(no subject)

[beccaelizabeth]

Advice on feedback:

If
I find a story unsatisfying because I thought it was a romance and yet they've declared The End with the couple still broken up, is saying so reasonable?

How about if
I find a story offensive from a feminist standpoint, based on my reading of power issues in it. Seemed to start like a young-woman-finds-her-power story and then it turned out to be bad power and by the end her family have taken it away and she gives up and goes back in her old role. Which annoys me. Should I say so?

Or what if
I find a story really winds me up because it takes a canon character who was a subject, did choices and actions and desires and had his own self and identity, and turns them into an empty object of story & desire, who has no name, no choice, no actions, and eventually dies because doesn't use his voice.
Is that the kind of crit you leave in feedback?



Because on the one hand it's saying "You didn't write the story I wanted! Wah!"
And of course everyone has the right to write the story they wanted, that's the point, it is their story.

But on the other hand if these things happened in something that wasn't fanfic, I'd be all over them. I'd say with detail exactly why they pissed me off. Done it before for books and TV.

But... I don't want to say stuff that will be nasty to people, I just want to say stuff about stories. And on LJ that seems harder than it does with places you can't usually read about the writer's lunch etc. Although, money-writers have blogs too, so that distinction is going bye bye.



... You know I might be being specific enough that the story it's about shows up anyway. Which makes this the worst of both worlds, talking behind backs. Which I usually only do when the no-beta-no-grammar stuff has me needing to rant.

... Maybe I not doing this right anyways.

Comments

[ceruleancat.livejournal.com]

For me, it would depend on how well I know the writer. If it's someone I don't know at all, but I feel strongly enough to comment, I'd give some positive feedback and add something general like 'there were (e.g., plot) points/issues that bothered me from a X (e.g., feminist) standpoint. I'd be happy to discuss those, if you're interested'. That way, I indicate the problem, but leave it to the writer to seek discussion. Some people don't want that kind of crit, while others crave it and long to have more contentful feed instead of the staple 'i loved it' or 'LOL'.

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean, and I haven't decided how/if to comment either yet.