Simply put, because it is bogus. It's exactly like criticizing a story for having a sex change in it. "Fresh Start" stories appeal to some people but not to all, so it is appropriate to decide that if a story has an theme or element that you do not enjoy, then you weren't the target audience for the story.
Millions of books have been written where people die, sometimes for grand and noble reasons, sometimes for trivial ones. No one appointed anyone to be a guard against other people enjoying such stories or to punish and embarrass authors for having written them. There are TV shows where the HEROES of the story kill people, sometimes for grand reasons, sometimes for trivial ones. If you complain about "identity death" in a story, then you are actually and literally voting to abolish BigCloset itself and all transgender fiction. Tolerance is tolerant or it is nothing at all.
The same restriction goes for complaining about shopping scenes, purging scenes, romance of any stripe, sex of almost any stripe. (My contract with the company that hosts our servers actually does have a few restrictions on depictions of sex but I'm prepared to argue them in most cases.)
Not every story here is supposed to please YOU in particular; as long as it pleases the author, it passes the test for inclusion. Don't dump on other people's joys and pleasures just because you can't understand why anyone would like something. You're not required to understand, just to be polite and show respect for authors and the tastes of other readers.
I seem to have to bring this up about once a year, so let this count for both 2012 and 2013. End Rant.
Hugs to all,
Erin
Comments
Erin you hit on the main
Erin you hit on the main point right on the head. I write a story to work out an idea that occurs to me and try not to worry about kudos, though it does feel good when a story you write does get a lot. The few stories I wrote catering to public wants are the few stories I don't feel good about writing. Also, as Erin says the story is marked so if it is not your cup of tea don't read it, or read it and try to keep an open mind.
You're right, of course.
How could it be any other when you're the boss? :)
Never the less you should have a little sympathy for those who criticise a story for a plot line that isn't revealed until the reader has invested some time on a long story ... even a serial. They feel just a teeny bit cheated. Identity death, which I identify as a leading character forgetting who they originally were, usually comes at the very end of the story - often to someone the reader may well identify with.
It doesn't bother me too much. My bugbear is the 'it was all a dream and didn't really happen' scenario. I first came across it in a novel called 'Luke Branwhite' by Neil Bell 40 or more years ago (see how it seared itself on my consciousness?) when the adventurous life of the hero is revealed in the last chapter as the daydreams of a disabled newspaper seller. It totally spoilt my earlier enjoyment.
But your site, your rules. I'm very happy with that and I'll maintain a discreet silence on the topic from now on.
hugs back, Erin thanks for everything and have good Christmas, Winterval or whatever :)
Robi
Nope
I know that the author's investment is 1000 times greater and if the reader doesn't respect that, then they have no claim for respect of their investment.
Think about it.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Many stories don't attract me
There are many stories don't attract me here on BC. I applaud the author who will make judicious use of tags to let me know just what kind of story I'll be reading. I usually steer clear of stories the have any kind of "caution" or "explicit" tag, likewise, most with a "magic" or "Sci-Fi" tag get me a pass unless I'm familiar with the author and know that they have the talent to blend Sci-Fi or magic and transgender without making it a farce.
I wouldn't advocate that any of those authors not write or post here. That's why the tags exist, so that we, the readers, can judge whether or not we want to get involved with the story.
I would in no way expect to go into a bookstore and buy every book on the shelf and like every one. No, I read the dust jacket or judge by the author's previous work as to whether I'll like it or not. It would be censorship of most egregious kind to say that those whose work doesn't please us not be published.
Let them write and let those who like their writing read it... so what if I don't like it? I'm not required to read it. I can just give it a pass.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
A note on tags
Tags, which I call audiences, genres, themes and elements, are there for the AUTHOR'S use to attract and warn off audiences as fits the author's purpose. The reader's purposes are secondary, so I seldom change the tags on a story or listen to complaints that the tags were not appropriate to the story. I may talk with the author privately however about such things but the author's intent is the author's intent and has to remain that way.
One exception, the Younger Audiences tag is reserved for stories meant to be read by or to younger audiences. I will correct the misuse of this tag.
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.
Agreed
I would agree with most of that. I select what I read here quite carefully. There are people who make all sorts of spelling mistakes, but their skill in writing shines through so well that I just have to read their work. There are folk whose grammar is perfect, but whose stories leave me cold. Similarly, there are writers who approach 'forced femme' stories in a new way that I will read, while the standard ones leave me frigid.
Forced femme is one strand of the identity death group, but each to their own. It doesn't work for me in most cases, and neither do stories about crossdressing as a closed loop. I don't get 'involved' with CD stuff because I am a woman (who was born with some extras) who doesn't get that excited about clothes. Not even shooooooooz...but some writers can take that sort of idea and make it fly. I will offer the desert princess stories as an example.
This comment may seem to be a bit of a ramble, but there is a point. As Patricia writes, there are all sorts of stories and all varieties of taste. Label a story 'magic' or 'forced' and I will almost never look at it. That doesn't mean I think the authors of that stuff should leave, but that I have my own tastes. I personally try to write stuff that is as real-world as I can achieve. Many folk dislike that approach, so if I wanted to exclude those I pass by then I myself should quit the site.
Broad church. Play nicely. But, pace Erin, write truly evil stuff for no good reason and I will reserve the right to criticise.
Criticism is welcome
Carping is not, and that's what we had here. As for truly evil stuff, this is fiction and sometimes fiction must address evil. Don't confuse the story with the author, there's too much of that goes on elsewhere.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
No good reason
I have written soome extremely nasty stuff, so I trust people do not confuse me with that! What I meant was more basic. My general theme is a mix of family/friends and redemption. The nastiest stuff I have written is there in order to highlight the good. Some people, however, seem to enjoy writing 'torture porn' in the sense that their stories address something nasty for no other reason than that they can write about it. They are rare here, thankfully, but they do crop up every now and again.
I try and reserve my 'carping' for general discussions about the theme; if I find a story that covers it, well, I exercise discretion, and leave it alone.
= )
Regardless of whether or not your body dies along with your identity, there is no finer a death to be had than an honorable death upon the field of battle. = )
*Holds her sword high and poses heroically*
As the saying goes...
“You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the timeâ€.
There's also the equivalent of the old TV critique adage: "If you don't like it, turn the channel" - in this case, if you don't like the way a story's developing, there's a magic key combination to help you out: [Alt] [Left arrow]. There you go, back at the home page, ready to choose another story which will (hopefully) be more to your liking. As has been said, the tags / keywords at the top of each story can provide a rough guide to themes that may be included (but of course as they're at the author's discretion, don't read too much into them). Of course, once you've been here a while you start to get a 'feel' for the authors that write the kinds of stories you like reading. That way, you can concentrate on the kinds of stories you like (bonus: if you have a limited pool of authors you enjoy reading, you're more likely to have fewer new stories / chapters to read in each session, so providing you with more opportunity to leave comments...)
As for "don't read too much into them", a lot again depends on the author and the kind of story that's being written. Generally speaking, here, "Caught with consequences" is often "...with positive consequences..." and a springboard off which the protagonist has some control over the direction of travel - they're usually a closet TG so the incident's the first step towards transition.
On certain other sites though, the phrase is often "...with negative consequences..." and can be the first stage of an elaborately designed trap intended to lure the hapless male into a life of domestic, financial and sexual slavery (and none of them are genre-savvy enough to realise that the humiliation of being seen in public in an embarrassing outfit is nothing compared to what would await them if they stayed home...) I doubt I'm alone in saying that type of story doesn't appeal to me one iota, hence I don't read them (and if I start reading something that heads in that direction, unless there's clear signposting that they'll escape, I won't read further and I won't leave a comment or kudo).
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
Maybe I don't understand
I don't know why people complain about stories. Oh, As in "Paying The Price", it took me to a very dark place because of some of my experiences, so I grieved, cried a little, and today I am fine. I am not so sure, but what it may have been therapudic also.
I have told authors that their story was too painful to read, and mostly went back to read it later after I thought about things. Princess of the Desert was like that to me. And lest any of you think that things very like that don't really happen, wake up, they do.
Still, I am not sure what some of the complaints are about. Maybe someone protects me from these people?
Can someone tell me what a "Death of Identity" story is?
Gwendolyn
It's pretty much how it sounds.
It's when a character's identity is suppressed or erased. This can occur through brainwashing, magic, transformations, etc. It usually means their resistance to whatever change is occurring is taken away.
In other words, whoever that character was up until their transformation is no more. They no longer exist. Their body continues to live on without their old personality. It is, in every respect, the "death" of that person. That's where the title comes from. Identity Death means "the death of their identity."
Some might consider this genre of story "horror." I do, mostly because the idea of my personality being erased scares me. Although some might consider it a service, they might view it more like Samsara (the cycle of birth, death, and re-birth). It is, in some respects, an entirely new life.
Some people vehemently dislike the genre, to the point of getting quite angry at the author for writing it. This usually comes from a sense that the reader was tricked into investing their time into a genre they would otherwise despise.
Whether that annoyance is justified doesn't really matter, Erin is just saying that any criticism centred around genre-bashing is unacceptable here. That's been the site's policy for longer than I've been a member. Hopefully it shouldn't come as news to anyone.
Erin, that is why
I believe in the saying: If you can't say anything good, don't say anything at all.
May Your Light Forever Shine
I write for myself
I also read for myself, if i stumble across a story that piques my curiosity, i give it a chance... if i hit an Ick point i back right out. if i hit too many Ick points from an author, i won't attempt the authors work again and i won't comment. that's self censorship... i am responsible for my reading pleasure and all the entreaties in the world won't change that.
0.02
Diana Howe
Other side of the coin
I think the opposite situation, "Identity Life" is a much more interesting area of exploration. In these magical/ science fiction stories where the character ends up in a completely different body than they start out as, are they the same person? Or are they a new person who merely remembers being a different person?
It reminds me of the ship of Theseus - if you replace all your body parts one at a time, at what point are you someone else?
And at a more abstract level if the concept of "Identity Death" is a sharp line where you're two different people before and after a personality change, what if you don't cross that line completely? If you have some elements of your old self and some elements of your new self, are you some sort of Living Dead Identity Zombie?
And then since most people are forming new memories every day and sometimes changing opinions and habits, so is the you of today a different person from the you of yesterday? By adulthood, you have very little in common with who you were at one year old, so is one's infant self a Dead Identity?