TaE Update · 2:49am Jan 12th, 2015
So....
Chapters...
Actually, it's going good. Hit a bit of a snag with the start, but now we're chugging along full force.
You thought I might be done? Ha! At least, I'm kinda hoping that's what you thought. I mean, I stopped the ellipses and everything!
But the MLK chapter names don't stop there. With I've Been to the Mountaintop... I'll be getting more in depth with Mask mourning Flame. Hopefully bringing an end to that on a high and somewhat tasteful note.
I want to ask again what people think so far. I REALLY want to hear opinions and thoughts of whats going on, plotwise, characterwise, etc. Am I doing a good job? Do I suck? (Probably.) I'd love some advice on what I could do, what it seems like I'm doing, what you think I'm leading up to, and all.
Well, if I'm going to be honest it's a good story and while I was reading it I saw the authors notes at the bottom referencing Ferguson and so on like that.
I don't know about anybody else but when I read a story about ponies and changelings the LAST thing I want to be reminded of is real world racial prejudice. If you want to write a story about just that, it's all good and well and you should let people draw their own conclusions and correlations between their lives and what's going on.
It gets extremely preachy if you're going to muddy a story with a conflict of interest using events that have effected you or anyone else.
The Authors Notes at the end of chapters "...They Will Not Be Judged..." and "...But by the Content... ", I don't even know why they are there.
If people can't figure out that not every Muslin is a terrorist or that not every Asian is smart or a martial arts expert, then those people are fucking retarded, plain and simple.
Also;
That is funny, NOT racist.
As is that.
My sister is travelling Europe and the vast majority of French people (I stress majority, not ALL of them) were rather rude to her and even made unwanted advances.
If I see a gay person prance around like a sissy and making a fool out of himself ON PURPOSE then I will laugh. I know gay people and they do this. I'm not stupid enough to assume the fact for the aforementioned.
If you need to feel like you should point out negative stereotypes that people already know aren't true, then there is something wrong with your target audience.
In short; keep your own problems out of your writing—with all due respect. At the risk of sounding like an absolute dickhead, I don't care about what else goes on in the world. Bad things happen every day, and it's only when the media gets involved do things hit the fan.
People will use news and the media to forward their own agendas and causes using the inherent issues in the news story as an excuse to riot and do other things. People get shot and killed every day. Why is it people only care when it's an issue they can relate to?
Black guy gets shot by white cop? Literally nobody can get their story straight and use it as an excuse to riot. Children in the middle east get shot and killed every day, and I don't doubt that some of those deaths are at the hands of American soldiers. Why does nobody report about that shit? Repeating; people ONLY care when it affects them
2716963 I definitely see what you're saying, and I agree. I tend to get very passionate about certain topics, and that definitely does draw attention away from the story. I'm trying to tone that back a bit and let the plot speak for itself.
At the same time, certain things need to be said to make people realize that the world is screwed up. You'd be surprised how many people are just too sheltered in their own bubble of reality. Sometimes you've gotta start poking at it. That's one of the reasons I try to limit the preachy factor to the author's notes, so people can skip over them without missing out on the story itself.
Thank you for taking the time to comment as well. Every opinion helps me get better.
2717003
There is good, and there is bad. If people don't know this then yes, they're too sheltered and need to get the boot up their arse.
I speak only for myself when I say that I really don't care what happens in the world. I literally don't care in the slightest. At all. Call it desensitization from the media milking things for all they're worth.
Someone gets shot in Ferguson? Meh.
Snooki gets pregnant? Why is anyone surprised? I mean just look at her and Jersey Shore.
Robin Williams commits suicide? Why is his case any different from people that I personally know that have done the same thing?
OK, when I was about 16 or so I went up north to a city called Napier (I live in New Zealand) for my dads wedding (he got remarried). One of his friends I met was/is a policeman. More to the point, some time later there was a shootout between a gunman and the same dude got shot. My stepdad is a policeman and got a pamphlet in the mail about it and I saw the dude's picture in it and said, "I met him." I don't remember if he lived or died, but at the end of the day nobody cares about anyone outside of their immediate circles unless the media publicizes it.
Famous person dies? World mourns. Boo-fucking-hoo.
My grandmother dies? Nobody outside of my family cares.
See how fucked up people and the media are?
2717072 I think people mourn celebrities because we feel like they are family. We see so much of their life, or relate to them on some level, that we feel like we know them personally. For instance with Robin WIlliams, we've seen him through interviews and watched him bring characters to life, so some people may feel connected to him through that like one would a family member.
As for Ferguson and the Middle East, that stems from anger and injustice. A desire to change things but feeling as if you can't.
Not saying it's true or justified, just saying it is.