Feedback and Contests
Here are some questions that have been circulating around the C/7 list. I thought they’d make a good blog meme.
Firstly, how do you feel about feedback? Do you live for it, ignore
it, think it’s nice but not essential?
I like feedback, but I have to conclude it’s not essential. I keep
website stats, and I’ve found that feedback comes from only a tiny
percentage of readers. So it’s my hits that make me happiest - they’re
the real feedback, IMHO.
If 27 people tell me my story is great, but then it’s
beaten in a contest by a story I consider to be a total piece of
crap, does that mean the feedback has been meaningless?
You have to judge the feedback on its own terms. Is it just a note to
tell you “I read this”? There’s nothing wrong with that - it’s like a
personalized hit tracker - but it’s not very meaningful beyond that. On
the other hand, if the feedback is constructive and helps you out in
your writing, or is exceptional (”this is the best story I ever read!”)
or comes from someone whose opinion you trust, then it can’t be
meaningless.
Contests are the bane of the fan world. They frustrate good writers
when they see certain bad writers win, and they also frustrate those bad
writers who don’t win. I’ve seen a lot of contests where the best story
didn’t win, and that’s especially common in the contests run exclusively
for shipper communities. I don’t mean just J/C ones, either. You
should never let a contest result get you down. Fanfic isn’t any fairer
than real life.
The best contests are those that are run blind (where the voters don’t
know who the authors are until the contest is over) and the ASC awards
(in which all fic posted to the Star Trek newsgroup over the course of
the year is eligible and votes are tallied by lines of feedback). Also,
recommendations pages like The Best of Trek tend to give more reliable
results than the average contest.
How many of you writers *know* when you’ve written something good,
regardless of whether you get feedback on it?
I know, at least, I know if it’s good by my personal standards of good.
I don’t think I have a different standard for my own fic as opposed to
other people’s, or for fanfic vs. professional fiction.
How many of you try to do something different with each story you
write?
I don’t try, per se. I’m not interested in writing different genres,
for example - only PG sci-fi interests me. However, part of what
interests me in a particular plot is finding a new way to, say, get the
entire crew pregnant or to get a certain pairing together.
How many of you have a billion ideas and use only a fraction of them
in your stories?
No, I don’t have many ideas for fanfic. I think I triage them - if they
really interest me, I can’t help but write them. Otherwise, I forget
about them pretty quickly. I do have more ideas than I can ever use for
original fiction.
And how many of you sometimes think readers are a bunch of morons who
wouldn’t know a good story if they fell over it?
I’ve probably written about this somewhere before. I don’t think any
readers are morons, or that their preferences are entirely attributable
to bad taste. Here’s my favorite quote on the matter:
public likes a certain
kind of literature, and likes that kind even when it is bad better than
another kind of literature even when it is good. Nor is this
unreasonable; for the line between different types of literature is as
real as the line between tears and laughter; and to tell people who can
only get bad comedy that you have some first-class tragedy is as
irrational as to offer a man who is shivering over weak, warm coffee a
really superior sort of ice.” –G.K.Chesterton in “Charles
Dickens”
I agree with Mia that certain shippers are looking for Jane Austen in
Space. I can’t say I object to Jane Austen anywhere, at any time, but
I have a beta monkey in the back of my brain that keeps me from enjoying
the worst of the lot. Some people are missing the monkey, but that just
makes them less critical readers, not morons. Really.
October 11th, 2002 at 4:01 pm
I agree with you, re: feedback. My old site got hundreds of hits; I got only a little feedback. Even Stephen King, who sells in the millions, gets letters numbering in the low thousands.
Best feedback I ever got was for “Uncertain Smile,” which is about a post-miscarriage Sam Wildman (VOY). She herself had recently had one and she had found my story touching and helpful.
October 13th, 2002 at 11:34 pm
I’m flattered. I can’t even be bothered blogging myself and Jemima’s taken the time to mention 2 of my pet peeves in hers. I just want to point out that my use of the word “morons” wasn’t intended to be serious or insulting. I dislike using emoticons, but if I don’t, I often come across as rude. So please note that there was a smiley face after my moron comment…
Jemima, I’m still looking forward to hearing your thoughts on Jane Austen in Space…
October 14th, 2002 at 12:05 am
I had credited you at first for the questions, but then I figured you didn’t deserve the flak from Those Who Cannot Take A Joke and I edited the entry to preserve your reputation. I think this was the second time I intentionally omitted your name from controversial material, and here you are signing off on the moron question. I cannot be held responsible for the consequences.
October 14th, 2002 at 1:19 am
Thanks for protecting me - although if you re-read your blog entry, my name *is* mentioned, which was one reason I posted my comment. Anyway, I wrote it, so I’m prepared to take any flak for it*.
*actual flak not required
October 14th, 2002 at 12:43 pm
Yes, but “Jane Austen” has naturally positive connotations. “Moron” is perceived more negatively.