Rants, Tantrums, and Hissy Fits
Complete with pictures of sperm sucking! (All the other girls are doin' what???)
Even More Rants
Here's some more from my old rant collection, which is really my old blog back-ups. At the time I had no idea why I'd ever want to back up my SOL blogs, but maybe I have ESP and knew I'd want to use them someday as an excuse to post pornographic pictures on my website.
Whatever the reason, some of this stuff might make sense (you tell me) but a lot of it, well...You had to be there. Blogs are like that, which is another reason why it's so stupid to save old blogs. I never claimed to be smart! Don't go putting words in my mouth, I'd prefer something else! heh!
(That's a joke.)
And for my next magic trick...
2009-01-20Hmmm...What's left to rant about?
I just popped off a note to the admin people to de-volunteer myself as a reviewer. I just don't have a lot of time for extra-curricular activities and I wasn't really good at it anyway. I kind of approached the subject as an exercise in creative writing more than a practical, factual commentary on a particular story. My opinions were my own and I stand by them, but so far as what would serve the authors and the site best...It probably isn't me, at least not in that capacity.
I did get a lot of email about my reviews though, a number of them, like 6 or 7 different readers, basically commented that my reviews were more often better than the stories. I'm not sure how true that is, I certainly reviewed a number of very well written stories. My reviews might have been funnier, but I doubt they were better in all or even some cases.
It was fun though. I enjoyed the writing a lot. I was supposed to read Ken Randall's "Charlotte's Movie" and I sorta, kinda promised him an opinion, if not a full review of it. I'm still working on it. It is a nice piece of writing and he deserves much credit, and I sincerely urge all of you to take a look at codes and synopsis and then take a chance on it. I'm just a very slow reader and it is a lengthy story. But I'm getting there!
I guess I can rant about reviews, since I have read them, written them, and been subject to them...I have a pretty good perspective, I think.
What I dislike about reviews are that many of them are too short. I mean, they say "I like this story..." and take maybe two paragraphs to say that and the end. Look at the review for Charlotte's Movie, for example. I just don't see the purpose of those. Here I'll post the review in its entirety:
Review by y2 [other reviews by y2]
Reviewed: 2007-03-11
It starts off just like any other teen romance, except one of the teens is a slutty daughter of porn stars. And while the story is predominantly a sex story, it is nice to know that porn stars are people too :p
This is a story about love, life and everything in between. It is a story about consequences, and about tollerance. And there is great sex...
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Now I know some people will opine that such a review is all that's necessary. That's all a reader or an author should expect. But I know for a fact that Ken wants more from a review than that. If it was my story I'd want something more. It's public feedback. It's a message from one reader to alllllll the other ones. If you could email every person on SOL about a story, is that all you'd want to say?
Maybe that's why I tended to go a little overboard with my own reviews, I'm not sure. Obviously I have that sort of attitude and ego. But it baffles me, it really does and that isn't the review or the only reviewer I can point at with my unhappy finger.
Fuzzy...Come on, dude! You give everybody tens all the time (except me heh!) or it seems that way. That's the perception people have about a Fuzzy Wuzzy review. Paula Abdul... :)
There's a limited number of slots for reviewers and I'm not saying it should be a full time job, or carries any specific obligation to select stories a reviewer won't like, but I'd like to see the selection mixed up a little more. A negative review isn't necessarily a bad thing. It doesn't have to be brutal and an honest opinion of a less than average story can be beneficial to the author. I've beaten up some people in my reviews, but generally they came right back at me asking me to look at a new story and see if I thought it was better, or asking for some more information on what I liked and disliked. Give authors some credit because sometimes it looks like the reviews avoid anything that can be construed as negative.
Not true, I know! They're getting ready to mug me, because some of them do in fact review stories that they didn't necessarily enjoy and they do tell us about it. But in between those few lower than average scores, the review board is generally a flood of 9's and 10's ...But people like to say nice things. It's much easier to read, finish, and want to review a story we find enjoyable. That's human nature, so I understand it. I'm not asking for a flood of really mean reviews, far from it. I'm just making an observation without really having a good answer.
The scores...I dunno. an 8 is the new 5 it seems to me. I mean everyone gets eights and so that's the middle of the bell curve. basically the scale for stories, reflected in reviews, is 7-10...a four point scale with anything less than a six being punishment. Maybe it's a love hate thing. "I love your story, I give you a 10" or "I hate your story. I give you a six, because I don't want to hurt your feelings."
Of course I get 1's all the time, so I'm biased about scores.
I'm just rambling on. I'd like to see a small parenthetical number next to the title on the New Stories and Updates pages specifying how many stories that particular pen name has on the site. Just to make it super-readily apparent who is a new author posting his/her first story and who has posted 65 stories. Of course I'm saying pen names, so an author could have a hundred stories and have story number 1 under a new name. That's okay.
I suggest this mostly because when I look for stories to read I much prefer first time authors over the established ones and it's a pain going to everyone's homepage over and over to see how prolific the individual is. I also think new authors should be reviewed much more often than they are. It's kinda hit in miss because reviewers go off synopsis and codes and probably by author name if they have a favorite. A new author cannot be a favorite, obviously, so they don't get that little advantage. It's just something i'd like to see because new authors are the future, stupid as that sounds. I won't be writing forever, a lot of our favorite authors are gone, or busy, or retired, or in jail, whatever. Time marches on and we're all replaced by our children, so I always think new authors should be kind of spoiled like children.
My opinion anyway.
So that's about all I got to say and see ya later!
rache
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My big writing tip...seriously
2009-01-21
This is from a reply to a different post in a different forum, but it sums it up good enough for here...
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Heyyyy :)
You know, when I first started posting to online sites, my first hundred stories were all short. 2000 words for me was a long story back then. I wrote hundreds of them. Some real stories, some just scenes really. But they were complete, they gave me tons of valubale experience with just building a story, or part of a story, posting to public opinion, and withstanding comments good and bad. Gradually I started getting longer and more ambitious and my first few years really served me well and continue to influence my approach and mind set to writing.
I think some readers, not necessarily yourself or anyone here, but some reader get the big eyes and have been sitting on an idea or two for a long time before trying to write it as a story. They end up starting something very large and very involved without the experience or the tools to really tackle the job. I think a lot of the incomplete stories we see are by relatively new authors who just gave up in frustration, or from time issues that they didn't anticipate. Others were perhaps frustrated by scores or feedback (or lack thereof) ...and that's too bad.
When people have asked me for advice (as if I know anything) I always say start small. No multi-chapter stories, just 2-5K words, crank it out and post it and do another one. Do a bunch of those. Not good for everyone perhaps, but that is my advice because it worked well for me. It was like taking little babysteps into the kiddie pool before I went for the diving board.
My suggestion to you, is to complete your stories by changing the code on SOL or asking Lazeez to do it. Mark them as complete where they sit, and start something new. The yellow stripes go away, you get some emails from people saying "Why did you do that?" but the monkey is off your back with just a little pain and you're free to try something else. Plot and outline your stories in advance, identify where things are happening and especially the end. Write towards a specific goal with a clear path in front of you. It's methodical and I don't like it personally, but it is useful to demonstrate a process that you can later intuit.
Does that make sense? I'm never sure when I try to talk about this stuff. The important thing is to move forward. Unfinished business that will always remain unfinished, needs to be dropped. You can always go back to a completed story and add to it. I've done it with a dozen of mine and I have a bunch waiting for a continuation that I marked complete because I didn't know when I'd be able to get back to them. They're my strategic reserve :)
Best always,
rache
Someone doesn't like my blog nyah nyah nyah
2009-01-21That's pretty funny. Someone emailed me the other day, yesterday in fact, before I turned off anonymous feedback, and said my blogs suck. He ignores them completely as irrelevant and a waste of time. Maybe he's the same guy who emailed Bradley Stoke, I dunno. I'd like to see that email, maybe it's not too late to change my evil ways. I get a lot of hate mail so it's hard to keep track.
My big question is if I'm so completely boring to someone, why does he feel the overwhelming compulsion to tell me about it? I'm presuming that the other 50,000 people who didn't email me have more sense than that. But that is a lot of presuming!!
Here's my opinion on my blog. Not your blog, because everyone has their own purpose and requirements and I don't know what they are. But I do know mine.
My blog is here first of all to give me a place to say whatever I feel like saying. Not to inform anyone. Not to validate myself or my decisions. Not to announce news or details about my life or writing. It's a big closet into which I can shout at the top of my lungs.
Once you understand that, it all becomes much clearer, doesn't it?
I have no overwhelming desire to explain myself or my stories. I do it largely out of habit, but even so that is so much work and how many people really care what the subtext was in Reasons Until After? I mean, if I have to explain it to a reader, well, that reader shouldn't be reading me, probably. I'm much happier with the people who "get" me right off the bat, as our most of us, I'm sure.
On the other hand, and I have three of them, I usually do try to make a valid point someplae in my ranting. Whether it's expressed clearly or not is another issue altogether. The only time I go into concise, ultra-wordsmith mode is when I get pissed. I sound like a professor when I get angry and I'd much rather sound like a spoiled 9 year old.
My blog is meant for entertainment purposes only. They're cartoons without the stupid thought bubbles and muffin feet. Caricatures of social discourse which should arouse anything but apathy or I haven't done my job. Of course part of that responsibility rests squarely on the shoulders of the reader as well and unfortunately some people are just born apathetic. Like some people are contrarians and others can only pose negative reasons to any given solution. It's in their blood and I have a hunch such people are only rarely happy, which is too bad. Happiness is severely underrated in my opinion.
Writing this makes me happy, regardless of feedback and minority opinion. It cheers me up. For that reason, and since no animals are hurt in the production of my blog, I think no one should really be complaining about it. Not even you! Complaining about an SOL blog entry is like complaining because someone in China is flying a kite. You can't even see it unless you make the effort personally...Wow! That's the worst analogy I've made all week! But you know what? It's making me giggle.
That's what my blog is for.
What readers think
2009-11-22
I got an email from someone reading "My Strange Life" and it was largely nice, complimentary and remarking on how weird I am and how strange some of my stories are. But in a good way. A polite way, you know. One of those emails.
Then the guy said something about voting and mentioned that voting is turned off for Amy's story and, uh, he said something like "I guess you don't care what your readers think." ...I'm paraphrasing there, going from memory, but I that's almost exactly what he said.
So, I considered that. Is that the perception that turning off voting makes? Is that the sense that readers are getting from me? I don't care what they think? Is that what I want to say to readers on SOL? If it was something I wanted to say, I'd probably just say it. Like, "I don't really give a fuck what you guys think." If it was true, I'd have no problem saying it. I'd not only turn off voting, but I'd turn off emails, stop blogging entirely, stop posting, stop getting online even once a week, and pretty much live happily forever after. If I didn't care, shoot...I probably wouldn't even bother to say it. Things I don't care about, and people too, generally don't get that much effort out of me, not with my schedule!
No. Email is on and I'm blogging and making myself available wherever possible, whenever possible. I care what readers think and the only ONLY way I know what you're thinking is through email. Voting doesn't tell me jack. It is useless to me. I would much prefer voting went away altogether and it's one area in which I feel ASSM/ASSTR is much superior to Stories Online.
Voting is a tool most handy for idiots who wish to punish someone. A "1" is much more insulting than a "10" is complimentary. I mean that. There are so many "10" scores given out that they don't really mean anything. I know some readers are very attentive, very thoughtful and diligent, very honest when it comes to scoring a story. They look on it as a responsibility of sorts, a way to give back to the author and the community...If everyone was like you guys, I'd stop complaining.
Anyway, I just wanted to set the record straight and say emails are the best and most effective method at communicating with authors. Scores are useless as a means of evaluating a story's inherent worth and providing me with an awareness of how to improve or repeat a performance. I know people like what I write. I know people hate what I write. I know most people never even heard of me. Just don't assume I don't care what you think just because I'm not interested in something useless.
Okay?
Thanks,
rache
My super scary Halloween blog
2009-10-23I feel like blogging. I know this isn't really a blog, but I've never really paid much attention to that rule. Is it a rule? Nah. I'm covered. What to blog about...
Actually, I'm kinda teasing. I just have the urge to post and haven't much to say. I know that hasn't stopped me before, but this is the new me. The diet-me, you know? All the calories, twice the sugar. The old me is Brand X. a pen name I've used on more than one occasion, btw, but not around here. Ever read "Smack" ...Just curious. I'm twiddling my thumbs.
I was thinking we ought to have a "Genie Fest 2010" ...You guys like genies, jinni, Jeanie, etc? January - genie...It's a phonetic thing. January oughta be genie month. I love them. You can do anything with a genie; old school, new wave, magic, mind control, humor, angst, science fiction, fantasy, romance...Aw, heck. I know, you can do all that stuff with anything, but genies...They fire the imagination for me. Much more so than faeries or elves or middle aged men in tights. We should have a January Genie Festival.
I mean, December is Christmas and the winter solstice, death and birth, New Years and the Emperor's birthday. Always kind of a popular thing for writing. There's a half-dozen contests, celebrations, and conventions going on that I can think of off the top of my pointy little head and I've got my Christmas story done already anyway.
And then February is Black History Month and I don't want to revisit the whole "interracial" issue that some people have. Like it or not, interracial stories are popular and people like stories about white women with black guys, and white guys with black women, and I haven't met the man yet, white, black, or brown who isn't into Asian girls. Asian men are sucking, except for Chow Yun Fat, he's a stud, and of course I have a serious thing for Robin Padilla, the bad boy turned born again Muslim, but only until he opens his mouth. I think he's underrated as a comedic genius...Um, I'm thinking that whole bit of cultural sarcasm went right over your occidental heads, huh? Never mind.
Where was I? Interracial stories. I love them. They're my favorite and I've written zillions, or at least hundreds. Well...fifty for sure. Definitely fifty and they're popular. Only one genie story though and a very short one. "I dream of...John?" which is cute and harmless, but I have it in mind to write another one. It's like an ache in my pelvis. Ouch! Genies. The good thing about genies, and this is the honest to rache truth, is that you absolutely, positively do not need to have any idea what you're writing until it's done. Unlike those other stories, the annoying ones that require at least some kind of preemptive mental projection of plot and character, a genie story only requires the time to sit down and hack it out. Got an hour and your brain isn't working? Write a genie story!
Seriously.
Anybody want to do a Genie Showdown? I'll do it. Three hours? Hell yeah, someone say 1-2-3-Go! No idea what's coming, but I know there's a genie in it. We really need a Genie Fest. In January.
Unfortunately, we're not all that much on community events around here. Never have been as a general rule. It's every writer for herself, or himself as the case may be, but I assume all the real writers are female and the rest, well...Noooo! I'm kidding. I have to give a speech at UP to the Philippine Organization of Women (POW) ...Heh! That's a lie. There isn't one, I just made that up. It's actually OPW and they wonder why they can't get any respect? A good acronym is the first pillar of any successful social reform monument...I mean movement, as Gloria Steinem realized, and yes, I am going to invoke her name more than once, but out of context. I promise. I'll be speaking on lesbianism in the wokplace, so...
I feel kinda feisty.
Probably because I was skimming through the thread about society and culture and civilization and...You know, I have a degree in that sort of thing. I learned early on, and perhaps some others of you have learned this as well, it's always best to avoid conversations in which you're over-qualified to participate. I mean it too. It sounds strange, egotistical maybe, but I assure you it's only common sense. There's only one possible outcome and it isn't pretty as I've sure you've all noticed at one time or another. Teenagers know that better than anyone and it's part of the reason there's an instinctive caste system enforced through adolescence and communication can be so challenging at that age, but as we mature we tend to forget things...like what we're over-qualified for and the next thing you know someone starts talking about God!
See, that was my real point all along, but it would have been too easy to come right out with it. I wanted to fool around and give some of you an opportunity to assume. People live for that. Some of them. Assumptions. The reason I haven't commented on any other threads is simply because it's a little too late for that and I don't really have time to do much more than skim through, like I said, and that's probably a good thing or I would have been tempted to say something about something somewhere! I always am. Probably because I'm so underqualified to opine on anything.
Except God. I've been running around naked in atheist forums, can you tell? I love those guys. God doesn't make sense? Really? Duh! That's the whole argument, once you boil it down. God doesn't make sense. That's also the first thing I look for in a deity. One who defies understanding, mocks the scientific method, and demands unreasonable faith. Never mind religion, we're talking God. That's two separate things entirely. If you can't make the distinction, you should watch more television. Religion is politics by other means, but God...If God had to run for office? Yeah, religion would probably be meaningful, but I think it's a self-appointed position. Explains why I'm catholic, right? They keep excommunicating me, but I sneak right back in! If it wasn't for confession, my sex life would really suck. I mean, intercourse with my husband listening is okay, but masturbation with a priest listening is...whew! My God's name is Pinky!
Yeah, God doesn't make sense. Neither do genies, but God help me, I love them! See? It all comes full circle. We really need a Genie Fest. Don't you think?
Okay, I'm satisfied. I talked for twenty minutes and didn't say anything at all. I was going to put this in the SOLDG forum, but I'm having a hard time accessing it and I think they're tired of me anyway. I know I am! Heh! So, I'll post this here instead and use the blog for its intended purpose of world domination through self-rapproche. Yeah, I just made up that word. Good catch! Did you get my pun about the wokplace? The best puns look like typos, ever notice that?
best always,
rache
