Have You Ever Wanted to Explain and Can't?

[alynwa]

 Those of you who've read my latest story, "Bad News, Good Friend," know that it is about a cancer scare Napoleon is having.  The point of the tale is that one of the guys is facing the possibility of a potentially life-altering illness and the other one steps up and assures the other that he is going nowhere because he wants to be the friend the other needs.

Honestly, I haven't decided if I'm going to continue the tale or leave the diagnosis up to you and your imagination.

Anyway, on ff.net, the tale has gotten 3 reviews; 2 of them are complaints that the story is a downer.  (I can't give you the quote because ff is offline for some reason.)  All 3 reviewers have not enabled the "reply" option so I can't communicate with them.

If I could, I would tell them that writing that story was my way of dealing with a cancer diagnosis (not mine).  

So, has something similar happened to you?  Did you write a story to address an issue in your life and perhaps had the intent misunderstood or gotten a review that shows the reader missed the point of the story entirely?  Did it bother you?  Did you try to enlighten the person (assuming you could reply) or just left them to wallow in their ignorance? 

Comments

[threecee]

I read the story and thought it was very good. I probably didn't comment because I have been doing most of my reading in bed on my Kindle Fire which isn't very cooperative with commenting. The story is very angsty, although I wouldn't use the term downer. Not all stories have to be happy because life isn't always happy.

I don't think you need to explain why you wrote any story. That they have something to do with your real life experiences or your feelings at the time you wrote it is how it works for everyone.

[alynwa]

Thanks. I usually feel that way, too. I think the fact that I couldn't respond got to me.

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

I will confess that I've never written anything that has left the writer with that sort of dilemma. I've found that most folks want a black and white answer and all situations totally resolved. Have I had someone miss the point of a fic - absolutely and I'm with you. Those types of gutless 'guest' reviews are totally annoying because you can't open a dialogue. Of course, the nice part is that you can blow them off if you want to.

[alynwa.livejournal.com]

"Gutless" is right. Getting negative reviews is part and parcel of being a writer, but it would be nice to dialog with someone who critiques you and I think it's cowardly to disable the reply function.

I had a reviewer call my character "Sara Jackson, Assistant from UNCLE" a "poorly written Mary Sue" and also said the story had "poor grammar, needs proof reading." Well, she (I assume) in entitled to her opinion about my character, but I pride myself on my grammatical correctness, so I would love to be able to ask her to point out errors so I could learn from my mistakes. As you well know, sometimes you don't pick up on changes in verb tenses while rewriting dialog or scenes.

As for poor Napoleon's situation, I do want to continue the story, but not now because my writing block is the size of a battleship and this story will and should be long and angsty and I'm just now feeling up to it now.

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

You are right. To grow as writers, it makes sense to embrace anything that will enable us that privilege. telling someone they are a crappy writer and doing it anonymously tells me the person lacked the confidence and the ability to make good her/his claims.

Honestly, I don't find your stories riddled with errors. perhaps the only error was that you didn't write it the way (s)he would have. I have errors even get past my betas. It happens. No one is perfect.

*hugs* and don't let the hateful words bother you. You are too fine a writer for that.

[alynwa.livejournal.com]

Thanks!