On Thursday, April 3, 2003, at 07:28  PM, K'thardin wrote:

C. Jones wrote:

This *feels* like an attack. I don't think it is, and the message 
contains
very good C&C, so I'll try to treat it like that. Maybe I'm just being
oversensitive.

It wasn't meant to be such.  At most it was an expression of 
displeasure at the fact
you asked for C&C and then turned around and basically said that you 
weren't going to
listen to it...even if that's not what you meant to say.

I've been reading this fic for awhile.  I don't know if I will for very 
much longer
because of what I saw your reply was next.  I've been meaning to send 
you some
comments for some time, but hadn't gotten around to it til this sort of 
prompted me
to submit something.

I guess it's time for another old fart to come into this discussion...

A writer has to draw a fine line when it comes to critiques.  It's 
depressingly easy to sit back like a skating judge and say "I give it a 
5.3... I thought the grammar was well done, but I just didn't like the 
way you handled Ryouga's character."  It's much harder to have the 
fingers on the keyboard and see the world through the eyes of another 
person and not only feel what that other is feeling, but explain it to a 
bunch of skating judges to their satisfaction.

To be honest, I think Chris' fault in this case is honesty.  He 
effectively said, "I'll accept grammar corrections, and maybe some 
problems here and there... but I'm not going to alter the story for 
anyone's personal character preferences."  This is necessary with the 
type of stories Chris writes, where his vision branches off from the 
original canon, sometimes in radical directions.   In his works, the 
character being critiqued has often grown beyond the one the critic 
knows.  Sometimes, the only thing you can say to such criticism is 
"Sorry, but the Ryouga you're familiar with has changed from the man you 
knew.  If you want that man, Takahashi's work is great.  Unfortunately, 
he left here around Chapter 2, and he ain't coming back."  Chris' 
problem was that he tried to say it in a blanket statement in advance - 
and thus earned the ire to come in advance.

-- Nick


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