Date: 9 Jul 2022 02:27 pm (UTC)
astrogirl: (Feel your pain)
From: [personal profile] astrogirl
Aargh, why are people.

I know! Although, I should say, they weren't actually complaining about the lack of comfort. It was more, "You didn't warn us this thing would happen, and it was upsetting!" Well, OK, no, I didn't, because said thing was supposed to be shocking when it happened. But all I could think was: I'm genuinely sorry you had an upsetting experience you didn't want, because I write angst for people who actually like reading angst, not to traumatize people who don't. But I did warn you that I wasn't going to be warning you! And the tags surely made it very clear that things were not going to end happily! But then, I think people often somehow seem to either not notice the "Choose Not to Warn" label or they honestly don't quite get what it means. And sometimes they pay zero attention to the tags at all. I've gotten a truly astonishing number of comments that basically said, "If I'd noticed the tags, I would never have read this." Usually they're saying they ended up liking it anyway, but still. Geez. This is why people use that "Dead Dove Do Not Eat" tag, isn't it? Maybe I should start using that one?

Anyway. That particular fic arguably did have some comfort, or at least something vaguely intended to be comforting. It just really, really didn't help. Which I admit is not so much h/c as, I dunno, some twisted subversion of it. Which I do worry isn't really in the spirit of the thing. And I find I second-guess myself on that sort of thing in a way that I don't when I'm writing Gen Prompt Bingo or Trope Bingo, where it's just "here's a prompt, do whatever you want with it," rather than maybe being supposed to write a particular kind of story. And when it comes to h/c, I fear that my brain doesn't slot into the traditional grooves for that very well. Trying it, or variations on it, still seems like an interesting exercise for me, though! But maybe not one where I'm going to deliver something anybody actually expects or wants. And reading the FAQ, it does seem like they expect at least some vague gesture in the direction of both the h and the c parts, even if they're not actually explicit in the fic.

Eh, never mind me, really. I'm almost certainly just way overthinking things. Again.

*and shakes fist at that person who thought my SwanQueen fic was too bleak while I'm at it* lol

*shakes with you in solidarity* :)
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