Reading and writing.

[foxmonkey]

So...if you write fic, do you read it as well?

I'm asking because I read a comment in a community where the poster (a writer) said that she rarely reads other people's fic unless it's recommended. This just boggles the hell out of me. I get the theory (bad!fic abounds!) but...well, I just can't wrap my brain around it.

Maybe I'm just a Philistine who'll read anything that's put in her path. ;-) Well, not everything, I do have standards, but, yeah. I don't need a rec to read. Hmmm. Just wondering if this is more common than not.

Comments

[copracat]

Nah, there are just some people in fandom because they are writers only, not fans. They don't give a fuck about any interaction except they write and get feedback/ego boo/attention/whatever. They can generally be recognised by the regularity with which they use the term 'my readers'. Even if I like their work I would never, ever give them any feedback because I am a selfish fan who demands at least the intention of interaction, whether you are a shy lurker or a five-posts/fifty-emails-a-day ultra-fan. I want to know that you are in this with me, this obsession, this love, this delight in the process of media fandom. Anyone who sees me and other media fans as a readership only? Yeah, whatever, no.

(Note here that they key for me is that the poster was a writer.)

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

Wow, sorry I'm so late with a response, but I thought I'd responded! My brain, she hates me.

Nah, there are just some people in fandom because they are writers only, not fans. They don't give a fuck about any interaction except they write and get feedback/ego boo/attention/whatever. [snip] I want to know that you are in this with me, this obsession, this love, this delight in the process of media fandom. Anyone who sees me and other media fans as a readership only? Yeah, whatever, no.

EXACTLY, YES. We're all fans, so let's interact, dammit! I want someone to squee *with*, not *at*. If I wanted a one-way street kind of relationship with a writer, I'd email friggin' Stephen King or something.

And I agree with being selfish, because I haven't given her a word of feedback since reading that post.

[copracat]

Wow, sorry I'm so late with a response, but I thought I'd responded! My brain, she hates me.

Oh, my house is way too made of glass in this respect!