Flamers
Posted by A. T. on Monday, September 21, 2009
Under: AliasAurora
Flamers can be difficult to deal with. They can often attack your writing on a personal level and can undermine your confidence in yourself and your skills. It's important to develop a thick skin, otherwise flames will bother you for a long time after you receive them.
Everyone will get a flame at least once in their writing career, if they achieve any kind of recognition at all. (By "recognition" I mean you at least get a few reviews or a hundred-plus hits. It's not that many, really.)
It's important when you get a flame not to respond right away. Getting pissed off about it helps no one, and if you're pissed off and you respond right away, you will probably come off as unreasonable, angry, and mean. The longer the wait, the more likely you are to think about your response and what the flamer was really thinking when they wrote it.
First, remember that flamers are people too, and they can make mistakes. Maybe your flamer didn't read your writing carefully enough and got the wrong idea. This has happened to me. My flamer was angry over my characterization of Winry, and was afraid that I had cast her in a weak light. I was presented with this gem of an insult: "Winry of ENATAgain, screw you." I quote this from memory--the insult really scalded my brain. I knew I had tried really hard to get her character right and to write her how she might react to the things that were happening to her. After sitting on the insult for a while, I came to realize that my flamer had misinterpreted my writing and had a completely false image of my writing in his head. I also realized that in this flamer's mind, I was writing a hugely misogynist and antifeminist piece of work. If I ever read something as horrible as what this flamer saw in my writing, I would be horrified. I would deinitely flame anyone who wrote something like that.
But that wasn't what I had written. So, after realizing what had happened. I calmy explained to my flamer what misunderstanding had occurred. I also included a possibly less-than-appropriate suggestion that certain people should think before they flame. This was my way of suggesting that I had been personally offended by the flame, and it worked. My flamer apologized to me within days and admitted that he was in the wrong.
If your flamer is the type borne of misinterpretation, the best thing you can do is try to correct the misunderstanding in a nonthreatening way.
The next type of flamer is one who corrects you, especially in an insulting way, or in a way that makes you feel insulted. Some writers will get unduly offended if a review contains anything other than praise and admiration. When a review contains a statement that is insulting to you, try to remember that your response is key to fixing the situation, or exacerbating it.
Communication between the writer and the reader is important on the amateur writing level. If you don't get honest feedback, you might be writing something completely horrible and not even know it. It's important to keep this in mind when reading a review that you feel attacks your story.
Think carefully about what the reviewer is trying to correct and try to think of it from an unbiased perspective. Is your flamer stating facts, such as "Air conditioning did not exist in the time of FMA" or "Envy is actually a male and his hair is black, not green"? Or is your flamer stating opinions, such as, "Ed and Rose would never hook up because Ed loves Winry" or "Roy isn't gay! He's a womanizer!" The key is NO BIAS. If you are being biased towards your story, you will probably fail to see at what point the line between fact and opinion is crossed.
When responding to a correction review, please use extreme caution when stating this: "That's why it's called fanFICTION! Because it's made up!" I can't tell you how many times I've gotten this statement in a review reply. This is probably the most annoying thing you can ever say to a correction reviewer.
Once I reviwed a fic in which Winry had an asthma attack, and I pointed out that asthma rescue inhalers using fast-acting bronchiodilators such as albuterol, prednisone, ipratropium, etc. did not exist in the early 20th century, and the drug of choice for rescue from an asthma attack would have been epinephrine, inhaled in much the same way as anesthetics such as ether and chloroform. It was a valid point, but instead of accepting this, the person responded with the "That's why it's called fanFICTION" excuse.
Fiction has to make sense. Reality doesn't. Think about it.
Just because you are writing fiction doesn't mean you are exempt from reality. The fact that you have chosen to write fanfiction implies that you have consented to write a work of fiction that rests solely inside the context of an already created universe. AUs are a different matter, but the fic I'm talking about was not an AU, it was set inside the regular 'verse, which means it should have been constrained to the rules of the 'verse.
If someone tries to correct your research or logic in a fic, first check if their point is valid. In the examples above:
- Air conditioning did not exist in the time of FMA. FACT-BASED. VALID.
- Envy is actually a male and his hair is black, not green. FACT-BASED. VALID.
- Ed and Rose would never hook up because Ed loves Winry. OPINION-BASED. NOT VALID.
- Roy isn't gay! He's a womanizer! JUSTIFIABLE, BUT COULD GO EITHER WAY. DEFENSIBLE.
For the two valid points listed, you should respond humbly. Their correction is fact-based and logical, regardless of how offensively worded it may be in the flame itself. If you come across a fact-based correction, try not to take offense. Admit your mistakes. You will be a bigger person for it. If the fact-based correction is insulting in wording or is guised under personal attack, it may be okay to gently point out that you have been unnecessarily offended, but don't be obnoxious about it. Keep it classy.
For the invalid point listed, it is best to remind the flamer that both pairings of EdRose and EdWinry can be allowed in your fanfic because the pairings are not explicitly resolved in the anime or manga. You will probably need to have good reasons behind your defense of the pairing and the circumstances under which the pairing occurred. If you're just ging to write with the assumption that Ed loves Rose and that's that, there's a likelihood that you will get on your readers' nerves for not justifying the pairing within the canon of your fic. For example, writing an EdRose fic in the mangaverse might get your readers a little annoyed with you because of the EdWinry overtones of the manga, especially if you don't justify EdRose enough or if you simply discard the overt EdWinry friendship/possible romantic relationship present in the manga. That's not an issue for reasons of pairing, however--that would be an issue for canonical reasons.
For the fourth one: You could probably point out that gay men sometimes are sexually promiscuous with women as a cover, before they come out of the closet. However, if you're using that as your excuse to pair your favorite yaoi ship, you're probably going to annoy some people if your writing doesn't have any more substance to it than "Roy is gay, look at me writing about him prancing around with a variety of male characters!" This is the main reason why I get annoyed with yaoi writers. I aplogize for the stereotype, but many of them really don't care whether their ship makes sense, as long as it fulfills their sexual fantasies. THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS. I KNOW THIS. But considering how much yaoi there is in fanfiction, the exceptions are increasingly fewer and father between.
Here's the gist of what I'm saying: Keep to the canon, or at least man up and admit you're not sticking to it. Don't fight it. And if somebody tells you you're wrong, second-guess yourself. You might be, you might not be. Everybody has an opinion. Your flamers are not always right, but neither are you.
Correction flamers are difficult to deal with, but leave your bias safely at home where it belongs and you should be able to react poliltely and prevent miscommunication. Poor communication leads to flame wars.
And finally, fitting in neither of the two categories, there are the flamers who flame because they just like to flame. They insult you personally, tell you never to write again, tell you you're horrible for whatever reason, etc. Just ignore them. They're jerks.
--AliasAurora, aka A. P. Patterson, on flamers.
Everyone will get a flame at least once in their writing career, if they achieve any kind of recognition at all. (By "recognition" I mean you at least get a few reviews or a hundred-plus hits. It's not that many, really.)
It's important when you get a flame not to respond right away. Getting pissed off about it helps no one, and if you're pissed off and you respond right away, you will probably come off as unreasonable, angry, and mean. The longer the wait, the more likely you are to think about your response and what the flamer was really thinking when they wrote it.
First, remember that flamers are people too, and they can make mistakes. Maybe your flamer didn't read your writing carefully enough and got the wrong idea. This has happened to me. My flamer was angry over my characterization of Winry, and was afraid that I had cast her in a weak light. I was presented with this gem of an insult: "Winry of ENATAgain, screw you." I quote this from memory--the insult really scalded my brain. I knew I had tried really hard to get her character right and to write her how she might react to the things that were happening to her. After sitting on the insult for a while, I came to realize that my flamer had misinterpreted my writing and had a completely false image of my writing in his head. I also realized that in this flamer's mind, I was writing a hugely misogynist and antifeminist piece of work. If I ever read something as horrible as what this flamer saw in my writing, I would be horrified. I would deinitely flame anyone who wrote something like that.
But that wasn't what I had written. So, after realizing what had happened. I calmy explained to my flamer what misunderstanding had occurred. I also included a possibly less-than-appropriate suggestion that certain people should think before they flame. This was my way of suggesting that I had been personally offended by the flame, and it worked. My flamer apologized to me within days and admitted that he was in the wrong.
If your flamer is the type borne of misinterpretation, the best thing you can do is try to correct the misunderstanding in a nonthreatening way.
The next type of flamer is one who corrects you, especially in an insulting way, or in a way that makes you feel insulted. Some writers will get unduly offended if a review contains anything other than praise and admiration. When a review contains a statement that is insulting to you, try to remember that your response is key to fixing the situation, or exacerbating it.
Communication between the writer and the reader is important on the amateur writing level. If you don't get honest feedback, you might be writing something completely horrible and not even know it. It's important to keep this in mind when reading a review that you feel attacks your story.
Think carefully about what the reviewer is trying to correct and try to think of it from an unbiased perspective. Is your flamer stating facts, such as "Air conditioning did not exist in the time of FMA" or "Envy is actually a male and his hair is black, not green"? Or is your flamer stating opinions, such as, "Ed and Rose would never hook up because Ed loves Winry" or "Roy isn't gay! He's a womanizer!" The key is NO BIAS. If you are being biased towards your story, you will probably fail to see at what point the line between fact and opinion is crossed.
When responding to a correction review, please use extreme caution when stating this: "That's why it's called fanFICTION! Because it's made up!" I can't tell you how many times I've gotten this statement in a review reply. This is probably the most annoying thing you can ever say to a correction reviewer.
Once I reviwed a fic in which Winry had an asthma attack, and I pointed out that asthma rescue inhalers using fast-acting bronchiodilators such as albuterol, prednisone, ipratropium, etc. did not exist in the early 20th century, and the drug of choice for rescue from an asthma attack would have been epinephrine, inhaled in much the same way as anesthetics such as ether and chloroform. It was a valid point, but instead of accepting this, the person responded with the "That's why it's called fanFICTION" excuse.
Fiction has to make sense. Reality doesn't. Think about it.
Just because you are writing fiction doesn't mean you are exempt from reality. The fact that you have chosen to write fanfiction implies that you have consented to write a work of fiction that rests solely inside the context of an already created universe. AUs are a different matter, but the fic I'm talking about was not an AU, it was set inside the regular 'verse, which means it should have been constrained to the rules of the 'verse.
If someone tries to correct your research or logic in a fic, first check if their point is valid. In the examples above:
- Air conditioning did not exist in the time of FMA. FACT-BASED. VALID.
- Envy is actually a male and his hair is black, not green. FACT-BASED. VALID.
- Ed and Rose would never hook up because Ed loves Winry. OPINION-BASED. NOT VALID.
- Roy isn't gay! He's a womanizer! JUSTIFIABLE, BUT COULD GO EITHER WAY. DEFENSIBLE.
For the two valid points listed, you should respond humbly. Their correction is fact-based and logical, regardless of how offensively worded it may be in the flame itself. If you come across a fact-based correction, try not to take offense. Admit your mistakes. You will be a bigger person for it. If the fact-based correction is insulting in wording or is guised under personal attack, it may be okay to gently point out that you have been unnecessarily offended, but don't be obnoxious about it. Keep it classy.
For the invalid point listed, it is best to remind the flamer that both pairings of EdRose and EdWinry can be allowed in your fanfic because the pairings are not explicitly resolved in the anime or manga. You will probably need to have good reasons behind your defense of the pairing and the circumstances under which the pairing occurred. If you're just ging to write with the assumption that Ed loves Rose and that's that, there's a likelihood that you will get on your readers' nerves for not justifying the pairing within the canon of your fic. For example, writing an EdRose fic in the mangaverse might get your readers a little annoyed with you because of the EdWinry overtones of the manga, especially if you don't justify EdRose enough or if you simply discard the overt EdWinry friendship/possible romantic relationship present in the manga. That's not an issue for reasons of pairing, however--that would be an issue for canonical reasons.
For the fourth one: You could probably point out that gay men sometimes are sexually promiscuous with women as a cover, before they come out of the closet. However, if you're using that as your excuse to pair your favorite yaoi ship, you're probably going to annoy some people if your writing doesn't have any more substance to it than "Roy is gay, look at me writing about him prancing around with a variety of male characters!" This is the main reason why I get annoyed with yaoi writers. I aplogize for the stereotype, but many of them really don't care whether their ship makes sense, as long as it fulfills their sexual fantasies. THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS. I KNOW THIS. But considering how much yaoi there is in fanfiction, the exceptions are increasingly fewer and father between.
Here's the gist of what I'm saying: Keep to the canon, or at least man up and admit you're not sticking to it. Don't fight it. And if somebody tells you you're wrong, second-guess yourself. You might be, you might not be. Everybody has an opinion. Your flamers are not always right, but neither are you.
Correction flamers are difficult to deal with, but leave your bias safely at home where it belongs and you should be able to react poliltely and prevent miscommunication. Poor communication leads to flame wars.
And finally, fitting in neither of the two categories, there are the flamers who flame because they just like to flame. They insult you personally, tell you never to write again, tell you you're horrible for whatever reason, etc. Just ignore them. They're jerks.
--AliasAurora, aka A. P. Patterson, on flamers.
In : AliasAurora