Running out into the dark cold night...

[selenay]

After today, I am going to be off work for six entire, whole days. It will be glorious. I need the break so much, just to catch up on sleep.

So far, my NaNo novel is going pretty damn well. I'm still enjoying it, and I'm actually having more fun with it the further I get into it. There is one scene that will probably lose the first few paragraph in revisions, and another I know will need expanding, but I'm not actively hating it. Remind me of these positive feelings when I hit the mid-novel, everything sucks, part of writing, okay?

At least I still feel confident that I have the right MC on this one :-D And yesterday, I got to throw in a library description from my research, which made me squee a little as I wrote.

Unfortunately, this morning I wandered onto Twitter and immediately got filled in on the latest SFF fandom explosion. Reading to figure out what the hell everyone was talking about was beyond depressing, and made me a bit afraid for the nebulous potential future when I might be a published author. I know that there will be negative reviews, it's inevitable, but the idea that a reviewer could take such a dislike to specific authors that they mount campaigns against them and anyone who enjoys their work is...frankly, terrifying.

And this comes after a couple of weeks of reading about two separate authors who hunted down, stalked, and even attacked (in one case) negative reviewers.

It's enough to make an aspiring writer want to throw in the towel and never ever let any of my original fic see the light of day. Fanfic 5eva!!111!!!

(Except it turns out this morning's shitstorm culprit started out in fanfic land many years ago, and committed many of the same offenses there. So, you know, fanfic land isn't any friendlier than original fic land, sometimes.)

On the one hand, I wish I hadn't fallen down the link trail. On the other hand, ignorance isn't always bliss, if there's a chance you'll walk into the same traps as previous people have. At least, in the event I do sell anything, I know this is something that could happen and can be braced for it. At least a little bit.

Now I need to go and find some happy things, and then I need to write my novel some more. Today is the day I get to write a little reveal I've been looking forward to, so it's going to be fun.

Comments

[muccamukk]

Given that there seems to be some scandal or other rocking the SF/F community every three months or so, I'm amazed anyone publishes at all. Blah.

I feel torn about following, but on the whole I feel like the discussions around people like this have very much added to my understanding of community dynamics and culture. I have roughly zero publishing aspirations, but they do seem to be depressingly universal examples of toxic behaviour, and studying them at a bit of a distance has helped me deal with them when I actually run into them.

Hopefully you will sell something, and I can then read it :D

[selenay]

Sometimes, given how much crap gets thrown around, it really is amazing anyone publishes!

I tend to follow a lot of this, at least partially because it often tends to ripple out into the fanfic side of fandom, too. If I know what's going on out there, I can be prepared when it hits the places I call home.

Hopefully you will sell something, and I can then read it :D

I love how confident everyone is that I'll actually write something they *want* to read :-D

[emmzzi]

totally missed twitterstorm. YAy for time off, have a FAB RELAXING time!

[selenay]

Be very glad you missed this week's twitterstorm :-)

Time off is so great!

[drgnhlr]

Wow, what an interesting tale this might make (I'm super curious, it's a failing...I think?).

Enjoy the hell out of your days off, and I hope you catch up on that sleep!

[selenay]

I already feel better for having eight hours a night, twice in a row! This sleeping thing is *amazing*.

[tawg]

Enjoy your time off. Keep writing and keep getting enjoyment out of it. I have found some of the 'wtf' moments when it comes to clashes between authors and reviewers lately to be really... well, really 'wtf'. I don't understand how those things have escalated, but I guess it's a good thing that people are speaking up? I suspect that bullying between authors and reviewers has been going on for a long time. But I guess try to focus on the examples you see of the author-reviewer relationships working well, because there are also plenty of those around. And if you do publish, you'll already have a small team of people who know you and your stuff who will be signal boosting your novel.

[selenay]

But I guess try to focus on the examples you see of the author-reviewer relationships working well, because there are also plenty of those around.

That's what I'm trying to do. And the advice that authors shouldn't be going into reviewer spaces to answer back is one that I'm taking to heart. (There's not much I can do about reviewers forcing themselves into author spaces when it's inappropriate, but that's a whole other thing.) It seems like this stuff escalates when neither side can cope with not getting the last word, although it's terrifying how far it can go. This latest one is all kinds of fucked up, in ways I didn't know were possible before.

Just got to hope I don't end up in the middle of anything like that :-(

And if you do publish, you'll already have a small team of people who know you and your stuff who will be signal boosting your novel.

:-D I actually tend to get nervous about that, because should I take advantage of that? Or should I just pretend that author me and fandom me are totally different people, and never the twain shall meet (or cross-promote)?

A question to be answered if I ever get there :-)