Hey all my readers

[velvet_mace]

I love you all, you are so wonderful and patient with me and my slooow updating. You've put up with my errors and lack of brit picking. And you've left me such wonderful comments, I just can't explain how happy as a writer you've made me feel

Comments

[neojess]

I thought these were a given. I'm fairly sure that for most readers, they are, since they're common sense and courtesy

[velvet_mace]

I'm glad you think my warnings are good. And actually, I've been told that by people who have had a problem with my writing.

Once spotted, typos are really super easy to fix. It's the spotting that's so hard. I wish I was one of these people who can spot errors easily, but I'm not. My brain just edits to fill in the problem without telling my conscious mind.

[ext_1000615]

I've never commented on livejournal before but this has given me the overwhelming urge to offer you a virtual hug. *hugs*

xx Megan

P.S. I'm obsessively in love with Chameleon <3

[velvet_mace]

Aw thanks. I just want to take care of my readers and at the same time write what I want to write. Sometimes it just doesn't seem to work right.

[anonymous]

It upsets me so much that anyone made you feel you had to write a post like this. I love your writing and the stories you're building, weird kinks and all, and I love them exactly as you choose to write them. Unfortunately I don't comment quite often enough about how much I love it, and I'm anon so I don't know if it counts for much, but I felt compelled to tell you in this case that I'm going to read everything you write and love every word right up until you ever choose to stop writing (god forbid!). I hope that doesn't sound too creepy, haha. You're one of my (very few) favorite authors in the Sherlock fandom and I'm glad you won't be dissuaded by those who want to make you feel guilty for writing what you do, change how you write it, or stop you from writing it altogether.

Always looking forward to your updates <3

[velvet_mace]

Comments are love, but don't feel obligated. :D

I'm more upset by the idea that people are getting upset reading my stuff. I keep real life and fantasy pretty firmly apart, and while I can be sadistic as hell in my writing, it bothers me when real life people are vomiting or that sort of thing.

But at the same time I know that I have limited power to change peoples reading habits. All I can do is encourage people go with their gut and not continue on out of some perceived obligation.

It isn't one person who has made this comment, but a number of comments over several months.

[artconserv]

It seems that there is always someone who won't be happy and feels entitled to demand things from you. I've run across this kind of thing before and I'm very happy to see you post this because it means you won't change or be affected by what those folks have to say.

Like Megan, I'm obsessively in love with Chameleon, also--not that you don't already know this. :-) I respect you and whatever you choose to do with your talents.

Best wishes to you and yours. I hope to do more Chameleon artwork at some point soon. :-)
XXXOOO
Lorraine

[velvet_mace]

Omg, you're art is so incredible. You are so talented! Anything you choose to do would be appreciated.

I know, and I hesitated a long time before writing this, but people have talked in the past about feeling literally nauseated by what I've written. And yikes! I love it when people are happy to read my stuff, and when it makes them think, but I don't want to be responsible for them throwing up! And I don't want to have people feel like they owe me some explanation for not reading my stuff.

At the same time, I'm not going to change my writing.

[artconserv]

I'm glad you're not going to change your writing. Your work is very powerful and you are able to evoke strong emotion--that's not something just anyone can do. For example, you are able to put the reader so well into John's head in "Collared" that you literally feel what he feels. I literally felt his pain. That's your talent. Obviously, feeling trapped and helpless are really negative emotions and it's actually a tribute to your talents that these folks are feeling these things so strongly

[ocotillo_dawn]

Those of us who post on line give a lot of power to readers to give us feedback. This is a great thing, IMO. I've found it very powerful to learn, e.g., that a character I was trying to portray as sympathetic was coming off as whiny to many. And of course, the wonders of the collective intelligence pointing out errors I hadn't even known to look for

[ocotillo_dawn]

Sorry-- a simple add on:

In a way, this is about what the reader expects from an author/book. Do they expect to dive into the world of the author, or do they expect the author to create the world that they want? Should be the former, and of course, they are absolutely entitled to decide it isn't a world that suits them.

[velvet_mace]

Yeah, ultimately it comes down to the fact that I'm going to write the story I want to write. The details can be tweaked, especially if execution is the problem, but I'm not going to change something that is integeral.

In part my writing is a response to a lot of fic writing which is fairly black and white: bad guys are bad for no good reason, good guys are always right. So I put a lot of ambiguity and moral relativism in my writing. Some people just aren't into that, but really, that's not going to change.