First off, I am not critising authors or trying to upset them. It's just a question to see if I am the strange one or not.
I think I have a highly developed sense of fair paly. I like to think that for every deed there is a counter deed. Sorry, not explaining myself very well. Try another tack.
I adore the stories written by Margaret Jeanette over on Fictionmania, but there are a number of her stories that, although I read and reread, leave me unsatisfied. And it's the same with other authors. I've mentioned Margaret because I read her stories almost daily (No offence meant Margaret, I really, really love your stories.) Her stories are great, but I find some endings unsatisfying. Now I know stories are meant to get you thinking and I've written a couple that were purely designed to do that, but my sense of fair play keeps getting tweaked.
An example...blah, blah, discovery, blah,blah, feminisation, blah, blah, humiliation, blah, blah, job loss, blah,blah, loose everything, blah, blah, trained as a maid, blah, blah, physical abuse, blah, blah, realisation of mistake by wife, blah, blah, apology made by wife and acepted by husband and everyone lives happliy ever after.
To me it's an unsatisfactory ending in that, as far as I'm concerned, the wife has got away with causing pain and heartache to the husband and all she said was "I'm sorry". There is no apparent effort to make up for the suffering. I'm not talking revenge or retribution, just old fashioned atonement, having to pay for what was done.
Some of Vickie Tern's wonderful stories (another author whose stories I adore and who I hope will not take offence) also gets under my skin. Take Threesome, the ending is great, but there are a couple of areas where I would have thought that there would have been a bit more fight back, no not fight back as he is supposibly doing it of his own accord. At one point of the story the male character is told he is no longer a social equal by both his wife and her lover or that he could no longer use the pet name he had been using for ages, another where he is forced to suck a penis. At these areas I probably would have had a sulk or a minor kick back.
I am not saying that this story is rubbish. Far from it. I wish I could write as well as either of the two writers I have mentioned. The main reason I became an author is because I had the nerve to write a different ending to one of Karen Anne Summerfield's stories that I felt addressed the injustice of the female characters actions. Okay Karen told me that it was her story and that she wrote her way, but that she liked what I had written and that I should write something and be published. She then helped me a lot along the way.
I just wonder if I am taking this thing about atonement too far and whether I should just ignore my sense of fair play. Am I being too picky or should I just read the story and enjoy it as it stands? What do you think?
Comments
It's a matter of what you like or dislike...
...I don't think you should feel compelled to enjoy something you'd normally not find interesting or attractive. Certainly, you've received varied degrees of responses from the authors you cited. It's really about what you find interesting, and what actually matches how you feel about things and believe about certain subjects. It would be nice if all the stories marked "forced-femme" also included, "Treats protagonist like garbage, no hope" or "He doesn't stand a prayer, and she's leaving him for another man (or woman)" but that's not how it works.
What I read from your blog is that you want to see fairness and justice served, even in this genre. You should never ignore your sense of fair play, but it might be challenged and you might just find yourself not continuing reading when you discover whether or not the author holds your point of view.
Oh, and by the way...you need to hear this...from my perspective, you write just as well as the two writers you cited, no reflection on their fine work. You're doing just fine, my dear...Keep up the good work!
She was born for all the wrong reasons but grew up for all the right ones.
Possa Dio riccamente vi benedica, tutto il mio amore, Andrea
Love, Andrea Lena
Fairplay
Andrea
I do not always expect fair play in anything I read, and if it didn't happen it wouldn't stop me reading the story or the author. It is unfair to expect an author to try and keep every reader happy. All authors will upset some of their readers some of the time. All I am really asking is whether letting my sense of fair play prompt me into doing a mental rewrite makes me strange or not.
Love
Sam
I'm sorry, but I seem to have fudged that completely...
...having said that, I do believe many readers, myself included, would find themselves doing mental rewrites all the time. I enjoy Faye Kellerman and Kathy Reichs, to name two of my favorite authors. I read their work and find myself wondering if they should have turned left instead of right, made this character the killer instead of that one. How many of us have gotten to the end of a novel and said, "Oh, no, not her?" Or "Why did he write that," all the while thinking about how we would have written it. You're not strange; if you are then I am as well. Well I might be even if you're not, but that's besides the point. And even if I misread your comment initially, it still gave me a chance to tell you what a fine writer you are, and I repeat that here!
She was born for all the wrong reasons but grew up for all the right ones.
Possa Dio riccamente vi benedica, tutto il mio amore, Andrea
Love, Andrea Lena
I don't think you're wrong
I can fully agree with you. No offence to either author you mentioned. Margarette has written many that I have saved off, but she has also written many that I chose not to save and a bunch that I never finished cause I didn't like the way the story was going, or the way the "antagonist" dumped on the poor guy from the start for no real reason other than self gratification with no thought to "one they loved". The same with Ms. Tern. I have quite a few saved and re-read. But many are just out of hand to me and not my choice of reading matter. I am sure they are both aware that many people handle their reading matter in this manner. That's what it is "all about". If every author was a million seller, how would they give out awards. Not everyone likes the same thing. Its your choice. And any problems you have with someone's work should be handled privately, not in a public forum. I just finished Julie O's latest over on FM today. It is kind of off the wall, and I almost stopped reading it part way through. If you see by the story tags it is not your choice of reading matter, don't read it. If you start and it takes a turn you don't like, stop reading. Or, keep going to see if there is a change. Whatever. I have seen many that I came close to stopping, but decided to go on for one reason or another and actually liked the story when it was done. It could have been just a twist in the plot or a turn the author felt was necessary. It's his/her story after all, and you are not being paid to read it, nor are they being paid for writing it. I remember the way Brandy was harassed after that one incident that caused her to withdraw from the web for so long. And I remember Angel. She wrote a lot of things. Most not my cup of tea, and I read few of them, but she was a good writer. The story is there. It is as the author wished it to be or it would not have been submitted. If it is not a personal choice of reading matter, just let it be. I don't see how that can be too picky.
Thanks
Thanks Stacy. I am not trying to air "my problems with stories" in public. I am just wondering whether the mental rewrites I do on stories as I read them makes me strange.
Love
Sam
Simple Solution
If you don't like the stories you're reading, write your own. It's loads of fun, especially when your own characters keep you guessing at what they're going to do next.
I know, that's how I got started.
Nancy Cole
"You may be what you resolve to be."
T.J. Jackson
Point of view?
I must admit I feel the same way when I read a lot of the stories on other sites. Not so much here, I have to say.
I think that it can be a question of viewpoint. I read a story and think "Why on earth would he put up with that? If it were me I'd..." ...and that's the viewpoint of a regular male in that kind of situation.
Of course, one has to remind oneself that the people in these stories are not regular males. If they were, they'd be down the nearest bar or watching the game instead of trying on frillies. Some of them want to be treated badly, some of them are on some kind of drug or under hypnosis or something like that, and... some of them are female (or partly female) inside.
Now think of how a female would react in those circumstances. Women want different things from life than men, and they have a different response to events than a man would. It's quite possible that the reactions of those characters in the stories are closer to female reactions. Or what the character thinks are female reactions. Or what the author thinks that the character thinks are female reactions. (Lies down in dark corner to recover.)
One also has to remember that one leaves the realm of reality quite far behind in some of these tales. Quite a lot of them represent the fantasies which go on inside people's heads: by definition they aren't particularly practical.
Short verdict: If you don't like 'em, find something else to read. Or make a comment to the author about the parts you thought were unbalanced. We like feedback, didn't you hear?
Penny
point of view
Oh I know about feedback. I keep telling myself that I'm not bothered by the comments or the reads, but when I've posted a story I can't help myself. I just have to keep checking.
Love
Sam
Fair Play
If it were all fair play then you would already know what the ending was right from the very beginning.
The trouble with TG/TV literature is that all too often you do.
What is more if you do not conform to readers expectations then you lay yourself open to criticism.
Readers like blood on the carpet. They like to see the villain hung drawn and quartered. Dire retribution figures largely in their expectations.
Justice must be done!
Any plea that life is not like that is swept aside. For readers everything must be done and dusted. No loose ends. Nothing left to their own imagination. Nothing left to think about. No ambiguity. That the Ungodly finally perish, and in the most painful way imaginable, is far more important to them than the possibility that the Godly might eventually thrive.
Try my Deception of Choice. Do you like the ending? (Actually perhaps not - It's a bit long, but even with the others I like to finish with hint of uncertainty)
I think it better to leave doubt. To leave the reader with something to ponder on. A sense of unease. The nagging question of 'What really did happen?'
Readers need to exercise their own imaginations. Otherwise they get lazy which can't be good for them.
So dear Samantha, you mustn't expect that writers will give you the ending that you want. Or any definitive ending at all. The essential is 'Does it make a good story?' And does it leave you thinking a bit?
Hugs
Endings
I was once told the conclusion is where the author got tired of writing.
Nancy Cole
"You may be what you resolve to be."
T.J. Jackson
Indeed.
That's *exactly* why I hate "femdom" stories. I can't read them because all too often they just involve a weakling main character with no spine who gets dominated by women, abused (both emotionally and physically), usually to the sexual gratification of the women (and sometimes the main character), and when the story ends all that happens is the abuser "apologises".
Usually something like this:
"I was wrong to hurt you, can you ever forgive me?"
"Of course, sweetie. I love you so much, even after all the abuse. I know I didn't choose this lifestyle but I think after all this violence I would like to continue to be a woman"
And they lived happily ever after.
That is so unsatisfying. I just can't see an abused victim forgiving everyone so easily with the abusers in the story never receiving their comeuppance. How anti-climatic is that? It's unjust, in my opinion. I tend to just get annoyed by those endings so I stay away from those stories. Far, far away.
One Thing to Say: Last Word
I don't care for Femdom or Forced Fem stories either. But I have one rule on this subject. I don't complain about stories I ought to have known better than to have read.
I'm closing discussion on this topic because it is simply turning into whining about stories and styles that OTHER PEOPLE DO ENJOY!
Think about that. Think about your favorite kind of story and how you would feel if someone made comments about how bad that kind of story was. And people have. Every kind of story, not just TG stories, but all kinds of stories have fans and foes.
Being a foe, or anti-fan, of something is not special. Get over it.
Hugs to all,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.