A Follow Up Video · 1:32am Jun 4th, 2014
Hey everyone, I'm back from my camping trip. I guess it's time to work on some more writing. Anyway, while I was gone, this video by Dr.Wolf and Firebrand came out. If you recall my earlier blog post: On Writing Fanfics and Quality Control, Dr.Wolf and Firebrand felt it necessary to explore the topic further and asked to use my blog as a point of furthering that discussion. Feel free to give it a watch. I was quite happily surprised to see it in my subscription feed when I got back from my trip.
Oh, and the camping trip was pretty awesome, by the way. Sunburned and a little bug-bitten, but otherwise, I had a blast: relaxing tranquility, interesting conversations, and a ridiculous smattering of immaturity to go around. What more could I want? I can't wait for my next vacation (BronyCon).
Now, back to writing,
~SilentBelle
Welcome back
Welcome back!
Heh, cool. I've been following Joshscorcher's (Firebrand) work since before either of us was a brony. It's always nice to see interactions through the people I follow. Also, nice to hear that the camping trip went well; camping has always been one of my favorite pastimes.
Things that are worthy of attention, and should honestly get more of it. Yet, quite often, we find these beautiful stories only after digging through a great deal of sludge.
I just found this comment on your blog. First off, I do have a great deal of respect for you, I do. However... quality control can ruin communities and drive people away. Too often people who attempt to do this sort of thing do so in the nastiest way imaginable or fail to think things through by praising what they feel is the best and shunning what is the worst. Instead we should be helping what they feel is just awful in their opinion, but doing so in a friendly manner.
The reason that line stands out for me is because the most fun times I've ever had on this site are digging through stories. Think about it, if all of the best stories we're easily obtainable by going to a single page then there would be no reason to dig through the site and pay attention to the unnoticed ones, or even the new stories. There would be no growth on the site at all. Yes, it sucks when crap reaches the front page and is praised for being good, but I say it simply encourages people who see it as crap to search past it and find hidden gems. Now, lately I haven't exactly been doing this. I've only paid attention to the popular stories and have been trying to get through my read latered list (or new chapter list) so I can focus on what I used to do on this site: Search. It's fun.
Now later on you clearly state that new authors shouldn't be shunned or anything, so obviously you're not one I would call cynical. I hope your ideas aren't used for cynical purposes either, to have elitists in charge of the site would be a terrible thing. If this site was like EQD then it would see less growth and more new authors would be discourages to even try, hell I'd leave the site. I'm not opposed to your ideas, but I do think you should look back at them.
And that is pretty much the two sides to this situation. I am, honestly, very much torn between these two stances, and here's why: I am a writer, and like a majority of writers on this site (at least from my experience) my first real venture into writing was indeed on this site. I started off as an awful writer. My grammar was terrible, and I couldn't write more than two characters in a scene at a time (heck that's half the reason that Sweetie ends up leaving Ponyville in Scion of Chaos—my inability to write the Mane 6 in a manner that I felt honoured the original characters). However, there were still people who read my story and commented on it. They said wonderful things that inspired me to keep writing. Truly, those comments kept a smile on my face for the whole eight months it took to write the story. It was certainly one of the—if not the—best year(s) of my life.
Are you saying your writing for Scion of Chaos was bad? If so then maybe you should check your standards, it was very nicely written in my opinion.
My biggest issue with raising standards on the site is where does it end? The leaders on the site could start off encouraging new writers or "bad" ones to keep trying and to give guidelines. Then it could shift to new rules where if a moderator sees a bad story it gets disapproved (eqd) and finally you just end up frustrating writers because the leaders standards are too high. I have irrational fears all the time, but my biggest fear is this site getting ruined out of good intentions.
How'd the trip go?
2172694 Yeah, I hear you. I do hold to both points, contrary as they may be--or even paradoxical in nature. Overall, I think the positive and welcoming side wins out, but there are still times when it gets on my nerves a bit to see an author completely ignoring criticism and not having fun with the work either. Thankfully, I don't see that too often. And if I do raise my voice against such a person, I do so with the utmost care to remain respectful toward them.
I think what I want to see most from the fandom are people willing to give reason to whether or not they like something. Basically, I want to see people willing to discuss the fics they read more often, and discovering their own opinion on the works. But that's just my own idle wishes, and there's little that can be done to bring that out. So I do aim to encourage those who will listen to me, to try their hand at being critical about the stuff they read, and why they enjoy the stories they enjoy.
What I have come out with, after many hours of thinking about quality control in the fandom, is that it's foolish to consider raising the standards here. But a better approach is to display a willingness to discuss and share the stories we read and the stories we write. I'd rather have the most reprehensibly low standards on this site than change this place to one that would snuff out the creative seeds of new authors.
To add to this point:
I think that Scion is a great story (with many, many faults) that I enjoyed writing, and have found joy in rereading as well, and I still look back on it quite frequently as a source of inspiration where I find the drive to improve upon my writing. It is because I have gone through this struggle, I have been a bad author, and I still managed to learn and write something that I and others have liked, that I do see the value in having easy-access and low standards.
But it's because I am aiming to improve that I do have the desire for higher standards, it's hard to disassociate from the writer inside me while I am reading, thus some poor-quality stories can irk me. Just because it irks me doesn't mean it's bad though, I know that, and I realize it. That's why I left off with the line:
In spite of any of my own mild irritation, I hold that quote as paramount. I want to encourage those that find wonderment in writing (as I do) to keep on writing.
I hope that makes some sense.
2172927 It does