Thoughts, ramblings and other stuff

Whether or not you like Sarkeesian’s work is utterly moot. You might disagree with some of her points. You might disagree with all of her points. You might even vehemently disagree. That’s not the issue here. The issue lies in this: A woman declared her intent to publicly voice her opinions about video games. For that, she was called a bitch, a whore, a slut, a cunt, a dyke, and a baffling assortment of racial slurs. She was threatened with violence, rape, and death. She was told to shut her mouth, get back in the kitchen, and die of cancer. Her video was repeatedly flagged for terrorism in an effort to get YouTube to pull it. Her Wikipedia page was defaced with pornography and profanity. All for the crime of being a woman talking about women in video games. No, not for being a woman talking about video games. For being a woman who had announced that she would, at some point in the future, be talking about video games.

First because I’m not a fan invested in their work – I don’t really care about A Song of Ice and Fire and I haven’t even tried Rothfuss. And my favourite author gives me a book every year which sometimes scares me because it’s almost too good to be true. And he has back up – another one knows the whole story so even if he dies... I’m secured on all fronts :P It’s unfair to judge people when one is so much luckier.

Second – there’s already plenty of people who wrote about it and plenty of discussions on forums. Discussed to death.

Of all presented I think that Guy Guvriel Kay’s thoughts are actually closest to my own. And it got me thinking about relationship between creators and their fanbase and how internet creates false feeling of closeness and familiarity. So here are some thoughts.

On one hand it’s nice to be able to glimpse author’s life, thoughts and creation process because it means that you can see authors as people who you can like and identify with and to be more involved, closer to the things you like. On the other you forget it’s not like they know you and doesn’t give you the right to dictate how they ought to live their lives. Yes, they made an obligation to tell us a story but it’s not set in stone. It is not a slave contract. If they decide to quit writing tomorrow and become Buddhist monks there’s nothing you can do to make them finish the work. It’s sad when the story is left unfinished but it’s not the end of the world. And, really, did the follow up to the Dune made you feel any better?

I think the problem is that, unfortunately, internet gets people used to instant gratification. On the web everything is now. People used to wait as long or even longer for books but they mostly didn’t have the way to know at what stage the works are on. One day the book was on the bookshelves. Meanwhile you had to pass the time somehow.

Nowadays everything needs to be instant. You have to know first. Get the book, see the movie, so you wouldn’t feel left out on the message board because you don’t know what they are talking about. All the business of opening weekends and releasing awaited books on the same date everywhere. Because then people go on the web to share. And spoil. So you need to be on the know. First to know. So you keep checking.

No need to wait to learn what people do. The only problem why aren’t they doing what you want them to? The blog posts are updated often, in some cases even daily. The progress reports, discussions with other fans, spinning theories, that only next installment can make valid (or not). All this creates the need to get the next part. You check the blog every day and it’s still not done. And not done. And not done. And you get frustrated because you are waiting here. You are winding yourself up. So maybe you should stop checking. Time moves much faster then.

I understand those fans. I too often feel I want to know what happens next. NOW. That’s why I’m not very active on malazanempire. Even though Erikson is a writing machine I still have to wait for the next part and it is easier when I’m not constantly thinking about it. When I’m not reminded all the time how much I want it. The instant, live updates only exist for stories you make in your head. For all the others you have to wait. For the next episode. Next movie. Next book. Sometimes the wait is short. Sometimes it takes many years. This is part of the whole ‘let other people tell me stories’ business. You are on their schedule.

For all that the internet did to make the exchange between creators and fans more bidirectional it’s still isn’t a relationship of equal partners. You can make a contribution by catching errors and helping with research but you’re not the one telling the story. The author is not your slave, giving voice to your ideas on your schedule. They have lives besides telling stories; just like you have life beside your work (if you don’t please seek medical attention but then you probably wouldn’t be reading this). It’s their story they are telling you. If it’s not to your liking you can stop reading/ watching but that is the extent of your influence (or it should be).

Internet gives people the feeling they know those authors, take part in their lives and therefore can tell them what to do. And I don’t mean just ‘write faster’ screams of GRRM fans. I mean also people who want to dictate how to tell a story. What heroes should and shouldn’t do. What the story should be all about. This is particularly strong among the fans of TV shows. Especially the character hate and ‘shipping wars. The constant screams of fans that want a character to die (or not). To have it their way. To see their vision of how things should be become reality. Observing such things made me understand I don’t respect those creators who cave in and follow the wishes of the crowd. I hate reality shows; I see no need for the scripted ones to be based on voting people of the island based on what fans want. To me killing a character because fans dislike them or worse keeping one because they love them and not because that what story dictates means you lack a clear vision of what you create. If you don’t know the story and where it goes how can it make sense? Of course sometimes character doesn’t fit what it was intended to be and you have to make changes but if you keep going that way it will all fall apart. There can’t be hundreds of authors. It will end in a mess – just look at Heroes. Just because fangirls think Zachary Quinto is cute (and I think so too) doesn’t mean you have to keep Sylar forever. That mess that his story become usually takes decades in comics – they did it in just 3 years (and made me stop watching). If you have a story to tell, tell it. Changing it to please the crowd just makes it worse. It just shows how too much feedback can be deadly. I actually respect BSG creators more for sticking with Anders despite the Apollo/Starbuck shippers and T:tSCC for telling Riley and Jess story in their own pace. I found both storylines made these shows better, richer universes.

Going back to the books – it’s the same thing. I understand the need to complain it’s everyone’s right. And internet is a perfect place to do it – mostly anonymous and there’s always someone thinking like you. But I don’t think that creators should heed fans (except maybe small, unimportant things – like names). GRMM should finish the book when he feels it is what he wants the story to be, when it tells the story he wants to tell. If it needs another rewrite – tough. But maybe you won’t complain it’s weak then. Authors know you expect much (too much maybe). They don’t want to disappoint. They want you to enjoy it. Let them enjoy writing for you instead of constantly asking “Is it done already?”

And if you relax you may find the book will be in you hands soon enough. I just learned Patrick Rothfuss finished first draft of his book.