At 09:22 AM 5/27/2004, Gary Kleppe wrote:

I haven't read the story in question (for reasons that are not at all the
author's nor the story's fault) but I think there's a general point to be made
here.

It's sad but true that readers don't tend to have a lot of patience. If a 
story
looks like it's not going anywhere interesting, most people will just quietly
go look for something else to read. This is as true with fanfiction as it is
with any other reading material that we aren't required by work or school to
read.

I'll agree with that. There are folks who like a nice, light-hearted quick 
read. There are also folks who think nothing of sitting down in the evening 
with a big *fat* mystery or espionage/adventure novel and reading straight 
through until the dawn breaks.

You should be able to tell by my writing how firmly both myself and the 
stories I either read *or* write fall into this latter category.

As you say, there are times when an author has to keep the readers in the dark
so as to surprise them later. But short of giving away secrets, there are 
often
ways to maintain reader confidence. More foreshadowing, maybe. Perhaps cutting
back the setup to get to the real meat of the story more quickly.

Would any of that have helped in this case? I don't know. Certainly there are
times when there's nothing you can do except ask people to bear with you. 
But I
do know that referring to a reader's honest concerns as "crap & drivel" is a
very effective way to lose your readership.

Gary, if there were any "honest concerns" put forth in DJ's post, my answer 
would have been quite different. There was, however, not even the slightest 
*hint* of comprehension about the story shown in the post.

If I had expressed similar concerns
and the writer had said that he understands my concerns but would I please 
be a
bit more patient, I'd probably keep reading. If I got only insults for my
trouble, I'd probably just start auto-deleting the author in question's fics.
Which is fine, if that's what the author wants.

Is that what you want, Mark?

No. However, I do - at times - allow myself the luxury of calling a 
yammerhead a yammerhead. ELL has been a good barometer in letting me know 
when I'm acting the part of a Grumpy Old Man.

The thing is, I *AM* a Grumpy Old Man. I'm just two years shy of being 
fifty years old, and I find as the years go on that I have less and less 
tolerance for others who bitch just for the sake of bitching.

... and if you think that Authors are not supposed to express their own 
feelings in risk of losing readership, you have never actually conversed 
with professional/published writers of fiction. An extended trip to the 
Baen's Bar webforum is a good cure for that particular misconception.

============================================================
Mark Shurtleff
   email: gaijin@sfcmd.com
   irc alias: Gaijin -or- togashi_gaijin
   fanfiction homepage: http://www.sfcmd.com/fanfic
============================================================ 


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