against tropes or quality verbs or daring punctuation. All the stories really are to them is a blueprint for the things they like to fantasize about. And either that blueprint builds the kind of scenario they are looking for or it doesn't.

And just to CMA, I'm not talking about reading skill levels or intelligence. I'm discussing preference and goals. Kind of like how some Disney movies have jokes for kids and jokes for adults. No one is enjoying the movie "better" or "smarter". Or for a personal example, when I was young, I read the Little House on the Prairie books and I got the stories, and I understood the basic lessons, and I enjoyed them on a surface level--zomg, Laura got some clever revenge on Nellie. And that enjoyment was deep enough, that I felt like rereading the series years later. Then in the later-years rereads I discovered the deeper, scarier things left unsaid: racism, rape-fears, class issues, poverty, the weird feeling that maybe Laura was a little cold-hearted to be still pissed Nellie 60 years later, and I had to decide how I felt about the stories.

Now, me seeing much more to the stories isn't so much that I grew up and got oh-so-smart, but that in my re-reads I decided to look for the unsaid. I like rooting out little clues. I like noticing when things are out of place. That's the angle I go into just about every story with.

And the angle a story is read from affects the feedback issued. Readers feedback on what felt important to them-- and that's usually the angle of their reading. Going back through feedback I've recently left, I tend to mention lines I liked and descriptions I felt were fresh or unique. I also tend to chat about the story's greater scope, how believable the characters were, and how it compares to other fan fiction, likely because those things are very important to me as a reader and writer.

Because of those picky-picky angles, some people just aren't going to be into a story, no matter how well written it is. No matter how much they say they'll read anything as long as it's good. As a writer, it's a difficult thing to get over. Especially in fandom, because it's easy to feel like Hey, we like the same thing already. My story can't run that much opposite of your preferences. Even though the truth is daily I pass over a dozen stories without so much as skimming them, just because I knew by author or the title or the posting board that they would be opposite of my reading preferences.

Ah, the beauty of self-contradiction.

Comments

[rachel-martin64.livejournal.com]

Hey there.

Good writing makes text invisible

Yeah, agree. When the punctuation or spelling or grammar is so weird that you can hardly pay attention to the story, it's a problem. I know a lot of people try to phonetically write dialects, but I hate that. I couldn't stand to read Huck Finn as a kid because of the dialect writing, still feel the same today. I can't stand to read X-Men stories featuring a character named Remy because 99% of the time the author tries to phonetically replicate his Cajun dialect and it just makes the story unreadable.

some people just aren't going to be into a story, no matter how well written it is.

Yep. In fandom, any fandom, a poorly written romance will be more well- received than a well-written action story. A poorly written story featuring a popular pairing will be more well-received than a well-written story featuring an unpopular pairing. A poorly written story by a BNF will be more well-received than a well-written story by a no-name fan. That's just fandom.

[angstbunny.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmmmm yeah. It all goes back to why you're reading and why you're writing. If you're writing for the sake of good writing but people are reading for the sake of a fantasy situation, then there's a clash of interests. And unfortunately, most people read fanfiction for the fantasy. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but discouraging if you're writing for writing, and the writing itself isn't appreciated.