drusillas_rain | (no subject)

1. Much ♥ to everyone on my flist! I love that you're all a part of my life!

2. I've been branching out into Sherlock and Hawaii 5-0 fandoms, and I love that I'm seeing some familiar names from HP fandom.

3. Salon's been running "The Good Sex" Awards. I haven't had the chance to read any of the excerpts yet (7 books were profiled), but I like that it focuses on the positive, rather than bashing.
EDIT: I also found the descriptions of their criteria (ie what makes a good vs bad sex scene) really interesting to read.

4. Lately, I've found I have no tolerance for people bashing creative endeavours. Everyone has a right to their opinion, and everyone has different tastes/likes, but I don't really understand why people who never try to write/compose/paint/create seem to take pleasure in tearing down those who do. I think I need to find news sites and places that encourage artists. (Also, no I don't think that every piece of art is wonderful and perfect, but there is a difference between constructive criticism and bullying.)

5. It's 5° out today and it's making me want to run around in a t-shirt and shorts. I'm so ready for winter to be over!

EDIT:
6. I just finished reading The City and The City by China Mieville and I can't recommend it enough! The style is "new weird" which basically means books that have fantasy/sci-fi elements, but are otherwise set in our world. He's also such a strong writer - he sets such a vivid scene in only a few sentences that might take another writer pages. The book itself is a mystery/detective story with fantasy and conspiracy theory elements. It's also a fascinating example of what it's like to live in a place that is geographically next to an almost identical culture, where foreigners don't see the differences, but where the differences are critical to collective self-identity. (For example, Croatia vs Serbia) Overall it was just such a pleasure to read!

*hugs*

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I've read The City and The City and while I loved the world and enjoyed the writing, I thought the characters were cardboard to the point that it was a struggle to get through it at points. I did like the book a lot overall, too, so I'll probably read something by him again sometime.

As for taking pleasure in tearing down "those who do" -- IDK, I find it fun and interesting to tear apart creative works, because I think art unexamined might as well have been left un-experienced. And if I happen to dislike whatever it is, that might be because of my taste, the weather, or my cold black heart. Or it might be because it really does suck.

However, if someone tears down a creator in order to judge their work, they're doing crit wrong and IMO it's totally okay to tell them to GTFO. Like the people on that tumblr who had never heard of Arcade Fire and are all "OMG I'VE NEVER HEARD OF THEM, THEREFORE THEY CAN'T BE ANY GOOD, LOL", yeah, they're jackasses.

(I'm not sure why you specified people who never try to create -- you don't need to be a creator yourself to provide valid criticism of the product of someone else's creativity. I actually find that non-creators can be much more helpful with assessing a story (it might be different with more technically-focussed creative endeavours) because a layperson's point of view is precisely that used by most who end up reading. A writer might spot an extended metaphor and let it go (or even praise it) when reviewing a story, because they see what you did there, but a reader with no writing experience/aspirations/ability might rightly point out that using the metaphor there makes the character sound like a pompous shit. If my character doesn't happen to be Draco, the layperson's POV is far more valuable in this case, unless I'm writing for an audience of writers.)

The "I've never heard of Arcade Fire therefore they suck" are the ones that mostly irritate me right now.

The tearing down reminds me of things like watching videos of lions tearing apart a gazelle. Yes, it's part of life, but I'm not really sure that watching those videos makes me a better person or really adds value to my life. Or like reading FML and People of Walmart. I'm entertained, but it's ultimately taking up time I could spend on doing something much more productive or positive. Not saying we should be braiding each others' hair, but I don't like what reading sites like that does to me. And I don't like that I start avoiding people who are ALWAYS critical of everything.

FML and People of Walmart aren't about creative works though. I find People of Walmart pretty distasteful on the whole -- it really feels like a bunch of self-appointed prosecutors for the crime of Going Out In Public While Fat. :\ I don't get the need to make fun of other people, either, probably because I don't understand how precisely it is supposed to make anyone feel better that "at least they're not [fill in the blank]". I mean, ok, I might not be [fill in the blank] but that doesn't solve any of my problems or make me a better person. This is a very #firstworldproblems kind of sentiment, I suspect.

(I think if you were a zoologist or animal behaviour specialist, the lions-and-gazelles videos would be more enriching. >.>)

ok, yes, the FML and PW example wasn't exactly what I was talking about at first. I think I'm just feeling very sensitive over the fact that I seem incapable of finding my own inner cheerleader, but I know that I can't ask other ppl to fill that role for me >.

I have to admit, I'm not the biggest Chine Mieville fan. The first book of his I read was City and the City and found it very difficult to get through. I just could not engage with the main character, who I found to be rather cliche. Even worse was Perdido Street Station (his supposed masterpiece) which, after two attempts, I haven't been able to finish.

I think the problem I have with him is that he gets way too engrossed in world-building (and I'll admit his world building is fabulous), but his characters are either a) boring and two-dimensional and/or b) cliche. And a lot of the reviews I've read of his work focuses on the shiny, and ignores the leaden plotting and poorly conceived characters. Just my opinion. I know someone else on my flist who'd fillet me for daring to imply he's not the greatest thing since sliced bread. ;)

I've found that I don't care as much about character depth as much as I do about engagement in a story. Then again, I find that hard scifi focuses on world-building so much more than this one did so it didn't bother me as much. I also just found his writing style refreshing, especially after the last book I read, where I started skipping through the pages and pages of description.

Happy V-day! <3

I've always lived by "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all". So if I can't be constructive in my criticism of people's art/writing/creative pieces, then I don't say anything about it. That way, I can't be a jerk and nobody's feelings get hurt. Too bad there are a lot of people out there who never learned that rule. :(

I wish more ppl did *sigh*

Agreed. I think we've become so critical as a society that people seem to think it's okay to be cruel. Probably why bullying is such a big issue. "Freedom of expression" taken a bit too literally.

Hope you're having a good day today. :)