10369 réponses à ce sujet

[Sarah1281]

What else is annoying is when reviewers feel the need to inform you that you hate a character. I think that if I hated, say, Anders that I would be aware of this fact and wouldn't need reviewers to helpfully point it out. After all, wouldn't I better know which characters I like or dislike than some random person would? Does anybody else ever have their preferences dictated to them?

[LupusYondergirl]

Wait... why would someone think you hate Anders? I've read all of your Anders one-shot stories, I don't get anywhere near that impression from any of them.



I don't get that, but I'll get people who confuse Maggie's beliefs/actions with me. Mostly when she's doing something stupid, and they think I don't realize it's stupid. Like... um, no. She's making a mistake. People do that on occasion. I realize it's stupid. The next several chapters will be all about how it bites her in the ass, in fact.

[Sarah1281]

I was just using Anders as an example. Usually for DA they think I hate Alistair, likely because I usually spare Loghain and we all know it's impossible to like two characters that can't stand each other.



And I wonder if those chapters will finally get it through to people that your story is not an Author Tract.

[LupusYondergirl]

Ah, ok. I never got that impression about Alistair from you, either. But I also spare Loghain and have no problem with Alistair, either. I can see one reason to kill him, and many reasons not to, though.



I think I should give up on people not confusing me with her completely at this point. It's the perspective I write from, I'm sure. I don't know if those chapters helped, but it lead to my first bad review- someone who said the manor in which I had her idiocy bite her in the ass was just something I did to convince myself I wasn't writing a "****ty mary sue."

I was a bit annoyed at first but figured I shouldn't let it get to me. If it was true odds are someone would have said it well before I hit the 400,000 word/700 review point. (That's what I keep telling myself...)

[LupusYondergirl]

OK, you guys jinked me.

*eyes 0 review count suspiciously*

[Elysium-Fic]

LupusYondergirl wrote...

lowered expectations! hehehe... I remember those.
I've gotten some confusing reviews. Not where I wonder if they read my story, but where I wonder if it's really the story they want to read... if that makes any sense.

Oh, the backseat writers are always tons of fun.

My beta and I ended up figuring out the same guy was reviewing both our stories one time, even though he responded to mine either anonymously or by a different name over at AFF (where he proceeded to give me a point by point outline of exactly how I should write the story from then on out) because of his way of telling us how we SHOULD be writing the story.

Also, he had a code phrase. If "Alistair's woman" was sleeping with anyone except Alistair--even if this happened before she and Alistair were romantically involved, or during a time when they had fallen out--then Alistair was getting "the short end of the stick," and should be responding to that by either banging everything that moved or throwing colossal tantrums.

We're just sitting there thinking, "Dude, your Issues are showing."

Fun times, fun times...

Modifié par Elysium-Fic, 14 novembre 2010 - 08:00 .

[mousestalker]

I have fewer readers than I'd like and far more than I deserve.

[LupusYondergirl]

Also, he had a code phrase. If "Alistair's woman" was sleeping with anyone except Alistair--even if this happened before she and Alistair were romantically involved, or during a time when they had fallen out--then Alistair was getting "the short end of the stick," and should be responding to that by either banging everything that moved or throwing colossal tantrums.

Come on now, don't you know ladies should keep their knees together and wait to meet their One True Love, and anything else is simply shameful and immoral.

Only the boys are allowed to sew their wild oats. (Although who they should do that with when the ladies should work on staying pure has always been a point of confusion for me... Hmmm.)

[Maria13]

mousestalker wrote...

I have fewer readers than I'd like and far more than I deserve.

Amen to that...

[Sarah1281]

@Lupus: The 'scarlet women', apparently. Just so long as they don't MARRY them.

[sabreene]

Maria13 wrote...

mousestalker wrote...

I have fewer readers than I'd like and far more than I deserve.

Amen to that...

Amen x2 !

I've had several chapters with 0 reviews and whenever I get more than two reviews I'm totally spinning in my chair. Actually, quite literally. I love a good chair spin.

[Maria13]

sabreene wrote...

Maria13 wrote...

mousestalker wrote...

I have fewer readers than I'd like and far more than I deserve.

Amen to that...

Amen x2 !

I've had several chapters with 0 reviews and whenever I get more than two reviews I'm totally spinning in my chair. Actually, quite literally. I love a good chair spin.

To quote a rather awful film... "If you build it, they will come" nil desperandum and all that... 

[inquartata02]

I don't think so. You're stealing other people's reviews, hrm? For shame.

Slander and lies!

It was just a confusing review. Though in the chapter, I thought I'd made it pretty clear that the main character didn't want to risk the gauntlet (after seeing the giant effing dragon) because he thought it wouldn't be smart to risk the lives of the last two Grey Wardens in Ferelden over something that might not even be there. And then, once he's ordered to continue anyway, he (and the party) decide sneaking past the dragon and not fighting it is still the wisest course in terms of staying alive and not being eaten. And throughout the story so far, there's been much reinforcement on the whole "living until you can kill the archdemon, the rest of it isn't as important as that" idea.

The review called the main character a coward and wanted to know why they didn't fight the dragon.

>_<

It reminded me of the review that pointed out that the Joining potion wasn't just darkspawn blood. I was like... really? Is that why in the chapter they used other components and had a mage put it together? Did you read that part?

And that gets you (well, me) wondering if it's my writing or their comprehension that's the issue.

OK, you guys jinked me.

*eyes 0 review count suspiciously*

It's on my ipad to read, I swear! Instapaper'ed!

[Sialater]

I actually think Andraste's Ashes are better guarded by the dragon. The cult needs to go, though.

[jackkel dragon]

Sialater wrote...

I actually think Andraste's Ashes are better guarded by the dragon. The cult needs to go, though.

Kolgrim's a funny guy if you help him. In a "what the hell are you doing?" kind of way. My new favorite resolution to that scene is to taint the ashes and kill Kolgrim, leaving the dragon guarding a hall of random riddles with no prize at the end.

[LupusYondergirl]

@inquartata02 : I'm just teasing, no worries. I think most of my regular reviewers are in hectic-life mode (I've actually gotten emails from a few saying as much, which surprised me.)

God knows I am.



So here's a question. I know we've talked about music to fit certain moods while writing before, like music for fight scenes, but does anyone besides me ever listen to medieval era music while writing to kind of put themselves mentally in that "era"? I sometimes feel like listening to the sort of thing they would listen to makes it a little easier to get into my characters heads on occasion.



Just curious if I'm the only one.

[mousestalker]

LupusYondergirl wrote...

@inquartata02 : I'm just teasing, no worries. I think most of my regular reviewers are in hectic-life mode (I've actually gotten emails from a few saying as much, which surprised me.)
God knows I am.

So here's a question. I know we've talked about music to fit certain moods while writing before, like music for fight scenes, but does anyone besides me ever listen to medieval era music while writing to kind of put themselves mentally in that "era"? I sometimes feel like listening to the sort of thing they would listen to makes it a little easier to get into my characters heads on occasion.

Just curious if I'm the only one.

Yes  

[Sialater]

classical doesn't work for me. I need lyrics. Strangely, Tim McGraw's "A Real Good Man" and Shinedown's "Call Me" worked REALLY well for getting into Zevran's head. So much so, I cannot listen to those songs unless I'm writing him, or his similar character that invaded my original work.

Modifié par Sialater, 15 novembre 2010 - 07:49 .

[Maria13]

Not so much listening but I've been following "The Pillars of the Earth" these last weeks not only because I think Prior Phillip is hot... (what does that say about me?) but because of the sets, the villages, cathedrals, markets, abbey, castles etc give me a feel for the DA environment. I mean the plot is hackneyed but WTH it is great fun...

[mousestalker]

The serious is answer is that I write to a soundtrack. What music is on it varies from day to day, but it's generally something related to the time, tempo and emotions in the story.

[LupusYondergirl]

A lot of medieval music has lyrics, actually. It's not all liturgical music or instrumentals. Hesperus has an album of Irish and Scottish ballads in a mix of English and Gaelic that date back to the middle ages or so. Deller Concort does a lot of late medieval/early renaissance love songs in English, too. I have an album by the Baltimore Consort called 'The Art of the Bawdy Song,' which is entirely in English. Because dirty jokes don't work if you don't understand them. And people in the middle ages were as pervy as anyone in the 21st century.

@mousestalker : I have that song, too!

In my head I'd like to think Maggie totally loves those goofy Robin Hood ballads like this one since she's really just an overgrown kid in so many ways. I have one of the early Wil Scarlet ones in mp3, too, but couldn't find it to link to online.

I just got this not too long ago and like it quite a bit so far. The version of Cantiga 166 is really nice. It is instrumental but hey, it's also free!

@Maria: I'm waiting for that to hit netflix or something since I don't get that channel. I'll put up with a lot of crap for some good costuming. I'm a sucker for pre-eighteenth century costume dramas.

Modifié par LupusYondergirl, 15 novembre 2010 - 08:44 .

[mousestalker]

Because my lot in life is to be a bad influence and entirely the sort of person the nuns warned you about (and warned me about), if you like racy folk music, Oscar Brand is your man. Most of his stuff isn't even arguably medieval but the lewd folk song has a long and ignoble history.

My own personal taste runs to madrigals.

Modifié par mousestalker, 15 novembre 2010 - 08:50 .

[LupusYondergirl]

I have his sea shanty album.

[Sialater]

I know medieval music had lyrics, but classical was mentioned.



Modern fantasy has very little in common, really, with the real life medieval period. So... I use modern music.

[maxernst]

Maria13 wrote...

Not so much listening but I've been following "The Pillars of the Earth" these last weeks not only because I think Prior Phillip is hot... (what does that say about me?) but because of the sets, the villages, cathedrals, markets, abbey, castles etc give me a feel for the DA environment. I mean the plot is hackneyed but WTH it is great fun...

I've read the book and its semi-sequel "World Without End".  There's a little bit too much soap opera in them for my taste, but one thing they do well is convey the complexity of medieval society.  He does a nice job of portraying the power relationships between church, nobles, king, merchants and trade guilds. It's also enjoyable to see something set in the medieval era that's not all about battles.

Modifié par maxernst, 15 novembre 2010 - 10:18 .