Anthrofiction Stories Web Site

Authors note: I hand wrote this before going to bed one night about six weeks ago in response an e-mail I received from one of the site's contributing author's. If this offends you, consider it a rant. If you like it, well, thanks. - Steve

I'm writing this after reading an e-mail message from one of the authors who contributes to this site. I could tell that this author was upset with some comments received about a story that had been posted and I decided that rather than respond only to this author I would respond to anybody who is interested enough to read this message.

I'm going to let you aspiring writers, and all other types of artists for that matter, in on a little secret...

People like to complain.

Surprise!

They like to moan. They like to whine. They like to bitch, rip apart and otherwise run down anything and everything that is not, in "their opinion", correct with regard to their view of the world.

"Waiter, this soup is too cold."

"This TV show sucks."

"You call that art? My three year old draws better than that."

"I could write a better story than this one!"

Ah ha! Now we are getting somewhere. You, as a writer, write about what you know, or what you think you know. If you're a guy, like myself, and you are writing about a female character, you write about her as you see her to be. And believe it or not, not all women are the same.

Maybe your woman, let's call her Eve, is a college student. You place her at a college you made up and write about her day to day experiences. Then somebody reads your story and takes time out of their busy schedule to write a note telling you that you are wrong, that a young woman would never eat a fluffernutter and tunafish sandwich and what were you thinking when you wrote that you ignornant goon.

(Fluffernutter, for those of you who haven't experienced it, is a marshmallow topping for ice cream sundaes that is also used with peanut butter to make sandwiches.)

(And don't laugh. I had a friend in college, a female friend, who liked Fluff and tuna fish. I should know, I introduced her to it.)

Anyhow, this person has slammed your story, or a part of your story. How do you react to this attack on your prized work? Write a nasty response? Mope around your room? Go raid the freezer for the last bit of Rocky Road ice cream? Stop writing and take up the bass guitar?

I suggest putting a positive spin on the whole thing. Yes, somebody sent you a note telling you that there is, in their opinion, a problem with your story. Now think about this.. They had to read your story in the first place to draw that conclusion.

Somebody read your story! And they thought enough about it to send you a comment on how it could be improved! Yeah, they may not have been nice about it, but they still wrote to you.

The main point is, SOMEBODY READ YOUR STORY!

You can't please everyone. No matter what you write there will be somebody who looks at it and says, "Yeah, whatever." That person will probably be my fourteen year old nephew, but that's another story.

Your decision to write is a personal one. That you are sharing your writing with others is a good, no, a great, thing as far as I am concerned. You are taking your thoughts, dreams and imagination and putting them on display for others to see.

Scarey thought, ain't it. :)

But if there is one other person out there who reads what you have to say and gains even a small measure of enjoyment out of it, then it's all worth it, don't you think?

Comments on my writing, including this little essay, can be sent to me at sabbott(at)anthrofiction.com. I read all my e-mail, well all but the junk mail, and I really am interested in what you have to say.