(no subject)

[lab_reports]

I happen to think I'm a pretty good writer, but I don't think what I like to write is the sort of thing other people want to read. I don't really write stories about people overcoming societal injustice and noxious enemies and finally actualizing themselves; I write about anxious, uncertain people who are doing their best and aren't sure if they've Gotten There or not. There is rarely a definite resolution; the characters can only hope they're doing it right, and the reader (and the author) have to hope along with them. And I don't think many readers have the patience for that. They want a clear victory, and I feel like there are already plenty of writers offering that. I guess I would be considered literary, if I had a broader vocabulary and wasn't writing about hyperendowed synthetic vulpines, where 'literary' is a polite synonym for abstruse and unreadable. But I have to satisfy myself first.

Comments

[phormthevixdjinn]

I've always enjoyed (and very much respected) your writing specifically for this reason. Your characters are remarkably unique, and the challenges they face are fascinating. I appreciate the fact that there aren't tidy endings, or ultimate conclusions that leave all possible angles cleared up.

If I'm being a old woman about something related: I think that there's a kind of literary sickness that's permeated online culture, where every slight detail in any creative work is somehow expected to be a setup to an eventual grandiose and ultimately by-the-numbers payoff. And more often than not, the expectation is for that payoff to be some manner of spoon-fed reveal. Audiences seem uncomfortable with anything that's not an exceptionally clear and unambiguous good ending. But perhaps I'm getting afield on this...

Your choice of themes, subject, and the way you craft and write your characters, you handle every bit of all of that in a manner second to none. There's something deeply visceral about your writing that I adore. Life isn't clean, clear, or concise. It's a fucking mess from start to end, and we should have no illusions about that. Perhaps my views are hardly representative, but that is how I feel.

You are exceptionally talented. Thank you for sharing the work you create.