Perception is a hell of a lot more important than reality. When I entered the fandom two years ago, those were the first things I read and saw--Diebin's flames, the messageboards, etc. This is, I think, what shaped a LOT of us in our views of comicverse. It's a nasty generalization to make, I know, and completely unfair. It's right up there with equating L/R fic with badfic, come to think. Or movieverse fic with badfic, for that matter.
I'm extremely good at what I do. It's a hit or miss sometimes, but I've been storytelling since my memory starts, so if I wasn't good at it by now, I wouldn't bother doing it. Being told, "I don't like that pairing", is very cool. I write Smallville slash and run at the sight of het--I totally get that argument. Being told, "I just don't care for movieverse as a genre", that's fine too. I'm not so hot for comicverse myself. Being told, directly, indirectly, passive aggressive, veiled innuendo, straight out or subtle, that it doesn't matter if Hemingway was writing it, the fact that it's movieverse MAKES it suck is just--frustrating. I'm not unusually sensitive to critique--in the last six months, my Smallville fic A Handful of Dust was cut into tiny pieces publicly and privately on two messageboards that I know of, one mailing list discussion, and at least three Livejournal discussions on points of plot, characterization, and whether or not it's 'good' fanfic or, in fact, legitimate Smallville fanfic at all. I have a folder of emails telling me exactly what was wrong with it in terms of pacing, plotting, etc, along with the positive stuff. The Wasteland comes second with the debates over my choice of narrative style, characterization, and plotline and of all Godforsaken arguments, the use of present tense for the narrative. However, except in one case, my integrity as a writer and my character were never questioned, only my ability to translate my vision to the page well enough for others to follow, so all these discussions were not only enlightening, but highly entertaining. And even in that case, I take it as a reflection of my ability to tell a story and a really bad day, not as a personal attack on me. At least, I do now.
Did I ever get flamed in movieverse? Nope. I did what anyone with any kind of sense did--I posted to movieverse only lists and avoided any board where I thought a comicverse person might dwell. I didn't go within a mile of ff.net until the movieverse section started and I posted there only after I was absolutely sure it was relatively safe from random superiorist flamers with some uncontrollable need to show off their wonderous talents at insult. I'm on OTL, but I've never been the least bit tempted to post either my movieverse or Smallville fic there.
I can't speak for all movieverse writers, all L/R writers, or even most, but I can speak for myself and that's what it boils down to. That's, for me, pretty much where the knee-jerk comes from.
Though honestly, I'd never call myself a martyr. I'm just not that passive.
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Part II
Date: 2002-10-28 12:18 pm (UTC)I'm extremely good at what I do. It's a hit or miss sometimes, but I've been storytelling since my memory starts, so if I wasn't good at it by now, I wouldn't bother doing it. Being told, "I don't like that pairing", is very cool. I write Smallville slash and run at the sight of het--I totally get that argument. Being told, "I just don't care for movieverse as a genre", that's fine too. I'm not so hot for comicverse myself. Being told, directly, indirectly, passive aggressive, veiled innuendo, straight out or subtle, that it doesn't matter if Hemingway was writing it, the fact that it's movieverse MAKES it suck is just--frustrating. I'm not unusually sensitive to critique--in the last six months, my Smallville fic A Handful of Dust was cut into tiny pieces publicly and privately on two messageboards that I know of, one mailing list discussion, and at least three Livejournal discussions on points of plot, characterization, and whether or not it's 'good' fanfic or, in fact, legitimate Smallville fanfic at all. I have a folder of emails telling me exactly what was wrong with it in terms of pacing, plotting, etc, along with the positive stuff. The Wasteland comes second with the debates over my choice of narrative style, characterization, and plotline and of all Godforsaken arguments, the use of present tense for the narrative. However, except in one case, my integrity as a writer and my character were never questioned, only my ability to translate my vision to the page well enough for others to follow, so all these discussions were not only enlightening, but highly entertaining. And even in that case, I take it as a reflection of my ability to tell a story and a really bad day, not as a personal attack on me. At least, I do now.
Did I ever get flamed in movieverse? Nope. I did what anyone with any kind of sense did--I posted to movieverse only lists and avoided any board where I thought a comicverse person might dwell. I didn't go within a mile of ff.net until the movieverse section started and I posted there only after I was absolutely sure it was relatively safe from random superiorist flamers with some uncontrollable need to show off their wonderous talents at insult. I'm on OTL, but I've never been the least bit tempted to post either my movieverse or Smallville fic there.
I can't speak for all movieverse writers, all L/R writers, or even most, but I can speak for myself and that's what it boils down to. That's, for me, pretty much where the knee-jerk comes from.
Though honestly, I'd never call myself a martyr. I'm just not that passive.
jenn